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  DUBAI / Reuters Qatar National Bank (QNB) is broadening its horizons in Southeast Asia after the Gulf’s largest lender reported 8.3 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, according to reports. It follows a year in which the bank cemented its position as the largest lender in the Middle East and Africa by assets after completing the 2.7 billion euro …

  Bloomberg Polish bank shares tumbled on Monday as the country’s watchdogs are seeking to impose higher capital requirements aimed at encouraging lenders to ditch foreign-currency home loans. The WIG Bank gauge slumped 1.7 percent as of 11:36 a.m. in Warsaw, led by MBank SA and Bank Millennium SA, sliding from a one-year high reached last week. Lenders should lift …

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded its assessment of the Indonesian stock market, reversing an earlier bearish call that prompted Jakarta to stop doing business with the U.S. bank. The bank’s analysts raised their ‘tactical’ view of Indonesian equities one level to “neutral” in a report on Monday, saying volatility in emerging-market bonds following Donald Trump’s US election victory …

  Bloomberg Financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region will be more inclined to hire technology specialists this year than investment bankers as they enhance product offerings and upgrade their systems, according to a survey by Options Group Inc. Among regional financial-services managers, 40 percent say they expect to increase their headcount for information technology-related roles this year, according to a …

  DUBAI / Reuters Oman’s Bank Dhofar, the second-largest lender in the sultanate by assets, posted a 19.6 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, according to Reuters calculations. The bank reports a net profit of 10.75 million rials ($27.95 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, compared to 13.37 million rials in the same period of 2015. Net loans …

  DUBAI / Reuters Bank Muscat, Oman’s largest lender, posted a 1.3 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, according to Reuters calculations, in line with analysts’ estimates. The bank made a profit of 39.7 million rials ($103.2 million) in the three-month period ending Dec. 31, up from 39.2 million rials a year earlier. Bank Muscat didn’t disclose a …

  Dubai Annika Falkengren, the chief executive officer of SEB AB, will leave the Swedish bank after running it for 11 years. SEB, which was founded by Sweden’s Wallenberg family in 1856 to become Stockholm’s first private bank, will now start looking for a replacement for Falkengren, the board said in a statement on Monday. The 54-year-old, who will step …

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA named Didier Valet as its third deputy chief executive officer, promoting its investment-banking head as the French bank prepares a new business plan. Valet, who turned 49 on Sunday, was appointed to the newly created position on Jan. 13. and will retain his role as head of corporate and investment banking, private banking, asset management …

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co.’s new Switch gaming console won’t be in stores until March 3, but the machine is fully baked and ready to play. The press got a chance to try out the new machine at an event in Tokyo last week, and events will be held in Japan and North America to let people experience the product before …

    WASHINGTON / AP Artificial intelligence is still in a “mainframe era” in which computing power is concentrated in a few companies’ hands, Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a presentation in Munich on Monday. The computer industry is “worshiping” technology companies that can simulate real-world processes using AI software, but to become more useful the …