The EU’s financial services chief has warned that the bloc’s flagship project to boost private sector investment in business is in jeopardy, with governments lagging in approving the necessary laws, the Financial Times reported. Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president responsible for the euro, said the EU’s goal of creating a capital markets union by 2019 might not be reached.

Greece is about to exit its bailout, a symbolic move past a debt crisis that exploded eight years ago and left the economy, and the lives of its people, completely changed, Bloomberg News reported. At the time of the May 2010 aid package -- the first of three -- politicians from euro-area creditor countries argued the crisis was the result of chronic fiscal and economic indiscipline. To justify breaching a “no bailout clause,” loans were tied to strict conditions, covering fiscal sustainability, financial stability, growth and competitiveness, and reform of public administration and justice.

Deutsche Bank said Saturday that it is acting on its own to buy bonds of Noble Group Ltd, days before a crucial shareholder vote on a $3.5 billion restructuring of the Singapore-listed commodity trader, The Wall Street Journal reported. The confirmation comes a day after The Wall Street Journal reported the bank’s unexpected offer to buy the bonds. It wasn’t clear on Friday if Deutsche Bank was acting on behalf of another company or for itself, as banks typically handle bond tenders like this for clients.

AQ/AQ founder Julie Lingard has filed a notice to creditors to continue trading her business, despite filing for insolvency in July, Retail Gazette reported. Lingard was the managing director of AQ/AQ when it appointed liquidators on July 4. Insolvency specialists AABRS were brought in to handle the liquidation after a special resolution passed by the company to voluntarily wind up the business. However, Lingard has since filed a notice to creditors on July 25 to allow ”the re-use of a prohibited name”.

Belair Airlines has declared insolvency as of Wednesday, August 15, after talks with a prospective investor collapsed, ch-aviation reported. Under the new ownership of German investment firm SBC, the former airberlin group unit had, earlier this year, planned to secure a new Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) from the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) in time to commence ACMI and charter flights during the current summer season.

PwC should have flagged significant doubts over the future of BHS in an audit that was completed just days before the now collapsed British retailer was sold for a token one pound in 2015, a regulator said on Wednesday. BHS, which was sold in 2015 by billionaire retailer Philip Green’s Taveta Group, had 163 stores and 11,000 staff when it collapsed a year later, triggering a political firestorm, Reuters reported. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) watchdog in June fined PwC a record 6.5 million pounds ($8.3 million) and former partner Stephen Denison 325,000 pounds.

The price of Italian government bonds dropped sharply on Wednesday afternoon in a renewed bout of selling amid wider woes for risk assets, the Financial Times reported. The yield on two-year Italian debt — which moves inversely to price — hit 1.435 per cent at one point, up 16 basis points from the day’s open to the highest level since early June. Meanwhile the 10-year yield rose by 12 basis points on the day to 3.2 per cent, also the highest level for two months.

British home improvement retailer Homebase said on Tuesday it planned to close 42 stores, putting 1,500 jobs at risk, with new owner Hilco Capital seeking to reduce its cost base in a brutal trading environment, Reuters reported. Hilco acquired the struggling chain from Australian group Wesfarmers for a nominal 1 pound in May. Homebase said the proposed closures form part of a so-called Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring, allowing the business to avoid insolvency or administration.

Sports Direct International Plc says it will continue to operate most of House of Fraser Ltd.’s 59 U.K. and Ireland department stores after rescuing the chain from near collapse, Bloomberg News reported. “Our aim is to keep at least 80 percent of the stores open,” Liam Rowley, Sports Direct’s head of strategic investments, said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg TV with Anna Edwards and Manus Cranny.

Air France KLM shares slumped on Monday after the airline’s biggest pilots union said over the weekend that there were risks of further strikes if pay talks with management did not resume, The Irish Times reported. Air France KLM shares were down 5.8 per cent in early trading, making them the worst performers on Paris’ SBF-120 equity index. The stock has fallen by around 40 per cent so far in 2018.