The European Banking Authority has postponed stress tests until next year as supervisors look into how major banks classify and value assets. "Concerns remain on asset quality and forbearance, which need to be addressed," Chairman Andrea Enria said. "This is also a necessary precondition for the credibility of the next EU-wide stress test."- The International Monetary Fund has conducted a comprehensive analysis of monetary policy at central banks in Europe, Japan and the US, noting that their efforts to encourage growth and improve market stability largely have been successful. The IMF also says that if the economic outlook worsens, central banks in Europe and the US could ease monetary policy further; however, they risk diminishing returns- that the ETF assets linked to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series, reached $US10.5 billion in assets under management, as of 30 April 2013. In total, more than US$176 billion of ETF assets are currently benchmarked to FTSE indices worldwide - The 24% rise in Lloyds Banking Group shares this year following the 85% rise in 2012 shows the bank's return to the private sector and the resumption of dividends is getting closer, shareholders have been told.the bank's shares hit a two-year high of 61p yesterday, chairman Sir Win Bischoff told the annual meeting in Edinburgh the prospects of a sale of the taxpayer's 39% stake have improved with the bank's return to profit, and dividends will be restarted "as soon as we are able". He added: "We fully understand the difficulties their absence is causing shareholders." - The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (VdP) says that prices on the German market for owner occupied residential properties rose again in the first quarter of 2013. The Price Index for Owner Occupied Housing went up by 3.4% in the first three months of this year compared with the corresponding quarter one year before. Developments were driven in particular by the market for condominiums, with prices climbing 5.7% year-on-year - Judge Daniel Hurley of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered supplemental consent orders against defendants Philip Milton and Trade, LLC, both of Palm Spring Gardens, Florida. Milton must now pay restitution of more than $10.8m and a further civil monetary penalty and Trade, LLC, to pay restitution of over $11.4m and a $28.4m civil monetary penalty for operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi commodity pool scheme.