August, 2021

• 5 August

  India’s services sector hits contraction zone

  Bloomberg India’s main services index signalled a contraction for a third straight month, boosting the case for monetary policy makers to keep interest rates unchanged at a record low to aid the economy. The IHS Markit India Services Index rose to 45.4 in July from 41.2 in June, but still below the 50 reading that indicates a contraction. That performance ...

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• 5 August

  Indonesia becomes second in Asia to hit 100,000 Covid deaths

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia has reached a grim milestone as more than 100,000 people died from the coronavirus, becoming the second country in Asia to breach that threshold. After weeks of topping the world’s tally of daily Covid-19 deaths, Southeast Asia’s largest economy added 1,747 fatalities on Wednesday, according to data from the health ministry, bringing its total number to 100,636. Indonesia ...

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• 5 August

  Afghanistan’s situation rapidly deteriorating, US envoy warns

  

  Bloomberg The Afghan government is too weak to win a negotiated settlement without a new military strategy, the US envoy to the war-ravaged country said. “The situation is very concerning, and our expectation is that both the government and the Talibs would focus on a political settlement,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghanistan, said at the Aspen Security ...

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• 5 August

  Malaysia’s embattled PM stays on, buys time to prove majority

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said his government has the numbers needed for him to remain premier and there is no reason for him to offer to resign. His comments on Wednesday followed a meeting with the nation’s monarch and after the largest political party in the country’s ruling coalition retracted support for the embattled premier’s government. “Yet, I ...

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• 5 August

  Opposition leader who fought expulsion faces Belarus trial

  

  Bloomberg An opposition leader who ripped up her passport to stop officials expelling her from Belarus went on trial on Wednesday as President Alexander Lukashenko steps up his campaign to crush dissent ahead of the first anniversary of disputed elections. Maria Kalesnikava, a flute player who became one of the public faces of the effort to defeat Lukashenko at last ...

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• 5 August

  Anti-vax protesters have ‘lost their minds’: Macron

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron has stepped up criticism of radical anti-vaccine demonstrators who oppose his push to boost vaccination across the country. “I won’t give in to their radical violence at all,” Macron said in an interview with Paris Match magazine, according to excerpts made available online before the full article is published on Thursday. “Their attitude is a ...

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• 5 August

  Commerzbank’s growth plans hit by long series of one-offs

  

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG saw earnings last quarter hit by a long series of one-time charges, undermining an otherwise solid performance and complicating efforts by Chief Executive Officer Manfred Knof to grow the lender. The shares fell after Commerzbank reported 18% lower revenue and a net loss of 527 million euros, both worse than estimated. However, it reiterated a forecast for ...

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• 5 August

  MUFG employees to set ‘personal rhythms’ with hybrid work model

  

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc’s new hybrid work model in its EMEA region gives its staff plenty of say over how they will return to the office. The Japanese lender said it will leave it up to employees and their managers to “establish their own personal rhythms of home and office work,” according to a statement. It will continue ...

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• 4 August

  Top Singapore banks’ profit beats estimates

  

  Bloomberg Two of Singapore’s largest lenders will increase dividend payouts after profit in the second quarter beat forecasts driven by lower provisions for bad loans. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, the city state’s second biggest bank, will pay an interim dividend of 25 cents per share after reporting a 59% jump in net income to S$1.16 billion ($859 million), just ahead of ...

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• 4 August

  Banks from HSBC to Citi shrug off China risks, embrace HK

  

  Bloomberg Growing geopolitical tensions and pulled initial public offerings have done little to damp the appetite of Western banks for Hong Kong and China. Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters was the latest executive in recent weeks to signal a sweeping Chinese government crackdown and rising geopolitical tensions between China and the US won’t derail his lender’s focus ...

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