Deutsche Lufthansa AG pilots Wednesday began what could become the longest walkout in the German airline's history, grounding 3,800 flights over the next three days, in a protest over changes to retirement benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported. The three-day strike will affect some 425,000 passengers on the premium Lufthansa service and the low-cost unit Germanwings, Lufthansa said. Despite the cancellations, the situation at Frankfurt airport Wednesday was calm as passengers had received ample warning about the walkout.

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, known as BaFin, has long been criticized as lax on banks and cowed by politicians. But recently, BaFin has started making bankers squirm, The Wall Street Journal reported. The regulator has publicly browbeaten Deutsche Bank, saying it has failed to change an internal culture stressing profits over ethics. It has pressed Deutsche Bank to fire traders for misbehavior, vetoed the promotion of a senior executive, and has forced the bank to change its accounting for a big transaction, according to people familiar with the matter.

Deutsche Lufthansa said Wednesday that a strike planned for Thursday at Frankfurt airport and six others in Germany would cost it millions of euros in damages and force the cancellation of close to 600 flights, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trade union Verdi called on ground staff, baggage handlers and maintenance staff at the seven airports to strike during the early shift as part of a dispute over pay.

Wet chemicals equipment processing specialist, RENA, has started insolvency proceedings under self-administration as it attempts to restructure after failing to gain a financing solution for debts encountered at a subsidiary, SH+E, PV-Tech reported. The company said that the insolvency proceedings only related to its German operations of RENA GmbH, while other domestic and foreign subsidiaries of the RENA Group would continue operating as normal. Jürgen Gutekunst, RENA founder and shareholder said: “Our core business at RENA has developed positively over recent months.

Sunways, a German subsidiary of stricken Chinese firm LDK Solar, has entered insolvency proceedings for the second time, PV-Tech reported. The module, cell and inverter manufacturer said it would file for insolvency on 21 March at a court in Konstanz. The company has said it is looking to use a restructuring period to negotiate with creditors and continue to function as a listed company. Sunways said it had already begun talking to potential investors. "The board is already in talks with potential investors and will continue these talks regardless of the filing," Sunways said in a statement.

IVG Immobilien AG (IVG), once Germany’s biggest real estate company, will be handed over to creditors after lenders approved a plan to restructure 3.2 billion euros ($4.4 billion) of debt, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors voted today in a court-supervised poll in favor of a debt-to-equity swap and capital increase that will take place in mid-2014, IVG said in a statement today. The company said on Feb. 24 that the swap will allow it to cut its debt by 2.2 billion euros.

Germany’s highest court ruled on Tuesday that the country’s government may participate in a fund set up to help financially stricken countries in the euro zone, the International New York Times reported. The decision is a defeat for skeptics of the euro and removes lingering doubts about whether Germany will contribute resources to a rescue fund that has been crucial to the survival of the euro zone.

France and Germany are squabbling over who should foot the bill for Europe’s banking union, with Paris fearing its banks will pay the biggest share towards a €55bn rescue fund, the Financial Times reported. As the EU enters a potentially decisive week in talks on a central system for handling bank crises, France is fighting plans to make its sector of big universal banks the leading contributors to the common insurance plan.

The Nuerburgring, the German race track known as Green Hell for its challenging Formula One course, was bought by an auto-parts maker two years after the former owner and operator filed for bankruptcy protection. The acquisition by Capricorn Group values the 379-hectare (937-acre) property at more than 100 million euros ($139 million), lawyers managing the insolvency of owner Nuerburgring GmbH said yesterday in a statement. That includes 25 million euros that the Dusseldorf-based buyer will spend to further develop the site.

German banks are to escape scrutiny of their residential mortgage portfolios in a sweeping review of lenders’ balance sheets by the European Central Bank, even as regulators express concerns over a property bubble in the eurozone’s largest economy, the Financial Times reported. Banks in Germany including Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank do not have to hand over details of loans made to homeowners for the ECB’s asset quality review, which aims to shine a light on eurozone banks’ portfolios, according to people familiar with the process.