When the Great Recession hit, China didn’t hesitate to open up the fiscal taps. But the fast-developing country also embraced another form of stimulus that was a bit different from what John Maynard Keynes had recommended — it encouraged its banks to start lending a lot more. They lent money to corporations, local governments and a variety of private actors. …

Nomura Holdings Inc. turned in laudable first-quarter results Friday, but Japan’s largest brokerage needs to keep its eye on the overseas ball. Cost cutting and a revival in domestic retail broking helped Nomura offset the fixed-income trading slump that’s beset Wall Street rivals and local peer Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buoyant results at home don’t mean Nomura can forget about …

European governments are making big promises to ban the sale of cars with combustion engines: Germany by 2030, France and the UK by 2040. It’ll take a lot more than promises, though, to bring about the all-electric future. The initiatives could become the biggest government-driven revolution in a major market since anti-tobacco legislation—and a benevolent one, given that car makers …