Classic Layout

Davos digital-payments rift pits FB against central banks

Bloomberg A rift among the global elite over the future of digital payments was on display during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. At stake is the potential overhaul of the global financial system that could see companies like Facebook Inc pitted against the world’s central banks in the race to develop a ...

Read More »

Swiss bank ex-CEO sanctioned for insider trading

Bloomberg A Swiss bank’s former chief executive officer has been sanctioned by the country’s financial regulator for insider trading in his wife’s name and what Finma called other “serious breaches of supervisory law.” The man executed the trades using his wife’s account at other lenders for several years, violating his bank’s internal directives, Finma said. The identities of the bank ...

Read More »

SoftBank’s telecom unit taps banks for bond sale

Bloomberg The Japanese telecom business of Masayoshi Son’s technology conglomerate mandated banks for its first domestic bond sale since listing in 2018, people familar with the matter said. SoftBank Corp will seek to price yen-denominated bonds before March 31, Japan’s fiscal year end, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The company ...

Read More »

China orders travel agencies to cancel tours amid virus threat

Bloomberg China has ordered all travel agencies to suspend sales of domestic and international tours as part of an effort to contain the spread of a novel coronavirus that has killed 25 and sickened hundreds. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism ordered travel agencies and tourism companies to stop selling tour packages beginning from January 24, according to a document ...

Read More »

Huawei gets reprieve as Trump aides fail to agree on restrictions

Bloomberg A US proposal to further restrict sales to China-based Huawei Technologies Co has encountered objections within the Trump administration and is being held up as officials debate whether the step could harm exporters, a person familiar with the process said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said new rules coming soon will put more limits on technology sales to Huawei, which ...

Read More »

Singapore’s home prices up 0.5% in Q4

Bloomberg Singapore private home prices rose just 0.5% in the final quarter of 2019, with the slowdown reflecting the lingering impact of government curbs more than a year after they were imposed. The rise was slightly higher than the preliminary estimate of a 0.3% gain, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority show-ed, and compared with a 1.3% expansion in the ...

Read More »

In HK, choosing restaurants is a political act

Bloomberg In deciding where to dine out in Hong Kong these days, many local residents are turning to a Yelp-like mobile app: Not for reviews of food or service, but to separate “yellow” from “blue” eateries. After more than seven months of unrest, even choosing a restaurant has become political in Hong Kong. Of 3,000 eateries listed on the app, ...

Read More »

Can Wall Street save us from climate change?

Climate change has come to Wall Street in the guise of Larry Fink. For those who don’t know, Fink runs BlackRock, a $7 trillion collection of investment funds consisting of stocks, bonds and other securities. Fink is a global opinion-maker, and he believes that worldwide climate change is driving “a fundamental reshaping of finance.” This is, or could be, a ...

Read More »

The iron ore party draws to a close

Iron ore had a carousing 2019 — for all the wrong reasons. A fatal dam collapse in Brazil, followed by a tropical cyclone in Australia, battered production and sent prices to their highest level in five years. Early figures from BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group show just how much benefit both have reaped. With supply coming back, Chinese mills ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend