Heading into the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision this week, the consensus is that the central bank will cut its lending benchmark for the third time in as many meetings. But, unlike the past two, there’s belief that Chair Jerome Powell will strongly suggest a timeout on monetary easing this time around. Perhaps the strongest case for this conviction is the ...

SoftBank Group Corp.’s $9.5 billion bailout has rescued WeWork from the threat of bankruptcy. But make no mistake: The unicorn’s free-spending days are over. Its saviour is far from a bottomless pit of money. While WeWork had an eye-watering $22bn of debt at the end of June plus $47bn of looming lease-payment obligations, its rescuer, Softbank, isn’t in such great ...

The world’s most important gold market isn’t what it used to be. Just a decade ago, India’s hunger for gold jewellery and bullion meant it accounted for about a quarter of global demand. Consumption has since fallen by about 24%. Carat and Stick Part of this is a reaction to short-term pricing factors. Buyers tend to stay away when the ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co’s new Manhattan headquarters is meant to be an ode to the both company and the city — a monumental glass-and-steel tower that says the nation’s largest bank grew up here. But New York may be losing its luster. Despite more than two centuries of history in a city synonymous with the global financial industry, JPMorgan ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc embarked on its biggest overhaul in years after profit missed estimates, warning that it will pare back underperforming operations in the face of slowing economic growth and geopolitical uncertainty. The bank, which makes almost 90% of its profit in Asia and employs 240,000 people, walked away from a key profitability target and said write-offs are likely ...

Bloomberg As regular bankers at Nordea Bank Abp brace for yet another round of cuts, those lucky enough to be working in wealth management face a very different future. The head of Nordea’s wealth unit, Snorre Storset, says a plan to cut jobs across the organisation won’t affect portfolio managers in his unit. Storset, who oversees $350 billion in assets ...

Bloomberg Its economy is contracting and the nation’s largest lenders are a mess. And yet, banks from BNP Paribas SA to JPMorgan Chase & Co are scrambling to win business from Germany’s ultra-wealthy. Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Rothschild & Co are also among those planning to beef up in Europe’s largest economy. Several tout the country’s ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s top banking executives were unanimous in cheering the approval of a long-delayed pension overhaul — and quick to line up what they think should be the government’s next priority. With the top item on their wish list now crossed off after years of debates, bankers from Itau Unibanco Holding to Banco BTG Pactual are now championing reforms to ...

Dubai / WAM Emirates NBD delivered a strong set of results with net profit up 63 percent y-oy to AED12.5 billion in the first nine months of 2019. The results include an AED4.4 billion impact from the Network International transaction. Post DenizBank acquisition, Core Operating Profit grew 5 percent y-o-y, supported by a 17 percent increase in net interest income ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Financial Market (DFM), on Monday launched the Dubai Financial Market Sharia Index (DFMSI). According to a DFM statement, the index is first index of its kind in the UAE. It highlights DFM’s efforts to attract more Islamic investments, and is seen as a step forward by providing market participants with a benchmark to measure performance of ...