The German parliament has, as expected, voted to approve Greece's four-month bailout extension. Perhaps less expected was how overwhelmingly it was passed - with support from Angela Merkel's coalition, 542 MPs backed the extension, with 32 voting against and 13 abstensions.
This was the biggest majority for any eurozone rescue package, Reuters noted.
"This is not about new billions for Greece, not about changing this programme," Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, assured parliament ahead of the vote. "It's about providing additional time to complete this programme successfully."
With that last remaining obstacle jumped, the sticking plaster has been applied, for now.
For full reaction and developments log on to our Business Now live blog.
There’s further evidence of a property slowdown in the UK. In January, house prices rose 6.7 per cent year-on-year, down from 7 per cent growth a month earlier. That marks the fifth consecutive month of declining house price growth. The average price of a house in England and Wales is now £179,492.
In London, house prices declined 0.2 per cent in January from a month earlier, with the average property in the capital falling to £458,283 from £464,936 at the end of 2014.
The only other regions to report a fall in prices were the northeast (-0.2 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (-1.5 per cent). The northwest enjoyed the biggest monthly rise, up 2.6 per cent.
The boss of Lloyds Banking Group has “accepted” that his bonus is very big. Antonio Horta-Osório will receive £7.4 million from his long-term incentive plan, which is paying out next month for performance since 2012. In total, Mr Horta-Osório will receive almost £11 million this year. Katherine Griffiths, our Banking Editor, has more here.
Finally, in London, the Boris bikes are getting a makeover. The familiar sight of the blue, Barclays-sponsored bikes, will soon be turning red after Santander took over the sponsorship and renamed them Santander Cycles. All 11,500 bikes will be turned red and white, as will the 728 docking stations.
Boris Johnson, the mayor, joked that the makeover would bring the bikes in line with the traditional red of London buses, phone boxes and post boxes. Hilarious.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for regular updates throughout the day - @becclancy.
Have a great weekend. We’ll be back on Monday.
Rebecca Clancy
Breaking News Editor, Business
The Times
rebecca.clancy@thetimes.co.uk
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