Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has axed its traditional A$1,000 ($746) share bonus for staff this year, citing the need to cut expenses. In an intranet post seen by Bloomberg News, management told employees that 2016 had been a “challenging year” and that in an “environment of lower growth and lower returns, ANZ needs to reduce ...

  London / AFP A petition calling for the Bank of England (BoE) to remove a new banknote from circulation had on Tuesday received more than 70,000 signatures, with critics angry it is produced with animal product. The polymer £5 notes ($6.2, 5.9 euros) were unveiled in September, with the Bank of England extolling the new banknotes for being waterproof ...

  London / AFP The Royal Bank of Scotland is the worst prepared among Britain’s lenders for another financial crisis, the Bank of England said on Wednesday, forcing the state-rescued lender to raise more cash. The BoE, revealing its latest stress tests on Britain’s top seven banks, added that two — Barclays and Standard Chartered — also missed key hurdles ...

  Reuters Al Rayan Bank is expanding its product range and adding an office in Scotland, its top executive said, after a year of strong growth for Britain’s only Islamic retail lender despite uncertainty stemming from Brexit. Islamic retail banking is still a rarity in the West, but the experience of Al Rayan could encourage other Islamic banks to explore ...

  Bloomberg Falling commercial real estate prices after the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union pose a threat to bank stability because of the market’s reliance on foreign capital, Bank of England said. Values have declined 2.6 percent since the referendum and may drop further from their current high levels, according to the central bank’s twice-yearly assessment. Continuing declines ...

  PATE ISLAND / AFP Ahmed Ali Mohamed snorkels over sea grass and coral, keeping an eye out for different fish species darting through the waters below him. But his job is not to catch the fish — as his family has done for generations — instead he only counts them. Mohamed is one of the first former fishermen to ...

  Soga / AFP The vivid red wound at the base of Gina’s ankle has remained open for three months and refuses to heal, leaving the Guinea-Bissau islander in constant pain. “I thought it was from a piece of wood,” she said, recalling the day when a snake sunk its fangs into her leg. “They had to carry me back ...

  Reuters OPEC agreed its first limit on oil output since 2008, sources in the producer group told Reuters, with Saudi Arabia accepting “a big hit” on its production and agreeing to arch-rival Iran freezing output at pre-sanctions levels. Brent crude futures jumped 8 percent to more than $50 a barrel after Riyadh signalled it had finally reached a compromise ...

  Reuters Royal Dutch Shell is considering selling out of its oil fields in Iraq as part of its global $30 billion asset disposal programme, industry sources said. Shell is seeking to slim down its vast oil and gas portfolio following the $54 billion acquisition of BG Group in February, which transformed it into the world’s top liquefied natural gas ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power is expected to offer a hefty spread on its planned $1 billion bond offer, partly because of market volatility since the US elections and a narrowing issuance window, bankers and investors said. ACWA, in which Saudi sovereign entities hold a combined 16.3 percent stake, is set to be the first international bond from the kingdom ...