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Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank is considering loosening lending regulations to help stoke credit growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. One possible measure is to let homeowners take out loans to purchase a second property “off the plan,” or one that is pre-construction, Mirza Adityaswara, senior deputy governor at Bank Indonesia, said in an interview in Jakarta. Another option is raising ...

  Reuters Malaysia’s Bank Muamalat will set up a 1 billion ringgit ($243.4 million) sukuk programme, after the Islamic lender said on Wednesday it would redeem 400 million ringgit worth of subordinated sukuk on June 15. Bank Muamalat’s new sukuk programme has loss-absorption features to meet Basel III criteria, qualifying as Tier 2 capital, rating agency RAM Ratings said in ...

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank is preparing to weaken its naira and abandon a currency peg that has starved Africa’s biggest economy of dollars and slowed foreign investment to a trickle. Naira forward contracts soared to record highs as traders added to bets on a weaker currency. In a retreat for President Muhammadu Buhari, who has resisted calls to let ...

  Bloomberg After World War II, the economic center of gravity in the U.S. began shifting from the cities to the suburbs — and that shift continued for more than a half-century. In the past few years, though, there’s been lots of talk about the trend reversing. What does the evidence show? Well, it can be a little confusing. Here, ...

  Bloomberg City Developments Ltd., Singapore’s second-largest developer, may seek to buy offices this year as rising interest rates makes such assets cheaper worldwide. “We are coming into a very good time for acquisitions,” Grant Kelley, CEO of City Developments, said in an interview in Singapore. “The long-term trend line for assets for the next 12 to 24 months could ...

    Bloomberg In the pre-crash days, sustainable building materials and low-flow toilets became part of the common real estate conversation: Slap “eco” on a home, the thinking went, and it was more valuable, not just to the earth but to the homeowner. The most direct path to an officially green building was through third-party certification—if the building could check ...

  London / Bloomberg Marks & Spencer Group Plc chief Steve Rowe’s strategy to reboot the retailer’s moribund clothing business got a cool reception from investors, with the stock falling the most in seven years amid concerns the plan will hurt short-term profits and doesn’t address some key decisions. The company will reduce styles to de-clutter its stores, cut prices ...

  Beijing / AP Chinese tech giant Huawei said on Wednesday it has filed patent infringement lawsuits against South Korean mobile phone rival Samsung in the United States and China, in a case that highlights the rise of Asian competitors as technology creators. Huawei Technologies Ltd. said it wants “reasonable compensation” but gave no financial figure for its claim against Samsung ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG is struggling to hire cabin crews for new routes, putting growth plans at risk as low wages and years of labour conflict complicate the airline’s recruiting amid a tight German job market. Through mid-May, Lufthansa has brought on about 500 flight attendants for its namesake carrier, the company said in response to questions from Bloomberg. ...

  Washington / AFP The Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane piloted by Swiss national Bertrand Piccard, successfully flew out of Dayton, Ohio in the dark early on Wednesday en route to Pennsylvania, according to a live online feed of the departure. The single-seat plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 747 is covered in solar cells that power its propellers ...