Lloyds Banking Group Plc and Standard Life Aberdeen Plc have fallen out after talks to merge their insurance businesses fell apart. But the two have left the door open to overcoming their differences and getting the deal back on track. News of the failed talks fills in some of the background to Lloyds’s announcement last week that it plans to ...

Almost two years after the UK voted to quit the European Union, and barely more than a year before the actual exit is scheduled to happen, an all but leaderless Britain is fumbling its way to disaster. The country needs to find a way to change course. There should be a second referendum as soon as possible. It was a ...

Fans of self-driving cars will have breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Uber and Google’s Waymo, two giants in the industry, have settled their intellectual-property lawsuit. This removes a huge distraction for companies, and freeing them up to focus on their own research. So that’s good. Driverless cars will be an incredible boon to society. They could ...

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated Haruhiko Kuroda to a second term as governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), he gave the central banker a gift that might hold the key to policy over the next five years. Far from simply pushing the Bank of Japan towards further easing, Abe has provided Kuroda with room to maneuver should ...

How committed are you to a belief system? Answering that question has the potential to reveal flaws in our thought processes about many things, from politics to economics to cultural issues. Whether you are committed to one big idea, or are fascinated by a variety of things might also determine how successful you are as an investor. I was reminded ...

Bloomberg Latvia’s banking scandal deepened as its central bank chief and representative to the European Central Bank faced accusations of repeatedly trying to extort money from a local bank, in a blow to the Baltic state’s reputation. The Latvian government has repeatedly demanded that Ilmars Rimsevics step down after the country’s anti-corruption agency arrested him over the weekend on suspicion ...

Bloomberg Japan’s biggest banks bought the most government bonds last month since March 2012, signalling confidence in the central bank’s ability to control the yield curve and cap interest rates. The category for large lenders including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., collectively bought a net 2.3 trillion yen ($21.5 billion) of government ...

Bloomberg Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is already bracing for the UK’s next financial crisis. While no central bank can eliminate the risk of future crises, he said the BOE is creating a more secure environment by planning for bank failures, providing liquidity and ensuring higher levels of capital. “Something will go wrong again even if we do not ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank is reviewing its process for allowing companies to raise money overseas due to concern that any increase in rupee volatility may hurt borrowers’ ability to repay debt, a person familiar with the matter said. The Reserve Bank of India is spending more time scrutinising companies’ hedging practices, vetting borrowers more closely to prepare for any financial-market ...

Bloomberg Stuart Gulliver’s final set of results at HSBC Holdings Plc weren’t quite the swansong he’d hoped for as he hands the reins over to his long-term lieutenant, John Flint. Europe’s largest bank missed estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit as it became the latest firm to take a hit on two high-profile corporate failures and post a sharp decline ...