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LONDON/SYDNEY, July 31 (Reuters) - Commercial real estate investors and lenders are slowly confronting an ugly question - if people never again shop in malls or work in offices the way they did before the pandemic, how safe are the fortunes they piled into bricks and mortar?Rising interest rates, stubborn inflation and squally economic conditions are familiar foes to seasoned commercial property buyers, who typically ride out storms waiting for rental demand to rally and the cost of borrowing to fall.Cyclical downturns rarely prompt fire sales, so long as lenders...

China's Vice Premier He Lifeng and French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire attend the China-France Economic and Financial Dialogue at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, July 29, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas PeterBEIJING, July 29 (Reuters) - China hopes France can "stabilise the tone" of EU-China relations, vice-premier He Lifeng told a senior French minister in Beijing on Saturday, as European leaders debate how to "de-risk" but also cooperate with the world's second-largest economy.He also told Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire that China is willing to deepen cooperation with...

LONDON/FRANKFURT, July 28 (Reuters) - Three banks from the European Union failed to meet binding capital requirements in a stress test that saw a theoretical 496 billion euros ($546 billion) wiped from their buffers, the bloc's banking watchdog said on Friday.Bank stress tests became a feature in Europe and the United States after the 2008 global financial crisis when taxpayers had to bail out some undercapitalised lenders. They are now part of routine supervision to ensure banks can still support the economy even in times of stressed markets.The European Banking...

MILAN, July 27 (Reuters) - Italy's state-controlled gas grid operator Snam (SRG.MI) said on Thursday it expected to get a financial support for some of its projects from the European Union's REPowerEU green energy scheme.The Italian government, which is struggling to spend 191.5 billion euros ($210.59 billion) of EU post-COVID funds by 2026, wants to shift some of that money to REPowerEU projects.According to a document released by the government, Rome could spend in total 19 billion euros ($21 billion) under the REPowerEU, with more than 400 million euros earmarked...