World’s top fund pulls out of 73 firms

OSLO: Norway’s public pensions, the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, announced on Thursday it had sold out of 73 companies last year because their social or environmental policies could hurt profitability.

The fund’s annual report relating to “responsible investment” did not give the names of companies, but it indicated that most were coal or energy companies using coal, as well as those involved in mining, producing cement and heavy construction.—AFP

Credit Suisse booked $2.9bn loss in 2015

ZURICH: Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse on Thursday posted a net loss of nearly $3.0 billion for 2015, hit by hefty litigation provisions and restructuring charges, sending its share price down more than 12 percent.

Switzerland’s second largest bank posted a net loss of 2.9bn Swiss francs ($2.9bn) for the year, compared to a net profit of 1.8bn francs in 2014.—AFP

Top Dutch bank triples 2015 profit

THE HAGUE: Top Dutch bank ING more than tripled its profit last year on the back of economic recovery and an increase in lending, it said on Thursday.

Net profits stood at just over 4.01 billion euros ($4.47bn), up by 220.5 per cent year-on-year, while turnover jumped 8.2pc to 16.55bn euros, it said in a statement. In 2014 ING saw profits plunge by 64pc because of a major restructuring.—AFP

Mozilla to kill Firefox smartphone OS

WASHINGTON: The Firefox smartphone operating system is being shut down, three years after a launch aimed at challenging the dominant platforms powered by Apple and Google, developers said Thursday.

The operating system created by the Mozilla developer community as an open-source system failed to gain traction in mobile devices, according to a statement from Mozilla developer George Roter.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2016