May, 2021

• 6 May

  Budget pressures spur Somalia to hasten end to political crisis

  

  Bloomberg Somalia will expedite elections in a bid to quell instability and coax donors into releasing funds needed to pay the nation’s security forces and other state employees, Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdirizak said. The prime minister is scheduled to meet representatives from political parties and other interested groups in July to agree on the voting process, Abdirizak said. The authorities ...

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• 6 May

  Manila rejects China fishing ban, wards off Chinese vessels

  

  Bloomberg The Philippines said China’s unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea doesn’t apply to areas within the Southeast Asian nation, in yet another sign of tension between the two countries. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea “opposes China’s imposition of the same over the areas within the territory and jurisdiction of the Philippines,” it said ...

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• 6 May

  Madrid voters hand sweeping win to Sanchez’s biggest critic

  

  Bloomberg Isabel Diaz Ayuso, Madrid’s combative conservative leader, won a second term as regional president, cementing her position as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s most powerful critic. Ayuso’s People’s Party claimed 65 seats in the vote, more than doubling its representation in the regional assembly, with Sanchez’s Socialists getting 24 and falling to third place in number of votes behind a ...

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• 6 May

  Vietnam intensifies border checks to stem ‘very worrisome’ coronavirus outbreak

  

  Bloomberg Vietnam has ordered a strict border control after lengthening the quarantine period to include additional time at home and imposing some movement restrictions as it traces the recent flare up in coronavirus cases to overseas travellers. During a virus task force meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam ordered intensified inspections on arriving travellers, according to a post on ...

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• 6 May

  Merkel braces for court setback for lockdown

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition is rapidly revising its pandemic strategy over concerns its controversial lockdown law may suffer a court setback, which would be the second legal defeat in quick succession just months before September elections. Germany’s Constitutional Court is considering at least 289 challenges to the law, which was pushed through in April after authorities failed to find ...

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• 6 May

  Citigroup’s Australia unit draws interest from major local banks

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s retail operations in Australia are drawing interest from a host of local lenders, according to people familiar with the matter. National Australia Bank and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., the country’s third- and fourth-largest lenders by value, are in talks with Citigroup over the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified as the ...

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• 6 May

  Italy mulls boosting tax benefits for buying loss-making banks

  

  Bloomberg Italy is mulling extending the fiscal benefits for banking mergers and acquisitions it introduced at the end of last year, according to a draft decree seen by Bloomberg. The move could further entice potential buyers of state-owned Banca Monte Paschi di Siena SpA, which Italy must sell before the end of 2021 as part of an agreement with the ...

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• 6 May

  Westpac probed by regulator on insider trading allegations

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s securities regulator is probing Westpac Banking Corp on allegations of insider trading, just months after the country’s second-biggest lender paid a record fine to settle breaches of anti-money laundering laws. The allegations relate to Westpac’s role in executing a A$12 billion ($9.3 billion) interest-rate swap transaction with a consortium of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd and a group of IFM ...

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• 6 May

  BofA shuffles leadership in mergers and acquisitions

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) named new leaders for its global mergers and acquisitions business as investment-banking fees surge to a record. Patrick Ramsey, head of global M&A, was promoted to chairman of global M&A alongside Steve Baronoff, according to a memo from Matthew Koder, who runs the corporate and investment bank. A company spokesman confirmed the contents of ...

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• 6 May

  Thailand holds rates, warns on growth amid Covid wave

  

  Bloomberg Thailand’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for an eighth straight meeting, warning its forecast for an economic recovery was threatened by the country’s biggest virus wave since the pandemic began. The Bank of Thailand held the policy rate on Wednesday at 0.5% in a unanimous decision, as expected by all 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey. ...

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