Generali, Italy’s largest insurer, has bought voting rights amounting to 3.01 per cent in Intesa Sanpaolo in a defensive move designed to block a mooted takeover bid by the country’s largest bank. The move came after shares in the insurer rose nearly 4 per cent on Monday following a report in Turin-based newspaper La Stampa suggesting Intesa was considering a takeover bid in tandem with Germany’s Allianz. […]
Law firm productivity barely budged last year compared to 2015, according to a survey out Monday from Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, the latest signal that times aren’t getting much easier for the nation’s largest law firms. Law firm lawyers logged just 0.15% more hours in 2016 on average than the prior year, according […] (via WSJ)
Credit: Lancaster University The popular Pattern Lock system used to secure millions of Android phones can be cracked within just five attempts – and more complicated patterns are the easiest to crack, security experts reveal. Pattern Lock is a security measure that protects devices, such as mobile phones or tablets, and which is preferred by many to PIN codes or text passwords. It is used by around […]
Doha Bank, Qatar’s fifth-largest lender by assets, reported a 84.8 percent decline in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, according to Reuters calculations, missing analyst expectations. The bank earned a net profit of 35 million riyals ($9.61 million) in the three months to Dec. 31 against 231.4 million riyals in the same period of the previous year, Reuters calculations showed, using financial statements in lieu of a quarterly […]
“I hope the American administration will act on two levels: one, to not discuss moving the embassy to Jerusalem, and second, for the administration to lead negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis with the aim of achieving a political settlement,” Mr. Abbas said. Continue reading the main story The Israeli news media was filled with speculation on Sunday that the Trump administration would immediately announce the embassy […]
23 January 2017 Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, was the proud winner of the 2017 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award and the 2017 Significant Improvement Award by the National Safety Council (NSC) – USA. These wins endorse the Company’s long-standing commitment to Safety as well as its efforts in creating a safe working environment for its employees and contractors alike. The NSC Occupational Excellence […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for January 23, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Film screening Watch a screening of the visually stunning 1951 Jean Renoir film The River as part of the Cinema Space series. The film has been restored with the support of Martin […]
The Saudi finance ministry said on Sunday there would be no fees applied on remittances out of the country, days after the kingdom’s advisory Shura Council said it was looking at a proposal to impose a 6 percent levy on expatriate remittances. Saudi Arabia is “committed to the principle of free movement of capital in and out of the kingdom, in line with international standards,” the ministry’s […]
Yahoo will be probed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it has been reported, with authorities expected to investigate whether the company should have disclosed its two data breaches sooner to investors. According to The Wall Street Journal, the SEC investigation is still in its early stages, and is expected to look into whether Yahoo’s disclosures about the data breaches complied with civil securities […]
Abu Dhabi’s government merged two of its top investment funds on Saturday to strengthen their financial clout in an era of low oil prices, creating a company with assets totalling about $125 billion. The new fund, Mubadala Investment Co, was formed by merging Mubadala Development Co and International Petroleum Investment Co, which own corporate stakes in the energy industry and other sectors across the world. The new […]
By Tetsushi Kajimoto | TOKYO TOKYO Japanese companies believe that neither U.S. President Donald Trump nor Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe want to see the yen weaken significantly, a Reuters poll showed, a development they worry could spark an unwelcome political backlash. The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted Jan. 4-17, also found that Japanese firms want Abe to push Trump hard on trade issues, while nearly a third […]
PayTM, the Alibaba-backed Indian smartphone payments platform, plans to enter the asset management market a month before it begins banking operations in the country. The group, which has attracted more than 170m users since it started seven years ago, told the FT that its aggressive strategy to disrupt traditional finance will soon extend to loans, wealth management and mutual fund products. The move could give PayTM an even […]
SINGAPORE — With salary disputes forming a significant proportion of cases it saw last year, the labour movement’s Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) will push for electronic payments for all foreign domestic workers here, centre chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said yesterday. “Today, it’s still not standardised,” Mr Yeo said at an event at the Singapore Flyer to mark the CDE’s first anniversary and to thank 50 of […]
A ship capable of breaking through thick Arctic ice to deliver Russian liquefied natural gas to Asia is due to begin trials, marking an important step towards completion of a $27bn LNG project championed by president Vladimir Putin. The tanker is the first of a new class of icebreaking LNG carriers that will open an export route from Siberia to the Pacific — reducing Russia’s dependence on […]
By Maayan Lubell | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Israel approved building permits on Sunday for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements in expectation that U.S. President Donald Trump will row back on the previous administration’s criticism of such projects. The housing projects, on land that the Palestinians seek as part of a future state, had been taken off the Jerusalem municipality’s agenda in December at the request […]
BAGHDAD Islamic State blew up a landmark hotel in western Mosul on Friday in an apparent attempt to prevent advancing Iraqi forces from using it as a base in their offensive to capture the city, witnesses said on Sunday. The Mosul Hotel, shaped as a stepped pyramid, appeared to be leaning to one side after the explosions, two witnesses said by phone. They requested anonymity, saying the […]
By Carmel Crimmins and Pamela Barbaglia | DAVOS, Switzerland DAVOS, Switzerland U.S. bankers, buoyed by a resurgence in profits, are advising their counterparts in Europe to think positively about the new administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. But many Europeans still need convincing. At the annual gathering of the world’s political and business elites in the Swiss resort of Davos, U.S. financiers told investors and overseas’ rivals […]
Here are the market-related questions FT reporters will be examining this week, the first in which a Nato-ambivalent son of a New York property baron will command the world’s most powerful political office. Will the Trump-trades persist with the president in power? The post-election story in markets has largely been about what campaign promises turned into reality could do to a US economy already several years into […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. The aura of numbers-crunching superstar Nate Silver was diminished by Donald Trump’s victory. He was seen as among the many missing the boat. Old media chortled at stumbling by a paragon of big data. Now comes Silver’s pre-inaugural revenge. He […]
At the end of Trump’s speech to a room filled with 400 employees of the CIA, Trump said, rather cryptically, that maybe he’d build them a bigger room ‘by someone who knows how to build and we won’t have columns, do you understand that?’ Here is the full speech. For those of you who are fucking retards and haven’t the slightest clue what that could mean, I suggest you […]
By Pamela Barbaglia and Arno Schuetze | LONDON/FRANKFURT LONDON/FRANKFURT U.S. banks Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Citigroup (C.N) have identified many of the roles that will need to be moved from Britain following its exit from the European Union, sources involved in the processes told Reuters. Morgan Stanley, which bases the bulk of its European staff in Britain, will have to move up to 1,000 jobs in sales […]
January 22, 2017 by: George Parker, Political Editor Theresa May will urge Donald Trump not to undermine European unity when she meets him in Washington within days, insisting that Britain sees a strong EU as a crucial partner on both economic and security issues. The White House announced on Saturday that Mrs May would meet with Mr Trump on Friday, making her the first foreign leader to […]
When it comes to the future of bitcoin, the “holy grail” has emerged as becoming the first to have a bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC. Over three years ago, in 2013, the company of the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, Winklevoss Capital Management LLC, launched the first proposed bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Investment Trust, looking to trade on the HFT-dominated BATS exchange. The SEC is expected […]
By Tim Cocks and Pap Saine | BANJUL BANJUL Gambia’s authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh said on Saturday he was stepping down under pressure from regional armies which entered the West African country this week following his refusal to concede an election defeat to President Adama Barrow. Jammeh was due to go into exile under a deal worked out with African leaders and the announcement on state television […]
