Bloomberg State Bank of India, (SBI) the country’s largest lender by assets, more than doubled fourth-quarter profit as loan growth accelerated and bad-debt provisions fell. The stock climbed to a two-year high. Net income climbed to 28.1 billion rupees ($430 million) in the three months ended March 31 from 12.6 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based lender reported. Outstanding ...

Bloomberg Banco Popular Espanol SA’s decade-old crisis may finally be coming to a head. For years, the Spanish lender managed to hold onto a mountain of soured real-estate loans made before the global financial crisis, tapping shareholders for new capital three times in the last five years. Now, with the stock down 98 percent from its 2007 peak and a ...

Bloomberg S&P Global Ratings raised Indonesia’s credit rating to investment grade, bringing it in line with the other two main rating companies and paving the way for more fund inflows into Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Stocks surged to a record and the rupiah advanced. The sovereign rating was lifted to BBB- from BB+ with a stable outlook, S&P said, citing ...

Bloomberg East West Banking Corp., the Philippine lender that took over some of Standard Chartered Plc’s local operations last year, plans to sell a minority stake to a strategic investor, according to people familiar with the matter. The retail-focused bank is working with an adviser to sell about a 20 percent stake, the people said, asking not to be identified ...

Bloomberg Singapore Airlines Ltd. shares plunged the most in almost six years after reporting a surprise loss because of intense competition, prompting Southeast Asia’s biggest carrier to kick off a review of its business. The stock slumped 7.3 percent to S$9.98, erasing S$922 million ($663 million) in market value. Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong said he would leave “no ...

Bloomberg Billionaire Richard Branson signaled he may jump back into the US airline business after tussling with Alaska Air Group Inc. over how long the carrier must pay royalties on his Virgin America brand. Alaska has to keep paying ‘unless we decide to start another airline. So, we’ll see what happens,” Branson said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. When ...

Bloomberg European authorities are still resisting a US initiative to expand a laptop ban in airline cabins by questioning the potential safety risks, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. At a meeting in Brussels, EU officials demanded the U.S. provide more specific information on how the risk of explosion of large electronic devices is greater in airline ...

Bloomberg Foot Locker Inc. suffered its worst stock decline in more than eight years after first-quarter results missed analysts’ estimates, an outcome the retailer blamed in part on slow income-tax refunds. The shares tumbled as much as 17 percent to $58.13, the biggest intraday plunge since the financial crisis was underway in November 2008. The athletic-shoe chain blamed “unprecedented challenges” ...

Bloomberg Here is Google’s vision for the future of computing: As you drive home from work, you tell your car, “Ok, Google,” triggering the company’s Assistant. You order food, the digital helper handles the transaction and makes sure it’s ready when you arrive. Right now, Amazon.com Inc. and its Alexa digital assistant are closer to realizing that goal, having cut ...

Bloomberg Robots are everywhere. They’re stocking shelves, pruning trees, making cocktails, delivering room service. Now they’re even showing up for work in some of the smallest factories, in a boost for manufacturing in the US and a potential new threat to traditional production-line jobs. The robotics wave began sweeping into automobile and other plants decades ago, stopping short of shops ...