Reuters HSBC will seek to cut internal bureaucracy and expand investment in China’s southern region to the rest of the country, executives at the bank said on Monday, in the first hints of the strategy to be pursued by its new leadership duo. Mark Tucker, the bank’s first externally appointed chairman, told analysts and investors at a meeting in Hong …

Bloomberg Uganda’s central bank maintained the benchmark interest rate at a record low as risks to the east African nation’s inflation outlook remain balanced. The key rate was kept at 9 percent, Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told reporters on Monday in the capital, Kampala. Inflation slowed to 2 percent in March, the weakest level since 2014, and the risks to the …

Bloomberg Barclays Africa Group Ltd., South Africa’s third-biggest bank, will split into four operating units as the lender outlines its growth strategy after the sale by its UK parent. The Johannesburg-based firm will separate retail and business banking, investment banking, wealth and insurance, and its operations in the rest of Africa, it said in a statement on Monday. Deputy Chief …

Bloomberg JetBlue Airways Corp. reaffirmed its faith in Pratt & Whitney’s troubled jet engine with an order for another 97 to power new Airbus SE planes. The airline will take a total of 183 geared turbofan power plants, increasing an earlier decision to buy 86 engines for its A320neo family of aircraft, JetBlue said. While the carrier didn’t disclose the …

Bloomberg New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is no longer ranked among the 20 busiest in the world, thanks to the rush in Asia. Among those pushing out JFK was New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport that made its debut on the table last year at No. 16, according to Airports Council International rankings released on Monday. The Indian …

Reuters France expects to take a “first significant step” in the development of a new European fighter jet with Germany later this month, Defence Minister Florence Parly said in remarks. Paris and Berlin first unveiled plans to develop the new warplane in July, two months after President Emmanuel Macron’s election win, burying past industrial rivalries to tighten defence and security. …

Bloomberg British retailers suffered their biggest sales decline since 2008 last month as two snowstorms dubbed the “beasts from the east” kept shoppers at home. Comparable sales in midmarket stores dropped 10.1 percent in March, the second-worst month on record, business advisory firm BDO LLP said in its monthly report. Several days of subzero temperatures and extraordinary snowfall disrupted Britain’s …

Bloomberg The Middle East is emerging as a potential beneficiary of the brewing trade war between the US and China as the Asian nation strikes back with retaliatory tariffs on American petrochemical products. If China goes ahead with its proposal to slap a 25 percent tariff on polyethylene and liquid propane, which were among 106 American goods targeted, buyers in …

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s got the stock market on a string, but investors are less sure of the game he’s playing. The Republican president’s renewed ramblings on trade dominated US equity markets this week, with a tweet-induced swoon on April 6 leaving the S&P 500 Index 1.4 percent lower than where it started on Monday. The gauge swung wildly, notching four …

Reuters The Saudi Arabian stock market remained in positive territory on Sunday after rebounding late last week from several days of profit-taking, while a pullback by two blue chips dragged down Abu Dhabi. The Saudi stock index closed up 0.2 percent. Food and beverage company Almarai added 3.5 percent after announcing first-quarter net profit of 344 million riyals ($91.7 million) …