The logjam in insurance M&A has broken. French mutual Covea Group is attempting an ambitious 8.3 billion-euro ($9.6 billion) takeover of reinsurer Scor SE, run by charismatic veteran chairman Denis Kessler. Securing an agreement for the mooted deal doesn’t look easy. The timing of the approach makes sense. After Axa SA’s deal for XL Group Ltd. at the beginning of ...
Read More »NIO has the electric-car look, but it’s no Tesla
Hate to break it you, NIO Inc. is no Tesla. The Chinese electric-car company may have the trappings of the automaker of the future but ornaments won’t be enough to turn it into a genuine contender. A self-declared rival of Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc., NIO has been on the road rallying global investors for an imminent listing in New York ...
Read More »Europe wakes up to risks after Danske Bank scandal
Bloomberg Europe can’t allow itself another money laundering scandal like the one engulfing Denmark’s biggest bank, according to a growing list of regulators, legislators and even bankers now demanding better region-wide controls against such crime. Rasmus Jarlov, the minister in charge of financial legislation in Denmark, says the example of Danske Bank A/S is one from which Europe needs to ...
Read More »Rupee tumbles to new record as India heads to halt decline
Bloomberg The Indian rupee and bonds sunk after the current-account deficit widened to the most in five years, as an emerging-market rout raises investor scrutiny of countries with worsening balance of payments. The rupee slid as much as 1.3 percent on Monday to a new low of 72.6738, leading losses among Asia’s emerging-market currencies. Sustained weakening has prompted authorities to ...
Read More »â€˜BOJ to take time before next steps made’
Bloomberg Bank of Japan watchers can rest easy and enjoy a late summer holiday because it won’t be making another policy tweak any time soon, according to a former BOJ official. “It will take time for the BOJ’s next policy step given the need for a consensus from the nine board members,†said Takashi Kozu, who held a wide-range of ...
Read More »Egypt’s central bank gets reprieve as inflation slows
Bloomberg Egyptian consumer prices rose at their slowest monthly rate since May, offering fresh evidence that the impact of fuel price hikes was abating and giving the central bank room to shift its focus from inflation to investments. Monthly inflation in August eased to 1.8 percent compared to 2.4 percent the previous month, according to data reported by CAPMAS, the ...
Read More »Crypto growth nears ‘ceiling’, says Ethereum co-founder
Bloomberg The days of explosive growth in the blockchain industry have likely come and gone now that the average person is aware of its existence, according to Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. “The blockchain space is getting to the point where there’s a ceiling in sight,†Buterin said in an interview with Bloomberg at the Ethereum Industry Summit conference in ...
Read More »Walmart aims to double its truck-driver hiring spends
Bloomberg Walmart Inc., pinched by the worsening shortage of truckers, plans to double its spending on attracting and retaining drivers by year-end. The retailer, whose private fleet of 6,500 trucks is one of the largest in the nation, will offer referral bonuses of up to $1,500, shorten the on-boarding process for new hires by more than a month and broadcast ...
Read More »Amazon, Flipkart’s India e-comm boom receives airline’s vote
Bloomberg India’s booming e-commerce industry just got an ally: the first cargo service by a commercial airline. SpiceJet Ltd. is starting a dedicated freighter business to ship goods from consumer electronics to apparel and fresh farm produce as an increasing number of online shoppers visiting Amazon.com Inc. to Flipkart Online Services Pvt. demand same- or next-day deliveries. The carrier will ...
Read More »Airport 3D X-rays success lets TSA expand pilot programme
Bloomberg The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is so pleased with a program to test three-dimension X-ray technology for carry-on bag screening at airports that it’s increasing plans to buy the new technology starting next year, the agency chief told Congress. TSA is testing computed tomography X-rays, which shoot hundreds of images of a bag from different angles, at 13 airports ...
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