Satyajit Das As Europe braces for the release of its bank stress tests on Friday, the world could be on the verge of another banking crisis. The signs are obvious to all. The World Bank estimates the ratio of non-performing loans to total gross loans in 2015 reached 4.3 percent. Before the 2009 global financial crisis, they stood at …

  London / AFP European stocks and the dollar slid on Thursday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates and indicated it would take a slow, measured approach to any hikes. Markets also digested a barrage of company results, including from Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group, Rolls-Royce and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as France’s Carrefour, BNP Paribas and Renault, and …

  Tokyo / AFP Tokyo shares fell on Thursday as a Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy meeting kicked off, with markets waiting to see if policymakers unleash a fresh round of stimulus to kickstart sluggish growth. The gathering is the BoJ’s first since Britain’s shock vote to quit the European Union hammered financial markets and sparked a rally in the …