Bloomberg Axis Bank Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Shikha Sharma will step down at the end of 2018, more than two years before the proposed end of her term, amid reports the regulator is questioning the lender’s performance. The board of India’s third-largest private bank had proposed she stay through 2021 but accepted Sharma’s request for an exit on December 31, …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG’s management upheaval may be the final blow to the embattled lender’s ambitions to go head-to-head with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in international investment banking, and that’s just fine for many in Germany. With veteran Christian Sewing appointed chief executive officer as the emergency replacement for out-of-favour John Cryan, businesses serving international clients and trading an array …

Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd. is seeking a banking license in Senegal after opening in Ivory Coast as the lender expands in West Africa’s French-speaking countries. Africa’s largest lender, which opened in the world’s biggest cocoa producer, will focus on corporate and investment-banking clients after obtaining the license in 2016, Sola David-Borha, the Johannesburg-based company’s chief executive officer for Africa, …

LONDON / Reuters The Bank of England should not delay raising interest rates again, one of its top policymakers said, pointing to the possibility of faster pay rises and the recent strong pick-up in the world economy. Ian McCafferty told Reuters that after lagging behind inflation for much of the past decade, wage growth might prove stronger than most of …

Bloomberg Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA has shelved flights between Europe and Canada until next year after delivery delays afflicting Boeing Co. 737 Max narrow-body jets left too little time to market the planned routes. Services won’t now begin until spring 2019 following a slippage of about four weeks in the handover of two 737s, Norwegian Air Chief Executive Officer Bjorn …

Bloomberg China’s push to bolster its military firepower has turned a state-run aviation stock into one of Asia’s best performers this year. AviChina Industry & Technology Co., a maker of training jets, transport helicopters and airplane electronics systems, jumped 40 percent in Hong Kong since the start of February through April 9 as Beijing pledged to boost defense spending. That …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc.’s online marketplace is getting more choosy. The retailer’s website — where third-party vendors sell their own wares — is adding far fewer sellers a month compared with a year ago, according to data tracker Marketplace Pulse. The site, which Walmart created in 2009 to compete with a similar offering from Amazon.com Inc., now includes about 18,000 sellers. …

Bloomberg After demand from China drove another quarter of rapid growth for LVMH, Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault is counting on e-commerce to help keep his luxury empire ahead of the pack. First-quarter sales rose 13 percent on an organic basis, the Paris-based owner of Sephora and Christian Dior said. That beat analysts’ average estimate of 8.5 percent and spurred …

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV said two deals with entities related to its former chairman and biggest shareholder Christo Wiese didn’t follow proper disclosure processes, dragging the South African billionaire deeper into an accounting crisis. The agreements were made in the two months leading up to the emergence of financial irregularities that have wiped more than 90 percent off the …

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The current MENA fintech market is estimated at $2 billion (AED7.35 billion) and expected to witness an annual growth of $125 million (AED459 million) until 2022, according to Mena Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. Increasingly compelling business models of fintech are expected to drive the market growth further. Going forward, …