Bloomberg Singapore banks will reward investors with higher payouts from better-than-expected earnings, just a week after the central bank lifted restrictions on dividends, marking a nascent recovery from one of their most turbulent years. All of the city state’s top banks — DBS Group Holdings, United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking — said they would increase dividends by an average ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England signalled that its concerns over inflation are strong enough to warrant the withdrawal of some support to the UK economy over the next three years. Policy makers led by Governor Andrew Bailey said they now expect annual price growth to peak higher than expected around 4%. While most of the increase may prove temporary, meeting ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc defended concerns about its upcoming child safety features, saying it doesn’t believe its tool for locating child pornographic images on a user’s device creates a backdoor that reduces privacy. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant made the comments in a briefing, a day after revealing new features for iCloud, Messages and Siri to combat the spread of objectionable ...

Bloomberg Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto Inc has raised HK$11.8 billion ($1.5 billion) in its Hong Kong listing, adding to the cohort of US-traded mainland companies selling shares in the Asian financial hub. Li Auto priced 100 million shares at HK$118 each, it said in a statement to the city’s stock exchange. The price represents a discount of about ...

Bloomberg Tencent Holdings will review the “youth mode” of its WeChat app after a Beijing prosecutor filed a civil public-interest lawsuit against the company, alleging non-compliance with China’s underage law. The company will “sincerely respond” to the suit, “humbly accept” user suggestions and continue to improve safeguards for teenagers on the app as part of its social responsibility to ensure ...

Bloomberg Electric cars are better for the environment and cheaper to run. They’re gaining traction in many countries as governments strive for carbon neutrality. But one thing they don’t have on regular vehicles — that throaty roar that lights up the eyes of gearheads around the world. Yamaha Motor Co is working on a solution. Better known for its motorcycles ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Blue Whale Acquisition Corp I has announced on Wednesday the pricing of its initial public offering of 20,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit. The units were expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (Nasdaq) in the United States and trade under the ticker symbol “BWCAU” beginning on August 04, 2021. Blue Whale Acquisition Corp ...

Bloomberg Oil declined for a third day as the coronavirus spread in China and a report showed a surprise build in US crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate futures slumped as much as 3.4%. The delta strain of Covid-19 has been detected in almost half of China’s 32 provinces in two weeks, and at least 46 cities have advised residents against ...

DUBAI / WAM The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has declared Thursday, August 12, an official paid holiday for all private sector employees in the UAE to celebrate the Islamic new year (Hijri Year 1443). As WAM reported earlier on Wednesday, the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) has announced Thursday a public holiday for the federal government. ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure discussed ways of boosting their cooperation, in light of their mutual keenness to help achieve their strategic goals and establish effective relations. This came as part of a meeting between Sultan Abdullah bin Hedah Al Suwaidi, Chairman of SEDD, and Sharif Salim Al Olama, ...