Debt crisis: Greece unveils bond buy-back plan The scheme has reduced the banks' funding costs, but on this early evidence it has done little to encourage them to lend. Net lending increased by just £0.5 billion in the quarter in which the scheme launched - a fraction of the amount hoped for. Interest rates on mortgage loans have fallen, but the Bank's figures show that the average rate charged on new corporate loans actually rose in October. 10.04 An interesting suggestion from Christian Noyer, governor of the Bank of France: London should be stripped of its status as Europe's main financial hub and sidelined to allow the eurozone to "control" transactions. That's bound to cause some friction across the Channel. Most of the euro business should be done inside the euro area. It's linked to the capacity of the central bank to provide liquidity and ensure oversight of its own currency. We're not against some business being done in London, but the bulk of the business should be under our control. That's the consequence of the choice by the UK to remain outside the euro area. Christian Noyer 09.44 Europe's markets are up and running this morning. Angus Campbell at Capital Spreads says: Markets seem to be in festive mood already even if the Chancellor is not as he prepares for Wednesday's autumn statement, which is likely to be yet another austere one and is also likely to include some sort of gaffe somewhere along the lines, as history will tell you Gorgeous George is rather good at putting his foot in it with either a pasty tax or something else that is likely to make for bad headlines. The FTSE 100 is up 0.26pc, the CAC is 0.59pc higher and the DAX has risen 0.47pc. This morning's news on the Greek bond buy-back has also helped to push the euro to a six-week high against the dollar, climbing to $1.3049. Peter O'Flanagan at Clear Currency said: EURUSD established itself above $1.3000 this morning for the third time in as many trading days despite failing to close above this key bull/bear line last week, news that Greece will look to purchase as much as €10bn of their own bonds in a Dutch auction is supporting the single currency. 09.29 UK manufacturing PMI is out, and the contraction is much lower than expected. The Markit index for November is 49.1 - still below 50, indicating contraction, but much healthier than October's 47.3. We also have eurozone manufacturing PMI, which has come in at 46.2 for November, and Greece, which rose to 41.8. Germany came in at 46.8. 09.26 With the Greek bond buy-back, investors will obviously be hoping to take the smallest possible loss. But the Dutch auction structure - where you start high and work backwards - will mean that they take the risk of being left out altogether, as the €10bn spending limit could be filled with investors getting in early and taking a slightly larger loss. It's quite cunning, really. Reuters has worked out that if Athens reaches its spending limit of €10bn, they'll have bought around 60pc of outstanding debt - and that could save them around €39bn. They've also put together this nifty calculator which allows you to work out various scenarios. 09.02 We have a lot of PMI data out this morning. First up is France, where the manufacturing sector has shrunk for a ninth straight month in November. The Markit index came out at 44.5 - well into contraction territory. That's up from the previous month's 43.7 but is still bad news, and will stoke fears that France's economy is due to contract overall in the fourth quarter. Markit economist Jack Kennedy said: The French manufacturing sector remained in the grip of a sharp downturn in November. Companies remained firmly in retrenchment mode, cutting employment, purchasing and stock levels further, highlighting an expectation that conditions will remain tough. 08.53 Predictably, the news of the Greek bond buy-back has sent yields shooting downward from 15.8pc to around 14.5pc this morning. Reading further into the details of the plan, Greece says it will spend up to €10bn, and that it will be run along the lines of a "Dutch auction," where you start with a high price and lower it gradually until someone bites. 08.44 It seems that the Greek bond buy-back will see willing investors swapping their holdings for new, six-month debt. They'll get somewhere between 30.2pc and 40.1pc of the face value of their old bonds, according to a table in Annex 1 of the document released this morning. 08.35 Greece's finance ministry has released details of its bond buy-back this morning. The invitation will offer new bonds for old - with a haircut - until a deadline on December 7 at 5pm. The settlement is expected to be complete by December 17. The London branch of Deutsche Bank has been appointed to run the buy-back with Morgan Stanley also playing a role. 08.10 Eurozone finance ministers are meeting today to discuss the Greek debt buy-back deal and a bailout for Cyprus. The Greek plan is a key part of a debt reduction scheme designed to cut down to 124pc of GDP in 2020. 08.00 Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the eurozone debt crisis.