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(FT) -- Chinese environmental groups have accused Apple suppliers in the country of systemic pollution, underscoring the pressures on one of the world's biggest companies as opposition grows in China to environmental degradation as the cost of economic growth.

In a report released on Wednesday, five Chinese non-governmental organisations said the US technology company was using suppliers with public records of environmental violations and taking "advantage of the loopholes in developing countries' environmental management systems".

The accusations escalate a standoff between Apple and Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a co-author of the report, which is threatening to damage Apple's image. The groups have sought to persuade 29 big electronics brands over the past year to work with them on containing pollution in their supply chain, but singled out Apple as unresponsive.

In a highly unusual move for Apple, the company relented just hours before the report's publication, inviting Mr Ma to start a dialogue on his allegations. Mr Ma said Apple told him some of the factories on his list were not the US company's suppliers but gave him no details.

Although Apple does not directly manufacture anything itself and does not disclose, with very few exceptions, the names of its suppliers, the Chinese environmental groups say they used public information and court documents to form a list of more than 20 Apple suppliers with environmental violations to their name. These suppliers also work for other companies.

(FT) -- German "bad bank" agencies holding billions of euros of Greek debt have still to decide whether to join a bond swap designed to cut Athens' refinancing burden as part of an EU bail-out.

Two of the German banks that are among the country's largest holders of Greek bonds have also to commit themselves to the €135bn debt swap plan set to be launched next month.

The uncertainty over which institutions will support the deal comes as Greece is warning that the swap might not go ahead if fewer than 90 per cent of private investors agree to participate.

Some of Germany's biggest holders of Greek debt are agencies set up with public sector support to wind down toxic and unwanted assets that had to be unloaded from stricken banks' balance sheets during the financial crisis.

About €7.4bn of Greek sovereign debt is held by FMS Wertmanagement, a "bad bank" to which €175bn in assets were transferred from Hypo Real Estate, a property lender.

Erste Abwicklungsanstalt, to which assets from WestLB were transferred, has a further €1.1bn of Greek public sector exposure.

Because the agencies are not banks and are backed by public sector guarantees, the extent to which they may take part in the bond swap aimed at private creditors remains unclear, in spite of their large holdings.

FMS holds more than twice as much Greek debt as Commerzbank, which is Athens' biggest private-sector German creditor.

EAA has taken a 21 per cent writedown on its Greek holdings, in line with advice from a German accounting body following the announcement last month of the private-sector restructuring offer, which is being co-ordinated by the Institute of International Finance, a global banking sector lobby group.

However, EAA has said it "remains to be seen whether or to [what] extent EAA will participate?...?in the IIF offer of private creditors and suffer losses from the restructuring of Greece's liabilities".