Bloomberg Intesa Sanpaolo SpA climbed in Milan trading after abandoning the idea of a joint business model with an insurance company as Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina doesn’t see sufficient value in merging with Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Italy’s biggest insurer. The country’s second-largest bank said that after studying a possible combination under the bancassurance model, it now plans to …

  Bloomberg One of the smallest parts of Standard Chartered Plc, the UK bank with operations sprawling across Asia and Africa, has become one of its biggest losers. Losses at the unit that houses the Standard Chartered Private Equity business, or SCPE, more than doubled to $650 million in 2016 as its investments lost value, the London-based bank said. The …

  WASHINGTON / AP A new military strategy to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to “obliterate” the IS group is likely to deepen US military involvement in Syria, possibly with more ground troops, even as the current US approach in Iraq appears to be working and will require fewer changes. Details are sketchy. But recommendations due at the White House …