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Bloomberg The Bank of England stepped up its defenses against a disruptive Brexit, offering lenders extra liquidity provisions over the period covering the UK’s withdrawal. The BOE will hold Indexed Long-Term Repo operations on a weekly instead of monthly basis between March 12 and the end of April — the time surrounding the planned exit date. The approach, designed to ...

Bloomberg The doyen of Australian interest-rate forecasters has shifted ground and now predicts the Reserve Bank will cut twice to counter slower growth and higher unemployment. Bill Evans’s announcement that he expects the RBA to reduce the cash rate by a quarter-percentage point in August and November came less than an hour after employment data showed strong hiring in January. ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co., battered by more than a week of flight delays and cancellations from a rash of aircraft maintenance issues, said its investigation has identified a small group of union mechanics that are orchestrating an effort to slow operations. The airline called on the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association to comply with its legal obligation and “take immediate action ...

Bloomberg It would take a brave private equity investor to pounce on a UK retailer like Walmart Inc.’s Asda only five weeks before Brexit. KKR & Co. has teamed up with former Asda Chief Executive Officer Tony De Nunzio for early-stage considerations of a bid for the UK supermarket chain, according to a person familiar with the matter. The buyout ...

Bloomberg Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways plans to order as many as 25 narrow- and wide-body Boeing Co. aircraft this year as the nation’s newest carrier prepares for flights to the US and Europe, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because negotiations are underway. The deal would increase Bamboo Airways’ Boeing fleet to 55. The ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Emaar Malls, the shopping malls and retail business majority-owned by Emaar Properties PJSC, has fully acquired Namshi, the leading regional fashion e-commerce retailer. This follows acquiring the remaining stake of Global Fashion Group (GFG) in Namshi, in an all-cash transaction of AED 475.5 million. GFG and Emaar Malls entered into a strategic partnership in 2017 when ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Following the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has approved the construction of 34,000 housing units for Emiratis across different parts of the UAE at a total cost of AED32 billion ($8.7 ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The hotel establishment revenues across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi increased circa 73 percent to AED1.8 billion in Q4 of 2018 from AED1.05 billion during the preceding quarter of the same year, according to the Statistics Centre- Abu Dhabi (SCAD). SCAD attributed the growth to the robust tourist infrastructure boasted by Abu Dhabi in terms of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The shareholders of the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) approved the distribution of 74 percent cash dividends (AED 0.74 per share) for the financial year ended on December 31, 2018 for registered, entitled shareholders, during the general assembly meeting (GAM). Commenting on FAB’s performance, Abdul Hamid Saeed, Group CEO of FAB, said, “Consistent with our commitment ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he’ll extend a deadline to raise tariffs on Chinese goods beyond this week, citing “substantial progress” in the latest round of talks that wrapped up in Washington. “The US has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other ...