Milan / BLOOMBERG Unicredit, Italy’s biggest bank by assets, said that net profit fell around a fifth at the start of the year due to restructuring costs in Italy and Austria. The charges — to the tune of some 230 million euros – weighed on the bank’s net profit in the first quarter, which came to 406 million euros ...

  Bloomberg ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch lender, said first-quarter profit declined 29 percent on growing regulatory expenses and a loss at its financial-markets division. Net income dropped to 1.26 billion euros ($1.43 billion) from 1.77 billion euros a year earlier, the Amsterdam-based bank said in a statement. That compares with 1.24 billion euros, the average of seven analyst ...

  Bloomberg The world’s dollar-dominated monetary order has serious instabilities that can best be fixed by central banks explicitly coordinating policy, Claudio Borio, the chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), argued in a new paper. “The Achilles heel of the international monetary and financial system is that it amplifies the key weakness of domestic monetary and financial ...

Bloomberg Caixa Economica Federal, the state-controlled bank poised to become Brazil’s biggest lender, is boosting its credit portfolio while competitors not owned by the government pull back in response to the worst recession in a century. First-quarter lending at Caixa rose 9.2 percent to 684.2 billion reais ($194 billion) from a year earlier, the Brasilia-based bank said in an e-mailed ...

  Bloomberg Newly elected Mayor Sadiq Khan has dropped the Greater London Authority’s objection to London City Airport’s plan to purchase land it will need if its expansion plans are approved by the U.K. government later this year. The Labour mayor, who was elected last week, is withdrawing a key obstacle used by his Tory predecessor, Boris Johnson, to oppose ...

  Bloomberg Last month a Texas entrepreneur took to Craigslist with a surprising offer: For $50,000, the author of the listing would part with 5 percent of a real estate crowdfunding startup that he said would generate profit within three months. Seemant Nakra, who posted the ad, said it hasn’t led to new investment in his Austin-based company, Equity Brick, ...

  Doha & Paris / Reuters Qatar Airways has delayed the launch of the world’s longest scheduled direct flight — from Doha to Auckland, New Zealand — by two months because of the late delivery of Airbus A350s, an airline spokeswoman said. “I can confirm we are looking at February. It’s due to aircraft availability, specifically the delay in delivery ...

  San Francisco / AFP Amazon challenged YouTube by adding a platform to its video service that lets “storytellers and creators” share works online and generate revenue. The US online retail titan unveiled Amazon Video Direct where, like at YouTube, people can upload videos for online viewing at an ad-supported venue. The move came shortly after the Seattle-based firm made Amazon ...

  Bloomberg Later this year, outdoor-gear retailer North Face will offer its environmentally conscious shoppers at its outlet in Tokyo’s posh Harajuku fashion district a chance to save the planet. North Face’s outlets in Japan will sell a $1,000, special edition “Moon Parka,” a gold-colored jacket based on the design of its existing Antarctica parka, made out of synthetic spider ...

  Bloomberg In the latest salvo in a long-running feud over the costs of processing payments, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued Visa Inc.’s US unit, saying the company wants the retailer to use a less-secure method for verifying debit cards in order to route transactions through its own networks to boost profits. Wal-Mart filed a heavily redacted complaint in New York ...