Bloomberg The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is poised to become the latest central bank to test its own digital currency, which it will use in a trial of a blockchain-driven system for interbank payments. The ‘proof-of-concept’ project, which also involves the city’s stock exchange and eight banks, is aimed at simplifying the payments process and reducing transaction costs, …

  Bloomberg Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd. became the first of the country’s biggest banks to report a drop in nine-month profit as it tripled loan-loss provisions and bad loans surged. The bank partially owned by Barclays Plc’s Africa unit posted profit of 6.06 billion shillings ($59.5 million) in the nine months through September, compared with 6.4 billion shillings a …

  Bloomberg ABN Amro Group NV, the state-controlled Dutch lender that returned to the stock market last year, reported a 19 percent jump in third-quarter profit and said it would cut 1,500 jobs as it steps up cost reductions. Underlying net income, which strips out one-time items, rose to 607 million euros ($652 million) from 509 million euros a year …