Central bankers are starting to see promising results from one of the recent additions to their monetary policy toolbox, Bloomberg News reported. Lending curbs to stem financial risk -- so-called macroprudential limits -- have helped slow risky borrowing and temper property price bubbles in countries from New Zealand to Canada, a host of financial stability reports showed this week. While there hasn’t been uniform success -- Hong Kong’s housing market shows no signs of cooling -- it’s given central banks some breathing space to be more gradual in tightening monetary policy.

Greece has reached agreement with its international creditors on reforms required to release the next loan tranche under its current bailout, boosting the leftwing Syriza government’s hopes of achieving a smooth exit from the €86bn programme next August, the Financial Times reported. “The [EU and IMF bailout monitors’] visit is completed, we have closed the [technical] agreement,” Euclid Tsakalotos, finance minister, said after the week-long talks ended on Saturday.

Millennium BCP, Portugal’s largest listed bank, has successfully completed the first issue of subordinated Tier 2 notes by a Portuguese lender since the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, despite a boycott of the offer by some of the world’s leading fixed-income investors, the Financial Times reported. BCP, which priced the 10-year medium-term notes on Wednesday, said the €300m issue attracted orders for three times that amount from a wide range of mainly European institutional investors. The notes were priced at an interest rate of 4.5 per cent for the first five years.

Lufthansa is willing to sacrifice the right to fly some routes to save its deal to acquire assets of Air Berlin, the low-cost airline that collapsed recently, a source familiar with the company’s thinking said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The German carrier will submit its proposed concessions to the European Commission before a midnight deadline, including giving up so-called ‘slots’ belonging to Air Berlin businesses Niki and LG Walter, the source said.

Greece plans to return to the international capital markets early next year with a new seven-year bond issue after successfully completing a €30bn voluntary bond swap this week, according to two people involved in preparing the country’s borrowing strategy for 2018, the Financial Times reported. If market conditions are favourable, two more issues of three- and 10-year bonds would follow by July, ahead of Greece’s expected exit from its current bailout programme next August, the people said.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to extend for five years the mandate of Elke Koenig, the German head of the European Union’s body in charge of disposing of failing banks, Reuters reported. Koenig, who has chaired the Single Resolution Board (SRB) since its creation in 2014, currently has a three-year mandate that expires in December. The Commission’s proposal needs to be confirmed by the European Parliament. Lawmakers plan to hold a hearing with Koenig on Monday, according to a draft agenda of the assembly’s economic committee.

If there was ever a textbook example of how not to handle a sovereign debt crisis, it was Greece. Nearly a decade since Athens first asked for help from its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund, the Greek economy is still struggling to recover. Even after a steep restructuring, sovereign debt remains unsustainable, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. If Greece is not to be crippled by its debt load, European governments will have to accept further debt-reducing measures, on top of the maturity extensions and the cut in interest rates they have already agreed to.

Budget airline Wizz Air said it would fly two more aircraft from London’s Luton airport after securing take-off and landing slots there from failed carrier Monarch Airlines, Reuters reported. Wizz, listed in London but with the majority of its operations focused on Europe, said it would increase its fleet at Luton by two aircraft to total seven and pushing up its capacity at the airport by 18 percent. Earlier this week, British Airways owner IAG bought valuable take-off and landing slots at London’s Gatwick airport, beating off competition from other airlines.

Britain’s major supermarkets sought to reassure smokers on Wednesday that the collapse of Palmer & Harvey (P&H), the UK’s biggest tobacco distributor, would not lead to shortages of cigarettes, Reuters reported. P&H, which also delivers food and drink to supermarkets and convenience stores, went into administration on Tuesday after running out of cash, raising the possibility of tobacco shortages across the UK. However, Tesco and Sainsbury‘s, both said they had set in train contingency plans to ensure their stores were stocked with sufficient tobacco products.

British retail supplier Palmer & Harvey McLane Ltd has been placed in administration after running out of cash, with the immediate loss of some 2,500 jobs, accounting firm PwC said, Reuters reported. The group, which delivers cigarettes, food and drinks to retail chains and convenience stores, has been hit by challenging trading conditions in recent months and efforts to restructure it have been unsuccessful, PwC said on Tuesday.