Didier Reynders, Belgium's finance minister, who chaired the Ecofin meeting of EU finance minister in Brussels, July 13, 2010. On his right is Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn and on his left, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier.

German banks are expected to pass the European bank stress tests on the basis of preliminary results according to reports. The 14 German banks including the state-owned Landesbanken would not need immediate recapitalisation, if its is confirmed on July 23rd that they have passed the tests. The results, which were due for submission by the end of Monday and have to be verified independently by the national regulator, show none of the German banks fell below the tier 1 capital ratio of 6%, reports said on Tuesday.

Among the Landesbanken, the banks which did not receive state bailout money during the financial crisis, such as Nord LB and Helaba, have Tier 1 capital levels of between 8% and 9%. Others that were publicly supported, such as HSH Nordbank, Landesbank Baden Wuerttemberg and Bayern LB, have Tier 1 capital levels of around 10% or higher, according to their financial reports.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Ecofin council of EU27 finance ministers today, there was not agreement on how much detail on the tests of 91 banks, which account for 65% of the European banking system, should be disclosed.

"It is fully in the self interest of ... every bank for there to be full disclosure of the results of the stress tests, that is the best way of restoring confidence to the banking sector," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said. "Of course, in parallel, member states need to have national financial backstops in place in case there are pockets of vulnerability in the banking sector. However, I am confident that overall the European banking sector will show resilience in these stress tests," Rehn added.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said the final decision on what information would be published could only be taken in a teleconference of EU finance ministers on July 22nd. "Discussions will continue until the last minute," she said.

Meanwhile the finance ministers on Tuesday did agree that a new EU banking supervisory agency should be located in London, rather than next to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

There is disagreement within the European Union as to whether the region's bank stress tests should offer full disclosure on the strength of the banking sector. CNBC's Carolina Cimenti has this report;

Dow Jones reported that the finance ministers also appeared to dilute the claims of the Eurozone to dominate the new European Systemic Risk Board, stating that the head of the ESRB should be elected by all 27 heads of national central banks in the EU.

Some Eurozone member states had pushed for the president of the ECB to be automatically head of the ESRB at the same time.

The new developments are incorporated into a new position paper which the Belgian presidency of the EU council will use to complete its negotiations with the EU parliament on setting up three new regulatory agencies that are intended to improve the fractured and uncoordinated situation that magnified some of the disasters of the 2008 financial crisis.

The EU plans to to have three new Europe-wide institutions regulating banks, insurance companies and securities markets up and running by Jan 1, 2011, and ministers upheld that aim at the end of their meeting. They also aim to establish the ESRB as an over-arching  supervisor with a mandate to track the overall level of risk in the financial system.

The ministers also agreed that Estonia can join the Eurozone next January.

The economic recovery will be weak, but there is no double-dip on the horizon, Stephane Deo from UBS told CNBC Tuesday: