Banks from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and India risk losing millions of dollars due to their exposure to Finablr Plc, the foreign-exchange operator that’s preparing for potential insolvency, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, National Bank of Fujairah, Commercial Bank International and Bank of Baroda are still owed about $300 million by Finablr’s parent BRS Ventures, which is owned by Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, some of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The collapse of Thomas Cook will land the UK government with a bill of more than £156m and drain the travel industry’s insurance scheme of funds just as airlines have warned that they may not survive the summer, the Financial Times reported. The National Audit Office said in a report that the Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (Atol) scheme will pay £481m to refund Thomas Cook customers, wiping out almost all of its resources.

Earlier this week Travelex’s shares were suspended after the company reported that it could not account for $100m (£81m) worth of undisclosed cheques, which is now being investgated by forensic accountants from Kroll, Accountancy Daily reported. Travelex has been attempting to reassure shareholders that it is a distinct subsidiary of Finablr and that the business is capable of operating as a stand-alone operation. PwC has been called into support and strengthen the finance team, with a particular focus on company liquidity.

France is promising €45 billion ($50.16 billion) in immediate aid for businesses and employees hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which is slowing or shutting down swaths of the global economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking Tuesday morning in a radio interview, said that his provisional predictions show the response to the coronavirus will slash 1% from France’s gross domestic product in 2020. The government plans to present a revised budget law for 2020 with the new prediction later Tuesday, Mr. Le Maire said.

Fashion chain Laura Ashley has filed for administration, putting up to 2,700 jobs at risk, after rescue talks were halted by the coronavirus outbreak, The Irish Times reported. The troubled retailer, which has five outlets in the Republic, had been in talks with stakeholders over refinancing, but it said its “revised cash flow forecasts and increased uncertainty” mean it will not be able to secure these funds in sufficient time. Its largest shareholder Mui Asia said it was unable to support the retailer with “financial support in the required timeframe”.

Volkswagen Group, the world’s biggest carmaker, is suspending production at factories across Europe as the coronavirus pandemic hits sales and disrupts supply chains, the company said on Tuesday, The Irish Times reported. The German carmaker, which owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, also said that uncertainty about the fallout from coronavirus meant it was impossible to give forecasts for its performance this year.

By now it should be clear that monetary policy cannot cure coronavirus. But central bankers can certainly aggravate the market symptoms, the Financial Times reported. That is the accusation being levelled at Christine Lagarde after a remark she made last week that triggered a sell-off in parts of Europe’s bond markets. It is not the European Central Bank’s job, the president said, to “close the spread” between the bonds of different member states. Clearly, some traders thought it was, judging from the subsequent slide in Italian debt.

Airbus announced plans to halt operations at its plants in France and Spain for four days as the coronavirus crisis spread from battered airlines to the manufacturing sector, The Irish Times reported. The most serious across-the-board disruption in Airbus production since a strike at then British partner BAE Systems in 1989 pushed its shares down 7 per cent as a rebound in other European shares quickly faltered.

British chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday announced state loan guarantees worth £330 billion (€363 billion) along with a further £20 billion of financial handouts to help struggling businesses cope with the economic catastrophe caused by the rapid spread of coronavirus in the UK, The Irish Times reported. The UK chancellor said the rescue package – which comes on top of £7 billion in financial support for businesses announced in last week’s budget – included a one-year break from business rates as well as government grants of up to £25,000 for struggling retailers and pubs.

Supermarket shelves are being cleared and in financial markets, cash is the only precious commodity, the Financial Times reported. The hoarding of cash by banks, investors and companies illustrates the vast wave of deleveraging that is taking place across financial markets with the echoes of 2008 getting louder and louder. The real economy and financial system are joined at the hip. Financial market dislocations have prompted emergency rate cuts by central banks, actions that have done little to ease financial stress.