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Tokyo / DPA Japan’s consumer spending is lagging as households prefer savings over investments, despite an upward trend in personal income due to improved employment conditions, according to a Bank of Japan survey. The total amount of financial assets possessed by individuals in cash or savings hit a record high of 902 trillion yen (US$7.98 trillion) at the end of ...

Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc dropped the most in a month as oil fell and Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group Ltd. warned plunging resource prices had pushed up bad debts, renewing concern that the British lender may face more pain from its own commodity loans. ANZ, which has Australia’s biggest exposure to commodities, said provisions for bad debts would ...

Bloomberg Chiba Bank Ltd. is forming an alliance with Musashino Bank Ltd. in what could herald a new way for Japanese regional lenders to cope with industry headwinds without resorting to merging. The banks, based in prefectures that border with Tokyo, will acquire shares in each other, they said in statements. While the amount and timing are yet to be ...

LISBON / Reuters Santoro Finance, a holding company of Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos, is baffled by CaixaBank breaking off talks on a nearly ready deal for the Spanish bank to buy dos Santos’s stake in Portuguese lender BPI and hopes to resume negotiations soon. “It’s hard to understand what has happened after the sides have reached understanding on key ...

BOAO / Reuters China’s yuan will come under renewed downward pressure if the US dollar rises significantly in coming months, a policy adviser to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said. Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, also said the central bank was managing the yuan against a basket ...

REUTERS The new governor of Bangladesh’s central bank has sent formal letters to the New York Reserve Fed, as well as central bank, and money laundering chiefs in the Philippines, asking them to help recover its stolen $81 million, a senior central bank official said on Sunday. The news came as Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the government ...

LONDON / Reuters British consumers are still driving the country’s recovery despite a gloomier outlook for the economy and the approach of the European Union membership referendum, figures showed. Official data showed retail sales fell more gently than expected in February after a bumper January. A separate survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed sales volumes fell slightly ...

MUSCAT / Reuters Oman’s Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) will raise fees charged for air traffic through the sultanate, the authority’s chief executive Mohammed al-Zaabi told the official Oman News Agency. The decision is part of a series of steps by Oman to strengthen state finances as it grapples with a big budget deficit caused by low oil prices. ...

Bloomberg European planemaker Airbus has unveiled a new cabin brand designed to help cost-conscious airlines carry more passengers on long-haul flights while avoiding additional discomfort. The move reflects the rivalry between major planemakers to jazz up interiors and give airlines more flexibility on cabins as the industry struggles to capture more traffic without angering passengers. Airbus said the “Airspace by ...

Rome / Reuters Italy’s luxury fashion house Versace said that its revenues in 2015 grew 17.5 percent, thanks largely to sales of its accessories and its cheekier second line, Versus. While the brand’s revenues grew by 645 million euros ($720 million), its retail sales were 28.9 percent higher at 400.7 million euros and income from e-commerce was up 31.2 percent. ...