Banking

  Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank dealt cryptocurrencies a blow, prohibiting financial institutions in the South American country from offering clients any operations involving unregulated digital assets. The monetary authority banned operations that allow bank clients to purchase crypto, just days after two large institutions announced they would let clients buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The ban also includes assets ...

  Bloomberg China’s foreign exchange reserves fall for the fourth straight month in April, as capital outflow pressures grew and the yuan weakened. Reserves fall to $3.1197 trillion in April from March’s $3.188 trillion, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. That compares with the median estimate of $3.13 trillion in a Bloomberg survey of economists. China in ...

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA has hired Gaurav Bathija from Citi Private Bank to be a managing director and senior relationship manager for South East Asia market, the latest in a series of hires by the French bank to boost its wealth and family office operations in Singapore. Bathija, who worked with Citi’s family office clients in Singapore, was head ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) go-slow approach to starting interest-rate hikes is looking ever bolder at a time when most of its counterparts are tightening vigorously. At the end of a week punctuated by global increases in borrowing costs to quell inflation, including an accelerated half-point move by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England’s fourth ...

  Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey has said that he won’t take a pay rise this year after asking high earners to help keep inflation in check by holding off on making aggressive demands. The central bank chief, who receives total compensation well in excess of 500,000 pounds ($618,000), said he asked the court that sets executive ...

  Bloomberg European banks are counting the rising cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as they brace for a wave of defaults and write down the value of their operations in the country. Led by Societe Generale SA and UniCredit SpA, the region’s lenders have so far flagged a hit of $8.6 billion to their earnings from the war. The ...

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank lifted borrowing costs more than expected to the highest level since 1999 and signalled further monetary policy tightening to come as intensifying inflation pressure eclipses risks to economic growth. Policy makers raised the benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 5.75% — exceeding the forecasts of all analysts in a Bloomberg survey for a ...

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said interest rates may be raised back above zero this year if the euro-zone economy doesn’t suffer another setback. In a speech in Paris, the Bank of France chief also suggested that the ECB should conclude net bond purchases at the end of June — a necessary ...

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA swung to a small quarterly profit as new Chief Executive Officer Luigi Lovaglio seeks to revamp the bailed-out bank ahead of a planned capital raising. The bank reported a net income of 9.7 million euros ($10.2 million) in the first three months of the year reversing a fourth quarter loss, according ...

  Bloomberg Poland’s central bank pledged to continue fighting inflation after its interest-rate increase fell short of market expectations and weakened the zloty. Policy makers in Warsaw lifted the benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 5.25%, the highest level since 2008. Most economists predicted a full percentage-point increase. Future decisions will hinge on the prospects for inflation and economic ...