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The European Union (EU) is close to outlawing some single-use plastic products, such as cutlery, straws, coffee stirrers and cotton swab sticks – but the measures are too narrow and too lenient towards producers to have a meaningful benefit for the environment. The EU, as one of the biggest producers and the biggest exporter of plastic waste, should do better ...

For bond investors, there’s something inherently offensive about negative-yielding debt, even though it’s nothing new by now. Conceptually, buying a security that effectively guarantees a loss if held to maturity goes against the core purpose of fixed-income investing — preserving principal and earning steady interest payments that exceed the inflation rate. Across the globe, the amount of debt with negative ...

On March 28, Lyft Inc. sold its first batch of stock as a public company. It’s a milestone for the on-demand transportation company, and it kicks off the great tech unicorn IPO barrage of 2019. Depending on your perspective, this flood is either validation for the class of companies created since smartphones and cloud computing made new technology businesses possible ...

Bloomberg The new head of Japan’s main banking lobby warned the central bank against deepening negative interest rates, signalling such a move could spur risky investment and put further pressure on lenders’ profits. “It will be a quite difficult option to take,” Makoto Takashima, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, said in an interview. “Simply speaking, that would cause policy ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) officials pressed the case for continued monetary-policy support as they signalled the euro-area economic slowdown is weighing on inflation. In a foreword to the ECB’s annual report, President Mario Draghi warned of a “persistence of uncertainties” and said there’s a continued need for stimulus to boost inflation. His vice president, Luis de Guindos echoed that, ...

Bloomberg Perella Weinberg Partners LP is hiring Clinton Ray and Guy Morgan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to expand its European restructuring business, according to people familiar with the matter. The bankers will join the firm in London in June to advise new and existing clients on restructuring, debt advisory and liability management, said the people, who asked not to ...

Bloomberg A criminal probe tied to money laundering allegations engulfing Swedbank AB drew sharp recriminations from both sides over the weekend, and raised serious questions about the role of the board. After the prosecutor accused Sweden’s biggest mortgage bank of refusing to hand over key information, Swedbank’s lawyers responded with claims that investigators were ignoring the norms of Swedish law. ...

Bloomberg Switzerland has room for further easing, though fiscal policy needs to be better utilised to boost long-term growth, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is using some of the world’s lowest interest rates and a threat to intervene in currency markets to stem appreciation on the franc. Yet even with a deposit rate ...

Bloomberg A German banking app backed by billionaires Peter Thiel and Li Ka-shing is trying to woo young consumers with free current accounts as it expands outside Europe. In a change of strategy, N26 has decided not to offer its clients a wide range of other banking products for now, preferring to build up its international customer base first. “Regional ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co agreed to sell control of airline caterer Gategroup Holding AG to RRJ Capital, the second major divestment in a week by the embattled Chinese conglomerate. RRJ will purchase all outstanding shares of Gategroup, the Swiss company said in a statement on its website, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. It didn’t disclose financial terms. The deal ...