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Bloomberg Japan’s plans to develop its renewable energy industry are lagging much of the world, as the nation has “prioritised keeping the status quo for fear of change,” Foreign Minister Taro Kono said. Japan wants renewable energy to account for 22 percent to 24 percent of its overall energy mix by 2030, while the global average today is already 24 …

SINGAPORE / Reuters Singapore posted record sales volumes of marine fuels for the third straight year in 2017, even as the city state reva-mped the market last year leading to stiff competition and margin erosion. Singapore last year sold an all-time high 50.6 million tonnes of marine fuels, a 4.2 percent increase over the 48.6 million tonnes sold in 2016, …

Bloomberg Morocco, which depends on imports for almost all of its energy needs, will soon tender for companies to build a $4.6 billion natural gas project, Energy Minister Aziz Rabbah said. The project will process gas for power and provide gas to industry, Rabbah said on Sunday in an interview in Abu Dhabi. With the financial and technical consultants chosen, …

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. isn’t giving up its mortgage-lending crown without a fight. The bank wants to hold on to its top spot as the whale of the $1.7 billion industry in the US, even as it predicts profit margins on making home loans will shrink this year and it faces pressure from rival Quicken Loans Inc. “We want …

Bloomberg Canada’s financial watchdog plans to revise capital requirements for the nation’s banks, drafting more risk-sensitive interim rules while moving faster towards adopting new criteria set by global regulators. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ Carolyn Rogers announced the changes during a speech at a conference hosted by RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. She said Canadian banks would …

Bloomberg Japan’s economy will exceed growth forecasts this year, prompting the central bank to tighten monetary policy by mid-year, said Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics Inc. Sinai said he expects Japan’s economy to grow 2 percent in 2018, and even faster in 2019, perhaps as much as 2.5 percent. “What has snuck up on everybody is the world business …

Bloomberg Morocco will adopt a more flexible exchange rate from Monday as part of a long-awaited plan aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the North African nation’s economy. Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco’s central bank, said in a statement it would widen the official band within which the dirham fluctuates to 5 percent, with a maximum daily moves of 2.5 percent above …

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank is beefing up its data tools to get a better handle on a fast-growing economy, which is starting to flash warning signs because of a rapid buildup of debt. Like central banks across Southeast Asia, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is pushing to capture information from “big data,” drawn from sources such as online search engines, …

Bloomberg In cavernous jet hangars in and around Mexico City, Interjet has a secret. Four of the Mexican airline’s Sukhoi Superjet 100s—out of a fleet of 22—have been grounded for at least five months because of engine maintenance delays. The Russian-made aircraft, which average just four years old, are now being cannibalised, an industry term for when a plane is …

Bloomberg The US Supreme Court will consider freeing state and local governments to collect billions of dollars in sales taxes from online retailers, agreeing to revisit a 26-year-old ruling that has made much of the internet a tax-free zone. Heeding calls from traditional retailers and dozens of states, the justices said they’ll hear South Dakota’s contention that the 1992 ruling …