Banking

Bloomberg National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) has emerged as the front-runner for Citigroup Inc’s Australian retail assets. The country’s third-largest bank is in advanced discussions over the purchase of the unit, valued at more than $1 billion, the people said. National Australia confirmed its interest in a statement. “NAB regularly assesses opportunities to acquire businesses that support its growth strategy ...

Bloomberg The central bank of Kenya needs “teeth” to rein in more than 100 lenders, who charge interest rates as high as an annualised 500% for loans disbursed over digital channels, according to Governor Patrick Njoroge. The regulator wants the mobile-phone based and online lenders to disclose more information, including the source of funds and details on ownership for the ...

Bloomberg In the upside-down world of global banking, getting back to normal is bad news for the bottom line. Wall Street churned out massive windfalls during the pandemic, but the economic reopening made possible by widespread vaccinations means this year’s earnings will look weaker by comparison. The big down arrow will be trading revenue, which is expected to show a ...

Bloomberg Bank Indonesia could begin tightening monetary policy next year, including potential moves on interest rates, if the economic recovery remains on track and policy makers see signs of inflation, Governor Perry Warjiyo said. The bank’s exit strategy is to gradually reduce liquidity in the financial system “and then later, the end of next year, maybe some interest-rate action,” Warjiyo ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings’s streamlining drive has reached its top executives, with the bank promising to shake up a “hierarchical culture.” Several hundred managers will have their “leadership bands” altered over the coming months, according to an internal memo from human resources chief, Elaine Arden. Europe’s largest bank found it had a more complicated management system than peers and a lack ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) created a new team dedicated to researching cryptocurrencies, marking Wall Street’s latest push to capitalise on investors’ frenzy for digital assets. Alkesh Shah will lead the effort, which will also cover technologies tied to digital currencies, and report to Michael Maras, who leads fixed-income, currencies and commodities research globally, according to an internal memo ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset and wealth management business are working together to develop a new investment strategy focused on sustainable nutrition. The fund will invest in public companies that “address the ties between nutrition, health, biodiversity and climate, with a particular focus on nutrition’s societal and environmental aspects,” Credit Suisse said in a ...

Bloomberg Kenya’s biggest banks are the key to further gains for the benchmark Nairobi stock index this year as investors bet on the nation’s recovery from the pandemic, according to EFG Hermes Kenya. The Nairobi All Share Index has gained 16% in 2021 to the highest in more than three years. Expectations that the central bank will approve risk-based lending, ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank cut the amount of cash most banks must hold in reserve, a move that went further than many economists had expected and suggested growing concerns about the economy’s faltering recovery. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will reduce the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage point for most banks, according to a statement. That will unleash ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank set a coupon of 6.10% for the new 10-year bond sale, higher than that of the current benchmark, signaling a slight tolerance for higher yields after months of trying to cap them at 6%. The government sold 140 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) of the new bond as part of a 260-billion rupee sale, the Reserve Bank ...