Mobilink extends collaboration with Teradata

KARACHI: Mobilink Pakistan and Teradata on Tuesday extended their collaboration by enhancing sophisticated data analytics capabilities in Mobilink’s IT infrastructure, said a press release.

Mobilink Chief Commercial Officer Bilal Munir Sheikh said, “Extension in collaboration will help us to enhance our customers’ experience by deployment of faster analytics across departments and achieving insights into the rapidly changing customer needs”.

HMB unveils Islamic banking identity ‘Sirat’

KARACHI: The Habib Metropolitan Bank (HMB) has recently launched its Islamic banking identity ‘Sirat’, according to a press release.

Standard Chartered fined $300m

NEW YORK: New York’s banking regulator hit Standard Chartered Bank with a $300 million fine and restrictions on its dollar-clearing business Tuesday for inadequate controls on possible money laundering.

The New York Department of Financial Services said the British bank’s internal compliance systems had failed to detect or act on a number of “potentially high-risk transactions” originating from Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.—AFP

BHP announces spin-off plan

MELBOURNE: The world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, announced plans to spin off businesses worth an estimated $16 billion, most of them acquired in a 2001 merger, to focus on its most profitable activities.

But it held off on a share buyback, disappointing investors who had hoped to receive around $5bn. BHP’s London-listed shares fell 4.5 per cent on Tuesday.

Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said the widely expected move to simplify BHP around the “four pillars” of iron ore, copper, coal and petroleum — with potash as a potential fifth pillar — would spur cashflow growth and boost returns.

These assets generated 96pc of the group’s underlying core profit in the 2014 financial year.

“A demerger is a logical next step for other high quality assets also in our portfolio that don’t have a scale of those in our major business,” Mackenzie said in a call with investors.

The spin-off company, dubbed NewCo for now, will bundle BHP’s aluminium, manganese, Cerro Matoso nickel in Colombia, South African energy coal, some Australian metallurgical coal assets and the Cannington silver, lead and zinc mine.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014