March, 2017

• 25 March

  American Airlines finds Southern comfort in China

  

    How do you get a foot in the world’s soon-to-be-biggest aviation market in the face of official intransigence from its government? American Airlines Group Inc. thinks it’s found a way. The world’s biggest airline is in talks to take a stake of about $200 million in China Southern Airlines Co. via a private placement, people familiar with the matter ...

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• 25 March

  Zinc is manna from heaven for this Indian billionaire

    Andy Mukherjee What a difference a year makes, especially when it comes with hundreds of million of dollars in unexpected cash prizes. At the start of 2016, Vedanta Resources Plc’s 2019 dollar bonds were trading at less than 50 cents on the dollar. Now, they’re well above par. Founder and Chairman Anil Agarwal is celebrating by launching a debt-funded ...

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• 25 March

  Bank known for Lehman gaffe moves over $5.4bn in error

  

    Bloomberg Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW, which gained publicity for erroneously transferring hundreds of millions of euros to Lehman Brothers the day the U.S. firm filed for bankruptcy, has done it again. KfW in February mistakenly transferred more than 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) to four banks because of a technical glitch that repeated single payments multiple times, according ...

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• 25 March

  China-led bank adds more members in status boost

  

    Bloomberg The standing of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is set to receive another boost after 13 further applicants were granted membership. The accessions will bring the total roster of member countries to 70, and leave Japan and the US as the only Group of Seven states without a stake in the lender. Memberships for Afghanistan, Armenia, ...

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• 25 March

  Malaysia Central bank sees challenging year as inflation climbs

  

    Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank said this year will be another challenging one for monetary policy as inflation pressure builds and risks loom over the economy. Gross domestic product is forecast to expand 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent this year, Bank Negara Malaysia said in its annual report in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. That compares with the government’s earlier forecast ...

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• 25 March

  CBQ mulls international bond issue

  

    Reuters Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) is in talks with banks about a potential international bond issue that will most likely be denominated in US dollars, sources familiar with the matter said. If the deal goes ahead, CBQ would join a growing number of banks from the region tapping the international debt markets this year with the aim of ...

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• 25 March

  UK Financial Conduct Authority reopens Barclays Qatar probe

  

    Bloomberg The UK Financial Conduct Authority re-opened its investigation into Barclays Plc’s 2008 emergency fundraising from Qatar despite issuing a fine in the case four years ago, as charging decisions from a parallel criminal case are set to be announced imminently, according to a person familiar with the probe. The FCA called in a number of people for interviews ...

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• 25 March

  Montblanc watches go smart

  

    Bloomberg Montblanc has become the first brand in the Richemont family of luxury companies to put out a smartwatch. The Montblanc Summit, based on Google’s Android Wear 2 platform, aims to compete with, among others, the Apple Watch and rival Swiss brand TAG Heuer’s Connected Watch (which was released last year and received a major update in the form ...

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• 25 March

  Apple: Software flaws in WikiLeaks documents fixed

  

    AP Apple said purported hacking vulnerabilities disclosed by WikiLeaks this week have all been fixed in recent iPhones and Mac computers. The documents released by the anti-secrecy site Thursday morning pointed to an apparent CIA program to hack Apple devices using techniques that users couldn’t disable by resetting their devices. The iPhone hack was limited to the 3G model ...

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• 25 March

  More brands pull ads from YouTube in widening boycott

    AP An advertising boycott of YouTube is broadening, a sign that big-spending companies doubt Google’s ability to prevent marketing campaigns from appearing alongside repugnant videos. PepsiCo, Wal-Mart Stores and Starbucks confirmed that they have also suspended their advertising on YouTube after the Wall Street Journal found Google’s automated programs placed their brands on five videos containing racist content. AT&T, ...

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