News

Bloomberg Germany’s robust economic upswing extended into the fourth quarter, buttressing growth in the euro area as policy makers prepare to wind down stimulus. Gross domestic product in Europe’s largest economy increased 0.6 percent from the third quarter, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said on Wednesday. That’s in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The economy ...

Bloomberg Businesses in the Czech Republic are fretting over a debate about a new referendum law, warning it has the potential to trigger a vote on a Brexit-style departure from the European Union that would devastate the economy. The pushback from business came after Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO party held talks last week on introducing referendums with a far-right ...

Bloomberg The euro-area economy maintained its robust growth pace at the end of last year, setting the stage for another solid performance in 2018 that may sway European Central Bank policy makers into winding down unprecedented stimulus. Gross domestic product increased 0.6 percent from the previous three months, Eurostat reported on Wednesday, confirming a Jan. 30 estimate. Growth slowed in ...

Bloomberg With no let-up in sight for listed UK real estate agents, the companies could find themselves the targets of a wave of M&A activity. So say industry analysts and executives, who note that traditional high-street players like Foxtons Group Plc and Countrywide Plc face a stagnant housing market while losing market share to online competitors. Investors are running out ...

DUBAI / Reuters Gold trader Regal RA DMCC has become the first company in the Middle East to be awarded a licence by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) to trade in cryptocurrencies. The licence allows the company to store bitcoin, ethereum and other alternatives to the best-known digital currencies in a vault located in the headquarters of the commodities ...

New Delhi / WAM The UAE and India have reached a historic agreement which will enable businesses on both sides to bypass the US Dollar or any other foreign currency and trade directly in UAE Dirhams and the Indian Rupee. The agreement will mean large savings for business communities on both sides as trade between the UAE and India soars ...

DUBAI / Reuters Banks in the United Arab Emirates are hopeful of recovering some funds in 2018 from the multibillion-dollar collapse of Saudi Arabia’s Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi & Bros Co (AHAB) nearly a decade ago, a senior banking official told Reuters. The two conglomerates defaulted in 2009 in Saudi Arabia’s biggest financial meltdown, leaving international and regional ...

DUBAI / WAM Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality has announced that the municipality will launch a satellite aimed at collecting data and is capable of monitoring the UAE from space. He made the announcement while speaking at the opening session of the second day of World Government Summit. Lootah said the satellite will be capable of determining different ...

DUBAI / WAM Emirates NBD on Tuesday announced its position as the UAE’s most valuable banking brand with a $3.534 billion brand valuation in The Banker’s annual brand valuation league table. The bank also secured a spot among the top 100 global banking brands, coming in seventy-first worldwide up from seventy-fifth in 2017. Emirates NBD has moved up four places ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Leo Doherty, a British Member of Parliament currently visiting the UAE with a delegation from the UK-UAE All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), described himself as ‘very impressed by the UAE’s innovative approach to governance, including e-Governance.’ This was, he said, “something from which the British Government could take some important lessons.” Docherty, a former army officer who ...