Banking

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA rebounded with a record annual profit from its first losing year in decades, as all main businesses at the French lender beat analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter. A resurgent equities trading unit and record earnings from financing and advisory were among the highlights as revenue jumped 13% in the final months of last year ...

  Bloomberg US credit-card bills jumped sharply last quarter as Americans returned to pre-pandemic spending habits. Credit-card balances increased every quarter in 2021 to end the year at $856 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said. The fourth-quarter gain was the largest in figures dating back 22 years, and while the total amount is still below pre-Covid levels, ...

  Bloomberg Zambia’s central bank expects to complete research on forming a digital currency that could cut transaction costs and boost participation in the formal financial system by the fourth quarter. “The results of research will form part of the input in the policy considerations on whether to introduce a central bank digital currency in Zambia,” Nkatya Kabwe, acting assistant ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG warned that higher costs for pay and its restructuring will weigh on results in 2022, adding to the bank’s woes after it posted the biggest quarterly loss in about four years. The Zurich-based bank had a net loss of about 2 billion francs ($2.16 billion) in the three months through December, primarily driven by ...

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA’s joined European peers in pledging higher profitability and bigger shareholder returns, while struggling to contain a surge in costs that’s plaguing the industry. The Paris-based bank on Tuesday set a target for a return on tangible equity — a key measure of profitability — of more than 11% in four years’ time and vowed to ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG will refer its private banking clients to Barclays Plc in nine African markets as the Swiss lender exits most of the sub-Saharan region. “Credit Suisse has signed a private banking client referral agreement with Barclays as part of the plan to exit nine non-core wealth management markets primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa,” ...

  Bloomberg US lenders issued more credit cards than ever last year, with a growing share of them going to consumers with lower credit scores. A record 196 million Americans held cards at the end of 2021, according to a report by credit-data agency TransUnion. In the third quarter, the latest for which detailed numbers are available, the number of ...

  Bloomberg Banco Santander SA is planning to simplify the structure of its US operations by discontinuing businesses such as home loans and focusing on consumer lending. Spain’s biggest bank may also review some of its commercial and industrial business lending, it said in a presentation. Santander has been pivoting towards areas with scope for more profitable growth in the ...

  Bloomberg State Bank of India’s (SBI) profit rose 62% in the third quarter helped by strong lending as the pandemic eased. Net income at the state lender was 84.3 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) in the three months through December, compared with 51.96 billion rupees a year ago, it said in a statement. That beat the average estimate of 82.59 ...

  Bloomberg Bank Negara Malaysia signalled it’s not yet ready to withdraw policy support as the economy recovers, steering clear of the hawkish pivot undertaken by major central banks. The current policy stance is “appropriate and accommodative” and any adjustment will be data-dependent, Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said in an email interview. Headline inflation is expected to remain moderate ...