Britain’s economic recovery is continuing apace and inflation is now expected to climb even higher than previously predicted, but the Bank of England’s policymakers on Thursday stood firm and saw little need to scale back their large monetary stimulus program, the New York Times reported. That is, all but one. In his final meeting, Andy Haldane, the central bank’s chief economist, cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing that the bank should pare back its bond-buying program because of the improved economic outlook and rising price pressures.

Europcar Mobility Group has rejected a bid from Volkswagen AG valuing the auto-rental firm at about 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), Bloomberg News reported. A consortium led by the German carmaker offered about 44 euro cents per share for Europcar earlier this month. Europcar, which is controlled by a group of hedge funds, views the proposal as too low. Investment firm Attestor Ltd. and Dutch transport conglomerate Pon Holdings BV are among the bidding group, the people said.

The Edmond de Rothschild bank’s old Luxembourg offices were as fancy an address as you could get in the rich European duchy. On a side street by the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy, the turreted villa exuded prestige and security in equal measure. Two decades ago this month, senior officers there signed the paperwork with Russian oil magnate Sergey Bogdanchikov that entrusted his growing fortune to the storied bank.

The U.K. government has told business leaders it will take a "cautious approach" to firms that owe it money in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC News reported. The message came in a letter from Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to the Institute of Directors and R3, which represents insolvency firms. In the letter, first reported by the Financial Times, he said enforcing insolvency would remain a last resort. The government has spent billions protecting the economy from Covid.

Parliament should consider toughening up the rules on who can take control of a bank in light of what happened to Wyelands Bank following the collapse of Greensill Capital, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's metals-to-finance empire GFG Alliance took control of Wyelands Bank in 2016. Wyelands financed GFG Alliance that was closely linked to financing company Greensill Capital, which went bust earlier this year. Concerns emerged in 2018 over the way Wyelands was lending to GFG, Woods said.

British pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other workers are urging politicians to save the summer holiday season by reopening routes abroad or risk destroying tens of thousands of jobs as companies fail, Reuters reported. Workers from the travel industry demonstrated across Britain on Wednesday. Protesters outside parliament held banners saying "Speak up for travel" as pilots and air stewardesses from British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic lined up in full uniform, to highlight the threat to their jobs from the government's strict rules.

German lawmakers presenting a report Tuesday into the collapse of the payment processing company Wirecard accused the country's finance minister and auditors Ernst & Young of numerous oversight failings, the Associated Press reported. Wirecard filed for protection from creditors through insolvency proceedings last year after admitting that 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion) supposedly held in trust accounts in the Philippines probably didn’t exist. The company’s former chief executive, Markus Braun, is being investigated on suspicion of criminal fraud.

An independent assessment by Ernst and Young reiterated on Monday that subprime lender Provident Financial’s doorstep lending unit will likely face insolvency if its 50-million-pound settlement plan is not endorsed by a UK court, Reuters reported. Provident said on Monday that the division, which lent to people who are turned away by mainstream banks, was placed into a managed run-off last month, after a surge in customer complaints against it. Rival Amigo’s rescue plan was rejected by the court in May.

European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers are still some way apart on their new inflation strategy but hope to reach an agreement before debating the future of their pandemic-fighting programme in September, sources told Reuters. ECB rate setters agreed on some side issues at a retreat last weekend, such as including environmental considerations into their policy decisions and adding owner-occupied housing costs to their measure of inflation, the three sources close to the matter said.