Banking

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) is exploring ways to prevent banks from earning windfall profits from the subsidised lending program it launched during the pandemic, once it raises interest rates later this month, according to a report by the Financial Times. The ECB provided €2.2 trillion of subsidized loans to banks during the Covid-19 crisis to avoid a ...

Bloomberg UniCredit SpA is considering selling its Russian unit through a structure that would allow the bank to repurchase the subsidiary if the geopolitical situation stabilizes, according to people familiar with the matter. Italy’s second-largest lender is looking at several possible deal arrangements, including one that would give it the option of buying back the unit depending on market and ...

Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s central bank plans to sell gold coins to the public from July 25 as a store of value to stabilise the nation’s tumbling currency and offer an alternative to the US dollar. The one-troy-ounce gold coins will be called Mosi oa-Tunya Gold Coin, Governor John Mangudya said. The term means “Smoke that Thunders,” a reference to Victoria Falls, ...

  Bloomberg The euro slid to a 20-year low against the US dollar as traders bet that the European Central Bank will go slower on raising interest rates as the economy risks being tipped into a recession. The common currency fell as much as 1.4% to $1.0281, its weakest level since December 2002. The losses came as money markets continued ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc said it will give a $1,460 pay raise to 35,000 of its UK-based staff, the latest lender to boost wages as the cost-of-living crisis deepens. Employees in customer-facing, branch and junior support roles will receive the increase to their annual pensionable salary from August 1. The bank said it will continue “to monitor the economic situation ...

  Bloomberg The number of active cryptocurrency users at Bank of America has declined by more than half amid the prolonged rout in the digital-asset market. The bank’s crypto users shrunk to below 500,000 in May from more than 1 million in November 2021, when Bitcoin and some other tokens hit all-time highs. Since then, crypto prices have cratered, with ...

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank’s new governor promised to pursue its goal of price stability as investors are waiting to see how the new management will tackle the fastest inflation in three decades. In a statement published on his first day in office, Ales Michl said he wanted to achieve “low and stable” consumer price growth and “maintain confidence ...

Bloomberg The chief of Japan’s banking industry lobby group is calling on the nation’s central bank to pay closer attention to the adverse impacts of its ultra easy monetary policy after the yen plunged to a 24-year low. “I think it’s important to take a balanced policy approach by considering merits and side effects,” Japanese Bankers Association Chairman Junichi Hanzawa ...

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA is exiting its commodities finance business in the US, following earlier retreats in other parts of the world. “The decision taken to exit this business was consistent with our approach in EMEA,” the bank said in a statement in response to questions. “The impact is limited, and BNP Paribas remains deeply committed to the US ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc is discussing the potential sale of its operations in Russia with privately owned Russian companies including Expobank and the insurer Reso-Garantia, the Financial Times reported. The Wall Street bank is negotiating over its consumer and commercial businesses, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Rosbank, Societe Generale SA’s former Russian subsidiary, has also expressed ...