Bloomberg Commerzbank AG will take an additional 2.1 billion-euro ($2.6 billion) hit in the fourth quarter as the pandemic weighs on interest rates and drives up bad loans, pushing the lender deeper into the red as it readies a new turnaround plan. Commerzbank will write off 1.5 billion euros in goodwill on its books and set aside about 630 million …

Bloomberg After three years of savings, top US banks could face an increased tax bill of as much as $11 billion a year if President-elect Joe Biden moves forward with corporate rate hikes he campaigned on. That would follow $42 billion of savings by the six biggest banks thanks to outgoing President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which have boosted …

Bloomberg China sentenced Hu Huaibang, a former chairman of the nation’s biggest policy bank, to life imprisonment on charges of corruption, the second harsh punishment doled out this week in a sign President Xi Jinping is escalating a campaign to crack down on lawbreaking state officials. Hu was found guilty of taking bribes totaling 85.5 million yuan ($13 million) during …

Bloomberg A semiconductor shortage is pinching some of the world’s biggest auto manufacturers, costing Daimler AG, Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV production for a range of cars. Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler joined its German peer Volkswagen AG in announcing it’s affected by the industrywide supply bottleneck, without quantifying the impact. Honda said …

Bloomberg Hyundai Motor backed away from a statement confirming it is in talks with Apple Inc. on developing self-driving car that fuelled an $8 billion surge in the Korean automaker’s market value, saying instead that it received requests for potential cooperation from a number of companies. Revising its statement for the second time in a matter of hours, Hyundai said …

Bloomberg Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric-truck startup backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., is close to raising a new round of funding valuing it at about $25 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Several existing Rivian investors are participating in the round, which will raise several billion dollars. Existing investors in company include Amazon, T. Rowe …

Bloomberg Equifax Inc. agreed to acquire Kount Inc., which offers fraud protection for e-commerce retailers, for $640 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, Atlanta-based Equifax said in a statement Friday. Kount’s employees will continue to be based in Boise, Idaho, and will report to Equifax’s US information-solutions unit. The credit-reporting firm has been building out …

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. shares rise 7.1% to a record high in Seoul amid signs of a rebound in the memory-chip market and off the back of a surge in earnings. South Korea’s biggest company posted a 26% increase in operating income to 9 trillion won ($8.3 billion) for the three months ended December in preliminary results. That compares with …

BAHRAIN / WAM Investcorp, a Bahrain-based asset manager that counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, announced on Wednesday that its portfolio company, Impero, a provider of online student safety and classroom and network management software, has acquired Netop, an international software solutions provider to the education sector and corporates, from Consolidated Holdings A/S. Terms of the transaction were …

JEDDAH / WAM The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has welcomed the signing of Al Ula Declaration by the leaders of the GCC member states at the 41st GCC Summit which took place in Al Ula Governorate, Saudi Arabia. The OIC’s Secretary-General Dr Yousef bin Ahmad Al Othaimeen praised the efforts of the GCC’s leaders.