March, 2023

• 2 March

  Southend Airport up for sale as owner begins breakup

  

  BLOOMBERG London’s Southend Airport is seeking a new owner after struggling to establish itself as a hub serving the UK capital. Current owner Esken Ltd said it has started a breakup of its main businesses following a strategic review, including a sale of its aviation business. It has also begun a sales process for the biofuels unit, its other main ...

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• 2 March

  China’s biggest budget carrier adds to chorus of weak air travel demand

  

  BLOOMBERG Spring Airlines Co, China’s largest budget carrier, says international air travel remains weak and is stunting its recovery from Covid, even as peers globally struggle to keep up with demand. “We’re waiting for stronger demand to come,” Spring Airlines’ Vice-President Zhang Wu’an said at the Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore. For Spring, which operates an all-Airbus SE 117-strong fleet ...

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• 2 March

  Coupang’s slowing sales growth mars second quarterly profit

  

  BLOOMBERG Coupang Inc, the South Korean e-commerce giant backed by SoftBank Group Corp, reported lower sales than analysts estimated, marring another profitable quarter for the company. Revenue gained 4.9% to $5.33 billion in the October-December period, the US-listed company said in a statement. That compared with an average estimate of $5.45 billion. Coupang’s active customers grew just 1% to 18.1 ...

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• 2 March

  US Treasury to lead new working group looking at digital dollar

  

  BLOOMBERG The Treasury Department will lead a new senior-level working group that will soon start regular talks on the possible launch of a digital dollar. The group will include “leaders” from the Treasury, Federal Reserve, National Security Council and other agencies, Nellie Liang, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, said. In the coming months the group “will begin to meet regularly ...

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• 2 March

  Metro Bank plans to open 11 new branches in UK

  

  BLOOMBERG Metro Bank Plc plans to open 11 new branches in the north of England from next year in a bid to grow its customer base, while keeping the costs “significantly” lower than its previous outlets. The new branches, which Metro calls “stores,” will have less surplus floor space and more cost-effective fixtures and fittings but still retain the “distinctive ...

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• 2 March

  RBC trading rebound helps make up for sluggish retail banking

  

  BLOOMBERG Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) reported a surge in its trading businesses that helped fiscal first-quarter earnings top analysts’ estimates. Revenue from RBC Capital Markets — the largest capital-markets division among Canada’s banks — rose 4.3% to C$3.12 billion ($2.3 billion) in the three months through January, Royal Bank said. That beat analysts’ C$2.35 billion average estimate. National Bank ...

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• 2 March

  Deutsche Bank’s rates traders win big bonus

  

  BLOOMBERG Deutsche Bank AG’s rates traders received some of the biggest increases in bonuses as Germany’s largest bank unveiled compensation details. The business, which saw revenue jump five-fold last quarter amid rapid increases in central bank interest rates, saw the largest gain in variable compensation within the securities unit, according to people familiar with the matter. Currency traders and the ...

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• 2 March

  Credit Suisse bids above rivals for rich clients as bankers exit

  

  BLOOMBERG Credit Suisse Group AG is escalating efforts to win back clients with deposit rates that are significantly higher than rivals as a run of senior banker departures adds urgency to its campaign to recoup assets. After unprecedented outflows in the fourth quarter, the Zurich-based lender has raised three-month rates to as much as about 6.5% for new money of ...

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• 2 March

  China sends fighter jets near Taiwan as US OKs arms sale

  

  BLOOMBERG China sent the most warplanes near Taiwan in nearly two months, a move that comes as the US approved the sale of $619 million worth of arms to the democratically run island. Some 17 J-10 and four J-16 fighter jets were detected in the southwestern part of the island’s air-defense identification zone in the 24 hours to early Thursday, ...

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• 2 March

  Blinken pressed Lavrov in rare but brief meeting at G-20 summit in India

  

  BLOOMBERG Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a brief encounter with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in India, their first in-person meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. The top US diplomat pressed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to move towards a peace deal with Ukraine and advocated for US citizens detained ...

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