Bloomberg President Donald Trump will skip two major summits in Asia in November, a move that could stoke concerns in the region about the US’s reliability as a counterweight to China. The White House said that Vice President Mike Pence would travel to Singapore for an 18-nation summit hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, before heading to Papua ...

Bloomberg Italy could soon find itself excluded from the heart of euro-area monetary policy for the first time in the currency’s two-decade history. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s eight-year term ends in October 2019 and his country has no automatic path to a seat on the Executive Board after that. Instead, its populist leaders must negotiate with the same ...

Bloomberg Shares of India’s Yes Bank Ltd. plunged after the central bank deferred approving another three-year term for Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor, while allowing him helm the bank for the time being. Kapoor has received the RBI’s approval to continue as managing director and CEO of the Mumbai-based lender until “further notice” from the regulator, Yes Bank said in ...

Bloomberg One emerging market has so far eluded Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters: Ethiopia. Winters, head of London-based Standard Chartered since mid-2015, would “love to think that there are opportunities” in Ethiopia, he said in an interview in Nairobi, Kenya. The problem is that it’s entirely closed to foreign banks. “The underlying fundamentals are pretty interesting,” said ...

Bloomberg Banks are worried that South Africa is taking a wrong turn with laws being considered by the nation’s parliament that could leave the economy worse off. “They do not seem to be the legislative underpinning of a comprehensive, implementable national economic recovery plan,” the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) said in a statement distributed in Johannesburg. “Rather they ...

Bloomberg Union Bank of India is pulling out of the global diamond hub of Antwerp, joining a retreat of lenders from the industry, which has been hit by fraud and bad debt. The bank has given notice that it will close its branch in the Belgian port city within a year, according to Chief Executive Officer Rajkiran Rai Gundyadka. Antwerp ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co.’s debt, one of the highest among Chinese companies, declined for the first time after the embattled conglomerate reversed a multi-year acquisition spree by selling off dozens of assets to stay in business. Total debt fell 9.5 percent to 541.6 billion yuan ($79 billion) at the end of June, down about $8.3 billion from the record high ...

Bloomberg Meituan Dianping, a Chinese food delivery giant, plans to raise as much as $4.5 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter, The company plans to sell shares between HK$60 ($7.64) and HK$72 apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The offering has ...

Bloomberg The largest and oldest prison in India’s financial hub Mumbai will get a new block of cells that will meet international norms on prisoner rights. The reason: fugitive businessmen are citing poor jail conditions to stave off extradition. The Mumbai Central Prison, popularly known as the Arthur Road Jail, is demolishing an old structure to make way for the ...

Bloomberg Indonesia and Australia announced the conclusion to talks on a free-trade deal as the Pacific neighbours attempt to boost economic ties. In his first overseas trip since becoming Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison met with President Joko Widodo in Bogor, outside the capital Jakarta, where they committed to finalising the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The two also signed ...