Tokyo / Bloomberg The top executive of Japan’s biggest bank delivered a rare criticism of the central bank, saying its negative interest-rate policy has contributed to anxiety among households and companies and prolonging it may weaken financial institutions. “Both households and businesses have become skeptical about the effectiveness of policy measures to address the current economic problems,” Nobuyuki Hirano, ...

  Reuters Japan’s economy is expected to have narrowly avoided another recession at the start of 2016 but economists in a poll also predicted that growth and inflation will remain tepid this year, held back in part by the recent sharp rise in the yen. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) surprised in a split January decision to implement a tiny ...

  Reuters Bank Muscat, Oman’s largest lender, posted a 1.1 percent increase in first-quarter net profit on Thursday, according to a bourse statement, on the back of rising income from loans, fees and commission. The bank made a profit of 43.8 million rials ($113.8 million) in the three-month period ending on March 31, up from 43.3 million rials a year ...