Probably the single biggest geopolitical issue for the EU right now, and especially for Germany, is future relations with China, the Financial Times reported. The two countries do have a lot in common. Both are export-driven economies with large external savings surpluses. But Germany’s economic strategy is not nearly as consistent. The German political preference is to reduce public debt. Yet the country’s biggest problem is falling behind in the technological race.

Britain has just four weeks left as a member of the European Union. Or maybe not. Staying weeks, months, even years longer is the talk of London; but such ideas are getting a frosty hearing on the continent, Reuters reported. When Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, confessed this week to “a certain Brexit fatigue” and his negotiator Michel Barnier said what Britain needs is not time but decisions, they were reflecting a broad impatience that means Britain will struggle to get more than a short delay.

Patisserie Valerie’s top management has been placed on leave two weeks after the collapsed cafe chain operator was bought out of administration, according to the Financial Times, Reuters reported. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Francis who was appointed in November of last year and former Starbucks executive Rhys Iley who joined as the chief commercial officer after an accounting scandal was unearthed at the company are both on leave, the Financial Times report said.

Rigas Satiksma municipal public transport company may face insolvency in March without new EUR 37 million subsidies, said Rigas Satiksme acting CEO Anrijs Matiss in an interview with Ir magazine, referred LETA. The city’s budget has not yet been adopted, therefore municipal companies receive one 12th of last year’s basic budget monthly, and in the case of Rigas Satiksme it is EUR 8.35 mln, which is about EUR 100 mln a year, The Baltic Course reported.

The Romanian Postal office has requested the insolvency of PRBA, the national postal operator’s insurance broker, Business Review reported. The company’s representatives made this decision as a result of analyzing the legal debt recovery options that PRBA had to register with the company. The broker has registered losses of RON 4 million in the last five years and receivables of RON 2 million.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund has temporary suspended payments to depositors of insolvent JSC Zlatobank, the Fund's press service reports, MENAFN reported. "The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court under the ruling as of February 5, 2019 denied motions submitted by the Deposit Guarantee Fund and National Bank of Ukraine against the decision of Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal, dated October 25, 2017, canceling liquidation of JSC Zlatobank, the statement says. Read more

A rogue company director branded one of the worst perpetrators in the nuisance calling game has been banned from running companies in the UK for eight years, The Register reported. Welshman Richard Jones was responsible for setting up two companies that fell foul of Brit privacy watchdog the ICO after breaking direct marketing laws. Your Money Rights was slapped with a £350,000 fine in September 2017 for making 146 million nuisance PPI calls – the highest it had issued at the time for a breach of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Italy is preparing a decree to renew and possibly modify a state guarantee scheme designed to help its banks shed a mountain of bad loans, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. The scheme, known by the acronym GACS, was introduced in 2016 and is set to expire on March 6, Reuters reported. The government now aims to launch a new programme and is in talks with European authorities, which must approve it. “The agreement has not yet been reached but we are quite close,” one of the sources said, asking not to be named.

Britain’s banks would be resilient to a chaotic Brexit, even if this leads to a spike in bad loans that hits their profits, credit rating agency Moody’s said, Reuters reported. Lenders’ efforts to boost their capital buffers since the financial crisis has put them in a good position to weather any disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit, Moody’s said in a report on Wednesday.

Temporary administrators of Banca Carige said they had to find a buyer by April for the Italian bank, after unveiling a 630 million euro (£540 million) capital shortfall, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank on Jan. 2 placed Italy’s 10th largest bank under special administration - its first ever such move - after the top investor in the Genoa-based lender blocked a 400 million euro cash call.