UK AND IRELAND

* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is poised to face the remaining claimants suing the bank over its controversial 2008 capital increase in court, as the holdout shareholders obtained the £7 million they needed to fund their claim and proceed to trial, an insider told Reuters. The claimants must inform a judge tomorrow if they intend to pursue the case.

* Meanwhile, real estate group Property Alliance Group won the right to appeal a High Court decision on a legal case against RBS, City A.M. reported. The group sued the lender for more than £30 million for claims that it was missold interest rate swap products and wrongly moved into RBS' controversial Global Restructuring Group, but the High Court ruled in favor of the bank in December 2016.

* Shawbrook Group Plc's independent directors recommended that shareholders take no action regarding the increased and final offer made by Marlin Bidco Ltd., the company jointly owned by funds managed or advised by private equity firms Pollen Street Capital Ltd. and BC Partners LLP, to take over the bank. Shawbrook said the new offer, which entitles its shareholders to receive 340 pence per share, undervalues the company and its prospects.

* Ireland's incoming prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has indicated that he intends to abolish the country's Help to Buy house purchasing scheme, which offers first-time buyers tax rebates up to €20,000.

* A U.S. judge granted the liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corp. Ltd. the right to distribute the U.S. assets of the former Anglo Irish Bank, including $189 million in "reserved proceeds," The Times of London reported. However, the liquidators warned that the amount of money that can be recovered for unsecured creditors "will not be known for a number of years" due to remaining "substantial litigation" in the case.

* Allied Irish Banks Plc postponed until later in 2017 its plans to set up a holding company in compliance with the ECB's regulations on bank resolution as its long-awaited planned IPO nears, insiders told The Irish Times.

* Bank of Ireland named Peter Mullen head of acquisition finance, The Irish Times reported.

* Irish insurance broker Robertson Low launched FundInsure, which offers coverage to investors in case an investment company collapses due to fraud, negligence and forms of cybercrime, The Irish Times reported. Robertson Low said FundInsure is understood to be "the first of its kind in the world."

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Deutsche Bank AG asked for more time to respond to a request from U.S. Democratic lawmakers for details of U.S. President Donald Trump's bank transactions that could show his possible ties to Russia, Reuters reported. The lawmakers initially gave Deutsche Bank until last Friday to respond to their request.

* Argentina-based Banco Comafi SA completed its acquisition of Deutsche Bank's Argentine unit Deutsche Bank SA.

* Hans-Walter Peters, president of the Association of German Banks and a partner at Joh. Berenberg Gossler & Co. KG, warned that "German banks must prepare for tough times ahead" if other countries engage in a so-called regulatory race to the bottom that will see banking regulations scaled back, Handelsblatt wrote.

* Credit Suisse Group AG appointed Cory Rapkin vice chairman in the healthcare group of its investment banking and capital markets division, effective in September, Reuters wrote.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

* Australia-based QBE Insurance Group Ltd. selected Brussels as the location for its EU base, which is likely to begin operations by 2018-end, the Financial Times reported. Richard Pryce, CEO of the insurer's European operation, noted that staff numbers in London will not be cut.

* Meanwhile, RSA Insurance Group Plc picked Luxembourg as the location of its new EU headquarters, The Daily Telegraph reported.

* La Banque Postale SA introduced a voice identification system through fixed and mobile phones to its bank card customers after technical problems delayed the implementation of the technology by about a year, according to Les Echos.

* PERILS' second loss estimate for the insured property market due to extra-tropical cyclone Zeus amounted to €269 million, up from the initial loss estimate of €192 million in April. The cyclone primarily affected France on March 6 and 7.

* ABN AMRO Group NV, ING Groep NV and Rabobank have partnered to set up a common company to manage ATMs in the face of falling use and higher costs, Les Echos reported.

* Argen-Co, the parent company of Argenta Spaarbank NV, is set to launch a €25 million public offering of A shares and B shares starting today, De Tijd reported.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

* Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC and other disgruntled bondholders in Novo Banco SA challenged the bank's sale to U.S. private equity fund Lone Star and offered to buy the bank themselves, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported. The group of bondholders wrote to the Banco de Portugal to criticize a bond swap that was included as a condition for Novo Banco's sale to Lone Star and suggested that the central bank discuss selling the lender to them instead.

