Bloomberg KCB group Plc, Kenya’s biggest bank by assets, is in talks to form digital payment partnerships to expand revenue streams, Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara said. “We have to go beyond lending,” Oigara said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi. KCB is looking for partnerships for its mobile wallet, he said. The Nairobi-based lender is seeking increased revenue ...

Bloomberg The US Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into Visa Inc.’s practices regarding debit-card transactions. The department is looking into the network’s rules for routing transactions both in stores and online. “The US Department of Justice has informed Visa of its plans to open an investigation into Visa’s US debit practices” and is cooperating with the department, ...

Bloomberg Stocks edged lower with US equity futures on Monday, though technology shares outperformed as Treasury yields retreated from recent highs. The Stoxx 600 Index dropped 0.2%, with tech shares and automakers among the few sectors in the green. Futures on the S&P 500 Index also dipped, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq gauge advanced. In Asia, Chinese stocks rallied ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden’s potential tax hikes will likely deal only a temporary blow to US equities thanks to the tide of fiscal spending, including the prospect of growth-friendly infrastructure outlays, strategists said. Stocks are pricing in the good news around infrastructure and showing “little concern about tax hikes,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists led by David Kostin wrote in ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE cabinet adopted a new remote work visa to enable employees from all over the world to live and work in the UAE for one year and approved a multiple-entry tourist visa for all nationalities. The new resolutions are among several initiatives approved by the cabinet during a meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed ...

DUBAI / WAM Retail sales in the UAE are expected to rebound and grow by 13 percent to reach $58 billion by the end of 2021, supported by pent up consumer demand in the second half of the year, Covid-19 vaccination efforts and Expo 2020 Dubai, new analysis from Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has projected. The analysis, based ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The central bank of the UAE’s statistics revealed a net increase in the international reserves of the Emirati banking system of AED12.6 billion over three months, from November 2020 to January 2021. With this continued rise, the cumulative balance of the country’s international reserves amounted to over AED519 billion at the end of January 2021, a ...

ABU DHABI / WAM On the directives of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), the ERC enlarged the scope of its Ramadan programmes this year, to counter the health, economic and social repercussions of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The ERC’s Ramadan programmes will benefit ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) to promote the RTA’s marine transport line for ferry riders between the two emirates. Ahmed Hashim Bahrozyan, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, RTA and Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Chairman of SCTDA, signed the MoU remotely via ...

Dubai / WAM Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) is celebrating its Silver Jubilee year, highlighting its success as one of the leading free zones in the UAE, following outstanding financial and operational results last year. The free zone’s results affirm the effectiveness of its strategic initiatives and economic incentive packages that were launched to overcome the challenges caused by Covid-19. ...