Amid rising Hindu nationalism, the Supreme Court of India has ordered theaters to play the national anthem before films and directed moviegoers to stand at attention — no excuses. The Indian Constitution is a wonder of the world, but this decision undercuts free-speech and individual rights at a moment when the country can ill-afford it. The court, which has ...

  Bloomberg The greatest risks facing European Union banks are high levels of bad loans and lower profitability, the bloc’s financial regulator said in a report. The European Banking Authority said that while EU-wide lenders had strengthened their capital buffers, technology-related risks were increasing amid lingering litigation concerns. Presenting its ninth report on “risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking ...

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will probably deepen cuts at its investment bank and its Irish business to boost capital after flunking Bank of England stress tests, according to analysts. The Edinburgh-based lender may need to dispose of 44 billion pounds ($56 billion) of risk-weighted assets to improve its capital buffers, analysts at Barclays Plc led by ...

  Reuters Fourteen former and current executives of the Wendel investment company will face trial for tax fraud while US bank JP Morgan Chase is to be pursued for complicity, legal sources said. The former head of Wendel, Jean-Bernard Lafonta, and Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, ex-chief of the main French employer’s association, are among those to be tried, legal sources said. An ...

  Singapore / AFP Singapore’s financial regulator said it has fined two British banks and barred a former Goldman Sachs banker in a widening crackdown on money laundering linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Standard Chartered Bank was slapped with a Sg$5.2 million ($3.65 million) penalty while Coutts bank was fined Sg$2.4 million for breaching anti-money laundering regulations in 1MDB-linked ...

  Reuters Islamic banks are gradually embracing socially responsible finance, from renewable energy to microfinance efforts, helping unlock new funding sources for environmentally-friendly projects, an industry survey shows. The two sectors have developed separately from each other, but green projects could benefit from tapping Islamic banks in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, where they now hold a ...

  Bloomberg The $1.5 billion privatizations of two of China’s biggest solar companies have been thrown into doubt because of concerns they may run afoul of a government effort to keep more of the nation’s money supply at home. Trina Solar Ltd. and JA Solar Holdings Co., whose chief executives have separately proposed buying back the shares they listed in ...

  Bloomberg Vietnam is seeking about $1.2 billion in overseas loans for its only oil refinery before a share sale in 2017, to increase output and meet demand in one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies. “The expansion will help our refinery operate more efficiently since it will boost the overall output by 30 percent and help cut production costs,” ...

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is close to tying up $100 billion for a technology fund that it announced with the government of Saudi Arabia, the Japanese company’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said. “I am talking to a few investors and I think we are oversubscribed,” Son said at an event in New Delhi on Friday, without ...

  Bloomberg Malaysia said it would provide greater hedging flexibility in its onshore currency market after the central bank’s moves last month to discourage speculators saw the ringgit tumble toward its weakest since 1998. Overseas and domestic fund managers will be allowed to manage their foreign exchange exposure of as much as 25 percent of invested assets, the central bank ...