Wednesday , 17 December 2025

Treasury, UK banks make plans for Covid bad debt

Bloomberg The Treasury is in talks with the UK’s largest banks about a plan to tackle billions of pounds of bad debts expected under government’s Coronavirus loans program for small businesses, the Financial Times reported. Part of the discussions centers on a common code of conduct to deal with bounce-back borrowers, which could include guidance on when and how to …

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Bankers who profited from Nordic hiring boom in firing line

Bloomberg A few years ago, the biggest banks in one of the richest corners of the globe were adding thousands of jobs to a department that suddenly seemed more important than most others: compliance. But with headcount growing more than 10-fold in some cases, those same jobs are now at risk. This month, Danske Bank A/S warned of “significant” cuts, …

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AfDB approves $97.7mn loans, grants to fight virus

Bloomberg The African Development Bank (AfDB) approved loans and grants for several nations to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic as infections multiplied across the continent. The lender will provide $97.7 million for Rwanda’s budget to help the nation strengthen its health-care system, buttress economic resilience and mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the most vulnerable people. Under the worst-case scenario, Rwanda’s …

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Axis Bank picks arrangers for $1.3b share sale

Bloomberg Axis Bank Ltd., India’s third-largest private sector lender, has picked advisers including BNP Paribas SA and Credit Suisse Group AG to manage its proposed share sale. The Mumbai-based lender has also chosen HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG for the offering, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public. Axis Bank plans …

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Bond market eyeing record-low yields set for nudge from the Fed

Bloomberg Treasuries traders are once again eyeing record low yields, with dimming hopes for a sharp US growth recovery fuelling expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to signal more accommodation ahead. The benchmark 10-year yield just posted its lowest-ever weekly close, at 0.59%. And after stripping out inflation, the real yield — one of the market’s purest reads on …

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Asia profits tank 73% as earnings season kicks into high gear

Bloomberg After a dreadful March quarter for Asian corporations, investors are bracing for another wave of reporting cards that will reflect the first full three-month period during the worst virus outbreak in living memory. More than 280 companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index are expected to report results next week, and the number will continue to climb in August. …

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UAE, Turkmenistan discuss ways to bolster bilateral ties

Abu Dhabi / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Saturday received a telephone call from Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, President of Turkmenistan. During the conversation, the two leaders discussed ways of strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation to serve the mutual interests of the two …

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India’s Reliance becomes world’s No. 2 energy firm

Bloomberg Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Asia’s richest man, toppled ExxonMobil Corp. to become the world’s largest energy company after Saudi Aramco, as investors piled into the conglomerate lured by the Indian firm’s digital and retail forays. Reliance, which manages the biggest refinery complex, gained 4.3% in Mumbai adding $8 billion to take its market value to $189 billion, while …

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Oil trading profits soar for energy majors who made storage bets

Bloomberg In March and April, as oil prices plunged to their lowest in a generation, Norwegian energy giant Equinor ASA was busy doing the opposite of what oil companies usually do: pumping as much crude as possible underground into giant caverns on the nation’s North Sea coast. Equinor also filled oil tankers with crude, turning them into floating storage facilities, …

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Canada minister in talks with US on oil pipelines

Bloomberg Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan said he’s in talks with the US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette about finding a path to move ahead with oil pipeline projects, the Globe & Mail reported. “He’s somebody who’s been in the energy business and with the energy department for quite some time. He does have that understanding so we do …

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