China is within striking distance of locking down its biggest-ever overseas acquisition, after China National Chemical Corp. won US and European Union antitrust approval for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG. Just as well, because it may be the last big deal in a while. Although the transaction still needs the green light from regulators …

  Like repentant smokers, Europe’s politicians have promised to quit bailing out banks. They’re finding the habit hard to break. The Italian government wants to rescue three banks which are struggling under the weight of non-performing loans. The trade-offs, as always, are complicated: financial stability now against financial stability later; shielding taxpayers from the costs of a rescue against protecting …

  Bloomberg With two weeks to go before a referendum that could remodel Turkey’s political landscape, the Central Bank of Turkey (TCMB) pushed interest rates to the upper reaches of its monetary framework and depleted its policy tool of choice: flexibility. The bank’s average interest rate was 11.47 percent, near the mathematical limit of its current funding mix. That leaves …

  Bloomberg As India’s monetary policy committee begins its two-day meeting, the inflation-targeting central bank may be using flawed price measures as the basis for its swing to neutral policy. All 50 economists in a Bloomberg survey predict the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will leave the repurchase rate unchanged at 6.25% on Thursday, as price pressures appear to be …

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG, which slashed bonuses for a second straight year, saw several senior employees leave after paying out deferred compensation for previous years. At least three executives — Kevin Burke, Neil Hosie and Patrick Kelly — departed from the lender’s trading unit in Asia, and one executive, Holger Knittel, took a new job in the bank’s home …

  Bloomberg The Philippines central bank sees no urgency to adjust its policy stance with inflation forecast to ease after peaking in the third quarter, Governor Amando Tetangco said. Consumer-price growth will reach close to 4 percent this year before slowing, Tetangco said in an interview in Cebu, south of Manila on Tuesday. With “the inflation forecast being within the …

  Bloomberg Rosmaya Hadi enlisted the help of 2,000 religious leaders to fight inflation when she ran Indonesia’s central bank in West Java region. In the world’s largest Muslim country, Hadi got them to spread a message of moderation in mosques on the eve of the Eid Al Fitr festival last year, when Indonesians usually step up spending on food …

  Dubai / Emirates Business British Airways (BA) on Thursday launched its investment plans for customers, focusing on excellence in the premium cabins and more choice and quality for all. The investments include: £400 million in Club World (long-haul business class), introduction of Club Europe on UK domestic services, new lounges, First Wing direct security and lounge access at Heathrow, …

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. are investing in a startup developing an electric-powered aircraft with the potential to transform short-haul flights. Zunum Aero is designing and building 10- to 50-seat planes for trips of 700 miles initially and as much as 1,000 miles by 2030. The aircraft would fill a “vast regional transport gap” and reduce travel …

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa is banking on Airbus Group SE’s latest A350 wide-body jet to shore up its Munich hub, where the deployment of less efficient planes means normally lucrative long-haul flights are losing money. The first 15 of 25 A350s ordered by Lufthansa are to be based in the Bavarian city, with the composite-fuselage, twin-engine model providing a 25 …