By Alison Vekshin and Rebecca Christie
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will require banks to boost lending to consumers and companies in return for taxpayer aid from the $700 billion bailout fund, in a departure from Bush administration policy, a key lawmaker said.

By Kim Kyoungwha
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Asian currencies gained, paced by South Korea’s won and Malaysia’s ringgit, as economic stimulus plans encouraged overseas investors to buy the region’s assets.

By Matthew Brown
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — The pound rose the most against the dollar in more than five weeks as gains in stock markets around the world eroded appetite for the U.S. currency as a haven.

By Chris Fournier
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Canada’s dollar rose the most in two weeks as President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge to spend the most on infrastructure since the 1950s reduced the U.S. currency’s haven appeal.

By Stanley White
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — The euro fell against the dollar before German economic sentiment data that may show pessimists outnumbered optimists for a 17th month, allowing more scope for the European Central Bank to lower interest rates.

By Li Yanping and Dune Lawrence
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pressing for a stronger yuan at talks that started in Beijing today, just three days after the currency’s biggest drop since the nation scrapped a fixed exchange rate in 2005.