Ireland’s central bank has warned of “immense” economic threats from a no-deal Brexit, saying the “worst-case” scenario for Dublin was a disorderly UK departure from the EU, the Financial Times reported. The bank said it foresaw huge damage to Ireland’s economy should political talks fail in coming weeks, adding that immediate turmoil in financial markets would come alongside a drop in consumer spending, disruption in ports and airports, and lower exports. Ireland’s economic rebound from the 2008 crash has taken the country to the cusp of full employment less than a decade

The European Commission is suing Slovenia for seizing European Central Bank documents in a raid at its own central bank three years ago as investigators looked into its role in bank bailouts, Bloomberg News reported. The Commission said Thursday in a statement that it’s “decided to refer Slovenia to the Court of Justice of the EU for the violation of the inviolability of the archives of the ECB.” Attempts in 2016, 2017 and 2018 to clarify the facts and circumstances were unsuccessful, it said.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said on Wednesday he was puzzled by widespread warnings that household debt in Britain had reached unsustainable levels, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Growth in household debt, rather than levels, had proven to be a better indicator of financial distress across different countries, Broadbent said in a speech to the London Business School. Excluding car and student loans, unsecured household debt in Britain is no higher than it was 25 years ago, relative to income, Broadbent said.

Just six weeks after the European Central Bank removed the most important part of its crisis-era stimulus in a nod to a recovering eurozone economy, such official optimism is under threat, the Financial Times reported. With a swath of data showing weakening global growth, central banks are concerned. The US Federal Reserve has already signalled it expects fewer interest rate rises this year, and on Thursday the ECB will debate its response, after stopping the expansion of its €2.6tn quantitative easing programme in December.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways on Wednesday said it has begun legal proceedings in London, disputing a claim by the administrators of Air Berlin for damages of up to 2 billion euros ($2.26 billion), Reuters reported. State-owned Etihad filed its case in the High Court in London on Wednesday, a company spokesman told Reuters, and believes that the case initiated in December by the German airline in Berlin should be determined by the English court. The insolvency administrator’s lawsuit said that Etihad had not complied with its financial obligations to Air Berlin.

South African retailer International Holdings N.V. said on Tuesday a former partner firm of its European operations claims it is owed about 291 million euros (£256.62 million or $331 million) by the company, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Steinhoff is in the middle of a clean-up of its balance sheet after discovering multi-billion euro holes in its balance sheet more than a year ago. LWS GmbH, a company linked to Austrian businessman Andreas Seifert, claims to be a creditor of Steinhoff Europe AG (SEAG), the parent company said.

Representatives of Greece's bailout creditors are in Athens to review progress on measures demanded in return for relief on the country's massive national debt, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. The inspectors started meetings Tuesday with senior government officials to review issues including delayed privatization projects, a plan to help banks reduce a high amount of non-performing loans, and measures to protect low-income families from property foreclosures.

An indicator assessing the state of the German economy fell to a four-year low, while analysts in January revealed a slightly less negative sentiment for their outlook, according to a key survey. The Zew survey’s assessment of the current economic situation in Germany dropped 17.7 points to 27.6 points, the lowest reading since January 2015, the research group revealed on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported.

Italian banks became more cautious about lending in the last quarter of 2018, tightening credit standards as well as terms and conditions on their loans, according to the European Central Bank’s latest bank lending survey. This is the second successive quarter of tightening in the Italian banking sector, “partly because they are charging higher interest margins on riskier loans”, said Jack Allen, an economist at Capital Economics, the Financial Times reported.

British cafe chain owner Patisserie Holdings Plc on Tuesday appointed audit firm KPMG as administrators after it was unable to renew its bank facilities in the aftermath of an accounting scandal, Reuters reported. The troubled company said it did not have sufficient funding and that its Chairman Luke Johnson extended an unsecured, interest-free loan to ensure that the staff was paid wages for January. Patisserie, which floated four years ago, plunged into turmoil last October after discovering accounting irregularities that led to the suspension of its top management.