Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) will almost certainly announce new stimulus measures at its policy meeting next week, analysts said, as eurozone inflation turned negative and the economic outlook continues to cloud over. After disappointing financial markets with what were widely to perceived as half-hearted measures in December, ECB chief Mario Draghi will announce bolder policy moves this time ...

Yangon / AFP Four more foreign banks have been given preliminary approval to operate in Myanmar, state media reported on Sunday, the latest government attempt to attract overseas investment to the emergent nation. Myanmar’s banking system was closed for decades to outside competition under junta rule, leaving the country laden with a creaking financial infrastructure and a populace deeply suspicious ...

Bloomberg Negative interest-rate policies currently in use by central banks around the world have worked through their respective systems in much the same way as positive rates, though it’s not known how far below zero that would continue to be the case, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. In its quarterly report published on Sunday, the Basel-based “central bank ...

BLOOMBERG Banks that finance their operations abroad with wholesale, cross-border or cross-currency funding are amplifying credit crunches, while those relying on local deposits remain a more stable provider of loans, economists at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. Those banks whose foreign subsidiaries lent money raised from local savers and companies shrank their balance sheets less than those relying ...

Bloomberg Wall Street giants such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. would face new limits on credit exposure to other large financial firms under a Federal Reserve plan aimed at ensuring banks won’t take others with them if they fail. The proposal, which would limit such exposures to 15 percent of a lender’s Tier ...

New York / AFP Mid-sized and regional airlines in the US are suffering from a pilot shortage that could threaten the health of the broader US aviation industry. The labour shortfall has led to cancelled flights at carriers like Mesa Airlines and Silver Airways. That has hit smaller airports, such as in Redding, California, or Erie, Pennsylvania, according to figures ...

Brasilia / BLOOMBERG Embraer SA reported fourth-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates as the company made a 390.6 million-real ($100.3 million) provision related to Republic Airways Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy filing. The Brazilian planemaker said net income attributable to controlling shareholders rose 76 percent to 425.8 million reais, trailing the 527.5 million-real average estimate for adjusted earnings of seven ...

TOKYO / Bloomberg Shareholders of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings Co., a key unit of Korean-Japanese retail conglomerate Lotte Group, voted to oppose a measure to remove Chairman Shin Dong Bin at an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday. Family-controlled Lotte Group is in the midst of a power struggle between Shin Dong Bin and his older sibling who was stripped of his ...

Bloomberg David Bonderman’s TPG Capital cut the value of its stake in struggling clothing retailer J. Crew Group Inc. by 84 percent at the end of 2015. The private equity firm, which led a 2011 leveraged buyout of the company, told investors that its $478.6 million equity holding in J. Crew was lowered to $76 million, according to documents obtained ...

Hong Kong / Bloomberg Crude oil’s plunge to the cheapest level in more than a decade helped the global airline industry boost profit forecasts. One airline that hasn’t fully benefited is Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. The marquee Hong Kong airline reported an unrealised fuel-hedging loss of HK$7.42 billion ($954 million) as of end-June — and oil prices have slumped a ...