Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) began charging banks interest on deposits in June 2014 to encourage them to lend more to companies and consumers. It hasn’t worked. Deposits at the ECB by euro-area banks in excess of required reserves have jumped six-fold since the introduction of negative interest rates, while lending within the currency bloc has barely budged. Of ...

Doha / Emirates Business Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products, announced that its US-based real estate arm, through two separate transactions, has acquired five residential properties in the metropolitan areas of Boca Raton, Florida and Minneapolis, Minnesota for approximately $220mn. The acquisitions are consistent with Investcorp’s strategy to invest in desirable, high quality properties located in ...

Bloomberg U.K. house prices rose 1.3 percent in March, pushing the average above 300,000 pounds ($435,000) for the first time, according to Rightmove Plc. Average asking prices increased 7.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the property-website operator said on Monday. That takes the increase over the past 10 years to 50 percent, more than twice the pace of earnings ...