Bloomberg Oil traded near the lowest close in a week as U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly increased, keeping supplies at the highest in at least three decades with the peak summer demand period approaching its end. Futures were little changed in New York after falling 2.8 percent on Wednesday. Inventories rose by 2.5 million barrels last week, according to the …

Riga /AFP Two Scandinavian banks, Nordea and DNB, announced on Thursday they will merge operations in Baltic eurozone members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Their new bank will be the second-largest financial institution in the region behind market-leader Swedbank, with assets worth 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) and more than 3,000 employees. “Nordea and DNB have entered into an agreement to …

  Bloomberg Shares of Kenya’s biggest banks plunged after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a law that caps the interest rates lenders can charge on loans and set minimum payments on deposits. KCB Group Ltd., the nation’s largest bank by assets, led the slump to head for the steepest decline in 13 years after Kenyatta signed the law saying he sympathized …