HONG KONG / AP London-based bank HSBC reported on Tuesday that its annual profit slumped following a year it said would be remembered for “unexpected economic and political events” and warned of risks in 2017 to the global economy’s continuing recovery. Europe’s biggest bank said net profit for 2016 tumbled 82 percent to $2.5 billion from $13.5 billion a ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is seeing a pickup in its private banking business in Europe as clients seek counsel on how to protect fortunes from shock election outcomes. “Clients need advice,” on how to manage political uncertainty, Iqbal Khan, head of international wealth management, said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Zurich. “I would expect Europe ...

  Bloomberg Mexico’s central bank should be prepared for a slowdown in its economy while growth in the U.S. accelerates, with potential implications to the path of benchmark interest rates in the coming months, the newest member of the central bank board Alejandro Diaz de Leon said. A series of rate increases by the central bank in the past year ...

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose to a one-year high after the bank said it will scrap the planned sale of its Williams & Glyn consumer-banking unit. The shares gained as much as 6.4 percent and were up 11.2 pence to 254 pence as of 8:58 a.m., the highest among British banks in London trading on Monday. ...

  Bloomberg Chinese banks had more than 26 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) of wealth-management products held off their balance sheets at the end of December, a 30 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the central bank. The expansion of this form of shadow banking, with money eventually being diverted to quasi-loans and bonds, outpaced the 10 percent growth ...

  Bloomberg In the shadows of the Alps, Swiss companies are confronting a new reality: They won’t be adding manufacturing jobs in the country anytime soon — not for humans, anyway. Faced with an unsinkable franc and among the highest average annual wages in the world, Swiss companies looking to expand face a simple choice: add robots or leave. Fragrance-maker ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The GCC is on course to rapidly evolve into one of the most sustainable and technologically advanced regions in the world due to smart technology, and given this trajectory, there is anxiety that people would become more overwhelmed with keeping up with technology and neglect their personal relationships. However, if used correctly, smart technology improves ...

Bloomberg The threat of cyber attacks and political instability resulting from rising populism are among the biggest worries for businesses around the world, according to a study of companies in 79 countries. The number one issue for executives working in business continuity and resilience is the threat from hackers, with 88 percent of companies included in the survey saying they ...

  Bloomberg The corruption scandal rocking South Korea has given Qualcomm Inc. another way to challenge a big antitrust fine threatening its most profitable business. Jay Y. Lee, heir to the top job at Samsung Group, was arrested last week on allegations he was involved in paying billions of won to a friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on Monday officially inaugurated Al Hili, the sixth and the latest Baynunah-class corvette built by Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) for the UAE Navy, in a ceremony held at NAVDEX, the naval defence and maritime security ...