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  Bloomberg A US regulator is looking at whether auto finance companies that use sophisticated technology like ignition kill switches are illegally harassing subprime borrowers that have fallen behind on their payments. The Federal Trade Commission, a consumer protection agency, has asked for information from at least two lenders, according to securities offering documents from both companies this month obtained ...

  Bloomberg T-Mobile US Inc. rose as much as 5.3 percent following a report that SoftBank Group Corp. would be willing to give up control of Sprint Corp. if it would help cement a potential merger of the two mobile-phone carriers. SoftBank can’t yet talk to T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG, because of a gag rule related to an ...

  Bloomberg Toshiba Corp., seeking to make up for a huge writedown in its nuclear-equipment unit, finally took the drastic step of putting its crown jewel — its chip business — up for sale. Finding a buyer might prove to be even more difficult. The Tokyo-based conglomerate had been entertaining offers for a minor stake in the flash-memory operations, until ...

  Bloomberg Singapore’s economy grew at its fastest pace in more than five years in the fourth quarter, driven by a surge in manufacturing as export demand recovered. Gross domestic product rose an annualized 12.3 percent in the three months to December from the previous quarter, rebounding from a contraction of 0.4 percent, the trade ministry said in a statement. ...

  Bloomberg Singapore’s residential property curbs are set to stay in place for at least another year amid signs the city’s housing market is stabilizing, the chief executive officer of Southeast Asia’s biggest developer said. “We see volume picking up and the price declines have slowed,” Lim Ming Yan, the president and CEO of CapitaLand Ltd., said in a Bloomberg ...

  Bloomberg Audi dealers in China are demanding 28 billion yuan ($4 billion) to cover losses over the past three years that they blame on the automaker adding too many distributors, potentially worsening a sales decline that saw BMW and Mercedes-Benz overtake the luxury brand last month. The dealers met in Sanya, China, and issued a statement saying their newly ...

  Bloomberg Warburg Pincus is in advanced discussions to buy a stake in the engineering unit of Tata Motors Ltd., the manufacturer of Jaguar sports cars and Land Rover sport utility vehicles, people with knowledge of the matter said. The private equity firm is in talks to buy a significant minority holding in Tata Technologies Ltd. for about $450 million, ...

  RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia is considering two options for the shape of Saudi Aramco when it sells shares in the national oil giant next year: a global industrial conglomerate, and a specialised international oil company, industry and banking sources said. The listing of Aramco <IPO-ARMO.SE>, expected to be the world’s biggest initial public offer and raise tens of ...

  Reuters A shift in the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to petrochemicals and away from transport has pushed demand for the fuel to new records in South Korea, after years of slumping consumption, a change which mostly benefits US suppliers. South Korea mainly used LPG to power cars up to 2010, but sales started to spiral down as ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong and Singapore are at it again. The Asian financial hub rivals are reviving a debate on dual-class shares as global competition for the hottest initial public offerings intensifies. Singapore is a few steps ahead. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week gave his approval to dual-class shares and other measures proposed by a panel to drive ...