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Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government should finance a stimulus plan worth as much as 150 billion euros ($162 billion) to help offset the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis, Bavarian state leader Markus Soeder said. Measures taken by Merkel administration, including an existing $610 billion liquidity program for companies, are insufficient, Soeder said. His comments come as the government ...

Bloomberg The Swiss watch industry has survived lickings before, but Rolex, Omega and Cartier now face a combination of economic punches putting them back on their heels. The industry was adapting to downturn from political protests in its largest market, Hong Kong, when coronavirus outbreak hit. Meanwhile, Swiss franc, surging gold prices, and store closures are set to saddle firms ...

Bloomberg As companies and government agencies send their employees home to avoid contact with the coronavirus, many cybersecurity teams are facing the unenviable challenge of securing sprawling, vulnerable networks. Every time an employee connects to their corporate network from home, they’re creating possible access points for hackers to exploit. When this happens 1,000 times on a single network almost overnight, ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The central bank of the UAE has revealed the country’s banking indicator figures for February, noting gross banks’ assets totalled AED3.095 trillion. The February gross banks’ assets total represents a year-on-year increase of 6.4 percent, compared to February 2019 figures which reached some AED2.909 trillion. This figure is the highest recorded by the UAE banking sector, ...

Bloomberg Oil prices plunged below $24 a barrel for the first time in almost 18 years after Saudi Arabia doubled down in its price war with Russia, vowing to keep production at a record high “over the coming months.” For the last 10 days, Riyadh has issued nearly daily statements raising the stakes in its battle with Moscow, first announcing ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates has announced a temporary suspension on issuing visas upon arrival for holders of exempted passports, effective 01:00 (UAE local time) on March 19, as part of the precautionary and preventive measures adopted by the country to contain the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). Holders of diplomatic passports are exempted from this decision, noted ...

Bloomberg European banks took $130 billion made available by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, helping ease the funding stress from the coronavirus pandemic. Lenders from the euro zone borrowed the bulk of the money — $112 billion in operations coordinated by the European Central Bank (ECB). That’s the biggest use of the crisis-era swap lines since the global financial ...

Fujairah / WAM The National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) approved the distribution of profits of 13.5 percent of paid-up capital in the form of cash dividends of 10 percent (AED 185 million) and bonus shares of 3.5 percent (AED64.8 million) of paid-up capital. During its Annual General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, shareholders also approved the Chairman’s and Directors’ Reports, and the ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Khalifa University of Science and Technology on Wednesday announced the licensing of its patented technology to a startup floated by an alumnus Emirati entrepreneur with a faculty member. The intellectual property (IP) technology license was granted recently, marking a significant milestone in the university’s innovation journey. The home-based monitoring device, called by the Emirati startup ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Investors Services Centre, Saeed, has announced on Wednesday that it will be supporting all its customers through its phone service. This will include enquiries as well as applications. Submission of documents will be enabled via email, and customers will not be required to visit the centre in person. The initiative by Saeed comes in line ...