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Bloomberg India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended his government’s new laws that seek to deregulate food procurement, as tens of thousands of farmers continue to protest on the outskirts of capital New Delhi. Modi listed government measures taken to improve procurement and called on state administrations implementing the laws to explain them to farmers. He blamed opposition parties for fuelling ...

Bloomberg President-elect Joe Biden’s advisers are preparing for potential negotiations with Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in an effort to end the Western Hemisphere’s worst economic and humanitarian crisis, according to three people familiar with the matter. The Biden administration intends to push for free and fair elections, offering sanctions relief in return, said the people, who requested anonymity because ...

Bloomberg The creation of a European banking champion could be among a slew of transformative deals in the sector next year, according to top financial dealmakers at Bank of America Corp. The region’s banking industry is suddenly abuzz with transactions, driving merger and acquisition volumes up 27% year-on-year to $37 billion since the start of July, data compiled by Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc is canceling bonuses for all staff this year as the Covid-19 pandemic weighs heavily on its earnings. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed it will not pay out any “group performance share” awards in 2020 after rewarding staff with about 310 million pounds ($419 million) last year. The news was reported earlier by the Financial ...

Bloomberg A relentless torrent of funds rushing into India’s markets may tip the central bank’s delicate balancing act in 2021. For most of this year, the Reserve Bank of India has capped currency gains as global investors poured around $50 billion into stocks and stakes in companies. This has boosted rupee liquidity in a banking system that’s already flush with ...

Bloomberg European regulators lifted their de facto ban on bank dividends while imposing strict limits on payout levels to help lenders maintain financial strength during the pandemic. The European Central Bank (ECB) said that the continent’s banks should keep dividends and share repurchases to less than 15% of profit for 2019 and 2020, or 0.2% of their key capital ratio, ...

Bloomberg Swiss National Bank (SNB) President Thomas Jordan has reason to expect a less intense 2021 after a multi-billion currency battle this year that put Switzerland in the crosshairs of US authorities. The combination of a landmark European Union fiscal package and the anticipated global economic recovery driven by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will likely dampen demand for haven ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank is winding down what’s left of its operations in Russia, after years spent cutting back its business there as part of a plan to minimise its risks. The Helsinki-based bank had already axed its Russian retail business, but previously indicated it would keep some services open for corporate clients. Late on Thursday, it said its decision to ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. is working on in-house processor designs for use in server computers that run the company’s cloud services, adding to an industrywide effort to reduce reliance on Intel Corp.’s chip technology. The world’s largest software maker is using Arm Ltd. designs to produce a processor that will be used in its data centers, according to people familiar with ...

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG, the German automaker, is bracing for a major production disruption from a shortage of semiconductors. The world’s largest automaker will need to adjust first-quarter manufacturing plans around the globe because of the bottleneck, VW said in an emailed statement, without giving specific figures. The number of cars affected could be in the low six-digit range. The situation ...