* Banco Popular Español SA Chairman Emilio Saracho reassured his executives that the lender is solvent and has positive equity, Reuters reported, citing a letter to staff. Popular could request new loans from the ECB during a meeting scheduled for today or ask for ECB oversight to help its board make decisions, according to Bloomberg News.

* U.S.-based IBERIABANK Corp. secured regulatory approvals for its pending acquisition of Miami-based Sabadell United Bank NA from parent Banco de Sabadell SA.

* Bankia SA executed its 1-for-4 reverse stock split yesterday, Europa Press wrote.

ITALY AND GREECE

* Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA and Veneto Banca SpA are considering issuing hybrid instruments in a bid to meet the European Commission's requirement of a €1.25 billion contribution from private investors to plug their capital shortfall, Il Sole 24 Ore said. The banks are still also attempting to convince the EC to reduce the size of the requested private investor capital contribution.

* Veneto Banca authorized Banca Intermobiliare to grant Banca Zarattini & Co. SA a 30-day exclusivity to discuss the sale of Banca Intermobiliare di Investimenti e Gestioni (Suisse) SA, Reuters reported.

* The Central Bank of San Marino is aiming to raise up to €150 million in June for a planned liquidity injection into ailing banks, which are saddled with €1.8 billion in gross bad loans, Reuters reported.

* Generali sought regulatory clearance to raise its stake in Malaysia's Multi Purpose Insurance Berhad to 70% from 49%, MF reported.

* Cassa Centrale Banca Credito Cooperativo del Nord Est SpA received nonbinding offers for a €560 million nonperforming loan securitization transaction, a deal it aims to complete by year-end, MF wrote.

* IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told Handelsblatt that the fund is prepared to take part in a Greek bailout and give Greece's European creditors more time to settle a disagreement over debt relief.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority wants banks to impose tougher income-based internal lending rules as part of a broader scheme to curb the rise of mortgage-related household debt, Affärsvärlden wrote.

* The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority criticized Danske Bank A/S for impairment losses generated on loans to private customers, FinansWatch reported. A recent audit conducted by the FSA on Danske Bank's loan write-down practices and procedures found that while the overall level of the lender's write-downs on private loans was sufficient, the standard of data quality was deemed unsatisfactory.

* Norway's Stensrud family, who owns Norwegian asset manager Skagen, agreed to acquire a stake in London-based auto-enrollment pension provider Smart Pension for millions of pounds, insiders told Sky News.

EASTERN EUROPE

* The Polish Finance and Development Ministry unveiled a draft resolution that will require local banks to hold a systemic risk buffer amounting to 3% of total lending exposure as of January 2018, PAP reported. State-controlled development lender Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego would be exempt from the new requirement.

* Polish debt collector GetBack said it is planning an IPO of up to 40 million shares in the second or third quarter, Warsaw Business Journal reported.

* The Central Bank of Russia will consider lowering its key interest rate by 25 basis points or 50 basis points during its upcoming board meeting June 16, Kommersant said, citing the regulator's head Elvira Nabiullina. The rate is currently set at 9.25%.

* The Russian central bank supports the idea of increasing the base rate of bank contributions to the Deposit Insurance Fund to 0.2% from 0.12%, Vedomosti reported. PAO Sberbank of Russia, however, criticized the idea, saying the increase would cost it 40 billion Russian rubles per year.

* Raiffeisen Bank International AG unit ZUNO BANK AG, a digital lender in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, completed the wind down of its operations in the two countries June 3. The lender moved all its clients to RBI units Tatra banka a.s. in Slovakia and Raiffeisenbank a.s. in the Czech Republic.

* Aktif Yatirim Bankasi AS intends to enter the micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises market by 2017-end, Dunya wrote.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: JPMorgan eyes fully controlled China venture; ICICI Bank to cut Indian JV stake

Middle East & Africa: More countries cut ties with Qatar; GFH Financial shelves SHUAA talks

Latin America: Demand for D&O insurance up in Brazil; Banco Comafi completes Deutsche Bank buy

North America: JPMorgan's Dimon seeking new China venture structure with 100% control

North America Insurance: Cuomo plans tough steps to save coverage; Fla. regulator OKs Citizens takeouts

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Leo Magno, Ed Meza, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Mike Hatzidakis, Ali Kayalar, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.

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