Sydney / AFP Westpac Bank has vowed to “vigorously defend” itself against allegations it manipulated the interbank lending rate after Australia’s corporate regulator launched legal action against the financial giant, the second case in a lengthy investigation. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it began legal action against Westpac in the federal court for manipulating a key market ...

Muscat / Reuters Oman’s central bank has increased the maximum amount of government securities which banks can hold to 45 percent of their net worth from 30 percent, central bank and commercial banking sources said. The move will make it easier for the government to sell debt as it steps up bond issues to finance a big budget deficit caused ...

BANGKOK / Reuters In a downtown Bangkok mall, ripped jeans and mirror sunglasses aimed at fast-fashion teens show how Thai retailers are getting ready for the next big thing — a government stimulus package they’re betting will revive sales after years of stagnation. The goods are on sale in US brand Aeropostale Inc’s first Thai store, recently opened in a ...

HELSINKI / Reuters Finland’s largest discount store chain Tokmanni Group, majority owned by buyout house Nordic Capital, said it is planning a possible stock market flotation. Tokmanni, with 156 stores, had sales of 755 million euros ($859 million) and an underlying operating profit margin of 5.8 percent last year. Sources said last year a float could value the company at ...

Emirates Business Kuwait Airways, one of the pioneers of air travel in the Middle East, has selected aeroLINE CREW from Information System Associates FZE (ISA) as their new crew management system. aeroLINE CREW is an unparalleled crew management facility, built with latest cutting edge technologies, and it empowers airlines to significantly lower operating costs, improved operational efficiency and empowers crew ...

Amman / EMIRATES BUSINESS Air Arabia Jordan has announced the launch of a new route from Amman to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia effective April 14, 2016. Flights will be operational three times weekly. This will be Air Arabia Jordan’s first expansion in 2016 and Riyadh will be the third Saudi Arabian city to be serviced by the carrier after Dammam ...

HELSINKI / Reuters Loss-making Finnish retailer Stockmann announced the surprise departure of its chief executive, after 16 months in the job, raising questions over the company’s ongoing restructuring. Per Thelin, who will leave the company immediately, was recruited in 2014 to revive the department store and fashion chain group after its earnings fell due to a recession in Finland and ...

Paris / AP Shares in Air France-KLM went into freefall on Wednesday, a day after the company said Alexandre de Juniac is to resign as chairman and CEO to take charge of aviation industry group IATA. Juniac helped Europe’s second biggest airline group return to profit last year for the first time since 2008, but his four-year spell at the ...

London / Emirates Business This year marks the 40th anniversary of Britain’s World of Islam Festival, a ground-breaking series of exhibitions opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. That same year, Sotheby’s pioneered London’s first ‘Islamic Week’, which has taken place in April and October every year since. In celebration of these landmark events, Sotheby’s is staging its most wide-ranging ...

Cannes / AFP Tired of “Big Brother”, too afraid to turn on “The Apprentice” now that Donald Trump is at the gates of the White House? Never fear. In the television future dogs will fly, people will come back from the dead and parents will choose their children’s dates. These are just some of the new reality television concepts coming ...