Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., (OCBC) Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank, has joined some global peers in pledging it won’t lay off staff due to the coronavirus pandemic. “We do not plan to have retrenchment exercise arising from this outbreak,” Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien said in a recent memo to employees. Despite the expected hit to the bank’s revenue growth, Singapore-based …

Bloomberg Now that Japan’s government is urging consumers and businesses to step up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, shoppers may finally have no excuse but to embrace e-commerce and wean themselves from brick-and-mortar stores. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and six other areas last week. In response, Uniqlo clothing owner Fast Retailing Co, …

Bloomberg Air France-KLM has asked the French state for an immediate cash injection to help the troubled carrier stay afloat in the next four to five months, according to Les Echos newspaper. The cash injection, which could represent “many billions” of euros, would come on top of state-backed loans worth about 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) the company is currently …