Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA’s profits jumped in the first quarter, as the bank joined European peers in posting a strong trading performance and lower-than-anticipated charges to cover potential loan losses. Net income rises 64% from a year ago to 1.05 billion euros ($1.27 billion), after Credit Agricole provided 384 million euros against the possibility of souring loans, below the 564.5 ...

Bloomberg India approved a plan to privatise IDBI Bank Ltd. as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sells assets to narrow its budget gap. The government plans to sell all or part of its 45.5% stake in the lender, as well a state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India’s 49.2% ownership, according to a government statement. The sale envisages ceding ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s global chief economist, Catherine Mann, is leaving the bank after three years in the job. Mann, a prominent economist who joined the New York-based company in February 2018 from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said by email that she has resigned from Citigroup, without elaborating. Gabriel Morales, a spokesman for Citigroup, confirmed her resignation. Mann ...

Bloomberg Foreign demand for a slice of Taiwan’s increasingly profitable companies is threatening to upend the central bank’s decades-old currency management policy. Central bank board member Chang Chien-yi told Bloomberg in a rare interview that the institution won’t be able to fight currency appreciation if the Taiwan dollar rises on economic fundamentals as the competitiveness of local industries improves. “The ...

Bloomberg Samantha Proyrungtong, co-owner of an artisan food shop in downtown Bangkok, keeps three phones and a laptop glued to Facebook and Softbank Group-backed Line Corp.’s social-media app throughout the workday. She needs them not to hear from friends and relatives but to get orders from customers since her shop, Vivin Grocery, relies on chat applications for a big part ...

Bloomberg Argo AI, the self-driving startup backed by Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG, has developed a sensor it believes will be key to commercialising autonomous transportation in cities, suburbs and on the highway. The Pittsburgh-based company, which plans to go public as soon as this year, unveiled a lidar sensor capable of “seeing” 400 meters (437 yards) down the ...

Bloomberg A company that’s barely known in the US and Europe is the most successful online music platform in Africa — making it target number one in Spotify’s campaign to dominate the continent’s streaming market. Audiomack Inc. won the hearts of many Africans by allowing those without a premium subscription to download songs and listen offline. The feature lets customers ...

Bloomberg The next-generation display destined to be a highlight of Apple Inc.’s upcoming top-tier iPad Pro is facing production issues that could lead to short initial supplies of the new device, according to people familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant plans to showcase a new MiniLED display technology in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro set to be announced ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) has announced that its foreign non-oil trade reached more than AED119 billion in 2020. The free zone contributed 10% to Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade and 25% to the total trade in free zones in the emirate of Dubai. This affirms the free zone’s capability in overcoming the challenges and consequences of ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The central bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has announced that it has been working with SWIFT on an initiative to further enhance the speed and transparency of cross-border payments. The CBUAE will be the first central bank globally to implement such an initiative. The integration between the CBUAE’s domestic UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS) and SWIFT’s ...