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Bloomberg China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the world’s biggest refiner, will pay a record-high dividend as its massive fuels and chemical segments helped it post a nearly 10 percent increase in full-year profit. Net income climbed to 51.2 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), the company known as Sinopec said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange on Sunday. The company …

Bloomberg Alberta is looking beyond its oil industry as it works to end years of red ink. Still, a recovery to balanced budgets is a long ways off. Canada’s top oil-producing province projected a narrower budget deficit next year, despite declining revenue from non-renewable resources. Wh-ile it expects that revenue stream to rebound in future years, by the time the …

Bloomberg America’s first exporter of liquefied natural gas from shale is awaiting a federal ruling on whether it can restart storage tanks it was forced to shut after a leak. Regulators ordered Cheniere Energy Inc. to take two of the five tanks at its Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana out of service last month, citing a potentially “serious …

Bloomberg Banks that spent years lobbying against billions of dollars of new capital requirements are being rewarded for their efforts. They won concessions from global regulators that may cut the amount of extra capital the industry’s biggest companies will need in 2022, when the new market-risk rules are due to take effect. The proposed revisions will come as a relief …

Bloomberg For Australian banks the jabs just keep coming — and not always from the most expected sources. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ Bank) is facing a civil suit in Guam over lending standards at its American Samoa offshoot. Two retired US military veterans claim the Melbourne-based bank is liable for “systematic violations of the Truth in …

Bloomberg Developments in fintech could boost the UK’s sluggish productivity growth and the Bank of England has started a unit to monitor its developments, Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said. “We have set up a new Fintech Hub that will sit at the heart of the bank, to consider both how the bank understands and how it applies fintech, relevant to …

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank left its benchmark interest rate at a record low as it forecast inflation will remain inside the target band this year and in 2019. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas held the overnight borrowing rate at 3 percent, it said in a statement in Manila, as predicted by 11 of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The rest …

Bloomberg Two regional Federal Reserve bank presidents said they favour raising interest rates twice more this year following a hike this week, but were open to shifting their views if the outlook warranted a different policy approach. “My forecast had three moves for this year,’’ Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who votes this year on monetary policy, told reporters after …

Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd. started direct flights between Australia and London this weekend, passing a major milestone by reducing to 17 hours a trip that once took much longer. Flight QF9, which originated in Melbourne, landed at London Heathrow at 5:02 am on Sunday following a 14,498-kilometre trip from Perth, according to the UK airport operator’s website. The route marks …

Bloomberg Meituan Dianping, the Chinese food reviews and delivery giant backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., has begun discussions on a Hong Kong initial public offering as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is weighing a valuation of at least $60 billion and is considering a listing in China as well if policy conditions …