Bloomberg The Bank of Israel has a new message for the market: Don’t assume it will follow the US path on interest rates. Investors and economists long speculated that the Bank of Israel, anxious about a strengthening local currency, would keep rates on hold until the US Federal Reserve had raised its lending rate a few times. As the rate ...

Bloomberg Emilio Saracho’s plan to turn around Banco Popular Espanol SA has become a struggle for survival. Just four months after the former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker took charge, the troubled lender is exploring ways to bolster its cash and short-term funds and may request additional central bank loans, a person familiar with the matter has said. Expansion newspaper ...

Bloomberg Qatar’s state airline is set to become the biggest loser from the diplomatic breakdown in the Persian Gulf—with competitors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi also set to suffer. Some 76 daily flights are likely to be grounded, of which 52 are operated by Qatar Airways, after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE suspended ties with Qatar, according to ...

Bloomberg Alitalia has started an administration process aimed at finding investors willing to invest in the carrier Etihad Airways, the biggest single shareholder in Alitalia, is open to deepening its ties with the insolvent airline after investing about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in the Italian company. “Strong ties continue to exist between Alitalia and Etihad Aviation Group and we ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etisalat on Monday announced a new digital initiative across key retail stores with the launch of its first self-interactive eLife and mobility experience zones to provide a real time digital experience of its innovative features and services. Customers can walk in to key retail stores to have a 360 degree real-time experience of our eLife ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE will refit Zodiac Aerospace seats on all of Finnair Oyj’s A350 wide-body jetliners because of quality issues, said the airline’s CEO, Pekka Vauramo. Entire business-class berths must be replaced on the nine A350s that Finnair has in operation, Vauramo said in an interview at the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting in Cancun, Mexico. The changes will ...

Bloomberg Korean Air Lines Co. will be the first Bombardier Inc. customer to fly C Series jets outfitted with Pratt & Whitney engines revamped to address a durability issue, according to the Canadian manufacturer. South Korea’s biggest carrier is set to become the third operator of the C Series when it takes delivery of its first CS300 jets in the ...

Dubai / Emirates Business The UAE’s free trade zones are using advanced information management tools to drive the doubling of the global free trade zone GDP, experts announced. Globally, the contribution of free trade zones to the Islamic Economy is set to double to USD 117 billion by 2021, according to a recent report by researchers Salaam Gateway. The UAE ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The total monetary aggregate issued in the UAE amounted to AED78.3 billion during the first third of 2017, an increase of AED790 million over the end of 2016, according to UAE Central Bank statistics. According to CB figures, the total banknotes issued by the bank by the end of April are valued at AED77.2 billion, a ...

Dubai / Emirates Business The 2017 Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey, conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, and YouGov, a leading market research agency, revealed that almost half (44%) of UAE respondents believe that salaries are increasing in the UAE, and 24% believe that they are staying the same. In terms of current ...