Banking

BLOOMBERG  Hungary’s central bank unexpectedly signalled its first potential step towards cutting the European Union’s highest key interest rate, with policymakers pointing to an outlook of rapidly slowing inflation. The forint dropped against the euro. Deputy Governor Barnabas Virag caught investors by surprise after months of pushing back against government pressure to lower the 18% key interest rate to aid ...

BLOOMBERG Christine Lagarde warned that changes in the world economy induced by geopolitics pose a challenge to the European Central Bank (ECB) and its peers. “We are witnessing a fragmentation of the global economy into competing blocs, with each bloc trying to pull as much of the rest of the world closer to its respective strategic interests and shared values,” ...

BLOOMBERG Bank of America Corp (BofA) first-quarter profit beat estimates after its fixed-income traders delivered a windfall large enough to cover the rising cost of the bank’s souring loans. Revenue from fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading unexpectedly rose almost 30% to $3.4 billion in the first quarter, as clients reacted to changing interest rates, the bank said. That helped the ...

BLOOMBERG Bank of England (BOE) Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said regulators may need to impose a limit on using so-called stablecoins for payments as policy makers try to balance the need for innovation with its accompanying concerns. Cunliffe raised the prospect that rapid innovation in payment systems could bring new risks for customers and financial markets as a whole. “While, ...

BLOOMBERG Credit Suisse Group AG saw clients pull $4.4 billion from US and European funds since the lender agreed to be acquired by rival UBS Group AG in March, with recent inflows suggesting the worst of the bleeding may be over. Credit Suisse’s European funds suffered $3.8 billion in net redemptions between March 20 and April 6, while US funds ...

BLOOMBERG  The European Central Bank (ECB) is set to deliver three quarter-point increases in interest rates in May, June and July before ending the most aggressive bout of monetary tightening in its history, economists polled by Bloomberg say. That would take the deposit rate to 3.75%, where it would stay through the rest of the year, according to the April ...

BLOOMBERG  Societe Generale SA bankers who earned more than €1 million ($1.1 million) increased by almost a third in 2022, reflecting higher variable pay after volatility boosted performance. The number of SocGen staffers in the category jumped 30% to 144, according to a filing. At BNP Paribas SA, 369 bankers earned that much last year. Both banks are based in ...

BLOOMBERG  China injected the least amount of medium-term cash into the banking system since November, a sign that policymakers are watching the effects of past easing steps as the nation’s economic recovery appears to be on track. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) offered 170 billion yuan ($25 billion) of funds to banks through the medium-term lending facility (MLF). That ...

BLOOMBERG  BlackRock Inc’s assets under management are set to exceed $15 trillion in five years’ time, analysts at Morgan Stanley said, with the broker predicting that fixed income and cash management will help propel the investment manager’s growth. The world’s top asset manager has already seen a boost amid the recent turmoil in the US banking sector, following the collapse ...

BLOOMBERG Beleaguered US regional banks are assessing whether bond sales to replace lost deposits are worth the cost, as credit investors weigh whether they’re worth the risk. The arrival of quarterly bank earnings reports has spurred speculation on which financial institutions will brave an unpredictable bond market. Average corporate note yields jumped above 6% in the past 12 months and ...