Bloomberg New Zealand’s main opposition Labour Party, buoyed by a surge in the polls under new leader Jacinda Ardern, launched its campaign to win next month’s election with a pledge to close the gap between rich and poor. Speaking to party faithful in Auckland on Sunday, Ardern highlighted child poverty as a key issue heading into the September 23 vote. ...
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Angola’s Lourenco rallies voters; opponents threaten protest
Bloomberg The presidential candidate from Angola’s ruling party, Joao Lourenco, promised to push hard to diversify the oil-rich African nation’s economy, while his fragmented opposition questioned the fairness of next week’s vote and threatened to hold protests. In the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola’s last campaign gathering ahead of the Aug. 23 vote, Lourenco predicted the MPLA would ...
Read More »Gulf finds support from robust oil price, Egypt declines
Dubai / Reuters Most stock markets in the Gulf rose modestly on Sunday, lifted by a rally in oil prices at the end of last week, while three small to mid-sized Saudi Arabian insurers fell sharply after they were slapped with a temporary ban by the central bank. Riyadh’s index added 0.4 percent as all but two of the 14 ...
Read More »Dublin’s missing Brexit bankers trigger political blame game
Bloomberg On the banks of Dublin’s River Liffey, a row over the destination of London bankers fleeing Brexit is brewing. Now operating out of the office tower which came to symbolise Ireland’s financial crash, the nation’s central bank is battling political and industry pressure to do more to draw firms. Companies ranging from Lloyd’s of London to Morgan Stanley have ...
Read More »CIBC creates its own digital bank
Bloomberg Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and grocery chain Loblaw Cos. are ending their 19-year President’s Choice Financial partnership as the country’s fifth-largest lender starts its own digital bank. Simplii Financial will offer no-fee banking, mortgages and loans online and by phone, according to Mike Boluch, CIBC’s executive vice president of direct banking, innovation and payments. CIBC expects to take ...
Read More »BofA, Goldman, others sued over control of stock short-sale market
Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and four other investment banks are conspiring to control the $1 trillion market for lending stocks, according to a federal lawsuit. The complaint by the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System and two other pension plans claims the banks are blocking a shift to all-electronic system for matching lenders and borrowers of ...
Read More »Chile keeps key rate on hold as core CPI proves hard to predict
Bloomberg Chile’s central bank kept borrowing costs on hold after the core inflation rate jumped, then slumped and then rose again, leaving economists and policy makers divided over the outlook for rate cuts. Policy makers, led by bank President Mario Marcel, held the key rate at 2.5 percent last week, as forecast by 19 of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. ...
Read More »Duke, once a teller, named top-ranking woman in US banking
Bloomberg Betsy Duke was working in a Virginia Beach dinner theater in the mid-1970s, struggling to make ends meet, when she applied for a job at a dry cleaner. It turned her down. Instead, she became a part-time teller. Wells Fargo & Co. recently named her the first woman to oversee one of the largest banks in the nation. She ...
Read More »Lufthansa boss eyes pay cuts for Air Berlin crew
Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG AG Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said he’s ready to welcome large numbers of employees from insolvent competitor Air Berlin Plc to build up his airline’s Eurowings unit, promoting his company as a safe haven for jobs— albeit with concessions. “Those of you who have worked with Air Berlin crews know it: These are top people, ...
Read More »Zimbabwe, South Africa ground flights in permit dispute
Bloomberg All eight South African Airways flights between Harare and Johannesburg were canceled on Saturday when the Zimbabwe government demanded a foreign operators permit, a day after an Air Zimbabwe plane was grounded in the South African city for similar reasons. The decisions to halt the flights came as Zimbabwe seeks diplomatic immunity in South Africa for President Robert Mugabe’s ...
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