Bloomberg Singapore’s central bank said it will consider supervisory actions after DBS Group Holdings Ltd. suffered one of the worst digital disruptions for Southeast Asia’s biggest lender in the past decade. “This is a serious disruption and MAS expects DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the root causes and implement the necessary remedial measures,†Marcus Lim, assistant managing ...
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Sweden’s Riksbank to start hiking interest rates in 2024
Bloomberg The Riksbank expects to start hiking interest rates in 2024, the first sign from the Swedish central bank that it sees an end in sight to its ultra-loose monetary policy. While policy makers kept their benchmark unchanged, they also signalled for the first time that they see a case to move higher within three years. Previously they said the ...
Read More »Zambia surprises with second rate hike this year
Bloomberg Zambia’s central bank in a surprise move raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year to try contain inflation that’s still nearly triple the targeted rate. The monetary policy committee lifted the gauge to 9% from 8.5%, Governor Denny Kalyalya told reporters. It was Kalyalya’s first rate decision since being reappointed to the post in September. ...
Read More »BofA bearish on markets, sees ‘rates shock’ coming in 2022
Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) strategists are bearish on markets next year and urged investors to focus on preserving cash as faster inflation and higher interest rates upend the trajectory of global asset prices. In a note to clients, strategists led by Michael Hartnett listed macro trade recommendations, including long positions on volatility gauges, oil, energy, the US dollar, ...
Read More »HSBC launches ESG indices that screen firms for biodiversity risk
Bloomberg Investors looking for ESG strategies have been handed a new group of indexes promising to focus on biodiversity by excluding companies that are found to pose a threat to nature. The Euronext ESG Biodiversity Screened Index series by HSBC Holdings, developed the product together with Euronext NV and Iceberg Data Lab SAS. The idea is to bring liquidity to ...
Read More »Atom Bank moves to four-day work week without cutting pay
Bloomberg Atom Bank has moved to a four-day working week, one of the most dramatic flexible working policies introduced by a finance firm since the pandemic upended office norms. The UK fintech, which has 430 employees, moved to a four-day week, the digital lender said in a statement. Contractual working hours will be reduced by 3.5 hours to 34 hours ...
Read More »Australia will closely monitor risk premiums to detect asset bubbles
Bloomberg Australia’s central bank will closely monitor risk premiums to judge whether asset prices appear “sensibly valued,†especially at a time of record low interest rates, said Marion Kohler, head of the domestic markets department. “Asset prices increase when risk-free rates are low, and this is part of the monetary transmission mechanism,†Kohler said in the text of a speech. ...
Read More »DBS faces second day of digital banking outages
Bloomberg DBS Group Holdings Ltd is facing a second day of outages in its online banking services, marking one of the worst digital disruptions for Southeast Asia’s biggest lender in a decade. The disruptions in DBS’s digital services — an area where the Singapore-based bank has invested in heavily — started early Tuesday and resurfaced on Wednesday. The problems stemmed ...
Read More »New Zealand’s central bank raises rates again
Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank raised interest rates for the second time in two months and signalled it will need to tighten policy more quickly than previously expected to contain the inflation. The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee lifted the official cash rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.75% on Wednesday, as expected by most economists. New forecasts published ...
Read More »Dollar rises to four-year high against yen
Bloomberg The dollar surged past a key level against the yen for the first time since 2017, as the renomination of Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair fuelled bets that the US might tighten policy more quickly. The dollar-yen climbed as much as 0.2% to 115.14 — a Japanese market holiday — surpassing the psychologically important 115 level. Treasury yields ...
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