A German government official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Sunday that Germany had received no formal request from Italy to increase the fund.
In addition, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to increase the fund to, and maintain the fund at, a level not to exceed $4,000,000.
The trade group, the American Insurance Association, representing companies like Hartford Financial Services and Travelers Property Casualty, said it was "especially concerned" about a provision that might require companies to increase the fund to $153 billion from $108 billion.
Many newspapers, including the New York Times and the Guardian wrote that China would "seek to increase the fund to $12bn by 2030", which confused the assistance fund with the investment.
European diplomats say privately that there has been a debate in recent days on whether to increase the fund to make it clear that a big economy like Spain could be defended, if needed.
If the decision to increase the fund were made "in the next weeks or months, why not apply it immediately to the current facility," Mr. Reynders told reporters in Brussels on Saturday.
