Italy has warned that a German proposal to complete the EU’s banking union would harm the competitiveness of the bloc’s banks, in comments heralding complex negotiations over Europe’s most ambitious integration project since the creation of the single currency, the Financial Times reported. Speaking on the margins of a gathering of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, Roberto Gualtieri took issue with a key part of bank regulation plans laid out by his German counterpart this week in the Financial Times.

Komercni Banka on Wednesday posted an 8.5% drop in third-quarter net profit, in line with estimates as financial operations income fell and the Czech lender did not see a net release of bad loan provisions as in previous quarters, Reuters reported. Attributable net profit came in at 3.85 billion crowns ($167.25 million), versus the average estimate of 3.88 billion in a Reuters poll. The bank, 60% owned by France’s Societe Generale, boosted net interest income and net fees by 2.1% and 1.2% year-on-year respectively.

The indebted shopping centre landlord Intu said it was “likely” to have to raise fresh equity after a string of retailer insolvencies hit the group harder than expected, the Financial Times reported. Intu, whose largest shareholder is the property billionaire John Whittaker, said in a trading update that like-for-like rental income for 2019 would drop about 9 per cent from the previous year, and would continue falling in 2020.

PizzaExpress‘s owner took a first step toward tackling the company’s debt pile, offering to buy back bonds that are due to mature in 2022, Yahoo Finance reported. Private equity firm Hony Capital will purchase as much as 80 million pounds ($103 million) of the company’s 200 million pounds of unsecured notes due August 2022, according to a statement sent to investors and confirmed by the company’s spokesman. PizzaExpress also said it hired advisers Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis as it seeks to extend or refinance a 20 million-pound credit facility maturing in August.

Sberbank and the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) have settled a dispute over funds owed to Russia’s largest bank by IBA, an Azeri and Sberbank officials said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. In 2017, state-run IBA proposed a plan to restructure $3.3 billion of its debt and said in July it had received approval from creditors holding 93.9% of the debt involved. As part of the restructuring, which was under Azeri law, IBA obtained a moratorium from a London court preventing creditors from taking action against it without court permission.

A court judgment could see company directors and shareholders pursued for millions of pounds for funds paid into tax avoidance schemes, Credit Strategy reported. The ruling, handed down by Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Briggs, will see the directors and shareholders of Implement Consulting having to pay back over £3m to the company and its creditors, despite it being placed into liquidation in 2016. The case was brought by liquidators CVR Global, who were assisted by solicitors Ashfords and barrister Joe Curl.

Germany’s top economic advisers have slashed their growth forecast for Europe’s largest economy, while warning that the country is suffering from global structural shifts, such as growing trade protectionism and digital disruption of traditional industries, the Financial Times reported. The Council of Economic Experts’ annual report, which it will submit to parliament on Wednesday, will make grim reading in Berlin. The council has cut its growth forecast for this year from 0.8 to 0.5 per cent and for next year from 1.7 to 0.9 per cent.

The Chinese company in pole position to save British Steel is aiming to strike a deal to take over the failed manufacturer by the middle of this month, according to people briefed on the situation, the Financial Times reported. Jingye Group has emerged as the frontrunner to buy the stricken steelmaker out of insolvency, following almost six months of uncertainty for 5,000 workers who are mostly based at the large Scunthorpe plant in Lincolnshire.

Germany’s finance minister has offered hope of a breakthrough in plans to create a full eurozone banking union by ending Berlin’s opposition to a common scheme to protect savers’ deposits, the Financial Times reported. Olaf Scholz said that Europe’s global role would be undermined if it failed to complete the integration of the eurozone’s financial sector. The plan to centralise oversight of eurozone banks was conceived seven years ago in response to the region’s deep sovereign debt crisis. “The need to deepen and complete European banking union is undeniable.

Europe’s private banks and asset managers are facing a crisis as business models are hollowed out by negative interest rates, the chief executive of Edmond de Rothschild has warned, the Financial Times reported. Vincent Taupin, who has run the Swiss bank since March, also cautioned that neither acquisitions or attracting more money from customers offers an easy answer for the industry.