Europe

Czech central bank Governor Ales Michl reaffirmed his message of caution in monetary easing as he seeks to avoid a fresh wave of inflation, Bloomberg News reported. While consumer price growth has stabilized near the 2% target, policymakers are wary of continued increases in costs of services and of budget deficits, Michl said in an interview with Seznamzpravy.cz published on Friday. The Czech National Bank must proceed “very cautiously” with further interest-rate cuts, and it may halt them if those inflation risks grow, he said.

French manufacturing output grew more quickly than expected in August, a rare bright sign in a sector that has struggled to recover from recent shocks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Output from goods-producing industries was 1.6% higher over the month, according to figures set out Friday by France’s statistics agency. Production increased across various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, transportation and automotive. The uptick in factory production comes despite signs of continued slowdown in the sector, according to business surveys published last month.

The European Commission has opened infringement procedures against Ireland for allegedly not fully transposing a directive on insolvency into law, the Irish Independent reported. Brussels sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland on September 26, accusing the country of not meeting a July 17 deadline to set out how it plans to introduce electronic communications for three aspects of insolvency.

UK investment manager Intermediate Capital Group Plc is suing a real estate services firm over property valuations it says were inflated and against which it lent hundreds of millions of pounds, Bloomberg News reported. The case revolves around an estimated £500 million ($657 million) owed to ICG funds by caravan park owner RoyaleLife, people with knowledge of the matter said. The retirement-focused real estate business collapsed last year and its owner, Bob Bull, was declared bankrupt.

Swiss inflation weakened to the slowest pace in more than three years, pointing to further monetary easing by the country’s central bank, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 0.8% from a year ago in September, Switzerland’s statistics office said Thursday. That’s much lower than the 1% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey and compares with 1.1% in August. Costs for holidays and air travel fell, as did prices for gasoline, heating oil and diesel, offsetting higher charges for clothing and footwear, according to a statement.

Triton Partners is poised to hand over the keys of personnel provider Univativ to private credit fund Pemberton Asset Management, an existing lender to the company, Bloomberg News reported. A spokesperson for Pemberton confirmed the transfer of ownership of Univativ. Triton will retain an economic interest in the German firm, which finds jobs for university graduates, according to the Pemberton representative. Triton’s acquisition of Univativ was financed by a unitranche loan from Pemberton in 2017. The parties at the time did not disclose the overall size of the loan facility.

Italy plans to raise taxes on the companies that benefitted most from the economic turbulence of recent years in order to help bring down the country’s budget deficit, Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said, Bloomberg News reported. Giorgetti said that he is looking at levies that would apply to companies in a number of industries, without offering any further detail. Italy’s benchmark stock index fell as much as 1.5%. The 57-year-old finance chief faces a delicate balancing act in trying to persuade Italian executives to accept his plans without provoking a public backlash.

The majority of banks in Belgium held up well in a recent stress test regarding the guarantee of customer deposits if they went bankrupt. However, six banks failed to provide sufficient information to the Federal Government. A recent test conducted by the State Guarantee Fund (managed by the Ministry of Finance) assessed whether 29 different banks in Belgium were able to meet legal requirements in the event of a bankruptcy. All credit institutions which hold deposits in Belgium were tested, including Argenta, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, CBC, Crelan, ING and KBC.