March, 2017

• 11 March

  RBS to jettison unprofitable clients, sell loan books

  

    Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is preparing to sell loan books and cut lending to some Western European corporate clients as part of plans to bolster its balance sheet and improve returns. The UK government-owned lender may divest commercial real estate loans in chunks of 300 million pounds ($365 million) to 400 million pounds to help reach ...

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• 11 March

  UBS raises $110mn fund to invest in woman-led firms

  

    Bloomberg UBS Group AG’s American wealth management unit has helped raise $110 million for a U.S. venture capital fund that will invest in companies in the health, education and environmental areas that are led by or co-managed by women. The fund is managed by Rethink Impact, a venture capital firm that invests in companies with a technological bent. Jenny ...

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• 11 March

  Goldman’s top China technology banker retires after 15 years

  

    Bloomberg Xiaoyin Zhang, the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. dealmaker who helped bring China’s three largest Internet companies to market, is leaving the firm. Zhang, a partner and head of the China technology, media and telecom group, is retiring after 15 years at Goldman, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. Connie Ling, a spokeswoman for the New York-based ...

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• 11 March

  Bank AlJazira to raise 30% capital

    DUBAI / Reuters Bank AlJazira, one of the kingdom’s smaller banks, plans to raise its capital by 30 percent through a bonus share issue, it said. The bank said the capital increase to 5.2 billion riyals from 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion) would be completed by issuing three new shares for every 10 shares held, paid for by capitalising ...

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• 11 March

  IndusInd Bank to acquire Bharat Financial in share swap

  

    Bloomberg IndusInd Bank Ltd, the lender backed by India’s billionaire Hinduja brothers, is in advanced talks to acquire micro-finance company Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd in a share swap, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Mumbai-based IndusInd could announce the purchase in the next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is ...

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• 11 March

  Banks see pressure on capital ratios as ECB tackles risk models

  

    Bloomberg Some European banks are seeing their capital ratios come under pressure as the region’s top supervisor takes a more conservative view of their risk models. Last month, the European Central Bank raised the risk-weightings which determine capital at Finland’s biggest financial services group after finding “shortcomings” in its models. Lenders including Bank of Ireland have started to take ...

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• 11 March

  Google adds cloud customers, nabbing Verizon from Microsoft

  

    Bloomberg Alphabet Inc. unveiled new customers and partners for its cloud storage service in an attempt to boost the standing of Google’s business sales unit, which lags behind Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Diane Greene, Google’s cloud chief, named several recent clients at the company’s event in San Francisco, including Colgate-Palmolive Co., HSBC Holdings Plc and EBay Inc. Google ...

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• 11 March

  Alphabet’s Project Loon loses CEO after six months

  

    Bloomberg Tom Moore, a satellite veteran brought in to lead Google’s Project Loon unit, has stepped down after about six months. Alastair Westgarth, who headed wireless antenna company Quintel, is taking the spot. The transition comes after the company scaled back an ambitious attempt to build a global communications service by circling the earth with high-altitude balloons. X, the ...

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• 11 March

  LG’s ‘hom-bot’ gains popularity

      Dubai / Emirates Business The LG HOM-BOT vacuum cleaner’s popularity is on the rise across the world, reaching a cumulative sales total of one million since first entering the market seven years ago. After its 2003 domestic launch, the HOM-BOT vacuum cleaner was introduced to more than 40 countries beginning with European markets in 2010, across Asia the ...

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• 11 March

  Cybersecurity gaps found at American federal agencies

  

    Bloomberg Despite the US government’s steps to tackle cybersecurity threats, hackers continue to target federal agencies and they experienced tens of thousands of incidents last year, according to a White House report. The Trump administration released the Office of Management and Budget’s annual report to Congress on federal cyber performance. Federal agencies weren’t immune to broader trends affecting the ...

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