January, 2018

• 28 January

  DBS to hire private bankers to tap $19trn Asia market

  

  Bloomberg DBS Group Holdings Ltd. plans to increase the number of relationship managers in its private banking business to tap into surging Asian wealth. Headcount will rise between 10 percent and 20 percent this year — after increasing more than 20% in 2017 — adding to a team that currently comprises 200 private bankers, Lawrence Lua, deputy private-banking head, said ...

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• 28 January

  Nordea CEO ‘not satisfied’ as profit slumps

  

  Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB reported a slump in profit at the end of last year, lagging behind analyst estimates, as the Nordic region’s only global systemically important bank struggles with a transformation it says will ultimately make it more efficient. Investors were quick to express their dissatisfaction. Shares in the bank opened more than 4 percent lower in Stockholm, their ...

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• 28 January

  Bank Leumi plans to take Pepper mobile bank global

  Bloomberg After aggressive digitalisation and cost-cutting programs helped turned around Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd, Chief Executive Officer Rakefet Russak-Aminoach is preparing an international expansion of its mobile bank. “We are looking at going global; we are checking some business plays and considering some partnerships with others” including technology companies and larger banks, she said in an interview on the sidelines ...

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• 28 January

  Malaysia raises key rate as analysts bet no more this year

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2014, with economists guessing that it won’t need to tighten again this year. Bank Negara Malaysia increased the overnight policy rate to 3.25 percent from 3 percent, it said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur, as predicted by 16 of the 20 economists in a Bloomberg ...

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• 28 January

  Walmart joins Rakuten to counter Amazon’s dominance

  

  Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has forged another alliance to counter Amazon.com Inc., partnering with Japan’s Rakuten Inc. to sell e-books in the US and improve its online grocery business in Asia’s second-largest economy. The collaboration will bring Rakuten’s Kobo device and e-book catalog to Walmart’s US stores later this year, the companies said in a statement. The partnership also includes ...

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• 28 January

  Airlines tumble as ‘risky’ growth bet stirs fare worries

  

  Bloomberg US airlines tumbled for a second day as more carriers announced plans to add seating capacity— compounding fears of a fare war that would crimp revenue as fuel costs climb. Alaska Air Group Inc. said it expects to increase capacity 7.5 percent this year, while JetBlue Airways Corp. projected as much as 8.5 percent. Economists predict gross domestic product ...

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• 28 January

  Asos trumps retail rivals with strong holiday sales in UK

  Bloomberg Asos Plc’s domestic sales growth rebounded over the holidays as the UK’s largest online-only fashion retailer profited at the expense of store-based rivals. Sales in the UK, Asos’s largest market, rose 23 percent to $429 million in the four months ended on December 31, the London-based company said. The shares rose as much as 1.3 percent, recouping early losses. ...

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• 28 January

  Southwest demands fixes for bugs in $500mn booking upgrade

  

  Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. is pushing its supplier to fix customer service problems that emerged following a $500 million upgrade of its outdated reservations system. The carrier is leaning on Amadeus IT Group SA to resolve issues with its Altea programme that replaced Southwest’s 30-year-old, mostly home-grown technology. There have been at least five technical outages since August, with most ...

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• 27 January

  UAE encourages global solutions for supporting innovation at WEF

  DAVOS / WAM Innovation, entrepreneurship and future economies were the main theme of a panel session organised by the UAE during the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. The sessions aimed to share experiences regarding successful innovation policies and actions that can help address some of the current global innovation challenges. The attendees underlined the fact that innovation and ...

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• 27 January

  $370mn Expo road contracts issued

  Dubai / WAM Following the directives of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to immediately start the construction of roads and transport projects associated with hosting Expo 2020 Dubai, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has awarded two contracts of Phase I and 2 of ...

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