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Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd.’s net income rose about 30% in the second quarter to a record, led by strong loan growth as consumer demand improved after a drop in the number of coronavirus cases. Net income at the country’s second-largest private lender stood at the highest-ever 55.1 billion rupees ($735 million) in the quarter-ended September, compared with 42.5 billion rupees ...

Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will launch a digital currency on Monday aimed at improving the payments system in the West African nation, according to the central bank. The eNaira, which took several years to develop, will “make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society,” the Central Bank of Nigeria said in emailed statement. The digital ...

Bloomberg Talks between the Italian government and UniCredit SpA over the sale of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA have collapsed, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s efforts to end the bank’s troubles. The Treasury and UniCredit ended negotiations after being unable to overcome stumbling blocks related to a capital injection in Monte Paschi and the businesses ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. called on the UK to relax capital rules for retail banking introduced in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Mail on Sunday reported. The UK currently requires big banks with deposits of 25 billion pounds ($34 billion) or more to ring-fence the retail operations, meaning the banks can’t use the funds in the ...

Bloomberg A new era for UK mortgage market is approaching as the Bank of England (BOE) prepares to raise interest rates, and markets are already shifting rapidly. Sterling swap rates, used by banks to set the cost of home loans, have jumped in recent weeks, converging with mortgage prices and squeezing the margin for lenders. That doesn’t look sustainable, and ...

Bloomberg Analyst estimates for Asia’s corporate profits have fallen to more than a decade low relative to global peers, and further downgrades are on the horizon as China’s economic growth slows and global supply constraints remain. After soaring past pre-pandemic levels on vaccine and reopening optimism, the 12-month forward earnings-per-share forecasts for MSCI Asia Pacific Index members began to drop ...

Bloomberg Netflix Inc.’s runaway hit Squid Game came like a bolt from the blue for viewers around the world. The impact on equity investors in its home country of South Korea is proving equally intense. While the nation’s benchmark share index has dropped about 4% since the drama was released in mid-September, dozens of stocks in the vibrant entertainment sector ...

Bloomberg Oil posted the longest stretch of weekly advances since 2015 as Opec+ producers only modestly supply the market and as US crude supplies shrink. Crude futures rise 1.5% in New York, up for a ninth straight week. President Joe Biden said that Americans should expect high gasoline prices to continue into next year because of supply being withheld by ...

DUBAI / WAM The UAE’s election to the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the third time reflects the country’s “increasing international presence,” the Vice-President of the European Commission for promoting our European way of Life said. In exclusive statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Margaritis Schinas described the UAE as “a pole of power, influence and inspiration.” Schinas ...

Dubai / WAM The UAE Space Agency has held high-level bilateral talks with a delegation of senior government and business officials from the Republic of Estonia to accelerate collaboration and the transfer of space-related technologies and services. Salem Butti Salem Al Qubaisi, Director-General of the UAE Space Agency, met with Kristi Talving, Deputy Secretary-General for Business and Consumer Environment, at ...