With top Communist Party officials gathering in Beijing to set key government posts, the insurance regulator is looking like the weakest link. China is considering a merger of its banking and insurance watchdogs to streamline the fragmented regulatory system, as Bloomberg News reported in late January. A combination could be announced soon after the National People’s Congress, which starts next ...

It’s always dangerous to say that Donald Trump has set a new low for presidential discourse, because he sets new lows with dreary regularity. Nonetheless, his heedless declaration that “trade wars are good, and easy to win” deserves special recognition. No president should need to be told that trade wars are, in fact, bad and impossible to win. By imposing ...

The Indian economy has been short of good news recently. So the latest GDP growth figures, released on February 28, come as a bit of a relief: The economy grew at 7.2 percent in the last three months of 2017, slightly faster than expected. For the entire financial year — due to end on March 31 — the government’s statisticians ...

What can be better than two new iPhones? Three new iPhones. Apple is planning to release three new smartphone models later this year, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of devices will include a supersized version of the current iPhone X, a less expensive model that includes some of the iPhone X’s key features, and the company’s typical update to the ...

Last fall, as cryptocurrencies seemed on the brink of a linkage with the traditional financial system, there were predictions of a price explosion along with institutional, regulatory and mainstream acceptance of the currencies. Others predicted disaster or a collapse to zero value. In the end, despite some dramatic price moves, not much happened. Still, liquid crypto derivative trading gives us ...

Bloomberg For all his influence on the wider European economy, Mario Draghi is finding out that he has little sway in fixing a much more local problem. Almost two weeks after a member of his Governing Council was briefly detained for bribery and extortion, the European Central Bank president still has few options available to address a lingering crisis that ...

SYDNEY / Reuters A first sale of green Islamic bonds by Indonesia could help open the door for more crossover deals across Asia, as religious and environmentally-minded investors find a middle ground in the sukuk funding format. Last week, Indonesia became the first Asian sovereign to sell green sukuk, raising $1.25 billion via a five-year deal, alongside a $1.75 billion ...

Islamabad / Reuters Pakistan’s capital market regulator has drafted governance rules that cover sharia-compliant companies and securities, the latest government initiative aimed at develo- ping the country’s Islamic finance industry. The move by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) marks the first time a regulator has defined comprehensive requirements for companies that deem themselves to be compliant with ...

Bloomberg The swings are getting bigger in stocks, and the divide is getting wider among people whose job is to forecast them. Bank of America (BofA) strategists led by Michael Hartnett say they see another correction coming, similar to the one in early February when about $6 trillion was erased globally. This year’s turbulence is part of a topping process ...

Bloomberg Norway lowered the central bank’s inflation target after policy makers struggled to meet the goal, going against the grain in a global debate where many have called for levels to be raised to allow more room to support economies. The government reduced the target to 2 percent from 2.5 percent, bringing it in line with other central banks such ...