Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, are planning to go to Washington DC in mid-March potentially to unveil a proposal for Australia’s nuclear submarine project, according to a person familiar with the matter. President Joe Biden will host the British and Australian leaders, and the allies are expected to announce their preferred design …

Bloomberg The US secured access to more Philippine military bases, clearing the way for a greater American presence in the Asia-Pacific region as tensions with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea persist. The announcement Thursday of a plan to designate four new locations in “strategic areas” where the US will have expanded access didn’t mention China. Instead, it …

  Bloomberg Japan’s financial regulator is urging regional banks to raise wages for employees, people familiar with the matter said, responding to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s call for higher pay with inflation hitting its highest level since 1981. Officials at the nation’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) are telling regional banks — which number around 100 — that it’s important to …

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is weighing a plan to carve up its investment bank in China by retaining a domestic unit and shifting the overseas operation to the new CS First Boston division. The securities and wealth businesses in mainland China is likely to be kept under the Swiss lender, while Hong Kong staff focusing on offshore deals …

  Bloomberg State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest financier, has given loans of as much as $2.6 billion to companies in the Adani conglomerate, or about half of what is allowed under the rules, according to a person familiar with the matter. SBI’s exposure includes $200 million from its overseas units, the person said, asking not to be …

  Bloomberg Lulalend will unveil South Africa’s newest digital bank, Lula, by March after it secured $35 million to expand its business. Lulalend, a startup founded in 2014, will partner with Nigerian lender Access Bank to establish Lula. The neobank will offer a bespoke suite of products that address the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises in managing their …

  Bloomberg For the fifth straight quarter, European banks are set to match or beat Wall Street rivals after a debt trading surge last year saw revenues surge by almost 30%. Six of the region’s top investment banks — led by Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG — are expected to show an average 29% increase in bond and currency …

  Bloomberg Zopa Ltd. has completed a funding round of £75 million ($92 million) and is on the lookout for deals as early as this quarter. The raise from existing investors “cements” the UK fintech’s status as a unicorn with a valuation of $1 billion, the bank said on Thursday. Zopa, backed by investors including Softbank’s Vision Fund and Northzone, …

  Bloomberg Gautam Adani’s businesses have lost $108 billion in a week, one of the biggest wipeouts in India’s history, after an explosive report by short-seller Hindenburg Research forced him to pull a stock sale at the 11th hour and led some lenders to reject his securities as collateral for client trades. Adani, who last year became the world’s second-richest …

  Bloomberg European stocks climbed with US equity futures, building on Wall Street’s advance after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank had made progress in its battle against inflation. The Stoxx Europe 600 index added about 0.6%, with traders now looking ahead to the European Central Bank’s policy decision after mixed inflation data reignited debate about how …