Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co has processed funds that were earmarked for interest payments due on dollar bonds issued by the Russian government and sent the money on to Citigroup Inc. as bondholders waited for a second day to receive the $117 million. JPMorgan was the correspondent bank Russia used to send the payment to Citigroup, which is acting ...
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Sberbank gets license to issue digital assets
Bloomberg Russia’s central bank granted Sberbank PJSC, the nation’s biggest lender, a license to issue and exchange digital assets. Using Sber’s platform, companies can issue their own digital assets to attract market investments, buy digital assets through Sber’s system, or make other digital assets transactions, the bank said in a statement. “We are just starting our work with digital ...
Read More »Indonesia holds rates to support recovery with eye on war risks
Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its policy rate unchanged, seeking to sustain its recovery while keeping a close eye on core inflation and the impacts from the war in Ukraine on the global economy. Bank Indonesia kept the seven-day reverse repurchase rate at 3.5% on Thursday, as predicted by all 29 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The rate has ...
Read More »UK to make it easier to spot racism in banking
Bloomberg The UK will examine why access to business finance appears to be a “major barrier†for ethnic minorities, making it easier to spot racism or unconscious bias in bank lending. Boris Johnson’s government will work with lenders to understand the underlying problems after earlier research showed that the design of programs can influence demand from the ethnic minorities. ...
Read More »Card payment ‘monopoly’ hobbles Mexico startups
Bloomberg Mexican regulators need to break up an effective monopoly in the country’s credit card payments network that is benefiting big banks and hobbling startups in Mexico, said a new study commissioned by a group of financial technology firms. While regulators across Latin America have helped financial startups gain ground, Mexico is letting the country’s largest banks set the ...
Read More »Biggest African bank to raise $20bn to fund green projects
Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender by assets, plans to raise as much as 300 billion rand ($20 billion) by 2026 to help fund renewable energy projects, even as it remains open to supporting fossil fuels. The Johannesburg-based lender pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emissions target from its own operations by 2040 and from its ...
Read More »BOE plays tough cop in UK economy role switch
Bloomberg Like they did after the 2008 crash, the UK’s two economic policy heavyweights are playing good cop-bad cop. It’s just that this time they’ve swapped roles. In the years following the financial crisis, the Bank of England (BOE) stuck resolutely to easy money while fiscal policy got tough when Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne imposed swingeing budget cuts. ...
Read More »Brazil to slow rate hike pace
Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank will likely slow the pace of interest rate increases as it calibrates one of the world’s most aggressive monetary tightening cycles despite a breakneck surge in local fuel prices. Policy makers will raise the benchmark Selic by 100 basis points to 11.75%, according to 38 of 44 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Four of them ...
Read More »Big banks emerge as winners as Fed starts rate hike cycle
Bloomberg America’s biggest lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup, are emerging as major winners from the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive campaign to increase borrowing costs in years. Banks were among the best performing groups in the S&P 500 Index, as the sector rose 3.7% to the highest in two weeks. The KBW Bank ...
Read More »BofA doubles green bond goals, adds people to build ESG in Asia
Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) aims to double its underwriting of green bond deals in China over the next two to three years, beefing up its business to capture the fast-growing market, the firm’s China head said in an interview. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank plans to underwrite $50 billion of green and sustainability-linked bonds, equities and loans for ...
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