May, 2019

• 18 May

  Robots take wheel as autonomous farm machines hit the field

  

  Bloomberg Robots are taking over farms faster than anyone saw coming. The first fully autonomous farm equipment is becoming commercially available, which means machines will be able to completely take over a multitude of tasks. Tractors will drive with no farmer in the cab, and specialised equipment will be able to spray, plant, plow and weed cropland. And it’s all ...

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• 18 May

  Citigroup hit hardest as EU fines banks $1.2bn over forex trading

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among five banks that agreed to pay European Union fines totalling 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies. Citigroup was hit hardest with a 310.8 million-euro penalty, followed by fines of 249.2 million euros and 228.8 million euros for RBS and ...

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• 18 May

  Negative rates are peanuts among bank woes: Coeure

  

  Bloomberg Negative interest rates are not the main culprit for European banks’ feeble profitability, European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said, signalling the institution is in no rush to bring relief. Sub-zero rates are costing euro zone banks roughly 8 billion euros ($9 billion) annually, which is “really peanuts” in this landscape, Coeure told lawmakers at a French ...

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• 18 May

  Biggest Swedish lender pulling out of Baltic business over high costs

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s biggest lender, Svenska Handelsbanken AB, is pulling out of the Baltic region arguing that the cost of staying is simply too big. Handelsbanken’s Baltic operations are far smaller than those of its Swedish peers, Swedbank AB and SEB AB. But the decision comes at a sensitive time. Estonia is at the center of a $230 billion money laundering ...

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• 18 May

  Philippines central bank mulls reserve ratio cuts

  

  Bloomberg The Philippine central bank will consider reducing the reserve requirement ratio for lenders further if banks don’t misbehave and speculate against the peso, Governor Benjamin Diokno said. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will “closely look at how banks will use funds freed up by RRR cut,” Diokno told a forum in Ma-nila, a day after announcing a 2 percentage-point reduction ...

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• 18 May

  Indonesia keeps key interest rate unchanged as global risks mount

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged as the currency comes under renewed pressure from an escalation in trade tensions between the US and China. The seven-day reverse repurchase rate was left at 6%, as predicted by all but one of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Governor Perry Warjiyo and his board raised the rate by a ...

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• 18 May

  Chinese airlines mull teaming up for 737 Max compensation

  

  Bloomberg China’s biggest airlines are considering banding together to seek compensation from Boeing Co for the disruption caused by the grounding of the US aircraft manufacturer’s 737 Max, people with knowledge of the matter said. Air China Ltd, China Southern Airlines Co and China Eastern Airlines Corp are exploring their legal options on how to coordinate their claims, according to ...

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• 18 May

  Amazon leads a $575mn funding round in Deliveroo

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc is leading a $575 million investment in Deliveroo, buying a slice of the fast-growing startup to propel its drive into the European food and groceries business. The US online retail giant will be joined in the Series G funding round by existing backers T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Co and Greenoaks, Deliveroo said in an ...

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• 18 May

  Air Canada in talks to buy Transat airline for $387mn

  

  Bloomberg Air Canada said it’s in exclusive talks to buy one of the country’s largest travel tour operators, Transat AT, for about $387 million amid a wave of consolidation in the Canadian airline industry. The country’s largest airline said in a statement it was prepared to pay C$13 a share for the Montreal-based company, a 23 percent premium to Transat’s ...

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• 18 May

  Asda posts eighth quarter of growth

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc’s Asda reported its eighth consecutive quarter of growth after the US retail giant said that it was “seriously” considering an initial public offering for the UK grocer in the future. Asda delivered 0.5 percent like-for-like sales growth excluding petrol for the first quarter of 2019. Figures were adjusted to account for the later Easter date compared to ...

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