Bloomberg ING Groep NV Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers’s international expansion is helping the biggest Dutch lender boost profits. Net core lending increased by 5.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in the first quarter, as strong growth in nations including Germany more than offset a drop in Dutch consumer lending, the Amsterdam-based bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Loan …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Egyptian banks are lifting restrictions on customers’ overseas credit card purchases, the latest indication that a foreign-currency crunch that crippled the economy is easing. State-run Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-biggest lender, is removing curbs imposed last year on purchases, while keeping limits on foreign-currency cash withdrawals, the official Middle East News Agency reported on Tuesday, without …

  Bloomberg Ecobank Transnational Inc., Africa’s most geographically diverse lender, is betting that Nigeria’s plans for a digital revolution will increase the number of its customers in the country more than fivefold over the next five years. The bank is closing branches in the continent’s most populous nation to cut costs while using improving access to the internet to add …

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) takes its money seriously. Fresh from winning banknote of the year for its 50-franc denomination, it unveiled a new 20-franc design on Wednesday that Vice President Fritz Zurbruegg argues might be the world’s most secure bill. Red in color and based on a theme of light and culture, the new 20, made of …

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is poised to spread pain to the rank and file. That’s the view from analysts, who say the bank’s leadership almost certainly must announce more aggressive cost-cutting targets on Thursday when hosting an annual investor briefing. After a bogus-account scandal spooked new clients and crimped profitability, Wells Fargo will probably eliminate more branches and …

  Dubai / Agencies The private sector in the Emirate of Dubai gained momentum by the beginning of Q2 2017 as business conditions improved in key platforms, according to the latest Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker Index. The index is a composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy. The data …

  DUBAI / WAM This year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM 2017) witnessed a 10 percent increase in visitors from the GCC and a 7 percent increase in international visitors to the event, which was held in Dubai World Trade Centre from April 24 to 27, organisers said. For the second year in a row, visitor numbers smashed through the 28,000 …

  DUBAI / WAM A joint venture between Dubai master developer Nakheel and leading Spanish hospitality group RIU Hotels and Resorts has moved a step closer with the release of a construction tender for an 800-room, beachfront resort and water park at Deira Islands. With an investment value of AED670 million, the resort – RIU’s first in the Middle East …

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s multi-billion dollar national rail network, announced the signing of MoU with Al Safa Transport, a trucking and transportation services provider with operations across the Middle East. Signed by CEO of Etihad Rail, Eng. Faris Saif Al Mazrouei and Managing Director of Al Safa Transport, Nabeel …

  DUBAI / WAM The National Central Cooling Company, Tabreed released its 2017 first quarter financial results. Tabreed’s performance benefited from the new connections made last year, in addition to over 20,000 refrigerated tonnes, RT, added during Q1 2017. These new connections, combined with Tabreed’s existing presence in the GCC, resulted in net profit increasing by 19 percent to AED75.4 …