Bloomberg Two more consortiums said they submitted bids for digital banking licenses in Singapore as companies, ranging from a massage chair maker to a property giant and Chinese fintech firms, joined forces to go for the sought-after permits. Beyond Consortium, led by one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, V3 Group Ltd and stored-value card company EZ-Link Pte, submitted a ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank pledged more financial support for small and micro businesses while saying it plans to stick to a prudent monetary policy stance this year. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will improve the incentive mechanism for lending to such companies, it said in a statement following a two-day work conference in Beijing. Authorities will make it easier ...

Bloomberg There’s no end of theories on all the ways in which negative interest rates are hurting economies. But in Denmark, where the policy has existed longer than anywhere else, one fear seems to have been put to rest. The central bank in Copenhagen, which uses negative rates to keep the krone pegged to the euro, says its research shows ...

Bloomberg The US assassination of one of Iran’s most powerful generals has the oil industry bracing for something it has long feared and anticipated — direct military confrontation between the two adversaries. In the hours after President Donald Trump ordered the killing at Baghdad airport of Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran’s Quds force, crude oil surged, American workers began to ...

Bloomberg China’s financial regulator said it will implement a series of measures to shore up nation’s troubled smaller banks and insurers while continuing a clampdown on shadow financing, property speculation. The regulator will introduce measures to eliminate bad loans and promote mergers, capital injections and the restructuring of high risk institutions, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in ...

DUBAI / WAM The Director General of Dubai Municipality, Dawood Al Hajri, revealed that Dubai Municipality has distributed about 4,200 residential plots to citizens in a number of areas of the emirate during 2018 and 2019 and the allocation of these plots comes in implementation of the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE has condemned a decision by Turkey to send military forces to Libya in a stark violation of the international community’s and UN Security Council’s resolutions on Libya, according to Security Council Committee established pursuant to Resolution 1970 of 2011 to prevent the sale or supply of arms to Libya without its approval. Such a ...

Bloomberg Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas estimates oil prices will have to surge and persist at $90 a barrel for it to impact the central bank’s inflation forecast, Governor Benjamin Diokno said. It’s “too early to say,” Diokno said in a text message when asked if the latest geopolitical development between the US and Iran could threaten inflation targets and impact ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director General of the Federal Tax Authority (FTA), announced that 2020 will see further evolution in the development of the FTA’s electronic systems, as part of its efforts to provide clear and simple procedures for managing, collecting and implementing federal taxes, ensuring higher rates of customer satisfaction. Al Bustani said that ...

ADEN / WAM The United Arab Emirates has launched an extensive campaign to combat epidemics in cities and districts across the Red Sea Coast of Yemen, within the framework of its emergency response programme in the country, and in response to calls for help made by concerned Yemeni authorities. Hospitals in areas including Mokha, Taiz, Al Duraimi and Al Hodeidah ...