The 10 biggest business stories on Thursday January 21

Lagarde wins support for new IMF term; Barclays is cutting 1,000 jobs; Royal Mail reports strong Christmas

UK-based banks, including HSBC, have insisted that they do not help their clients to avoid tax (Getty Images)

1. Stock markets in Asia have suffered further losses. Japan Nikkei’s closed down 2.4 per cent, China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite is down 1.9 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also continued the downward trend shedding another 1.3 per cent , Shenzen is down 2.3 per cent.

2. George Osborne said on Thursday he will nominate Christine Lagarde for a second term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund. “At a time when the world faces what I've called a dangerous cocktail of risks, I believe Christine has the vision, energy and acumen to help steer the global economy through the years ahead,” Osborne said in a statement.

3. Deutsche bank has said it is likely to post a net loss of €6.7 billion for the whole of last year. The lender said the huge loss was due to restructuring charges and money set aside to cover legal costs.

4. Barclays has embarked on a fresh round of job cuts to its investment banking business with plan to eliminate more than 1,000 jobs worldwide on Thursday which would result in a complete exit from cash equities in Asia.

5. Asda is considering cutting more than 1,000 store jobs under plans to close hundreds of staff canteens and shopfloor services such as photo processing units, the Guardian reports.

6. Pearson, the world's largest education company, is slashing 4,000 jobs – 10 per cent of the workforce - as part of a £320 million ($500 million) restructuring plan.

7. Remy Cointreau, French distiller reported third-quarter sales that beat estimates as appetite for cognac grew in the US and rebounded in China.

8. Royal Mail said it was on track to meet its cost reduction target and reported a better than expected increase in British parcel volumes of 4 per cent in the first nine months of its financial year. The company said on Thursday it handled 130 million parcels in December alone, reflecting strong Christmas trading, which was up 6 per cent from the previous year.

9. Uber is preparing to launch UberEats, its standalone food delivery app, in 10 US cities, The Wall Street Journal's Doug Macmillan reports.

10. Minions the animated summer films became Universal’s most profitable movie according to a memo Steve Burke, chief executive officer of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal division to his employees. The movie cost $74 million to produce, and earned $1.2 billion in box office sales.