Bloomberg One emerging market has so far eluded Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters: Ethiopia. Winters, head of London-based Standard Chartered since mid-2015, would “love to think that there are opportunities” in Ethiopia, he said in an interview in Nairobi, Kenya. The problem is that it’s entirely closed to foreign banks. “The underlying fundamentals are pretty interesting,” said ...

Bloomberg Banks are worried that South Africa is taking a wrong turn with laws being considered by the nation’s parliament that could leave the economy worse off. “They do not seem to be the legislative underpinning of a comprehensive, implementable national economic recovery plan,” the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) said in a statement distributed in Johannesburg. “Rather they ...

Bloomberg Union Bank of India is pulling out of the global diamond hub of Antwerp, joining a retreat of lenders from the industry, which has been hit by fraud and bad debt. The bank has given notice that it will close its branch in the Belgian port city within a year, according to Chief Executive Officer Rajkiran Rai Gundyadka. Antwerp ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co.’s debt, one of the highest among Chinese companies, declined for the first time after the embattled conglomerate reversed a multi-year acquisition spree by selling off dozens of assets to stay in business. Total debt fell 9.5 percent to 541.6 billion yuan ($79 billion) at the end of June, down about $8.3 billion from the record high ...

Bloomberg Meituan Dianping, a Chinese food delivery giant, plans to raise as much as $4.5 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter, The company plans to sell shares between HK$60 ($7.64) and HK$72 apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The offering has ...

Bloomberg The largest and oldest prison in India’s financial hub Mumbai will get a new block of cells that will meet international norms on prisoner rights. The reason: fugitive businessmen are citing poor jail conditions to stave off extradition. The Mumbai Central Prison, popularly known as the Arthur Road Jail, is demolishing an old structure to make way for the ...

Bloomberg Indonesia and Australia announced the conclusion to talks on a free-trade deal as the Pacific neighbours attempt to boost economic ties. In his first overseas trip since becoming Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison met with President Joko Widodo in Bogor, outside the capital Jakarta, where they committed to finalising the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The two also signed ...

Bloomberg South Korea’s export growth accelerated in August at the fastest pace in three months, easing concerns that the trade fight between China and the US will sap momentum in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Exports rose 8.7 percent from a year earlier, the trade ministry said in a statement on Saturday. That compared with a 10.2 percent gain forecast by economists ...

Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. is investing $500 million more in Uber Technologies Inc., underscoring the Japanese automaker’s efforts to catch up on self-driving technology as General Motors Co. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo lead the race to upend the industry. As part of the accord announced recently, Toyota plans to manufacture Sienna minivans loaded with Uber’s software, with testing slated to ...

Bloomberg The world’s biggest maker of civilian drones could see its products shut out of the US market after a patent-infringement complaint was filed by smaller rival. SZ DJI Technology Co., a manufacturer of popular hobbyist and commercial drones including the Phantom and Mavic series, is being challenged by Autel Robotics Co. The dispute is over unmanned vehicles used for ...