Denmark’s financial regulator has blocked the unanimous choice of Danske Bank’s board to become chief executive in a rare and embarrassing intervention for the lender reeling from a €200bn money laundering scandal.

The Bank of England has sounded the alarm over loans to risky companies, drawing parallels with the growth of subprime mortgages in 2006 that sparked the worst financial crisis in a generation.

Frédéric Oudéa, the chief executive of French bank Société Générale, has become the latest big name drop out of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Weaker than expected figures for UK price growth in September accelerated the decline in the pound on Wednesday, leaving it 0.35 per cent lower against the dollar at $1.1315.

Britain’s inflation rate fell much more than expected during September as a broad-based fall in the pace of price growth reversed a sharp spike upwards during the previous month, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published on Wednesday.

Poland’s state-run energy company PGNiG has struck a 20-year deal to buy liquified natural gas from the US, as the country pushes to reduce its dependence on imports of Russian gas.

Shares in London-listed housebuilders led the FTSE 100 declines on Wednesday, tumbling in early trade after top-10 developer Crest Nicholson warned on profits, blaming a difficult market and depleted consumer confidence.

Total has signed a partnership with India’s Adani group that will see the French energy giant reinforce its presence in the subcontinent’s liquefied natural gas and retail fuel markets.

Asos full-year results

Asos, the online fashion retailer, has now developed a “chatbot” called Enki who you can talk to about the latest hip slacks (note to subs: do the kids still call them this?) using your virtual Google Assistant (question to subs: what is this?). According to Computer Weekly, you can start a conversation with Enki by uttering the phrase “Hey, Google, talk to Asos” into your mobile device or smart speaker. Further questions can then be asked of the Asos catalogue, such as “Ask Asos to show me jeans” (subs: it’s OK, I know what these are) enabling detailed perusal of the website.

Turkey has returned to the international borrowing market with the sale of a $2bn dollar-denominated bond, just days after Ankara sought to end a bitter row with Washington following the release of a detained US pastor.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson has warned over its full-year profits, blaming more challenging than expected markets in London and Southern England for lower Autumn sales.

Pearson said its turnround was on track for a return to underlying profit growth, despite an expected deterioration in sales at its US higher education courseware business.

Asos, the online fashion retailer, met its downgraded forecasts for full-year profits and made no changes to its medium-term guidance, but has still not named a new finance director.

Segro, the real estate investment trust specialising in logistics warehouse space, pushed up new leasing deals by 43 per cent in the nine months to September thanks to ballooning demand from e-commerce tenants.

Low-cost UK airline Flybe has announced a full-year profit warning ahead of its half-year results, blaming weaker sterling, fuel and carbon prices for a £29m hit.

Rupert Murdoch’s six children are each in line to receive $2bn from the break-up of his media empire and the sale of his entertainment businesses to Walt Disney, said multiple people briefed on the matter. 

Swiss drugmaker Roche lifted sales by 7 per cent year on year to SFr 42.1bn ($42.5bn) in the first nine months of the year as new medicines compensated for the loss of exclusivity on long-time blockbuster drugs. 

After a strong start Chinese equity benchmarks were lagging the rest of the region as the lunch bell tolled in Shanghai and Shenzhen, even as renewed enthusiasm lifted technology stocks across other Asia-Pacific markets.

Fujifilm Holdings hopes to resume talks with Xerox over its $6.1bn bid for control in the US printer and photocopier maker following a New York court decision lifting a ban on the transaction.

Samsung BioLogics shares slumped on Wednesday after local media reported the company will be hit with disciplinary action related to alleged accounting violations. 

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has deferred a visit to the Middle East that was to include the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

Equities benchmarks were clambering upward on Wednesday morning in Asia after a solid day for stocks on Wall Street.

Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the US Federal Reserve, describing the US central bank as his “biggest threat” as it was raising interest rates too fast.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed that Pat Cipollone, a former Department of Justice lawyer, will serve as the next White House counsel.