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BLOOMBERG FirstRand Ltd. plans to close branches and cut jobs at its South African retail-lending unit as customers switch to digital banking and the continent’s biggest lender by market value responds to an economy on the brink of a recession. Almost 600 positions will be lost at First National Bank, while more than 500 people at the Johannesburg-based company may ...

BLOOMBERG Emerging-market currencies weakened for a second day and stocks fell from a 2016 high as sliding oil prices weighed on assets of commodity exporters and growing wagers the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as soon as the next quarter damped demand for risk. The South African rand and Russia’s ruble depreciated at least 1.7 percent, leading declines among ...

BERN / Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will probably stay on hold at its monetary policy meeting on March 17 as banks in the country are already facing pressure from negative interest rates, economists and strategists say in notes to clients. The fact that the euro remained broadly stable against Swiss franc after the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting ...

Bloomberg Safran SA Chief Executive Officer Philippe Petitcolin said he is open to partnering with Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc to power a new generation of regional and business jets. Safran views the market as potentially lucrative but not one that can be addressed via its CFM International venture with General Electric Co., which specialises in bigger engines for single-aisle jetliners, Petitcolin ...

Bloomberg J Sainsbury Plc reported a surprise increase in fourth-quarter sales as it ponders whether to boost its bid for Argos owner Home Retail Group Plc. Same-store sales rose 0.1 percent excluding gasoline in the nine weeks ended March 12, London-based Sainsbury said in a statement on Tuesday. The gain ended two years of declining sales and compares with analyst ...

San Francisco / AP Online retail colossus Amazon is seeking a US patent on using selfies — instead of passwords — for shopping when using smartphones. Seattle-based Amazon reasoned that combining sensor and camera capabilities in smartphones with face and gesture recognising software results in higher security than passwords or identification numbers. “Such approaches provide for user authentication without the ...

NEW YORK / AP The Fresh Market, a grocery store chain, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo for more than $1.3 billion. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, comes after Fresh Market said in October that it was seeking to possibly sell itself. Apollo said that it is paying $28.50 for ...

Montreal / AFP The UN aviation agency called on Tuesday for regulations on space travel to be enacted within five years in order to bolster a burgeoning space tourism and transportation sector. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) “recognises that sub-orbital and outer space flights will foster new tourism and transport markets, and that investments in related research and development ...

DPA The story of the computer-savvy Indians has been around for a while: India has legions of well-trained IT specialists who provide high-tech services for tiny pay to firms round the globe. Get set for another story to replace it: Many of those smart Indian software experts are now becoming their own bosses. India is experiencing an incredible start-up boom. ...

DPA South Korean convenience stores have evolved from simple 24-hour corner shops into all-in-one stopovers for foods, goods and services tailored to modern needs. Despite sluggish consumption, convenience stores have constituted the country’s fastest-growing retail segment, outpacing offline retailers by a large margin with a 29.6 per cent on-year hike in sales in 2015, according to Statistics Korea. KDB Daewoo ...