Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etisalat is recognised as the most valuable of any telecoms brand portfolio in the Middle East by leading London based brand valuation and strategy consultancy ‘Brand Finance’. This recognition was mainly due to its focussed programme on brand activities, management of significant global sponsorship properties and local events targeted at both consumer and business …

  Bloomberg Koustav Dhar used to work as a chef for a major hotel chain in India before hanging up his apron nearly two decades ago and becoming an airline executive. Since then, he’s worked at, or run three domestic Indian carriers. One was shut down, another sold, and the third failed to take off despite a license to operate …

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc made insurance executive Mark Tucker the preferred candidate to be chairman, replacing Douglas Flint, according to two people familiar with the decision, as Europe’s largest bank takes the first step to overhaul its top management team. Tucker, 59, chief executive officer of AIA Group Ltd. and former head of Prudential Plc, is in discussions with …

  Bloomberg The Bank of England’s (BOE) newly appointed deputy governor remains under pressure this week as she awaits a lawmaker report on her conduct. Parliament’s Treasury Committee is reviewing Charlotte Hogg’s position after she admitted she didn’t disclose that her brother works at Barclays, which the BOE regulates. The Sunday Times newspaper reported that some commercial bankers have said …

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG handed out the smallest bonuses in four years and lowered Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti’s payout as profit slumped last year. The bank cut the bonus pool for 2016 by 17 percent to 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($2.9 billion), according to its annual report. Ermotti, 56, remains the highest-paid executive at the Zurich-based lender, with …

  Bloomberg Egypt’s external finances improved following the Nov. 3 decision to float the pound, the central bank said, as inflows from investments, remittances and exports picked up. The balance of payments surplus grew to $5.1 billion in the October to December period, from $1.9 billion in the previous quarter, the regulator said in a statement on its website. The …

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank doesn’t plan to announce a new round of free long-term loans to financial institutions after its policy meeting, according to people familiar with the issue. Targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) won’t be renewed for now, the people said, asking not to be named because the Governing Council’s deliberations are private. That stance could still …

    NEW YORK / AP If the tech industry is drawing one lesson from the latest WikiLeaks disclosures, it’s that data-scrambling encryption works, and the industry should use more of it. Documents purportedly outlining a massive CIA surveillance program suggest that CIA agents must go to great lengths to circumvent encryption they can’t break. In many cases, physical presence …

  LOS ANGELES / AP Cars with no steering wheel, no pedals and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year, under proposed state rules that would give a powerful boost to the fast-developing technology. For the past several years, tech companies and automakers have been testing self-driving car prototypes in …

  Bloomberg Kuka AG, the German robot maker acquired last year by Midea Group Co. of China, needs to lower costs and win government recognition as a local brand to achieve its goal of becoming the No. 1 supplier in the Chinese market, according to an executive. “Kuka has a reputation for reliability, but as you know, as a German …