Ask Australians what they hate about their big four banks, and you get a familiar litany of complaints. Borrowing rates are too high, and deposit rates too low. Profits — almost A$23 billion ($17 billion) in the most recent fiscal year — are obscenely fat. Slick sales types promote financial products to under-informed punters without disclosing the full risks. Other ...

Bloomberg US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly will meet with European Commission officials in Brussels next week to discuss prohibiting passengers bound for America from carrying laptops and other electronic devices in airliner cabins. Kelly talked with European commissioners Dimitris Avramopoulos and Violeta Bulc. Even though European airports and airlines are preparing for a ban, no action has been announced ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Saturday announced the appointment of Ali Ghanim Hadi as its new country manager for Sudan. Based at the airline’s Khartoum office, Hadi will be responsible for leading Etihad Airways’ commercial operations in Sudan, one of the airline’s longest-established markets. With over four years ...

Bloomberg Boeing Co. resumed flights of its new 737 Max jetliners on a limited basis Friday, setting the stage for the first commercial delivery after a potential engine flaw temporarily grounded the single-aisle aircraft. Regulators cleared the planes to fly as long as they’re powered by spare engines that don’t include the possibly defective part, Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said. ...

Bloomberg A once-unwanted Qantas Airways Ltd. division with no planes or passengers is turning into the Australian airline’s biggest money spinner. Qantas’ frequent-flyer business, earmarked for sale at least twice, has delivered consistent growth since the airline’s historic loss in 2012. Now Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce is hatching more ambitious plans for his most profitable unit. Joyce expects the ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Cityland Mall – UAE’s first nature-inspired mall scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2018 beside Global Village announced Fabyland as its official family entertainment provider. Fabyland, a brand under ‘Al-Othaim Leisure & Tourism Co.’, is a ‘futuristic’ family entertainment destination that has a wide variety of compelling rides and games. Fahimuddin Sharfuddin, Chief Executive ...

Emirates Business Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon launched ‘Discovery’ –a new digital destination where travellers can access and enjoy content from the airlines’ leading inflight magazines, Discovery and Silkroad, wherever they are in the world. Complementing the airlines’ suite of inflight printed publications, the new online platform provides visitors with a broad range of articles and feature stories in a ...

Bloomberg PrivateBancorp Inc. investors approved a $4.9 billion takeover by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) after the Toronto-based lender sweetened its deal twice to win over shareholders. The majority of PrivateBancorp shareholders endorsed CIBC’s bid, the Chicago-based lender said in a statement following a vote at a special meeting. Some 52.9 million votes — 83 percent of those cast ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss lender struggling to improve performance at its stock-trading unit, replaced one of the business’s top European bankers with a senior executive from Deutsche Bank AG. Stuart McGuire, who runs Deutsche Bank’s client-execution strategy for equities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will replace Daniel Kaye as Credit Suisse’s head of cash-equities trading ...

Bloomberg The largest bank in Azerbaijan has halted its foreign debt payments and will start restructuring talks with creditors after a currency crisis in the Caspian Sea nation drove the lender to the brink of collapse. Under a restructuring plan, the International Bank of Azerbaijan said its “designated financial indebtedness” was at $3.3 billion as of April 18. It missed ...