Bloomberg Colombia’s Avianca Holdings SA and Avianca Brasil, the two airlines controlled by the Efromovich brothers, are seeking separate international partners while maintaining a long-term goal of merging, Jose Efromovich said. “We are under confidentiality agreements’’ and many companies have shown interest, Efromovich, the chairman of Avianca Brasil, said in an interview in Sao Paulo. “We are looking for ...

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to cut about a quarter of its investment-banking jobs in Asia, excluding Japan, because of a slump in deal-making in the region, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The New York-based bank plans to make the cutback of about 75 jobs in the region later this year, the person said, ...

  Bloomberg European lenders took up almost twice the amount of cheap loans that analysts had predicted in a second round of European Central Bank refinancing, according to data. In a move suggesting banks may be increasingly willing to lend to households and businesses, the ECB announced that it had agreed to lend 45.3 billion euros ($51 billion) to 249 ...

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG is preparing to eliminate thousands of jobs as Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke seeks to boost profitability at the German lender, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Commerzbank may reveal the changes next week when Zielke presents his plan to the supervisory board, said two people, asking not to be identified because the ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. managers were accused of fueling the creation of bogus accounts in what may be the first lawsuit by fired or demoted employees since the bank was called out by regulators. The lawsuit offers details of how low-level bankers were allegedly pushed to create at least 10 new accounts a day in a sales initiative ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG’s finances, weakened by low profitability and mounting legal costs, are raising concern among German politicians after the U.S. sought $14 billion to settle claims related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities. At a closed session of Social Democratic finance lawmakers this week, Deutsche Bank’s woes came up alongside a debate over Basel financial rules, according ...

  The conversation — or argument— we’ve been having on immigration has been remarkably skewed. It’s been all about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, otherwise known as the “undocumented.” Actually, what counts far more are the estimated 31 million immigrants who are here legally and the roughly 1 million who gain legal entry every year. Of course, the question ...

    The West, it’s obvious, faces a migration crisis. Across the aging, stagnating economies of the developed world, citizens are revolting against what many perceive as an uncontrolled influx of foreigners. The U.S. apart, most of these economies are also facing a prolonged crisis of growth. Under other circumstances, the solution would be obvious: restore vitality by taking in ...

Over the past couple decades, the Bank of Japan has tried time and again to get interest rates up from zero, only to discover that the zero bound has a peculiarly strong gravitational pull. Although I hope the new measures it announced this week will help, its past experience holds an important lesson for central banks everywhere. When interest rates ...

  As the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) braces to meet in Algiers on September 28, there are pressures from different corners on the group to take a decision on oil supply. However, the OPEC has to take a very cautious approach. Any hasty step or quick fix to limit the production to raise the crude price may ...