French AA gaming developer and accessory manufacturer Nacon said that it has filed for insolvency after its majority shareholder Bigben failed to make a loan repayment, Endgadget.com reported. "To date, the company reports available assets do not allow it to meet its liabilities," Nacon wrote. The objective with insolvency, it said, was to allow "continued operation, protect employees and maintain jobs while renegotiating with its creditors." Nacon is behind the games Styx: Blades of Greed and was set to publish Terminator: Survivors before that title was delayed.

According to a report released Thursday by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the workforce in the country's automotive industry diminished by a third between 2010 and 2023, Euronews.com reported. This includes manufacturers, equipment makers and other suppliers, with the bulk of the disruption being caused by car manufacturers who cut 46,000 jobs during the 13-year period observed in the study. Falling sales due to Chinese competition, among other factors, exacerbated the issue and led to consequent factory closures and relocations.

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau will stand down in June, more than a year before the end of his term, allowing President Emmanuel Macron to name his replacement before a 2027 presidential election that the far-right could win, Reuters reported. Villeroy has been a consistent voice for lower interest rates in the European Central Bank's governing council, although analysts expect his successor to adopt a similar stance.

France's competition watchdog has raided auditing firms as part of an anti-trust investigation, it said on Wednesday, while La Lettre financial publication said the "Big Four" firms Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PWC were among those targeted, Reuters reported. Autorite de la Concurrence, as the watchdog is known, on Tuesday carried out "unannounced inspections to visit and seize documents" at several companies offering services of auditing and financial reporting certification, it said in a statement. Deloitte said it had no comment to make, when contacted by Reuters about the matter.

Inflation in France cooled in December — a reading that comes after the European Central Bank’s decision to hold interest rates at the end of last year, EuroNews.com reported. Consumer prices (CPI) rose by 0.8% year-on-year in December, following a reading of 0.9% in November, according to statistics body INSEE. The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices or HICP, which allows for comparison between EU countries, came to 0.7%. That followed a reading of 0.8% in November.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in approach to monetary policy at the European Central Bank to boost the single market and protect it from the risks of financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported. In an unusual move by a euro-zone leader to comment on the region’s central bank, Macron said in an interview with Les Echos the ECB needs to think differently if the European Union wants to capitalize on its strengths such as its domestic market and high savings rate. Read more.

A coalition of thousands of French retailers has sued the Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein, accusing it of unfair competition, according to the French Retail Council, a move that escalated a backlash against the company in France this week, the New York Times reported. The class action suit, filed on Wednesday in a commercial court in southern France, was brought on by 12 federations and 100 large French brands.

he French government is preparing to sue a British private equity firm over claims it short-changed a failed local steelmaker, The Telegraph reported. Roland Lescure, the French finance minister, said the government would be “uncompromising” as he accused Greybull of failing to follow through on investment pledges for Novasco, which is based in Hagondange, a city in north east France. The situation has led to months of uncertainty for the 700 people employed by Novasco, after the company was placed into administration in August – a year after it was taken over by Greybull.