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  Bloomberg North Korea is stepping up preparations for military parade that could come as soon as next week, ratcheting up tensions after a January barrage of missile tests forced Kim Jong Un’s nuclear arsenal back on the Biden administration’s agenda. Commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s parade training ground taken last weekend showed several hundred personnel in formation, likely ...

  Bloomberg Bulgaria’s new prime minister criticized the nation’s prosecutors for dragging their feet on tackling graft, advancing a pledge to fight the problem in the European Union’s most corrupt member state. Premier Kiril Petkov, who won November elections promising “zero tolerance for corruption,” provided a list of 19 people he said “are potentially involved in wrongful activities” along with ...

  Bloomberg Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she has no intention of quitting after London Mayor Sadiq Khan put her on notice following a series of scandals in the capital’s force. “I have absolutely no intention of going,” Dick told BBC London radio on Thursday. “I am — and have been for the last five years — leading a ...

  Bloomberg Australia concluded its quantitative easing (QE) program, leaving the Reserve Bank with more than 40% of government bonds on issue and raising questions about what it will do with the pile of assets. The RBA on Thursday conducted its final A$1.6 billion purchase of securities under a program that tripled its balance sheet to about A$650 billion ($465 ...

  Bloomberg ABN Amro Bank NV said it will start a 500 million-euro share buyback ($571 million) after fourth quarter profit jumped, joining European peers in pledging higher returns as the industry rebounds from the pandemic. Net income soared to 552 million euros in the period, exceeding the 426 million euros that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected on average, ...

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA rebounded with a record annual profit from its first losing year in decades, as all main businesses at the French lender beat analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter. A resurgent equities trading unit and record earnings from financing and advisory were among the highlights as revenue jumped 13% in the final months of last year ...

  Bloomberg US credit-card bills jumped sharply last quarter as Americans returned to pre-pandemic spending habits. Credit-card balances increased every quarter in 2021 to end the year at $856 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said. The fourth-quarter gain was the largest in figures dating back 22 years, and while the total amount is still below pre-Covid levels, ...

  Bloomberg Zambia’s central bank expects to complete research on forming a digital currency that could cut transaction costs and boost participation in the formal financial system by the fourth quarter. “The results of research will form part of the input in the policy considerations on whether to introduce a central bank digital currency in Zambia,” Nkatya Kabwe, acting assistant ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG warned that higher costs for pay and its restructuring will weigh on results in 2022, adding to the bank’s woes after it posted the biggest quarterly loss in about four years. The Zurich-based bank had a net loss of about 2 billion francs ($2.16 billion) in the three months through December, primarily driven by ...

  Bloomberg Bonds in India gained and the rupee falls after the central bank held back on a widely expected hike in a key rate, continuing with its benign policy stance amid a hawkish turn by most global central banks. The yield on five-year bonds fall 17 basis points to 6.20%, while that on 10-year note declined by ten points ...