Bloomberg Qatar National Bank (QNB), the biggest bank in the Middle East and Africa, is turning its focus to Southeast Asia for growth after hitting expansion goals in the region earlier than planned. “Our previous target to become a Middle East and Africa icon by 2017, was achieved in 2014, so we have upscaled our aspiration to become a …

  Bloomberg UK inflation is almost back on target. Economists forecast that consumer-price growth accelerated to 1.9 percent in January, part of an upward trend that’s expected to continue through this year. While the prediction would leave inflation just shy of the Bank of England’s (BOE) 2 percent goal, last hit in 2013, there have been upside surprises for the …

Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA shares dropped the most since June after France’s largest bank posted earnings that fell short of estimates and cast doubt over growth in its home market. The bank tumbled as much as 5 percent in Paris trading after reporting fourth-quarter net income of 1.44 billion euros ($1.55 billion), below the 1.63 billion-euro average estimate of seven …