Banking

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA’s third-quarter profit jumped 44%, beating analysts’ estimates as provisions for bad loans declined. Net income at the Paris-based bank increased to 1.4 billion euros ($1.62 billion), according to a statement on Wednesday, exceeding the most optimistic estimate among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Provisions dropped 56% to 266 million euros, compared with 460.5 million euros expected in ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s central bank is starting a project on the technological aspects of building a digital form of its currency to prepare for the days if the city-state decides to have one, its chief said. While acknowledging potential benefits of having its own digital currency for the local public, such arguments are not compelling enough, Managing Director Ravi Menon of ...

Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc (StanChart) will have a British retail banking offering for the first time this century after announcing the launch of a new digital platform for UK savers. The London-based — but Asia-focused — bank said it would launch the Shoal platform, which will allow customers to invest exclusively in green and sustainable projects. The initiative, backed by ...

Bloomberg National Australia Bank Ltd.’s (NAB) full-year profit beat forecasts as the lender continued to ride the wave of a stronger-than-expected recovery in the nation’s economy. Cash earnings climbed to A$6.56 billion ($4.87 billion) in the year ended September 30, compared with A$3.71 billion ($2.73 billion) a year earlier, according to a statement. That beat the A$6.45 billion mean estimate ...

Bloomberg A rift is opening at the European Central Bank (ECB) over how rapidly monetary policy should respond to stubbornly high inflation. A key meeting to determine the fate of post-pandemic stimulus is just six weeks away, and opinions are diverging on whether price pressures will mostly fade or endure. The debate is unfolding as global policy makers try to ...

Bloomberg Equity Group Holdings Plc’s profit soared in the first nine months of the year as the economy recovered and the Kenyan lender generated more income from business loans and the government securities. Net income from January through September grew by 78% to 26.3 billion shillings ($236 million) from a year earlier, the East African nation’s biggest bank by market ...

Bloomberg India’s banks need to raise funds from markets for their growth rather than depend on the government for recapitalisation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. “Banks are today less burdened because books are cleaner,” Sitharaman said at the annual general meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association. “As a result they will able to go and raise money from markets. I ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. is selling $3 billion of bonds in the US investment-grade market, adding to a streak of debt transactions from big Wall Street banks including Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Bank of America Corp. The biggest US bank is selling bonds in a single-tranche transaction, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. ...

Bloomberg Thai Credit Retail Bank Pcl, a provider of microfinance loans, is exploring an initial public offering in Bangkok that could raise as much as $400 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The lender, which is part of the Thai Life Insurance group, is interviewing banks on the potential first-time share sale, said the people, who asked ...

Bloomberg Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena posted its third straight quarterly profit and said it’s ruling out a capital shortfall on a one-year horizon. The world’s oldest bank reported net income of 186 million euros in the third quarter as it wrote back 132 million euros of loans to performing status and after extraordinary charges weren’t repeated, according ...