Industrial production in Europe’s largest economy rebounded less than expected in September, amid hopes that the outlook could be changing for the sector ahead of large-scale government investment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Output rose 1.3% on month, Germany’s statistics agency Destatis said Thursday, offsetting some of the 3.7% decline in August.

Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin has fined JPMorgan €45 million after finding shortcomings in the US bank’s money laundering prevention systems, EuroNews.com reported. The Frankfurt-based subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. failed to submit suspicious transaction reports on time between October 2021 and September 2022, BaFin said on Thursday. The regulator said the bank “culpably breached its supervisory obligations” regarding internal processes for flagging potentially illicit activity, resulting in a failure to report such transactions “without undue delay”.

Klöckner Pentaplast (kp), a German producer of rigid and flexible packaging and specialty films, has entered a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with a majority of its financial shareholders to implement a broad financial restructuring plan, GlobalData.com reported. The plan is expected to trim approximately €1.3bn ($1.49bn) from the company’s funded debt, with the objective of reinforcing its balance sheet and increasing financial flexibility. Following the completion of the plan, ownership of the company will shift to certain financial partners.

German manufacturing orders and industrial production in France rebounded in September, signaling a recovery in the factory sector after trade uncertainty dented demand over the summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total orders rose 1.1% on month in Germany, swinging from a 0.4% fall in August, statistics agency Destatis said Wednesday. Meanwhile, industrial output in France climbed 0.8% on month, offsetting much of the 0.9% fall in the prior month, France’s statistics agency Insee said.

Several German subsidiaries of First Brands Group have filed for insolvency, in a sign that the fallout from the US car parts supplier’s September bankruptcy is rippling through to its foreign operations, Bloomberg News reported. The insolvencies affected entities of automotive supplier Plastic Manufacturing Group, which is owned by First Brands, according to a statement from Schultze & Braun, whose lawyer has been appointed provisional administrator.

The agency group detailM GmbH, which included the affiliate network belboon and the SEO agency seo2b GmbH, most recently employed around 160 people. In April of this year, the group filed for insolvency, according to a company press release. seo2b GmbH, based in Trier, was founded in 2013 and developed over the years into one of the leading agencies in the field of search engine optimization. In 2018, ARCUS Capital AG, together with co-investors, acquired a majority stake in detailM GmbH, which included belboon GmbH and the newly acquired seo2b GmbH.

Polish battery manufacturer BMZ has announced the insolvency of two German subsidiaries: BMZ Germany GmbH and BMZ Holding GmbH, both headquartered in Karlstein am Main. As reported by the trade agency electrive, citing an official release by the company, both insolvency proceedings have been initiated under self-administration and were approved by the Aschaffenburg local court on October 24, Sustainable-Bus.com reported. In the bus business, BMZ is mainly know as the provider of NMC4 modules adopted by Daimler Buses on its eCitaro range (starting in 2026), as announced already in 2024.

U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producer Rosneft have rekindled discussions in Germany about nationalising the company's business there, including a refinery that Berlin depends on for most of its fuel, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. The situation highlights the complex web linking Germany with Russia, which supplied Europe's industrial powerhouse with energy in the decades leading up to the war in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it had issued a licence exempting Rosneft's German arm from the U.S.

More than half of German and European machinery exports to the United States could be hit by new tariffs if Washington expands its list in December, the German Engineering Federation VDMA said on Wednesday, urging the European Union to renegotiate the tariff deal, Reuters reported. The federation, which represents 3,600 machinery and plant engineering companies, said 56% of exports could be affected by steel and aluminium tariffs, up from around 40% after an initial expansion in August. "This affects virtually all branches of mechanical engineering.