Corporate

The Swiss banking group UBS has agreed to sell its domestic wealth management activities in the Netherlands to Van Lanschot Kempen, an arm of a Euronext Amsterdam-listed banking group that dates back to the 1700s.

Van Lanschot Kempen will pay an initial acquisition price of €28m, a joint statement reported, although the final price “may be higher or lower depending on the [asset management amount] that will actually transfer to Van Lanschot Kempen” once the deal completes.

Credit Suisse Group investors agreed to buy 99.2 percent of the shares on sale in a rights offering, providing 4.1 billion Swiss francs ($4.3 billion) for Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam’s turnaround plan.

Spain’s Banco Santander said Wednesday it will take over struggling Banco Popular Espanol for the symbolic price of 1 euro, creating the country’s largest bank by lending and deposits, according to a press statement.
"This means that Banco Popular will operate under normal business conditions as a solvent and liquid member of the Santander Group with immediate effect," the board said.

Apple unveiled a host of new products, updates and software features at its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) on Monday, and one of them could potentially save lives. The upcoming iOS will include a feature called ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving" that will make it easier to avoid texting while driving. By all indications, it’s rather simple tool from a technological standpoint – but if it works as advertised, iPhone’s ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature could prevent car accidents and traffic fatalities, which is more than enough to make it a worthwhile update.

In its latest effort to compete with online giant Amazon, Wal-Mart is testing a delivery service using its own store employees, who will deliver packages ordered online while driving home from their regular work shifts.

The “associate delivery” program would use Wal-Mart’s 4,700 U.S. stores and roughly 1.2 million employees to speed delivery and cut costs, the company said Thursday. The announcement came just a day before the company’s annual meeting.

Apple’s rumored Siri smart speaker, which is designed to compete with the Google Home and Amazon Echo, is already in production ahead of a prospective debut at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, reports Bloomberg.

Citing sources "familiar with the matter," Bloomberg says production has already started on the speaker, but it is not expected to be ready to ship until later in the year. Still, Apple could introduce the speaker at WWDC, which kicks off next Monday.

Switzerland’s Classic Factory has announced a sleek, limited-production four-door electric car that will provide exclusivity and ultra-performance to well-heeled EV customers.

The Elextra electric car will be exclusive, with plans for just 100 to be hand-built in Germany. It will also be powerful and quick, to match its Italian looks. Elextra’s two electric motors provide all-wheel drive, with torque independently distributed to the front and rear wheels for better traction. With a combined peak 680 horsepower, the car will sprint from a stop to 62 miles per hour in under 2.3 seconds. Top speed is limited, though, to 155 miles per hour.

British Airways, owned by International Airlines Group (IAG), faces a potential multi-million pound bill for the delayed passengers.

Three days of chaos caused by an IT glitch at Delta airlines last year was expected to cost the US carrier $150m in lost revenue. Many families have lost their holidays, while others have been forced to sleep on the floor of Britain’s two biggest airports since the computer crash on Saturday.