Global market

German hopes of creating a national banking champion able to challenge global competitors were dashed on Thursday when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended merger talks due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands. Germany’s two largest banks announced that nearly six weeks of high-level negotiations about a tie-up had ended […]

The world’s big four audit firms, KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst and Young (EY), which also have strong presence in Nigeria, could be heading for a shake-up in the United Kingdom if that country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have their way.   The CMA has, indeed, called for a major shake-up at the auditing firms, stopping short of an […]

World stocks inched up on Wednesday but were still below the six-month high they reached earlier this week as the prospect of the European Central Bank issuing fresh multi-year loans to banks helped offset concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump threatening more tariffs against the European Union. The ECB is expected to keep borrowing costs […]

Bank of America Corp said on Tuesday it would raise its minimum wage to 20 dollars (about N7,200) per hour over a two-year period. On May 1, the minimum hourly wage will rise by 2 dollars to 17 dollars, the bank said. “The increase will occur in increments. On May 1, 2019, the minimum hourly […]

The U.S. and China may reach some understanding in their ongoing trade talks in May or June, said Charles Dallara, a former managing director and CEO at the Institute of International Finance. Dallara said the talks would be “the first step in a new phase of the economic relationship between China and the U.S.,” and […]

Japanese carmaker Honda is set to announce the closure of its only British car plant in 2022 with the loss of 3,500 jobs, a lawmaker told Reuters, in the latest blow to the UK car industry as Brexit approaches. Honda built just over 160,000 vehicles at its Swindon factory in southern England last year, where […]

Top U.S. officials arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday ahead of high-level trade talks as the world’s two largest economies attempt to hammer out a deal ahead of a March 1 deadline and avoid another escalation of tariffs. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are scheduled to hold talks on […]

Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, reported its fourth-quarter operating profit fell 22 percent. The German automaker said the trade war and ballooning costs for developing electric and self-driving cars hit profits at Mercedes-Benz cars. Mercedes-Benz said increased tariffs on vehicles imported from the United States to China and delivery stoppages for individual diesel models […]

A U.S. plan to hike tariffs on China next month could trigger an economic downturn and let other countries take over about $200 billion of China’s exports, a study by the U.N. trade and development agency UNCTAD said on Monday. The United States levied additional duties of between 10 percent and 25 percent on $250 […]