Mario Draghi has delivered an upbeat assessment of the eurozone’s economic recovery, hailing what he depicted as its resilience in the face of threats such as North Korea and disruptions such as Brexit. But he urged caution before bringing the region’s ultra-loose monetary policy to an end, the Financial Times reported. Speaking in Brussels, the European Central Bank president argued that the momentum of the recovery, which registered 2.3 per cent growth in the 12 months to June, meant the eurozone was no longer as vulnerable as before to external shocks.

Russian private air carrier VIM Airline has faced a severe economic adversary and has asked the state for financial aid with a possibility of going into a receivership, the company said on its social media accounts on Monday. The company, top 10 among the Russian airlines, also known as VIM-AVIA, has cancelled or delayed dozens of flights for the past few days, Reuters reported. “Unfortunately, we have to state that the VIM-AVIA airline has been faced with a hard economic situation.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to conclude talks with Lufthansa and easyJet on a carve-up of its assets by the middle of next month as it races to secure jobs and keep flying, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, which has around 8,000 employees, filed for insolvency in August after major shareholder Etihad said it would stop providing funding. The German government stepped in with a 150 million euro ($178 million) loan, due to last until the end of October, to prevent the airline being grounded so that talks could be held on selling its assets.

The Bank of England said rapid gains in consumer credit could cause U.K. banks to suffer bigger losses than they’re expecting if the economy weakens, Bloomberg News reported. “Lenders overall are placing too much weight on the recent performance of consumer lending in benign conditions as an indicator or underlying credit quality,” the BOE’s Financial Policy Committee said on Monday.

In a related story, British Airways parent IAG put in a bid for part of insolvent German airline Air Berlin but expects it will go mainly to Lufthansa, CEO Willie Walsh said at a conference in Barcelona, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, which filed for insolvency in August, said last week its creditors had picked Lufthansa and easyJet as possible buyers and would negotiate with them for until Oct 12. “We put in a binding bid for part of Air Berlin, but I don’t think it comes as any surprise that Lufthansa is going to get it,” Walsh was quoted as saying at the World Routes conference.

Air Berlin’s Austria-based unit Niki said a court has rejected an insolvency petition brought against it by an Austrian tour operator, adding that its flight operations are continuing, Reuters reported. “The Korneuburg regional court confirmed the legal opinion of Niki and has rejected the insolvency petition as unfounded,” Niki said in a statement on Friday. Parent Air Berlin filed for insolvency in August, but Niki, which flies to tourist destinations from Germany and Austria, was not part of the insolvency proceedings.

A Lufthansa bid price of 200 million euros ($239 million) to buy assets from insolvent Air Berlin plus 100 million euros to meet operating costs is roughly correct, a source familiar with the talks said on Sunday. The newspaper Bild am Sonntag earlier reported the figures, citing sources close to the proceedings. The newspaper said that there could be three months between signing a purchasing contract and implementing the transaction because German and European competition authorities would need to vet any deal, Reuters reported.

Swissport has started providing short-term loans to companies linked to the HNA Group, raising concerns among investors about the intermingling of the Swiss airline services company’s funds with its Chinese parent, the Financial Times reported. HNA acquired Swissport at the start of 2016, financing the deal with junk bonds and leverage loans, during the height of the Chinese conglomerate’s international buying spree. In a financial statement to its bondholders published this month, Swissport disclosed that it lent $100m to a “related party” on June 28 that was repaid nine days later.

The European Union’s plans to tighten up its oversight of financial firms have come under attack from industry and consumer groups that fear the move could hit businesses without doing enough to prevent misselling of risky funds, Reuters reported. The criticism comes after the European Commission on Wednesday published proposals aimed at ending national supervision of some financial industries in a bid to strengthen the EU’s common market and increase controls over foreign firms that operate in the bloc.

UniCredit SpA executives have held discussions with German officials about a potential combination with Commerzbank AG once the lenders’ restructuring is complete, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. A transaction is unlikely in the short term because both banks are cutting jobs and selling assets to restore profitability, said people familiar with UniCredit’s thinking, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private, Bloomberg News reported. Contacts are at an early stage for what would probably be an all-share deal, Reuters reported Wednesday.