Bloomberg Singapore’s central bank said it will allow foreign takeovers of the country’s three finance companies, as part of wider industry changes that seek to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is prepared to consider applications for mergers or acquisitions if any prospective partner “commits to maintaining SME financing as a core business” …

  Comes now Timothy Geithner, treasury secretary from 2009 to 2013, to tell you that much of what you “know” about Dodd-Frank — Congress’ response to the 2008-09 financial crisis — is wrong. It’s a timely review because the Trump administration is promising to overhaul the law. The title of Geithner’s essay, carried in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, …

  BNP Paribas SA’s 2016 results should have been a celebration worthy of a guingette. France’s largest bank actually managed to increase revenue as well as earnings amid a backdrop of crushingly low rates and political instability. Yet the stock slumped as much as 5 percent, with investors unimpressed by a slew of one-time costs and the prospect of a …

  Not so long ago, Mongolia was the world’s fastest-growing economy. Now, by nearly every metric, it’s in a dire fix. Its debt has surged, its currency has plummeted, and its budget deficit has widened alarmingly. Foreign investment has dried up and economic growth all but ceased. Even the poor antelope are beset by plague. Making matters worse, some staggering …

  In yet another setback to Trump travel ban, a federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from implementing its travel ban in Virginia. It adds to the already existing judicial ruling in place challenging the ban’s constitutionality. Trump issued an executive order in January barring people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from US for 90 …

  Fancy a truckload of the world’s biggest coal miner? New Delhi is planning to sell a 10 percent stake in Coal India Ltd., the Economic Times reported, without saying where it got the information. Such a deal could be worth about 197 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) at current market prices, and would reduce the government’s share in the company …

  In the space of a week, PCCW Ltd., Richard Li’s company, has cheered investors by getting out of the U.K., then brought them back to earth with plans to bulk up video streaming in Asia. Days after Li sold the loss-making British broadband provider to his father Li Ka-shing, PCCW is disposing of a $1.1 billion stake in telecom …

  Are government cyberoperations safe when they involve people from the private sector? That’s the question raised by the indictment of former National Security Agency contractor Harold Martin on 20 counts of obtaining and keeping national defense information. While Martin held various security clearances — including ‘top secret’ — between 1993 and his arrest in August 2016, he worked for …

  Bloomberg The nation most identified with its massive oil reserves is turning to wind and solar to generate power at home and help extend the life of its crucial crude franchise. Starting this year, Saudi Arabia plans to develop almost 10 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2023, starting with wind and solar plants in its vast northwestern desert. The …

  Bloomberg A crippled spillway is threatening to submerge an entire region of northern California after a recent deluge of rain. And the state’s power market may already be feeling it. As state officials rush to repair an emergency spillway for the Oroville dam — just 150 miles (241 kilometers) north of San Francisco — an 819-megawatt hydropower plant, capable …