Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. sees initial public offerings and M&A driving Middle East deals this year in what the US bank expects to be its busiest in the region. Private sector mergers and state sell-offs as part of privatisation plans will accelerate, while corporate bond sales are also likely to rise, Sjoerd Leenart, the bank’s global head of corporate …

Bloomberg UBS Group AG boosted Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti’s pay and increased the bank’s bonus pool by about 6 percent after underlying profit rose. The Zurich-based lender boosted the bonus pool for 2017 to 3.1 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), according to its annual report. Ermotti remains the highest-paid executive, earning 14.2 million francs, up from the 13.7 million …

Bloomberg Just because China’s financial regulators are cracking down on cryptocurrencies doesn’t mean they’re souring on the idea of digital money. People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan made that clear at a press conference in Beijing, saying physical cash may one day become obsolete. Zhou said the PBOC is looking into digital currencies as it pursues faster, cheaper and …