Bloomberg Commerzbank AG benefited from a rise in income from trading securities six months after it rolled out a strategy to scale back the business. The Frankfurt-based lender posted net income of 217 million euros ($237 million) in the first quarter, compared with 169 million euros a year earlier. That beat the 74 million-euro average of four estimates compiled ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, has been awarded the Global Islamic Business Award in the first ever edition in the region. The award was presented by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai to Dr Adnan Chilwan, Group Chief Executive Officer, Dubai ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is weighing a sale of its insurance brokerage business, which could fetch about $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The San Francisco-based lender has begun reaching out to private equity firms to gauge interest in Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA Inc., said the people, who asked not to be identified because the ...

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said he expects the European Central Bank to move toward tapering its quantitative easing program around September. The comments by the former Bundesbank president come as ECB President Mario Draghi is under pressure to map out a path toward the end of the central bank’s massive stimulus. As the euro-area economy has ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is cutting as many as 35 positions at its equities business in Asia after the unit’s revenue slumped, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The firm is mainly culling trading, sales, prime brokerage and research positions in the region, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. ...

  Bloomberg The new head of state-owned Indian Bank wants to change a strategy that helped it become Asia’s top-performing bank stock over the past year. After shunning corporate lending under its previous chief executive officer, Indian Bank’s new CEO Kishor Kharat says he wants to dive back in, albeit only to the best companies. “We are going to approach ...

  Bloomberg Germans already footing the second-highest electricity bills in Europe may face even higher costs from the country’s decision to exit nuclear power early next decade. While there’s no risk of blackouts, costs could rise if transmission gaps emerge, according to Germany’s Bnetza regulator. Europe’s biggest power market is closing its last atomic plants in 2022 and is counting ...

  Bloomberg Oil held gains before government data forecast to show US crude stockpiles fell for a fifth week, further reducing an inventory surplus. Futures were little changed in New York, having recovered 6.3 percent since slumping to a five-month low on May 5. Stockpiles probably dropped by 2 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before Energy ...

  Bloomberg The amount of clean fuel that’s stored across the globe is set to increase as governments tackle pollution, according to the biggest independent storage-tank operator in the world. Royal Vopak NV sees consumption for cleaner energy increasing, and is changing its investment strategy to reflect that, Chief Executive Officer Eelco Hoekstra said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. ...

  Bloomberg Centrica Plc, the UK’s biggest energy supplier, fell to the lowest in more than a year after customer losses continued this year and warm weather trimmed consumption of natural gas and power. The utility reiterated its opposition to price regulation, which would reduce competition, cut choice and lead to potentially higher average prices, according to a trading update ...