The European Central Bank's policymakers are still concerned that inflation in the 19-nation eurozone is too low despite an improving economy and seem worried about the strength of the shared euro currency, their last meeting shows. The account of the July 20 meeting, published Thursday, shows the rate-setters noted that market investors seemed overly aggressive in thinking the bank would wind down its stimulus program soon, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story.

Air Berlin's chief executive blamed long delays in the opening of a new Berlin airport for the German airline's insolvency in an interview published by Germany's Die Zeit, Reuters reported. "Air Berlin is also a victim of the constant postponements of the new airport," the weekly newspaper on Wednesday quoted Thomas Winkelmann as saying. Winkelmann's comments came a day after Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection after key shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses.

Despite national government statistics showing a sharp 15.4% drop in underlying corporate insolvencies in the second quarter of 2017, more East Midlands businesses are standing at the brink of insolvency than at any other time this year, TheBusinessDesk reported. This is according to new monthly research by the Midlands branch of restructuring and insolvency trade body R3 which shows that over one in four businesses in the region – 28 per cent – are now at higher than normal risk of becoming insolvent.

Investors bought insurance contracts that explicitly protect against bond losses imposed by governments or regulators as part of a bank rescue, Bloomberg News reported. But more than two months after junior notes were wiped out in Europe’s first forced sale of a failing lender under its new resolution regime, holders of credit-default swaps haven’t been compensated. Banco Popular Espanol SA subordinated bonds were written off in June, when the struggling Spanish lender was sold to Banco Santander SA for one euro by the European Union’s Single Resolution Board.

Air Berlin Plc filed for insolvency after leading shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC withdrew its financial support, marking the second failure of a major European airline in four months after the Persian Gulf carrier pulled the plug on funding Italy’s Alitalia SpA in May, Bloomberg News reported. While Air Berlin, which has 8,600 staff, will continue flying with the help of a government loan likely to last it until mid-November, Tuesday’s filing puts German jobs at risk weeks before German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands for re-election.

Finland’s economy suffered its worst performance in five years in the second quarter of the year, falling into contraction for the first time since the depth of its woes back in 2012. A measure of adjusted year on year GDP fell 0.5 per cent in the three months to June, down from growth of 2.5 per cent at the start of the year, according to Statistics Finland. Outside the southern European member states, Finland has been one of the worst performing economies in the single currency area over the last decade.

U.K. auto lenders are increasingly vulnerable to a drop in used-car prices after a surge in risky loans, according to a post published on the Bank of England’s staff blog Tuesday. It’s the latest central bank salvo in a raging debate over whether years of low interest rates have spurred a wave of loans that will lead to rising defaults, Bloomberg News reported. At issue are Personal Contract Purchases, under which drivers make a deposit and rent a new car instead of buying it.

The future of Learndirect, the UK’s largest provider of adult learning and apprenticeships, looks increasingly bleak after the Department for Education said on Tuesday that it would cut its funding to the private-equity owned company, the Financial Times reported. The decision by the DfE, a major source of Learndirect’s income, follows a damning report about the company’s performance by Ofsted, the education regulator, which the Financial Times and FE Week revealed on Monday.

Leading central banks now own a fifth of their governments’ total debt, a sign of the scale of the challenge they will face in unwinding unprecedented stimulus measures deployed over the past decade, the Financial Times reported. Since the financial crisis emerged, the world’s biggest central banks have carried out large-scale purchases of bonds and other securities in a bid to boost the global economy by driving down borrowing costs for households and businesses.

The UK’s largest adult training and apprenticeships provider is at risk of collapse following a damning report by Ofsted, the education regulator, that the company tried to suppress, the Financial Times reported. Learndirect, which currently has 73,000 people on training courses and apprenticeships, was given Ofsted’s lowest grade possible after an inspection in March.