Bloomberg India’s state-owned UCO Bank said it has exposure of $411.8 million in the nearly $2 billion bank fraud perpetrated against Punjab National Bank, a case linked to billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi. UCO Bank’s Hong Kong branch granted loans against letters of credit issued by PNB, UCO Bank said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Other banks, including …

Bloomberg Authorities in Italy searched the headquarters of the country’s biggest phone carriers as part of an antitrust probe over pricing of mobile and fixed-line services. Financial police and officials from the Italian Antitrust Agency searched offices in Rome and Milan of Telecom Italia SpA, Vodafone Group’s local unit, Swisscom AG’s Fastweb, Wind Tre and industry lobby Asstel, the regulator …

Bloomberg Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch’s $1 trillion dream has grown a little more distant. Six months after merging Scotland’s two biggest money managers to create a giant capable of competing with the largest US companies, the co-chiefs of Standard Life Aberdeen Plc are instead digesting the potential loss of almost 20 percent of the funds at their asset-management business. …

Bloomberg Latvian central bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevics was detained by the country’s anti-corruption bureau, the prime minister said in a statement on Sunday. The government has full trust in the work of the anti-graft body and won’t interfere in its work, according to the statement sent by the office of Premier Maris Kucinskis. No further details on the reason for …

Bloomberg As the European Union pushes for a new role in military matters, the bloc has thrust its development bank into the center of a policy struggle that reveals an old fissure over the very nature of the EU project. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is getting prodded to be bolder about lending to defense companies by a France-led group …

Bloomberg After delaying spending on its fleet for too long during a turnaround program, Qantas Airways Ltd. faces a possible funding squeeze when it’s time to buy new planes, according to S&P Global Ratings. The Australian flag carrier needs to increase investment in its aging fleet of 309 planes before the sum required is too large to handle, S&P said …

Bloomberg UK retail sales barely grew in January, more evidence consumers are reluctant to splash out amid a squeeze from rising prices. Sales increased 0.1 percent from December, far below the 0.5 percent gain forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year earlier, sales rose 1.6 percent, the weakest for a January in four years, the Office for …

Bloomberg Tesco Plc faces growing investor pressure to sweeten its 3.9 billion pound ($5.5 billion) offer for wholesaler Booker Group Plc ahead of a shareholder vote in less than two weeks. Alpine Associates Management Inc. opposes Tesco’s offer on the existing terms and believes Booker shareholders should vote against the deal, the investor said by email. Alpine has an economic …

Bloomberg US shoppers may be ordering more clothing than socks and underwear on Amazon after all. Amazon.com Inc. is spiriting away share of apparel sales from Target Corp., Macy’s Inc. and JC Penney Co., according to a report by Coresight Research. Amazon Fashion is tied with Target as the second-most-shopped apparel retailer in the US, behind Walmart Inc., as measured …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. is introducing low-cost clothing brands for women, kids and plus-size customers, aiming to lure shoppers as Amazon.com Inc. gobbles up more apparel sales. The store brands include Time and Tru in ladieswear — which will replace the jettisoned DanskinNow label — along with Terra & Sky in plus-size apparel and Wonder Nation for kids, according to a …