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ABU DHABI / WAM Over the past three years, the UAE’s banking sector has expanded, and now it provides 98 percent of its services to customers electronically, enabling them to achieve their transactions safely online. Studies performed by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, FCSA, highlighted an increase in the number of users of digital banking services to 90 percent, ...

Bloomberg As lockdowns spread across the US, the UK and other countries, early lessons on how effective they’ll be against the new coronavirus are coming from abroad. Even as China moves to lift a quarantine on the original virus epicenter of Wuhan after stanching the outbreak, India and much of Europe are locking down. Comparisons are tricky because of differences ...

Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak may hit Singapore real estate investment trusts harder than the global financial crisis did, according to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Singapore announced on March 24 its strictest measures yet to combat the spread of the virus, including shutting cinemas, and deferring or cancelling events starting from 11:59 pm on Thursday. Public venues such as retail malls ...

Bloomberg Vietnam’s rice traders have halted overseas shipments after the customs department ordered a temporary suspension of exports to ensure food security during the coronavirus pandemic. The country is the world’s third-largest exporter, behind India and Thailand. “We have been unable to ship rice to the Philippines since customs clearance was suspended,” said Nguyen Van Thanh, director of Phuoc Thanh ...

Bloomberg India banned exports of a malaria drug backed by US President Donald Trump amid a run on supplies globally, even as scientists continue to search for conclusive evidence of the medicine’s effectiveness against the novel coronavirus. Exports of hydroxychloroquine will be limited to fulfilling fully paid existing contracts, while certain shipments on humanitarian grounds may also be allowed on ...

Bloomberg India’s efforts to arm itself with necessary medical equipment to fight its rising coronavirus infections are being hindered by the uncertainties of a three-week nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Strict movement curbs being enforced by local state governments are hampering supplies of medical devices and those trying to meet the growing demands of surgical gloves, masks ...

Bloomberg A glitch in Hong Kong’s electronic tracking system, designed to ensure people under compulsory quarantine orders stay at home, could potentially allow many to go outside undetected. Some Hong Kong residents returning from overseas have found they can’t register with the app that’s meant to track their movements via their mobile phone, meaning authorities have no information on their ...

Bloomberg France is setting up a 4 billion-euro ($4.3 billion) package to help the country’s startups survive the coronavirus pandemic and maintain cash levels in between their fundraising. “Our goal is for startups to pass that crisis and then continue with their growth,” Digital Minister Cedric O said on Wednesday. “Startups represent between one-sixth and one-fifth of jobs created in ...

Bloomberg Germany took a step towards declaring a state of emergency to unlock a historic rescue package to cushion the blow of the coronavirus pandemic. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz urged lawmakers to open up constitutional debt limits to combat a crisis that threatens modern life. New borrowing of $169 billion, equivalent to half of the country’s normal annual spending, will ...

Bloomberg The biggest Nordic economy may be about to sink into its worst recession in living memory, with the fallout of the coronavirus likely to do more damage than the financial crisis of 2008. Gross domestic product will probably fall about 4% this year, Swedbank economists said in a new report on Wednesday. But the decline could be as bad ...