When they’re asked to make bets, social scientists have a surprising knack for predicting which of their colleagues’ papers are full of baloney. This is in contrast to the notoriously bad job social scientists have apparently been doing evaluating papers through traditional peer review. In a series of attempts to test the health of the field, a high proportion of ...
Read More »Bank Indonesia to beef up tools in battle to save rupiah
Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank is intensifying its fight to protect the nation’s currency and bonds with a slew of measures that includes more hedging tools. Bank Indonesia plans to soon introduce overnight index swaps and interest-rate swaps to widen its pool of hedging tools for investors, exporters and banks. The central bank will also start offering a one-month tenor foreign-exchange ...
Read More »Australia holds key rate as sliding currency stimulates growth
Bloomberg Australia kept interest rates at a record low on Tuesday, as it has for the past two years, while a currency sliding towards 70 US cents offers the prospect of additional stimulus for the economy. As expected, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe left the cash rate at 1.5 percent, a stance he expects will eventually tighten the labour market ...
Read More »ING to pay $900 million to end Dutch money-laundering probe
Bloomberg ING Groep NV agreed to pay 775 million euros ($900 million) to settle an investigation by the Dutch prosecutor into issues including money laundering and corrupt practices in one of the biggest fines ever given to the country’s banks in a criminal case. The lender acknowledged “serious shortcomings†in executing customer due diligence policies to prevent financial crime at ...
Read More »Lloyds to slim down commercial-banking arm to reduce costs
Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc is planning to reorganise its commercial bank and eliminate some senior management positions to cut costs at one of its biggest divisions, people with knowledge of the company’s plans said. David Oldfield, a veteran at the bank and head of the commercial unit since last year, is leading the push to simplify the structure and ...
Read More »Sabadell’s UK TSB chief Pester exits after IT meltdown
Bloomberg The chief executive officer of Banco de Sabadell SA’s British unit is leaving as the lender continues to struggle with the meltdown of its IT system earlier this year. Paul Pester will step down after seven years with the UK arm, known as TSB Banking Group. Richard Meddings, the current non-executive chairman of TSB, temporarily takes on an executive ...
Read More »It’s tough to make money in India, says airline group
Bloomberg India may be the world’s fastest growing major aviation market, but it is difficult for airlines to make money as excessive taxes and poor infrastructure choke the industry, according to the International Air Transport Association. While jet fuel accounts for about 24 percent of a carrier’s average costs globally, it is 34 percent in India, making domestic airlines even ...
Read More »UK consumers plan to spend less, says report
Bloomberg Britons are planning to rein in their spending after splurging during the summer heatwave. With worries growing over rising prices and higher interest rates, a third of consumers say they intend to spend less, Barclaycard said in a report published on Tuesday. The warning comes after households made the most of the sweltering summer months, with the value of ...
Read More »Poland vows to improve working conditions at Amazon warehouse
Bloomberg A Polish government agency said it’s working with Amazon.com Inc. to improve conditions at its facilities amid union concerns of worker exploitation. The State Labor Inspectorate held more than 50 reviews of Amazon’s warehouses and other Poland-based centers since 2014, finding irregularities related to health and safety regulations, sanitary conditions and timely remuneration, the agency said. The retail giant, ...
Read More »Strikes, traffic control disruption hit Ryanair
Bloomberg Ryanair Holding Plc scrapped flights for 100,000 passengers last month as operations at the discount carrier were hit by strikes in five nations together with air traffic control disruption across a swathe of Europe. Ryanair cancelled almost 550 flights in August, compared with 27 a year earlier, the Dublin-based company said. Cockpit crews walked out on August 10 in ...
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