European Union governments should refrain from interfering with banking consolidation, which the bloc needs to compete with other major economies, two senior bank executives said on Friday, Reuters reported. The challenge of closer financial integration has taken fresh relevance in the euro zone after Italy's UniCredit last month unveiled a stake in Commerzbank and said it would consider a full takeover, sparking a backlash in Germany.

Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate to the highest level since the invasion of Ukraine as it struggles to cool an overheating economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Russia on Friday lifted borrowing costs for the third straight meeting, to 21% from 19%. The key rate was last near that high in late February 2022 when the central bank countered a slump in the ruble that followed the start of a lengthening war on the country’s neighbor.

Atos SE said a French commercial court approved its financial restructuring plan, paving the way for creditors to take control of the troubled French IT company in the coming months, Bloomberg News reported. Under the plan, Atos will receive about €1.5 billion to €1.7 billion ($1.6 billion to $1.8 billion) of new money by the beginning of 2025 to help fund its restructuring, the company said in its earnings statement on Thursday.

Lilium NV said its main subsidiaries may be forced to file for insolvency proceedings within days as the electric flying taxi firm struggles to raise enough funding to continue operations, Bloomberg News reported. The subsidiaries have become “overindebted” and won’t be able to pay existing liabilities, according to a filing on Thursday. Management of the units has told the parent company that they will have to file for insolvency under German law and will apply for self-administration proceedings, the filing said. The startup’s shares fell as much as 63% as of 10:39 a.m.

A group of creditors that holds Thames Water’s riskiest debt is drawing up plans to provide the beleaguered UK utility with a loan of at least £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) to help it stave off insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. The holders of Class B securities have offered financing that would pay about 8% interest. It would rank senior to all of the company’s existing debt, one of the people said.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said disinflation in the UK is happening faster than officials had anticipated, the latest hint that the central bank will continue cutting interest rates next month, Bloomberg News reported. Bailey said during an event on Wednesday in Washington that inflation was lower than he had expected a year ago, highlighting a “good story” on second-round effects that threatened to keep price pressures elevated.

The Bank of England is hunting for better ways to keep a close eye on non-bank financial institutions as it looks to track escalating risks posed by the sector, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank has spent months probing how a bevy of investment banks, insurers, central counterparties, hedge funds and other asset managers can handle different forms of stress as part of its so-called system wide exploratory scenario. Still, Governor Andrew Bailey said regulators have already realized there’s a need for further tools to monitor these players.

A new luxury hotel near London’s Bond Street station is going up for sale after attempts to refinance the project so far have been unsuccessful, Bloomberg News reported. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has been appointed to market the five-star BoTree hotel on Marylebone Lane. The 199-room property, built on the site of a former car park, was developed by Shiva Hotels Group and cost £375 million ($487 million) to build. Place III has been attempting to refinance the hotel since it opened in September 2023.

The perilous state of U.K. council finances means one in four local authorities could be forced to request emergency support from the government to avoid effective bankruptcy over the next two years, according to research, the Independent reported. A survey of council chief executives suggests projected funding shortfalls, which are expected to total more than £2 billion next year, will threaten the viability of many councils in England without measures in the Budget to ensure stability and protect vital services.