Hong Kong / AFP A Hong Kong court on Tuesday ruled to disqualify two pro-independence lawmakers from parliament, a week after Beijing said it would not allow the pair to be sworn into office as fears grow of the city’s liberties coming under threat. Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching deliberately misread their oaths of office, inserted expletives and draped ...

  AP India’s government said on Tuesday it will use indelible ink to mark the fingers of people swapping scrapped currency notes at banks as authorities struggle to deal with the bedlam caused by the sudden demonetizing of the country’s highest-denomination bills. India announced a week ago that it was withdrawing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes as legal tender to ...

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA will offer a voluntary debt-for-equity swap on 4.29 billion euros ($4.6 billion) of subordinated securities as part of its effort to reduce the amount of stock the struggling Italian lender would need to sell in its turnaround plan. The bank is offering shares in exchange for Tier 1 securities and Tier ...

  Bloomberg UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank by market value, climbed in Milan trading after news agency Ansa reported talk of a combination with France’s Societe Generale SA. UniCredit rose as much as 5.8 percent and was up 2.5 percent at 2.35 euros as of 9:57 a.m. Societe Generale was trading 1.4 percent higher at 40.35 euros. The stock has ...

  Bloomberg Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank said on Tuesday its net profits had doubled as borrowing in the country picked up after an abrupt halt last year. The country’s most popular consumer bank saw third-quarter net profits soar to 137 billion rubles ($2 billion) — a gain of 110 percent compared to the same period in 2015. The results were ...

  Bloomberg French tax authorities are seeking to recover 2.2 billion euros of tax breaks given to Societe Generale following massive losses due to “rogue trader” Jerome Kerviel’s recklessness, Les Echos newspaper said. In September an appeals court in Versailles, west of Paris, decided that the French banking giant was mostly to blame for ex-trader Kerviel losing 4.9 billion euros ...

  Nicosia / AFP Bank of Cyprus, the east Mediterranean island’s largest lender, said on Tuesday it would apply for a listing on the London Stock Exchange as part of its restructuring drive. “We are delighted to be applying for a listing on the London Stock Exchange, which marks another significant step in the bank’s transformation,” said BoC chairman Josef ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of the annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) showcase in Dubai, which will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 24-27, 2017, announced that it will host the first ATM Global Halal Tourism Summit as part of its line-up of special focus events. The one-day summit, scheduled to take ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business As part of the National Day Celebrations, to show their love and loyalty for the UAE, Waiwera Artesian Water, the world’s leading mineral water brand has launched a campaign under, the slogan “Express Your Love for UAE.” The initiative was launched in the presence of HH Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, President of Sharjah ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), recently participated in BakuBuild, the leading construction industry fair in Central Asia held annually in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, along with 16 Emirati companies specialised in building materials. The exhibition was held this year in the backdrop of growing interest among ...