March, 2018

• 31 March

  Son’s not running for cover in SoftBank’s Swiss Re swoop

  

  What could be a more perfect match than a cash-rich company with waning returns and a consummate dealmaker with an insatiable desire for investments? That may be the best lens through which to consider the news that Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to buy 25 percent of Swiss Re AG, in a deal that would value the ...

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• 31 March

  How to stop a US-China trade war before it starts

  It may be one of the most opportune flubs in economics. A slip of the tongue by the US Treasury’s top international official offers one way out of the trade skirmish between the US and China. Few serious people want tariffs ordered by President Donald Trump and the Chinese import restrictions imposed in response to degenerate into a trade war ...

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• 31 March

  How May will navigate the perilous road to Brexit

  

  UK Prime Minister Theresa May has nine months to define what Brexit will actually mean and she’ll have to do battle on three fronts to get there—in Brussels, in Parliament and with her own Conservative Party. Her priorities are to decide what the future relationship with Europe might look like, solve the intractable puzzle of the Irish border and see ...

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• 31 March

  Is DBS walking, talking and earning like fintech?

  

  It tells you something about the priorities of Southeast Asia’s largest bank when it announces a hackathon to quickly recruit 100 budding technologists. DBS Group Holdings Ltd hired the same number last year, but this year its needs are spread over a wider skill set, including user-interface design and mobile-application development, even scrum mastery, which, I understand, has nothing to ...

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• 31 March

  Apple has better track record than newer tech titans

  

  It’s easy to understand Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook’s somewhat self-righteous comments on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal: His company has never emphasized customer data monetization, and privacy has been one of its persistent selling points. Apple still collects our data—and reserves the right to share it—but the company has a much better track record than newer tech titans. ...

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• 31 March

  here’s Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad

  

  Emirates Business Apple updated its most popular iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus even greater performance, starting at 1349 AED. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil give users the ability to be even more creative and productive, from sketching ideas and jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots. The new iPad is more versatile and capable than ...

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• 31 March

  Xiaomi takes on iPhone X with new MIX 2S

  

  Bloomberg As Xiaomi Corp. heads toward a potentially huge initial public offering, the Chinese startup has announced a new flagship smartphone aimed squarely at the high-end users that flock to Apple and Samsung devices. The $500 Mi MIX 2S was unveiled in Shanghai by co-founder Lei Jun. Success for the new phone, which goes on sale in China on April ...

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• 31 March

  Google backs startup working on remote-controlled driverless car

  

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google is getting into self-driving cars in a new way. Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund within Google, is leading a $6 million investment in a new company that’s building software to let humans control cars remotely. Scotty Labs, a nine-person startup, works on “teleoperations,” an emerging slice of the autonomous vehicle business that may grow more ...

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• 31 March

  Saudi Arabia bank pegs growth hopes on mortgages, reforms

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest bank is betting that government efforts to develop the entertainment industry, boost home-ownership and open up the role of women in the economy will fuel growth this year. The kingdom is undergoing an economic overhaul driven by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman that includes removing restrictions on cinemas, concerts and women driving and working. It also ...

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• 31 March

  HSBC to pay $100mn to settle libor-rigging lawsuit

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay $100 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit by over-the-counter investors, including the city of Baltimore and Yale University, who claimed they were harmed when they bought securities tied to rigged Libor. The proposed settlement by the London-based bank follows similar agreements the investor group reached with Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., and most recently ...

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