Banking

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank said it considered three options for the size of its first interest-rate increase since 2010, according to minutes of its May 3 policy meeting, when it raised the cash rate by 25 basis points. The board agreed that hiking by 15 basis points, as forecast by most economists, didn’t make sense given policy was very ...

  Bloomberg Americans are putting more on their credit cards and taking out fewer mortgages, as they need to increasingly borrow to cover the higher cost of everyday essentials and respond to rising interest rates. A record 537 million credit card accounts were opened in first quarter, a jump of 31 million over the past year, according to the Federal ...

  Bloomberg Uruguay’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate to 9.25% and signalled borrowing costs will keep rising as monetary policy turns contractive to fight inflation. Policy makers raised the key rate by three quarters of a percentage point, and forecast at least two more increases of half a percentage point at its next meetings. The move came on ...

  Bloomberg Banco Santander SA has begun the search for a successor to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Antonio Alvarez, the bank veteran who stayed on in the top position after the botched appointment of ex-UBS Group AG banker Andrea Orcel. Santander Chairman Ana Botin and the board are seeking internal and external candidates after Alvarez — who has been in ...

  Bloomberg The euro is on the verge of US dollar parity for the first time in two decades. Europe’s common currency has already slumped to a five-year low near $1.03, buckling from a rush into the greenback as a haven from market turmoil and on the war in Ukraine. That’s led the likes of HSBC Holdings Plc and RBC ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank refrained from cutting interest rates despite mounting evidence of a sharp slowdown in economic growth, suggesting policy makers may be concerned about the currency’s depreciation and capital outflows. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept the rate on its one-year medium-term lending facility at 2.85% on Monday. Economists had been split on the decision, with ...

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc will allow senior staff to take an unlimited number of vacation days, the latest move by a Wall Street bank to retain talent in a heated job market. Partners and managing directors at the New York investment bank can take time off when needed “without a fixed vacation day entitlement,” according to a company ...

  Bloomberg Nigeria released new rules for digital assets, offering more clarity on trading in the cryptocurrencies in Africa’s most populous nation. The Securities and Exchange Commission published “rules on issuance, offering platforms and custody of digital assets” for virtual technologies, it said. It classifies the assets as securities regulated by the SEC. The rules may help boost trading by ...

  Bloomberg Central banks in five of eight major African nations will likely hold interest rates in the next two weeks to shore up their sickly economies, even as the inflation pressures build. Surging food and fuel prices from the war in Ukraine, renewed virus lockdowns in China and the US unwinding coronavirus stimulus have clouded the outlook for the ...

  Bloomberg Just a few years after banks helped create a gargantuan market for blank check companies, they’re pulling away from the deals, afraid of the risks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc is ending its involvement with most of the special purpose acquisition companies it took public and pausing new US SPAC issuance, Bloomberg reported. Bank of America Corp (BofA) scaled back ...