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Some have called for the yuan to be more freely traded before the IMF adds it to its currency basket

Addition of yuan to IMF benchmark may be delayed

The International Monetary Fund should put off any move to add the yuan to its benchmark currency basket until after September 2016, IMF staff said in a report which showed a mixed performance of the renminbi on meeting key financial norms.

Business • 05 Aug 15

Brazil launches major probe in one of the busiest foreign exchange markets globally

Brazil probes currency market activity of 15 banks

Fifteen of the world's largest banks are under investigation on suspicion of rigging the Brazilian currency, competition watchdog Cade said today.

Business • 03 Jul 15

H&M's second quarter sales rose by 21%, beating forecasts

H&M's sales rise more than expected

The world's second-biggest fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz today reported a bigger rise than expected in May sales in local currencies.

Business • 15 Jun 15

Glanbia expects its growth to be weighted to the second half of the year

Glanbia repeats full year earnings guidance

Glanbia has reported a "solid" performance in the first three months of this year and repeated its full year earnings guidance.

Business • 12 May 15

Zurich reported a 6% decline in first-quarter operating profit

Zurich sees quarterly profit fall on strong dollar

Zurich Insurance Group's chief financial officer said low investment yields could persist "for some time", after flat returns and a strong dollar marred the underwriter's quarterly profit.

Business • 07 May 15

The funding round was led by Octopus Investments and Frontline Ventures

CurrencyFair raises €10m in fresh funding

Dublin based peer-to-peer currency exchange, CurrencyFair, has raised €10 million in funding to expand its business.

Business • 16 Apr 15

Unilever said its underlying sales rose 2.8% in the first quarter

Unilever's Q1 sales better than expected

Unilever has reported better than expected sales for the first quarter, showing improvement from the hammering it took last year from weak emerging markets including a slowdown in China.

Business • 16 Apr 15

Ideas being pursued include a Bitcoin "credit-check" database

TCD researchers to study ways of making Bitcoin more transparent

Computer scientists at Trinity College Dublin are conducting new research into Bitcoin aimed at trying to make the virtual currency more transparent.

Business • 03 Feb 15

Bitcoin is a form of e-money that offers a largely anonymous payment system

First regulated US Bitcoin exchange opens

Bitcoin wallet operator Coinbase has opened the first regulated US exchange for the alternative currency.

Business • 26 Jan 15

Syriza has vowed to renegotiate the terms of Greece's €240bn bailout

Euro recovers after early dip on Greek fears

The euro touched an eleven-year low against the dollar overnight after anti-austerity party Syriza swept to victory in Greece's general election.

Business • 26 Jan 15

The euro fell to a nine year low against the dollar yesterday

Euro regains some losses in Asian trade

The euro recovered some losses against the dollar in Asia after slipping below $1.18 for the first time in more than nine years, while traders await the release of US jobs figures later in the day.

Business • 09 Jan 15

Mario Draghi said the risk of the ECB falling short of its mandate had risen in the past six months

Euro hits four year low on expectation of QE

The euro has taken another downward lurch today, sinking to a four-and-a-half-year low against the dollar on clear indications that the European Central Bank will soon embark on outright money-printing.

Business • 05 Jan 15

Lithuania replaced the litas with the euro at midnight local time

Lithuania becomes 19th member of Eurozone

Lithuania adopted the euro at the stroke of midnight local time, becoming the Eurozone's 19th member just as Greek political uncertainty is renewing concern over the single currency bloc's economic prospects.

News • 31 Dec 14

Kingfisher profits dented by weak French market

Kingfisher today posted an 11.8% decline in third quarter profit, hurt by a weak French market and foreign currency movements.

Business • 25 Nov 14

'Transacting with Bitcoins is akin to a barter arrangement', the Australian Tax Office has said

Australia says Bitcoin not taxable as currency

Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin should not be considered as money or a foreign currency when it comes to taxation, Australia's tax authority ruled today.

Business • 20 Aug 14

Australian central bank worried about recent strength of its dollar

Australia keeps rates on hold at 2.5%

Australia's central bank kept interest rates on hold at a record low 2.5% today.

Business • 01 Jul 14

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not backed by a centralised authority, like a central bank

Firm plans US rollout of bitcoin ATMs

Robocoin plans to install the first ATM in the United States that let users buy and sell bitcoin later this month, the latest step into the mainstream for the digital currency.

Business • 18 Feb 14

George Osborne said if Scotland walks away from the UK, it walks away from the UK pound

Osborne: No legal reason to share pound with Scots

British finance minister George Osborne has said there is no legal reason the rest of the UK should share the pound with an independent Scotland if it votes to break away in a referendum this year.

News • 13 Feb 14

HSBC says helping with forex probe as profits rise

HSBC has become the latest major bank to confirm it is helping with a probe into possible manipulation of global currency markets.

Business • 04 Nov 13

China and Brazil signed the deal ahead of the latest BRICS summit in South Africa

China and Brazil agree currency trade deal

China and Brazil have agreed to trade the equivalent of up to $30 billion per year in their own currencies, moving to take almost half of their exchanges out of the dollar zone.

Business • 26 Mar 13

G20 nations unlikely to single out Japan over yen

G20 nations will not single out Japan over the yen and will disregard a call from G7 powers not to use economic policies to target exchange rates, according to a communiqué drafted for finance leaders meeting in Moscow.

Business • 15 Feb 13

Mervyn King said he did not expect some officials to claim differing meanings from the statement

Confusion over G7 currency statement 'regrettable'

A Group of Seven statement designed to cool international currency tensions should be taken at face value and it was regrettable that others tried to reinterpret it, the Bank of England's chief has said.

Business • 13 Feb 13

France's Francois Hollande had suggested action was needed to counter the euro's rising value

G7 may issue statement over currency concerns

The Group of Seven nations are considering a statement this week reaffirming their commitment to "market-determined" exchange rates in response to heating rhetoric about a currency war, G20 officials have said.

Business • 11 Feb 13

China's yuan weakens after reform move

China's yuan currency weakened against the dollar, the first trading day after a landmark move by Beijing aimed at liberalising its tight controls over the currency.

Business • 16 Apr 12

Currency