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  Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA reported a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profit, hurt by a decline in consumer lending margins and trading revenue as the bank began a reorganisation to streamline its capital structure. Net income declined to €227 million ($259 million) from €784 million a year earlier, Credit Agricole, based near Paris, said in a statement on Thursday. ...

  Reuters Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group will establish a banking unit in Morocco once it receives approval from local authorities, the Islamic lender said in a statement, adding it aimed to launch the new business soon. The bank, which has operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, said entry to the Morocco market would significantly help diversify assets ...

  BLOOMBERG Nations that have adopted a negative interest rate policy to spur economic growth face the possibility of weakening their banks, according to Arunma Oteh, vice president and treasurer of the World Bank. “We still have a global economy that is very fragile,” Oteh said in an interview in Tokyo. “What you find where you have had the expansionary ...

  Lagos / AFP Nigeria’s central bank said it was investigating some banks in connection with slush funds allegedly set up by a former oil minister to rig last year’s elections. The Central Bank of Nigeria said it was “fully aware and indeed a part of the ongoing investigation of certain financial transactions in some banks by law enforcement authorities”. ...

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq has raised the interest rate on a local bond issue worth 1.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.3 billion) to boost sales, central bank spokesman Aycar Jabbar recently said. The central bank has increased the rate to 8 percent from the 6 percent offered on March 15, when the two-year bonds went on sale, he told. All those ...

  Bloomberg Bluesky Hotels & Resorts Inc., a closely held company backed by capital from Hong Kong, agreed to buy InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust for C$2.1 billion ($1.6 billion), giving the firm a stake in some of Canada’s most historic hotels and beachhead for expansion in North America. Bluesky will pay C$7.25 a share, the companies said in a ...

  Bloomberg SC Capital Partners, a Singapore private equity real estate firm with $1.2 billion in assets, said recent price declines make investing in Hong Kong property attractive. Founder Suchad Chiaranussati said he expects the Singapore government to maintain residential curbs in the city-state until the end of next year. Hong Kong offers more value after prices for homes, offices ...

  Bloomberg A country house in West Sussex, an hour and a half by train from London, is about to hit the market for £6 million ($8.6 million). Designed by Edwin Lutyens, arguably the most famous father of Arts and Crafts architecture, the manor house known as Little Thakeham dates to 1902 and sits on a 3.2 rolling acres comprising ...

  Bloomberg Developers started a record number of central-London office projects in the six months through March as they tried to capitalize on rising rents. Construction work began on 51 office buildings during the period, Deloitte LLP said in a report on Wednesday. About 14 million square feet (1.3 million square meters) of space is now under construction, 28 percent ...

  Bloomberg A glum outlook from Macy’s Inc. renewed concerns about the broader retail industry, contributing to a stock rout for consumer companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., Ralph Lauren Corp. and Ross Stores Inc. Macy’s cut its profit forecast for this year and posted first-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates — a sign that slow ...