Tokyo / AFP Bank of Japan (BOJ) shocked markets on Thursday as it held fire on fresh stimulus measures, sparking questions about whether there is anything left in its policy arsenal to kickstart a sliding economy. Dealers were caught off guard by the decision, which sent the yen skyrocketing, especially after another set of weak economic data in the …

  Bloomberg EFG International AG, in its second deal this year, has agreed to buy the Luxembourg-based private banking activities of UBI Banca International SA with 3.6 billion euros ($4.1 billion) of client assets. EFG earlier agreed to buy BSI from Brazil’s Grupo BTG Pactual SA in a bid to become Switzerland’s fifth-largest private bank. EFG didn’t disclose the price …

  Reuters Citigroup has dropped out of the group of banks providing a $1.5 billion bridge loan to Gulf-based Adeptio for its planned purchase of a majority stake in Kuwait Food Co (Americana), three sources aware of the matter said on Thursday. The US bank failed to secure internal approval to participate in the deal, with two of the sources …