Page 24 - aruba today

Friday 24 February 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Barclays bank ahead of schedule in recovery plan

DANICA KIRKA to finish selling business- nesses, which mainly focus “In short, we have accom- Corporate and investment
Associated Press es that are not part of its on the U.K. and U.S. mar- plished a lot in a year,” banking pretax profits were
LONDON (AP) — Banking main markets by the end kets, posted fourth-quarter CEO Jes Staley said. The up 14 percent to 2.7 billion
group Barclays said Thurs- of June. They include retail net income of 649 million bank, he added, can soon pounds. “Overall, Barclays
day it will complete its re- banking in continental Eu- pounds ($808 million), com- begin to move on from its is in better shape than it
structuring plan six months rope and corporate bank- pared with a loss of 1.24 restructuring plan, “shift- was, and the accelerated
early as it sheds risky assets ing in Africa and the Middle billion pounds a year ear- ing our focus solely to the timetable for the run-down
and focuses on consumer, East, among others. lier. Group net income, in- future, and in particular to of its non-core assets will be
corporate and investment Shares rose more than 4 cluding the non-core busi- how we can generate at- received positively by the
banking in New York and percent in early trading in ness, was 99 million pounds tractive, sustainable, and market,” said Laith Khalaf,
London. London to 239.95 pence. versus a loss of 2.42 billion distributable returns for our senior analyst at Harg-
Barclays Group now plans The bank says its core busi- pounds. shareholders.” reaves Lansdown. q

Ghosn steps aside as Nissan CEO, to focus on larger alliance

YURI KAGEYAMA aging the strategic and
AP Business Writer operational evolution and
TOKYO (AP) — Carlos expansion of the alliance,”
Ghosn, who leads the Nis- said Ghosn, who turns 63
san-Renault-Mitsubishi alli- next month.
ance, is handing over the Saikawa was groomed for
helm at Nissan to Hiroto the role, serving as co-CEO
Saikawa, a veteran Japa- with Ghosn since late last
nese executive at Nissan, year. A graduate of the
but Ghosn is staying on as prestigious University of To-
chairman. kyo, he has overseen vari-
Saikawa will become chief ous operations at Nissan,
executive at Nissan Motor which makes the March
Co., based in Yokohama,
effective April 1, and up subcompact, Leaf electric
for shareholders’ approval car and Infiniti luxury mod-
in June, the company said els.
Thursday. “I am confident that the
The move does not signal management team I have
a smaller role for Ghosn. developed at Nissan over
Besides leading the Nissan- the past 18 years has the
Renault alliance, Ghosn is talent and experience to
also chairman at scandal- meet the company’s op-
ridden Japanese automak- This photo shows Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa. Carlos Ghosn, who leads Nis- erational and strategic
er Mitsubishi Motors Corp., san and Renault, has tapped Saikawa, a veteran Japanese executive at Nissan, to replace him goals,” Ghosn said.
in which Nissan took a as chief executive at the Japanese automaker, although Ghosn will stay on as chairman. Nissan, After joining Nissan in 1977,
controlling stake last year. based in Yokohama, made the announcement in a statement Thursday. he has managed Nissan’s
(Nissan Motor Co. via AP)
And Ghosn said he needs U.S. and European busi-
to focus on the expanded Ghosn, sent in by Renault near-bankrupt Nissan to a both independently and nesses and its supply chain
three-automaker alliance. SA of France in 1999, led turnaround. He has said for within the Renault-Nissan- and customer satisfaction.
years he hoped to hand Mitsubishi alliance. This More recently, he had
over the running of Nissan. planned change will also complete control over its
“I will continue to supervise allow me to devote more research, design and other
and guide the company, time and energy to man- overall operations.q

US jobless benefit claims up; level still healthy

PAUL WISEMAN 7.7 percent from a year rate is 4.8 percent, which
AP Economics Writer ago. THE TAKEAWAY: Un- the Federal Reserve con-
WASHINGTON (AP) — More employment claims are a siders full employment.
Americans applied for un- proxy for layoffs. They have “The pattern (in jobless
employment benefits last come in below 300,000 claims) is consistent with
week, but claims remained a week for 103 straight the trend in employment
at a low level consistent weeks, the longest such growth remaining strong —
with a healthy job market. streak since 1970. The low more than strong enough
THE NUMBERS: The Labor levels of claims suggest that to keep the unemployment
Department said Thursday employers are confident rate trending down,” Jim
that 244,000 Americans enough in the economy O’Sullivan, chief U.S. econ-
applied for jobless aid last to hang on to their workers omist at High Frequency
week, up by 6,000 from the and perhaps know it would Economics, wrote in a re-
previous week. The four- be difficult to find replace- search report.
week average, a less vola- ments in a tight job market. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has
tile measure, fell by 4,000 to KEY DRIVERS: Employers said that the central bank is
241,000, lowest since July added a healthy 227,000 close to achieving its goals
1973. Overall, 2.06 million jobs in January after aver- of maximum employment
people are collecting un- aging 187,000 a month last and modest 2 percent
employment checks, down year. The unemployment inflation.q