Ukraine Minister of Finance, Sergii Marchenko, (right), and Canada’s Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne speak to the media prior to the G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Banff, Alberta on May 20. (AP)

BANFF, Canada, May 21, (AP): Leading financial officials from the world’s richest countries are gathering in a Canadian mountain resort this week for what may prove a contentious meeting in the wake of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The annual meetings of the Group of 7 finance ministers, known as the G7, are typically congenial and in previous years have produced joint commitments to combat inflation and counter the COVID pandemic.

There may be less agreement this year as Trump’s tariffs threaten to slow growth in many of the gathered nations, including host Canada, which Trump has also suggested become a potential 51st state. “I expect it will be somewhat of a testy conversation among the G7 officials,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University and former top official at the International Monetary Fund.

“This is a very difficult period for the relationships among the G7 countries.” The Trump administration has reached an initial trade deal with one G7 member, the United Kingdom, and is engaged in talks with Japan and the European Union. But Canada still faces 25% duties on many of its exports to the United States, including autos, and the other three G7 members – France, Germany, and Italy – all face a baseline tariff of 10% on all their exports as part of the European Union.

It will be the first formal meeting of the G7 attended by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who participated in a brief G7 gathering last month on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington, D.C. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will also attend along with central bank governors from the other G7 nations. “The message from colleagues is pretty clear is that a free and fair and a rules-based multilateral trading system, is a system in which we all win,” Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of finance, said Tuesday.

While many finance ministers gathered in Banff this week will likely seek one-on-one meetings with Bessent, it’s unlikely any trade deals will be reached, according to a person briefed on preparations for the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have authorization to speak about it publicly.  

Shaikha Al-Bahar
Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)

KUWAIT CITY, May 20, (Agencies): Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Shaikha Al-Bahar is the only Kuwaiti who made it to the 2025 100 Most Powerful Women in Business List that Fortune released on Tuesday. The list consists of a hundred influential businesswomen in the finance, technology, health care, telecom, retail, energy and other industries.

In 1977, Al-Bahar joined NBK, where she proved her leadership capabilities as she rose through the ranks over the years. At present, she is the only woman in the executive management team of the bank. She currently heads NBK-France and Egypt; in addition to her post as board member of NBK (International) — the subsidiary of the bank in the United Kingdom. Al-Bahar was the brain behind the launching of NBK RISE, a program that aims to empower women leaders and train them within nine months to assume leadership posts.

NBK is one of the largest financial institutions in Kuwait and one of the leading banks in the region. The total value of its assets as at the end of March reached more than $135 billion. Group CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank in the United Arab Emirates Hana Al-Rostamani joins Al-Bahar as the only two women from the Gulf on the list, ranking 76th and 92nd respectively. The Fortune editors compiled the list based on company size and health; in addition to an executive’s career path, influence, innovation, and efforts to make business better.

The 2025 list includes 52 women from the United States of America and 48 from other countries as follows: eight from China; seven each from France and the United Kingdom; three each from Germany, Singapore and Brazil; two each from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Spain; and one each from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Chief Operator at Costco and merchant Claudine Adamo, who ranked 43rd, is one of 16 newcomers. She helped millions of Americans navigate inflation by keeping prices low on essentials, and the next-gen execs such as ByteDance CFO Julie Gao (81st), who steered the finances of the TikTok owner through its tangles with the US government.

Following are the top 10 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2025:
1. Mary Barra, Chair and CEO, GM (U.S.)
2. Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO, Accenture (U.S.)
3. Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup (U.S.)
4. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD (U.S.)
5. Ana Botín, Executive Chairman, Banco Santander (Spain)
6. Tan Su Shan, Deputy CEO and Group Head of Institutional Banking, DBS Group (Singapore)
7. Thasunda Brown Duckett, President and CEO, TIAA (U.S.)
8. Marta Ortega, Chairperson, Inditex (Spain)
9. Abigail Johnson, Chairman and CEO, Fidelity Investments (U.S.)
10. Meng Wanzhou, Deputy Chairwoman, Rotating Chairwoman, and CFO, Huawei (China)

The stock prices of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) is displayed at the listing ceremony in Hong Kong on May 20. (AP)

BEIJING, May 20, (AP): Asian shares rallied Tuesday after China cut key interest rates to help fend off an economic malaise worsened by trade friction with Washington. Shares in China’s CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric batteries, jumped 17.2% in its Hong Kong trading debut after it raised about $4.6 billion in the world’s largest IPO this year.

Its shares traded in Shenzhen, mainland China’s smaller share market after Shanghai, gained 1.2% after dipping earlier in the day. The Reserve Bank of Austalia reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage for a second time this year, to 3.85%, judging inflation to be within its target range. The earlier reduction, in February, was Australia’s first rate cut since October 2020.

The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% lower. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher to 23,954.16 while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.2% to 7,897.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,723.97. China’s central bank made its first cut to its loan prime rates in seven months in a move welcomed by investors eager for more stimulus as the world’s second largest economy feels the pinch of Trump’s higher tariffs.

The People’s Bank of China cut the one-year loan prime rate, the reference rate for pricing all new loans and outstanding floating rate loans, to 3.00% from 3.1%. It cut the 5-year loan prime rate to 3.5% from 3.6%. With China’s chief concern being deflation due to slack demand rather than inflation, economists have been expecting such a move.

Data reported Monday showed the economy under pressure from Trump’s trade war, with retail sales and factory output slowing and property investment continuing to fall. Tuesday’s cuts probably won’t be the last this year, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report. “But modest rate cuts alone are unlikely to meaningfully boost loan demand or wider economic activity,” Huang said. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4% to 23,659.70 early Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.4% to 3,380.48.