Irish home and commercial property prices are forecast to dip slightly over the next three years, according to figures being used by European authorities to stress test banks across the EU in 2020, The Irish Times reported. The European Bank Authority, overseeing the assessment, said on Friday that its central projections were based on data received from national central banks. However, sources said that while the Irish Central Bank provided “a possible path which is based on latest trends” to European officials, it did not issue forecasts.

Deutsche Bank reported a whopping loss for the last three months of 2019 and for the full year as it cut staff and wrote down the value of assets, affirming its status as one of Europe’s most troubled big lenders, the International New York Times reported. The bank said it lost 1.5 billion euros, or $1.6 billion, in the last three months of 2019, bringing the total loss for the year to €5.3 billion. In 2018, the bank effectively broke even for the year and in the fourth quarter.

The aluminium smelter in the Bosnian town of Mostar has fallen eerily silent since its electricity was cut in July, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The only visitors to what was once a model factory in former Yugoslavia are staff filling in redundancy papers. The closure of debt-laden Aluminij Mostar is symptomatic of the challenges facing countries across the Balkans as they try to keep loss-making state-owned businesses inherited from the communist era afloat in market economies.

The administrators to collapsed electricals retailer Comet Group have been handed a record UK insolvency fine of £1m for failures related to their independence, the Financial Times reported. Deloitte and two of its former partners, Neville Kahn and Christopher Farrington, who both left the Big Four accountancy firm during a five-year investigation, did not ensure that they were objective as administrators, according to the findings of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Thousands of people who seek debt advice are potentially ending up even worse off because of the aggressive marketing of repayment plans that they are later unable to afford, the Financial Times reported. Statistics published on Thursday by the UK’s Insolvency Service showed the number of people entering Individual Voluntary Arrangements, which allow people to pay off part of their debts on a schedule agreed with their creditors, rose to a new high of 78,000 in 2019, up almost 10 per cent from 2018.

The Genevan jeweler De Grisogono SA, known for extravagant diamond jewelry worn by the likes of Paris Hilton, filed for bankruptcy, ensnared in a corruption probe involving Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, Bloomberg News reported. De Grisogono couldn’t secure a buyer despite talks that lasted several months, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The failed negotiations forced the company to file for creditor protection with Swiss authorities, which if accepted, will affect 65 jobs in the nation, the company said.

A former BHS director pursued over the collapse of the department store group has agreed to a five-year ban on holding similar roles at other organisations, the Financial Times reported. The action against Lennart Henningson completes an investigation by the Insolvency Service into individuals involved in BHS’s failure, the service said in an update on its website. The “statement of unfit conduct” said Mr Henningson did not dispute that while serving as a BHS director he transferred £1.5m from the floundering company to a Swedish subsidiary he controlled.

British car production fell to its lowest level in almost a decade last year as warnings intensified that the UK needed to “re-establish” its reputation as a place to invest, the Financial Times reported. Output fell 14 per cent to 1.3m, the worst since 2010, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders on Thursday. The decline of diesel, falling sales to China, and production shutdowns in anticipation of Brexit all hit output, pushing exports down by 14.7 per cent and production for the home market down by 12.3 per cent.

Italy’s UBI is set to extend an insurance partnership with Cattolica for a limited time, sources familiar with the matter said, delaying longer-term decisions while it waits to see how consolidation among mid-sized banks plays out, Reuters reported. Italy’s fifth-largest bank is seen playing a leading role in a new round of M&A between second-tier lenders grappling with negative rates, a stagnating economy and a digital revolution in the industry.

A decision on the future of the Elga coal project, one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits, is likely in the first quarter of 2020, the regional governor said in an interview, Reuters reported. Expansion of the mine, first developed by Russian steel and coal producer Mechel, has stalled in recent years as the project in the remote Yakutia region of Russia’s Far East demands significant investment to reach its annual operating capacity of 30 million tonnes.