what's happening with european banks

European Union Countries Wrangle Over Recapitalizing Banks

Huffington Post
BRUSSELS — EU finance ministers neared agreement Saturday on forcing banks to raise just over euro100 billion ($140 billion) to ensure they have enough cushion to weather further losses on their Greek bonds as well as market turmoil, a European official said.

In order to help Athens dig out of its debts – and hopefully keep a cap on the amount of money they have to loan Greece – the 17 countries that use the euro agreed Friday to ask banks to take bigger writedowns on Greek bonds. A new report suggests the value of Greek bonds might need to be slashed as much as 60 percent.