China’s banks have a deposit problem. For those outside the so-called Big Four lenders, there’s just not enough to go around. It’s not an issue for the biggest. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd all share one thing: sticky, low-cost retail deposits. Move down the ...

To Switzerland, and a beautifully engineered corporate U-turn. Zurich-based industrial group ABB Ltd. is considering a sale of its power grids business, according to Bloomberg News. The deliberations come nearly two years after CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer ardently rejected calls from activist Cevian Capital AB for the unit be separated. Perhaps he realises the justifications for keeping it are dwindling. The ...

There is a curiously retro aspect to the energy policies of the Trump administration, with its embrace of resource nationalism and love of extraction over efficiency. Coal, so redolent of the age of Bismarck, is its touchstone. And while the latest attempt to make coal competitive again, the Affordable Clean Energy proposal, is quite obviously not going to do much ...