Mitsubishi UFJ to buy Ayudhya in biggest Thai bank takeover

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to buy Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya Pcl for as much as 560 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in the largest banking takeover in the Southeast Asian nation. Japan’s biggest bank will seek to buy as much as 75 percent of the Bangkok-based lender from shareholders including General Electric Co. through a tender offer, Mitsubishi UFJ said in a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday. The Japanese company plans to offer 39 baht a share for the Thai bank, or 5.4 per

July 3, 2013

Fed strengthens bank capital rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Federal Reserve agreed Tuesday to raise the amount of capital that big banks must hold to prevent their collapse and reduce the threat they pose to the broader financial system. The higher capital requirements were mandated by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. They are also in accordance with international standards agreed to after the downturn. Banks had lobbied to modify the requirements on higher capital, saying they could hamper their ability to le

July 3, 2013

Zynga CEO steps down, Microsoft exec to take post

NEW YORK (AP) ― He’s not heading out to pasture, but the CEO of “FarmVille” maker Zynga Inc. is stepping aside as the troubled online game company looks to revive itself and lift its stalled stock price. Mark Pincus will be replaced on Monday, July 8, by Don Mattrick, who was most recently head of Microsoft’s Xbox division. Zynga said Monday that Pincus, who founded Zynga Inc. and named it after his American bulldog in 2007, will stay on as chairman and chief product officer. Mattrick, 49, had s

July 2, 2013

Tribune to acquire 19 TV stations

CHICAGO (AP) ― Tribune Co. said Monday that it reached a deal to buy Local TV Holdings LLC’s 19 TV stations for $2.73 billion in cash, significantly boosting its television business as it looks to sell its newspaper operations.Tribune currently owns 23 TV stations and cable network WGN America, along with the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. The deal will give it 42 stations, making the Chicago-based company one of the nation’s top TV station owners. Tribune said it will

July 2, 2013

Golden era fades for China’s banks

Chinese banks’ valuations are close to their lowest on record as the nation’s interbank funding crisis exacerbated investors’ concern that earnings growth will stall and defaults may surge as the economy slows. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, ended Hong Kong trading last week at 5.3 times estimated earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Beijing-based bank may report profit of $41 billion for 2013, according to the average of 17 anal

July 2, 2013

Kim: WB budget may see massive shifts

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim is preparing an overhaul of the lender’s budget that he says could lead to “massive shifts” in funding to reflect changing priorities under his goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. “We don’t really sit down in a corporate way and say how we’re going to move the budget next year, in the next two years, in the next three years,” Kim said in an interview in Lima, Peru, Monday, the eve of his first anniversary in the job. “We’re going to start that next year and

July 2, 2013

EU accuses top banks of collusion

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― EU investigators accused 13 top banks including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs on Monday of colluding over derivatives trading, in a new move to tighten banking standards.A preliminary investigation by the Commission showed that banks worked together to exclude exchanges from the derivatives market.This was allegedly because they feared involvement by the exchanges would cut into their huge profits from over-the-counter trading.Some aspects of derivatives trading have

July 2, 2013

Nokia buys Siemens stake in joint unit for $2.2b

Nokia Oyj agreed to buy Siemens AG’s share in their six-year venture for 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion), a deal that would give the Finnish company full access to the phone-equipment manufacturer’s cash flow. Nokia will pay 1.2 billion euros for Siemens’s 50 percent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks, with the remainder as a secured loan from Siemens due a year after the deal’s completion, the companies said in a statement Monday. Nokia Siemens will keep its headquarters in Espoo, Finland, and Ra

July 1, 2013

Facebook pulling ads from racy, violent pages

MENLO PARK, California (AP) ― Facebook is pulling ads from pages that contain violence or sexual content. The social network said that on Monday, it will expand its definition of pages and groups that are too controversial to carry advertisements. Facebook has sought to strike a balance between giving its 1.1 billion users the freedom to post what they want and providing advertisers with space to sell their products. In May, Facebook Inc. lost more than a dozen advertisers, at least temporarily,

June 30, 2013

China’s Xi: GDP not officials’ sole focus in signal on growth

China’s President Xi Jinping said officials shouldn’t be judged solely on their record in boosting gross domestic product, the latest signal that policy makers are prepared to tolerate slower economic expansion. The Communist Party should instead place more importance on achievements in improving people’s livelihood, social development and environmental quality when evaluating the performance of officials, the Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday, citing Xi at a meeting on personnel management o

June 30, 2013

World Bank chief faces challenges

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― In his first year as president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim has tried to refocus the institution on fighting poverty and climate change ― but challenges lie ahead.The pick of the Korean-American, an academic and doctor by training, marked a radical departure from other recent heads of the Washington-based global body.Both Robert Zoellick and Paul Wolfowitz ― fellow Americans recruited when George W. Bush was in the White House ― did not have development experience on their

June 30, 2013

Fed officials step up campaign to stem increase in rates

Federal Reserve officials stepped up their campaign to stem an increase in long-term borrowing costs that threatens to blunt the U.S. expansion and sought to clarify comments by chairman Ben S. Bernanke that sparked turmoil in global financial markets.William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said any decision to reduce the pace of asset purchases wouldn’t represent a withdrawal of stimulus, and that an increase in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate is “very likely to

June 28, 2013