Thomas Cook’s German tour business filed for insolvency on Wednesday in a move aimed at separating its brands and operations from its failed parent, and said it was in talks with potential new investors, Reuters reported. The German government said it was considering an application for a bridging loan from Thomas Cook Germany, a day after it said it would guarantee a 380 million euro ($418 million) bridging loan for the British group’s German airline, Condor.

The head of Germany’s business lobby has called on the government to give up its balanced budget rule and take on new debt, joining a growing chorus of economists and politicians demanding a rethink of Berlin’s mantra of no new borrowing, the Financial Times reported. Dieter Kempf, head of the BDI, told the Financial Times it was time to put the rule “on the back burner”, especially in light of the country’s crying need for big investments in education and digital infrastructure.

In a related story, Reuters reported that Germany will guarantee a 380 million euro ($418.6 million) bridging loan for Condor, the German airline owned by insolvent British travel operator Thomas Cook, to enable it to continue flying and save jobs, the economy minister said on Tuesday. The airline, which is profitable, had said on Monday it would carry on its operations and that it would ask the German government for a bridging loan despite its parent company’s collapse. It is a separate legal entity from Thomas Cook.

Commerzbank said on Friday it wanted to shed thousands of staff and close a fifth of its branches in a strategy overhaul, after the German lender’s attempt to merge with Deutsche Bank failed, Reuters reported. The bank, partly owned by the German government after a bailout and struggling to generate profits, also aims to sell a stake in its Polish subsidiary mBank and absorb its Comdirect online brokerage unit.

For the umpteenth time, Deutsche Bank AG is ensnared in an alleged regulatory blunder. Except this time, the stakes are greater than its own integrity: Confidence in its regulator, the European Central Bank, is on the line too, a Bloomberg View reported. The ECB is considering whether to probe Germany’s biggest bank for trading in its riskiest debt without the regulator’s approval, according to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. In an effort to maintain liquidity in the bonds, the firm’s securities unit continued to make a market in the notes well after they were sold to investors.

A deal to buy insolvent German wind-power manufacturer Senvion’s service business would help Siemens Gamesa catch up to rival Vestas in this increasingly important part of the market, a Wood Mackenzie analyst says, Greentech Media reported. Senvion this week confirmed it's in exclusive talks with Siemens Gamesa to sell parts of its service business and other “selected onshore assets." Senvion entered voluntary insolvency proceedings in April as the global wind turbine industry continues to consolidate around a few major players outside of China, notably Vestas, Siemens Gamesa and GE.

Deutsche Bank faces the threat of a European Central Bank investigation after buying and selling its own debt for more than three years without regulatory approval, said people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported. Employees at Germany’s biggest lender forgot to apply for the necessary approval to buy and sell its additional tier 1 (AT1) bonds between 2014 and 2017, which it did to help ensure liquidity in the securities, one of the people said.

Insolvent German wind turbine manufacturer Senvion on Monday agreed on exclusive talks with Siemens Gamesa over the sale of a substantial part of its business, Reuters reported. Senvion, which is in self-administration after becoming insolvent in April, said it planned to hammer out a final deal on certain services and onshore assets in Europe in negotiations with the German-Spanish wind energy company by the end of the month. The agreement on exclusive talks is consistent with insolvency plans adopted by the creditors’ assembly on Sept.

For years the German economy prospered as its companies benefited from growing global trade and freedom to export. France, with a much more domestically focused economy, was a laggard. But now the tables have been turned, the Financial Times reported. In an environment of increasing trade hostility, France’s strength in services and domestic consumption is proving a boon while German exports are suffering as a result of the country’s dependence on the Chinese market for cars and industrial equipment.

Eurozone industrial production contracted more than expected in July, dragged down by a sharp fall in Germany and marking the latest batch of bleak economic data ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported. The single currency area’s industrial output contracted 0.4 per cent in July over the previous month, according to official data from Eurostat. Compared to the same month last year, factory output in the 19 eurozone countries was down 2 per cent, worse than the 1.3 per cent fall expected by economists polled by Reuters.