Bloomberg The krona is the worst-performing major currency this year. That may be about to change. Sweden’s krona should recover from this month’s eight-year low of 10.35 per euro as factors that have weighed, such as weaker-than-forecast inflation, are either already priced in or will improve, according to SEB AB. The bank sees it appreciating to 9.80 per euro by …

Bloomberg The head of China’s largest natural gas importer believes the country’s energy ties with the US are set to deepen, despite trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies that has roiled financial markets. “There is more room for cooperation than confrontation between China and the US,” China National Petroleum Corp. Chairman Wang Yilin said in an interview with …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia wants to get oil prices near $80 a barrel to pay for the government’s policy agenda and support the valuation of state energy giant Aramco before an initial public offering. In conversations with OPEC delegates and oil market participants, Saudi officials had been careful to avoid pinpointing an exact price target. Yet people who have spoken to …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s top officials lined up to express cautious confidence in the euro-area economy after a series of reports pointing to a surprisingly weak start to the year, while reiterating that they’ll move only slowly towards ending stimulus. President Mario Draghi and three of his most-senior colleagues signalled that while inflation remains too low and a global …

VIENNA / Reuters BNP Paribas is increasing its presence in Poland with the 775 million euro ($954 million) purchase of Raiffeisen Bank International’s (RBI) main business in the European Union’s largest eastern economy. The French bank said it will merge Raiffeisen Bank Polska, Poland’s tenth largest lender by assets, with BGZ BNP Paribas, which it bought in 2014, bolstering its …

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 …