Bloomberg Bank of East Asia Ltd., (BEA) the Hong Kong lender facing pressure from Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, said first-half profit dropped 38 percent as China’s slowing economy dragged on lending and caused loan impairments to surge. The shares fell the most in two weeks. Net income fell to HK$2.1 billion ($270 million) for the six months ended June ...

  Singapore / Bloomberg Rabobank Groep, the second-largest Dutch bank by assets, said first-half profit fell 39 percent, hurt by legal costs and restructuring expenses. Net income dropped to 924 million euros ($1 billion) from 1.5 billion euros a year earlier, the closely held bank said in a statement on Thursday. The lender increased provisions by 514 million euros to ...

  Bloomberg Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest bank, hired Credit Suisse Group AG to advise on its negotiations to buy Citigroup Inc.’s retail assets in Brazil, people with knowledge of the matter said. Santander, whose Brazil unit generates about 19 percent of the Madrid-based company’s revenue, also hired a Lazard Ltd. venture in Argentina to advise on its proposal to ...

  Bloomberg Singapore plans to reduce the role of cash and checks in its economy by encouraging banks to switch to digital payments, according to the head of the country’s central bank. “For consumers, the use of cash for daily payments is high,” Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said at a financial technology conference. “For ...

  Hong Kong / Bloomberg Free rice cookers and suitcases were among the special deals that tempted Chiu Wing-suet into accumulating her 20 credit cards, many of which are crammed into her wallet. She’s unlikely to accept any more such offers. “I’ve come to realize that most of my cards are useless,” said the 30-year-old Hong Kong nurse. “I basically ...

  Emirates Business Lenovo Group (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) on Sunday announced results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30. Quarterly revenue was US$10.1 billion, a six percent decrease year-over-year (or four percent decrease in constant currency). Quarter-to-quarter, this represented a 10 percent increase. First quarter pre-tax income increases 297 percent year-over-year to US$206 million. Net income increases 64 ...

  Bloomberg United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz filled a top finance spot that had been vacant for 12 months and replaced the longtime chief revenue officer, bolstering his management team almost a year after taking the helm. Andrew Levy, 47, was named chief financial officer, joining the third-largest US carrier from discounter Allegiant Airlines, United Continental Holdings Inc. ...

  Bloomberg When Hilton Sturisky joined Spirit Airlines as chief information officer two years ago, the discount air carrier was weeks away from running out of data storage space and costs were getting “out of control.” So he opted to move to what are called hyperconverged systems that combine server, storage and virtualization software in a single machine. In a ...

  Bloomberg CIT Group Inc. climbed in New York trading following a news report that initial bids to buy the commercial lender’s aircraft-leasing business topped some analysts’ expectations. CIT gained as much as 6.2 percent, the most intraday since October, and was up 3.4 percent to $36.16., the best performer in the Russell 1000 Financial Services Index. The shares have ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business In line with its mandate to boost Dubai’s credentials as a wholesale hub of choice and as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation with partners and stakeholders from the private and public sector within and outside the UAE, Dubai Wholesale City (DWSC) welcomed a delegation from the Spanish embassy. During the visit, the two ...