Bloomberg Pakistan’s second-largest bank by assets aims to double its current-account deposits in five years as it extends its reach into the nation’s rising middle class through new technology and a branch revamp. United Bank Ltd. is seeking to increase its number of customers by about 40 percent to 10 million in three years, with domestic current-account deposits doubling to ...

Reuters The Czech National Bank (CNB) may raise its main interest rate above 1 percent by the end of this year, sooner than its staff forecast predicts, as the economy is overheating, Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl was quoted as saying. The central bank’s board kept the two-week repo rate at 0.75 percent at its last policy meeting on March 29 after ...

Agencies India asked global companies to submit proposals for 110 fighter jets, the world’s biggest such order currently. The Indian Air Force sought requests for information for the supply of single- and twin-seat jets to be mostly manufactured locally, it said in a statement on its website. The Asian nation had earlier scrapped a deal to buy 126 fighter jets ...

Bloomberg Nine West Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell some assets and reorganise others, after too much debt felled the shoe and clothing company controlled by Sycamore Partners. The Chapter 11 filing in New York listing debts of more than $1 billion. The company will use the bankruptcy to sell its Nine West and Bandolino brand ...

Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc. said a cyber attack on a contractor potentially exposed the payment information of its “several hundred thousand customers.” A data breach from September 26 to October 12 at a company called [24]7.ai allowed unauthorised access to customers’ names, address, payment-card information, CVV numbers and expiration dates, Delta said in a statement. The vendor, which provides ...

Bloomberg SM Prime Holdings, the largest Philippine shopping mall developer, will build Ikea’s first store in the country within its retail complex, with plans for an arrangement with the Swedish furniture company at its other properties. The store will be built within SM Prime’s Mall of Asia complex in Manila, located between its convention centre and sports arena, Alex Pomento, ...

Bloomberg Boeing Co. is considering whether to convert used 777 passenger jets into freighters, seeking to capitalise as booming e-commerce sales spur new demand for air freight worldwide, people familiar with the matter said. While Boeing has studied retrofitting the used wide-bodies for more than a decade, the effort has taken on new life in recent months as air cargo ...

DUBAI / WAM The total of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the UAE increased to more than AED1 trillion by the end of 2016, an indication of economic robustness, the UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) said. According to the outcomes of a survey conducted by the FCSA, in association with local statistics authorities in the country, the ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi’s Smart Solutions and Services Authority (ADSSSA) announced on Saturday that it has completed work on phase 1 of the integrated government project, Tamm. The Authority said that it has turned nine documents and services of 15 government bodies into integrated electronic data, thus saving AED80 million on the customers part and AED11 million on ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s state oil company will soon sign an agreement with a British oilfield services firm to explore building chemical facilities in Texas, according to people familiar with the matter. The agreement with TechnipFMC Plc involves a study for a potential chemical unit on the US Gulf Coast that would be able to produce materials used in gasoline and ...