Bloomberg Mark Carney is calling for greater regulation to bring the era of cryptocurrency “anarchy” to an end. “The time has come to hold the crypto-asset ecosystem to the same standards as the rest of the financial system,” the Bank of England governor said in a speech at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London. Carney, who is also head of the …

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s planned $16 billion syndicated loan, one of the largest ever in emerging markets, will cut the kingdom’s cost of funding by paying banks much less than on previous borrowings. The ministry of finance said on Twitter that it would offer banks a margin of 75 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) for …

Bloomberg Who’s afraid of Jerome Powell? Not emerging markets. Stocks, bonds and currencies in developing nations did tumble with global markets after the US Federal Reserve chairman’s comments this week spurred bets for four interest-rate increases in 2018. Conventional wisdom holds that the quick increase in borrowing costs will diminish risk appetite and end a two-year rally in emerging-market assets. …

Bloomberg If you ask stock strategists, European banks are no longer a unanimous buy. Deutsche Bank AG lowered its recommendation on lenders to underweight, citing weaker economic momentum and falling German bond yields. The downgrade comes two weeks after a strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc said the bank has been cutting its position on European financials, predicting US 10-year Treasury …

Bloomberg The Bank of Baroda’s South African unit has been in possession of the “proceeds of crime” linked to a dairy farm project that involved the politically connected Gupta family, said Thato Ntimutse, a lawyer for the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit. While India’s Bank of Baroda has tried to stop the state from freezing 30 million rand ($2.5 …

Bloomberg Airline industry experts have been proclaiming the death of first class for years. While some airlines have done away with it altogether, others are doubling down with palatial suite-style seats, lavish amenities, and services that pamper, both on the ground and in the air. What’s ensued is a golden age of flying … for those who can afford it. …

GENEVA / WAM The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined a chorus of international actors in calling for respecting a truce in Syria’s eastern Ghouta and affirmed that the Syrian people had experienced brutal confrontations and systematic targeting and could not tolerate another bloody chapter. Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, Permanent Representative of the UAE to United Nations and other International …

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq’s parliament approved on Saturday a long-delayed 104 trillion Iraqi dinar ($88 billion) 2018 state budget, two lawmakers told Reuters, though lawmakers from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region boycotted the session. The budget of 104 trillion Iraqi dinars ($88 billion) is based on projected oil exports of 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) at a price of $46, …

Bloomberg A bright future lies ahead for OLED. When that starts, and how long it lasts, is less clear. Organic light-emitting diode screens have been touted as the future of smartphones because they’re crisper and easier on batteries than their liquid-crystal predecessors. In 2017, as Apple Inc. prepared its OLED iPhone X, suppliers led by Samsung Electronics Co. rushed to …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is embracing open-source software in the race to get its voice-based Alexa digital assistant into cars ahead of Google. Amazon engineers are working with Nuance Communications Inc. and Voicebox Technologies Corp. to write code that makes in-vehicle apps compatible with several speech-recognition technologies, eliminating the need for developers to make multiple versions. A working group was set …