Bloomberg Commerzbank AG reported a 5.2 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit as it set more money aside for troubled loans to the shipping industry and low interest rates continued to weigh on income from lending. Net income in the three months through December decreased to 183 million euros ($195.5 million) from 193 million euros a year earlier, according to ...

  Bloomberg Analysts at Deutsche Bank AG, one of the biggest underwriters of bonds tied to US commercial real estate, say now it’s time to short indexes of the securities. The securities are vulnerable because they are supported by leases from retailers, a lagging part of the economy, wrote Ed Reardon and Simon Mui in a note late Tuesday. A ...

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to pursue deals to expand in asset and wealth management as the lender seeks to capitalize on the growing funds of the middle class in Asia and diversify its business away from traditional lending, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Europe’s largest bank aims to make three or four acquisitions ...

  Bloomberg Nykredit Realkredit A/S, the largest lender operating in the world’s biggest market for mortgage-backed covered bonds, reported a 56 percent jump in profit last quarter after management cut costs and revenue increased. The Copenhagen-based lender said net profit excluding minorities rose to 1.87 billion kroner ($269 million) in the fourth quarter from 1.2 billion kroner a year earlier, ...

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA reported fourth-quarter profit that exceeded estimates, helped by a surprise jump in earnings from French consumer banking. The lender announced plans for an initial public offering of its car-leasing business. Net income was 390 million euros ($417 million), down 41 percent from a year earlier but above the 315 million-euro average estimate of seven analysts ...

  Bloomberg When our robot overlords arrive, will they decide to kill us or cooperate with us? New research from DeepMind, Alphabet Inc.’s London-based artificial intelligence unit could ultimately shed light on this fundamental question. They have been investigating the conditions in which reward-optimizing beings, whether human or robot, would chose to cooperate, rather than compete. The answer could have ...

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. will help cloud customers fend off patent lawsuits and expand coverage of related litigation costs, seeking to distinguish its services from rivals in the fast-growing market for internet-based computing. As more companies host their applications and services on Microsoft’s Azure and other cloud providers, they are increasingly becoming the target of lawsuits from companies seeking to ...

  Bloomberg BlackBerry Ltd. is opening up some of its secure messaging and file sharing technology for developers to use in building apps, creating a new revenue stream for the company as it works to boost sales. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said the software development kit is releasing this month will include tools for building chat apps, video and voice ...

  Bloomberg Venture investors are clamoring to back cybersecurity startups after record hacking last year and calls by US President Donald Trump and other global leaders to do more to protect against digital attacks. VC firms invested $3.1 billion in a record 279 cybersecurity startups in 2016, according to research firm CB Insights. That compares to $3.7 billion in 272 ...

  Bloomberg From oozing blisters and wheezing to rashes, itchy eyes, and sore throats, numerous American Airlines Group Inc. flight attendants say their new work uniforms are making them sick. But after a battery of tests and a tense back-and-forth among their union, the airline, and the uniform supplier, it’s still not clear what exactly is behind the rise in ...