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AmEx profit beats as expense discipline offsets spending slowdown

By Niket Nishant and Pritam Biswas (Reuters) -American Express reported third-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Friday, benefiting from disciplined expense management that helped cushion a blow from softer spending. Affluent customers have allowed the company to maintain relatively smaller provisions for credit losses compared with peers that serve a broader spectrum of customers, …

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Exclusive-Some ECB governors wanted to drop pledge to keep policy tight, sources say

By Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Some European Central Bank governors at Thursday’s rate-setting meeting made the case for dropping a pledge to keep policy tight as inflation may now turn out lower than anticipated only a few weeks ago, five sources told Reuters. Their idea did not gain traction but it …

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South African rand firms as focus shifts to inflation print next week

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand firmed against a weaker dollar on Friday, ahead of a domestic inflation reading next week which could provide clues on the central bank’s rate-cutting path. At 1400 GMT, the rand traded at 17.57 against the dollar, about 0.6% stronger than its previous close. The currency is still down about 1% …

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LVMH surprised by ‘inaccurate rumours’ about replacement of Moet Hennessy division head

PARIS (Reuters) -French luxury goods group LVMH said it was “surprised by inaccurate rumors” about its Moet Hennessy division relayed on Friday by French investigative media La Lettre, which reported its longtime wine and spirits division head was being replaced by an executive in the business. La Lettre said the group would name Laurent Boillot, …

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Commerzbank considering its own acquisitions, CEO tells paper

BERLIN (Reuters) – Commerzbank is considering its own acquisitions, for example in the area of asset management, its CEO Bettina Orlopp told German business news outlet WirtschaftsWoche in an interview published on Friday. “With further acquisitions, we are focusing on offering our customers new services,” said Orlopp. Italy’s UniCredit is pressing for a possible tie-up …

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Exclusive-Tokio Marine pauses sale of $1 billion Southeast Asia life insurance business, sources say

By Yantoultra Ngui and Kane Wu SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Japanese insurer Tokio Marine has paused the sale of its $1 billion Southeast Asia life insurance business, partly due to a dispute with a Malaysian partner over an expiring products distribution agreement, four sources with knowledge of the matter said. The Tokyo-listed company hired Goldman …

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‘Worth zero’: Founder of India’s once biggest startup Byju’s concedes mistakes

By Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Byju Raveendran, the founder of what was once India’s biggest start-up, Byju’s, said he overestimated the growth potential of his education-technology company which is now “worth zero” as it faces insolvency, but remains hopeful of rescuing it. Byju’s, which operates in more than 21 countries, became popular during …

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