Banking

BLOOMBERG  China’s yuan jumped after the country’s central bank moved to shore up the currency following a recent selloff, vowing to curb speculation and calling for more stability in the foreign exchange market. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the foreign exchange regulator will “strengthen market expectation guidance and take actions to correct pro-cyclical and one-way market behaviours when ...

BLOOMBERG  Barclays Plc expects to increase its headcount in Paris by about two thirds in the next two to three years, as the French capital increasingly becomes the main trading hub in continental Europe for global lenders after Brexit. The London-based bank, which employs roughly 300 staff in Paris, believes it could generate enough business from the office to add ...

BLOOMBERG  The pace at which the Bank of England (BOE) shrinks its balance sheet is likely to accelerate, the deputy governor for markets told UK lawmakers. The BOE is currently unwinding about £20 billion (£25 billion) of quantitative easing (QE) every three months, both as assets mature and as they are actively sold. Dave Ramsden, deputy governor, said: “There’s the ...

BLOOMBERG UBS Group AG is gearing up for an estimated $34.8 billion gain as a result of its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, while warning it faces billions in potential legal and regulatory costs from the rescue of its stricken former rival. The Swiss bank stands to benefit from the combined firms’ negative goodwill, based on a first ...

BLOOMBERG  More than half of all Swiss cash in circulation, almost 50 billion francs ($56 billion), is held in 1,000-franc bills, though a significant part of those notes might be in other countries, according to Swiss National Bank (SNB) Vice President Martin Schlegel. “We assume that a good portion is also circulating abroad and is used to store value,” Schlegel told ...

BLOOMBERG  The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) board will meet on May 19, when it is expected to consider a dividend payout to the government. The meeting will be held in Mumbai, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. The authority typically reviews its finances and how much it can transfer to the government ...

BLOOMBERG  Australia’s central bank weighed the risk of upside surprises to inflation from a tight labour market and rising home prices when it decided to deliver a surprise interest-rate increase in May. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) board discussed the case to pause for a second straight month and concluded the arguments were “finely balanced” before raising the cash ...

BLOOMBERG  Japan’s biggest banks are predicting their highest profits in years, though a cautious outlook is holding them back from returning surplus capital to shareholders. Net income at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFJ) Inc, the nation’s biggest lender, is poised to surge to 1.3 trillion yen ($9.6 billion) for the year ending in March 2024, according to a filing, which will ...

BLOOMBERG  Morgan Stanley is considering a 7% cut in its Asia-Pacific investment banking workforce, with China taking the biggest hit as deteriorating relations with the US and weaker economic growth curb dealmaking, people familiar with the matter said. The bank is likely to start communicating with affected bankers as soon as this week, with more than 40 jobs at risk, ...

BLOOMBERG  Global central banks tapped a record amount of the Chinese currency in foreign-exchange swap lines in the first quarter, in another indication of the yuan’s growing international status. The outstanding balance of all foreign currency swaps was 109 billion yuan ($15.6 billion) at the end of March, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). That ...