Bloomberg The UK will examine why access to business finance appears to be a “major barrier” for ethnic minorities, making it easier to spot racism or unconscious bias in bank lending. Boris Johnson’s government will work with lenders to understand the underlying problems after earlier research showed that the design of programs can influence demand from the ethnic minorities. ...

  Bloomberg Mexican regulators need to break up an effective monopoly in the country’s credit card payments network that is benefiting big banks and hobbling startups in Mexico, said a new study commissioned by a group of financial technology firms. While regulators across Latin America have helped financial startups gain ground, Mexico is letting the country’s largest banks set the ...

  Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender by assets, plans to raise as much as 300 billion rand ($20 billion) by 2026 to help fund renewable energy projects, even as it remains open to supporting fossil fuels. The Johannesburg-based lender pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emissions target from its own operations by 2040 and from its ...

  Bloomberg Like they did after the 2008 crash, the UK’s two economic policy heavyweights are playing good cop-bad cop. It’s just that this time they’ve swapped roles. In the years following the financial crisis, the Bank of England (BOE) stuck resolutely to easy money while fiscal policy got tough when Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne imposed swingeing budget cuts. ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank will likely slow the pace of interest rate increases as it calibrates one of the world’s most aggressive monetary tightening cycles despite a breakneck surge in local fuel prices. Policy makers will raise the benchmark Selic by 100 basis points to 11.75%, according to 38 of 44 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Four of them ...

  Bloomberg America’s biggest lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup, are emerging as major winners from the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive campaign to increase borrowing costs in years. Banks were among the best performing groups in the S&P 500 Index, as the sector rose 3.7% to the highest in two weeks. The KBW Bank ...

Bloomberg Stocks jumped on Thursday on a surge in Chinese technology shares and as traders digested the Federal Reserve’s view that a robust US economy can weather the campaign against high inflation now underway. An Asia-Pacific equity index rises about 3%, boosted by China’s effort to stabilize its markets, which was unveiled a day ago. US and European futures climbed ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin edged higher for a third day following reassurance from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the US economy was strong enough to weather tightening monetary policy. The largest cryptocurrency continued to mirror the US stock market, which swung between gains and losses in the wake of the Fed’s first interest rate increase since 2018. Investors have expressed concern ...

Dubai / Gulf Time Floward, the go-to online flowers and gifts delivery destination in MENA and UK launched its Mother’s Day campaign entitled “Thank You, Mum.” The campaign aims to encourage people to thank their mothers for all their efforts. The campaign running for the two weeks leading up to Mother’s Day is also coupled with multiple on-ground activations in ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, has announced the formal start of construction for its 230-megawatt (MW) Garadagh Solar PV Plant in Azerbaijan – the nation’s first foreign investment-based independent solar power project. Masdar also signed agreements related to developing additional clean-energy projects across Azerbaijan. The groundbreaking ceremony, held in Baku, Azerbaijan’s ...