Emirates Business Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, said quarterly profit rose 6.1 percent, led by higher earnings in domestic and international operations. The bank raised its dividend 2.8 percent to 74 cents a share. Net income for the fiscal third quarter ended July 31 rose to C$1.96 billion ($1.5 billion), or C$1.54 a share, from …

  Bloomberg Aviva Plc hired Chetan Singh, a managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co., to head its mergers and acquisitions globally as the British insurer scouts for deals outside its home market. Singh, who led dealmaking for financial institutions in Southeast Asia at JPMorgan, will join Aviva as chief M&A officer on Sept. 26 and report to Chief Financial …

  Bloomberg Central banks — holders of about 32,900 metric tons of bullion — cut their purchases by 40 percent during the three months through June, compared with the same period a year earlier, to the lowest since 2011, World Gold Council figures compiled by Bloomberg show. It was the third-straight quarterly drop, the longest such streak in at least …