BUSINESS LIVE: StanChart faces $850m impairment; CAB Payments names CEO; Energy bills to fall

British fintech company CAB Payments has named Neeraj Kapur as its new chief executive officer, just months after the group’s share went public.

Kapur will succeed Bhairav Trivedi, who will transition to the role of a senior adviser to the board.

The company, which went public last year and specialises in business-to-business emerging market cross-border payments and foreign exchange, has been looking to win back market trust after a sharp plunge in its shares following a profit warning.

Britain’s private sector is growing at the fastest pace for nine months according to new figures adding to evidence that the recession is already over.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed business activity picking up speed – in stark contrast to data showing a deepening downturn in Germany.

UK GDP shrank for two quarters in a row late last year, meeting the technical definition of recession, but there are signs it has started to bounce back.

Standard Chartered took a $850million impairment last year, mainly from its stake in Chinese lender Bohai Bank, its second time writing down the value of the unit as the lender was hit by increasing bad loans as growth in the world’s second-largest economy sputtered.

The hefty loss in China, a core target for StanChart’s strategy, underlines the challenge it faces to expand in the country as policymakers struggle to arrest a deepening property crisis and revive weak consumer confidence.

A fresh $150 million writedown of its stake in Bohai Bank, following a $700 million hit earlier this year, reduced its value to $700 million from $1.5 billion at the start of the year.

It follows news earlier this week from rival HSBC, which took a £2.4billion hit against the value of its stake in China’s Bank of Communications.