A former top Wirecard shareholder is seeking damages over the collapse of the payments group in a landmark lawsuit that threatens the compensation bondholders and banks are also seeking, Irish Times reported. Union Investment, Germany’s third-largest asset manager, has filed a lawsuit in Munich against Wirecard’s administrator, which over the past year has been selling the remaining assets of the failed payments group. The asset manager said it suffered €243 million in losses when Wirecard filed for insolvency in June 2020.

When Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi returns from his brief summer break one of the thorniest items on his "to do" list will be finally fixing the woes of the world's oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), Reuters reported. The Tuscan lender's decline has tarnished Draghi's record ever since 2008 when, as Bank of Italy chief, he approved its purchase of rival Antonveneta at an inflated price that analysts say contributed to its financial meltdown.

Britain's economy grew by a faster-than-expected 1.0% in June, the first full month of indoor service for many hospitality firms, and also helped by the healthcare sector due to a rise in routine medical checkups after the pandemic, Reuters reported. But the official data showed British gross domestic product remained 2.2% smaller than it was immediately before the pandemic struck the country, a reminder of the damage done by Britain's long coronavirus lockdowns last year.

Post-Brexit trade frictions have “significantly altered” freight traffic between the Republic and Britain and sparked a steep rise in volumes to and from Ireland and other European Union members, an Irish Government agency report noted on Thursday, the Irish Times reported. The introduction of checks on some goods since Britain left the EU’s trading orbit on December 31st cut imports from Britain by 35 per cent in the first five months of 2021 while the number of shipping routes to mainland Europe more than doubled.

Thyssenkrupp on Wednesday flagged a cash gap of up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) for its full year, citing restructuring costs and higher investments, as the German conglomerate continues efforts to streamline its businesses, Reuters reported. Shares of the steel-to-submarines group fell as much as 7.7% on the outlook for free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions, which is now expected to be a negative 1.2-1.5 billion euros in the year to September.

Two businesses have been closed down after submitting false documents to at least 41 local authorities and the government’s bounce back loan (BBL) scheme to secure £230,000 worth of emergency support during the pandemic, P2P Finance News reported. LV Distributions and SIO Traders were wound up in the high court during separate hearings on 27 July 2021 following enquiries conducted by the Insolvency Service, which proved neither company ever traded. Councils in Wiltshire, Herefordshire and Guildford were among those targeted.

The German government agreed Tuesday to provide 58 billion euros ($68 billion) to help rebuild regions hit by devastating floods last month, the Associated Press reported. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of Germany’s 16 states approved the state flood aid package, which still needs parliament’s endorsement. “This is significantly more than we had for previous floods,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin. More than 180 people died in Germany and hundreds more were injured in the July 14-15 floods, which also claimed lives in neighboring Belgium.

Bayer lost a third appeal against U.S. court verdicts that awarded damages to customers blaming their cancers on use of its glyphosate-based weedkillers, leaving the German drugs and pesticides group to pin hopes for legal relief on the U.S. Supreme Court, Reuters reported. A California appeals court yesterday upheld an $86 million verdict that found Bayer responsible for a couple's cancer after using Bayer's glyphosate-based Roundup against weeds.

French economic activity almost reached pre-pandemic levels in July as businesses largely shrugged off some renewed restrictions while supply difficulties increasingly constrained production, Bloomberg News reported. Activity was between 1% and 1.5% below normal in July, the highest it’s been since the pandemic struck, according to the Bank of France’s monthly survey of 8,500 firms. While business leaders expect a similar performance in August, the share of companies reporting supply difficulties rose for the third consecutive month to 49% in July.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) obtained a bankruptcy order against Mohammed Fuaath Haja Maideen Maricar on Monday, who is accused of unlawful forex trading promotion, Finance Magnates reported. According to the announcement, the UK High Court issued an order against the individual to pay £530,000 to the FCA. This amount will be distributed among the victims of 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. Moreover, the FCA says that Maricar has failed to make any payment concerning the court’s restitution order.