Bloomberg India’s financial regulator will gain new powers to order banks to clean up as much as $180 billion of soured loans on their balance sheets, which has been choking credit and weighing on growth. With the new rules bolstering its regulatory authority, Reserve Bank of India, is seeking to resolve the country’s 60 largest delinquent-loan cases in about …

  DUBAI / Reuters Standard Chartered’s banking business in the United Arab Emirates is performing much better than last year, helped by growing consumer confidence, the bank’s head of retail clients in the UAE said. Banks operating in the oil-producing states of the Gulf Cooperation Council reported sluggish growth in 2016, with some recording lower profits and higher provisions on …

  Riyadh / Emirates Business QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, inaugurated its branch in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Senior bank officials and distinguished representatives from the banking and business sectors attended an inauguration ceremony held under the patronage and presence of H.E. Dr. Ahmed bin Abdul Karim Al-Khulaifi, Governor of the …

  Bloomberg Haruhiko Kuroda joked on Saturday that his previous role running the Asian Development Bank was more exciting than the assignment he’s taken on as governor of the Bank of Japan. Kuroda, who’s spearheaded massive monetary stimulus in Japan for more than four years but still faces an inflation rate near zero, was speaking during a seminar at the …

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc. executives tried to temper investor exuberance about sales-growth prospects, repeating a warning that there’s a limit to the number of ads it can show on its social network. On a conference call following its first-quarter earnings report, the company said it expects revenue growth to be down “meaningfully” after it stops increasing the frequency of marketing …

  Sharjah / WAM A mile away from where Google builds the maps used by people around the world, a 25-person startup is trying to do something similar for robots. DeepMap Inc., which was founded by mapping veterans of Alphabet Inc., is building systems enabling self-driving cars to steer through complex cityscapes. DeepMap plans to license its map-building software to automakers …

Bloomberg Robert Bosch GmbH has won orders from Apple Inc. to supply the next iPhone with some of its motion sensors, according to a person familiar with the deal, a potential blow to InvenSense Inc., currently the main supplier of those smartphone components. The change — hinted at by InvenSense’s finance chief in August — comes as the San Jose, …

  ABU DHABI / WAM The net profits booked by 38 UAE companies listed at Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and Dubai Financial Market (DFM) amounted to AED 12.7 billion during Q1 2017, a growth of 6.7 percent from AED11.9 billion for the same period last year. The gains were termed as ‘‘fair’’ by market analysts who have viewed them …

    Riyadh / Emirates Business “The UAE’s initiatives encourage young people to play a part in their country’s development and the progress of the entire region,” noted Her Excellency Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, UAE Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, as she addressed the UNESCO NGO Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Taking part in a panel …

  RIYADH / WAM Protection of consumer rights and ensuring a safe and secure business environment come on top of UAE’s economic priorities where specific legal provisions have been introduced and legal entities assigned to ensure consumer confidence, a UAE Ministry of Economy official has stated. “Providing a consumer-friendly environment is a significant economic enabler which reflects positively on the …