Banking

Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank delivered its biggest hike since the coronavirus crisis struck in a bid to quell inflation and a rampant housing market. Policy makers in Reykjavik lifted seven-day term deposit rate by 50 basis points to 2%, highest level since March 2020. “The inflation outlook has deteriorated somewhat since August, owing in part to more persistent global price ...

Bloomberg Banks will play a key role in helping drive a reduction in carbon emissions through advising clients on how best to address their environmental footprint, according to a senior executive at HSBC Holdings Plc. “Catalyst is the word I use, but it’s in a very proactive sense,” Colin Bell, who leads HSBC’s European unit, said in a panel discussion ...

Bloomberg LGT, a private bank owned by the Princely House of Liechtenstein, plans to double staff in Japan as it joins global rivals targeting $17 trillion of household wealth in the Asian country. LGT Wealth Management Trust Inc, which kicked off services in Japan last month, wants to build a workforce of 70 to 80 over the coming three years, ...

Bloomberg One of the biggest risks banks face when it comes to cryptocurrencies is being left out of the market altogether. That’s the view from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) Chief Executive Officer Matt Comyn, who says although the digital assets are “very volatile and speculative”, banks need to be involved in the adoption of technology underpinning crypto and the ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong banks have to renegotiate HK$1.6 trillion ($205 billion) in contracts linked to the London interbank offered rate (Libor) before the benchmark ceases as corporate customers have been slow in transitioning to alternatives, the city’s de-facto central bank said. At the end of September, Hong Kong lenders had HK$4.3 trillion of assets, HK$1.2 trillion of liabilities and HK$34.9 ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey told UK lawmakers he is “very uneasy about the inflation situation” amid mounting evidence that a shortage of workers will drive up wages. Bailey told the House of Commons Treasury Committee that the labour market is looking “tight” but that he wanted to see what happened after the furlough program ended before voting ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank chief Philip Lowe opened the door to an interest-rate increase before 2024 as policy makers acknowledged quicker consumer-price gains last quarter had altered the inflation picture. Lowe said in a speech Tuesday that a rate hike in 2024 was “still plausible,” while adding that a quicker return to the bank’s inflation target could make the case ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) policy maker Jonathan Haskel injected a note of caution into the debate about whether to raise interest rates in the UK. Speaking at a Resolution Foundation event, Haskel said the economy was “firing on two cylinders” and that it’s “too early to declare success” in getting those on furlough back into work. While Haskel said he ...

Bloomberg Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, is selling $10 million dollars to support the currency which has been tumbling to record lows, the first such auction under the new Taliban regime. The central bank, in a statement, said qualified banks and currency exchangers can participate in the bidding, without providing any details on when the results of the ...

Bloomberg A Black loan underwriter who said he was fired due to racism alleges that US Bancorp engaged in redlining — discriminating against people of colour when lending. John Span also claims in a lawsuit that he endured a “toxic and racially hostile work environment” during his time in the firm’s indirect auto-lending group. In the complaint, filed in Illinois ...