Banking

Bloomberg The battle to win affluent customers is paying off for American Express Co. The credit-card giant added a record number of new customers to its tony Platinum card in the period. That helped revenue surge 33% to $10.2 billion in second quarter, topping the $9.6 billion average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Shares soared to a record. …

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada will allow most of its employees to work remotely as much as 50% of the time once public health guidelines allow it to fully reopen its offices. A limited number of staff are currently working in the central bank’s offices in Ottawa. The coronavirus pandemic has eased in Canada, with vaccinations rising and cases dropping, …

Bloomberg The chief executive of Danske Bank said the lender still faces a number of hurdles, including a sluggish retail business, raising questions about management’s ability to live up to long-term profitability targets. Carsten Egeriis, who became CEO in April after his predecessor stepped down due to a money laundering probe, said Danske is still suffering from “reputational issues,” which …

Bloomberg Tanzania’s central bank said inflation remains low, within its target range of 3% to 5%, despite a recent increase in oil prices, and that the risk to the outlook is moderate. The improving global economy will provide “great impetus” to a recovery in Tanzania, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement Saturday following its latest meeting. …

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering a “phased introduction” of a central bank digital currency as it will need legal changes to be made in the nation’s foreign-exchange rules and information-technology laws, Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar said. Delivering a speech to outline the RBI’s plans, Sankar said that policymakers were considering running pilot programs for the …

Bloomberg China’s digital yuan trial has reached 34.5 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) in transaction value as the central bank continues to outpace global peers in developing a virtual currency. Across China, more than 20.8 million individuals have opened a virtual wallet that stores the digital currency and have made more than 70.7 million transactions in total, the People’s Bank of …

Bloomberg Nomura Holdings Inc is raising the salaries of its entry-level bankers to $100,000, the latest lender to boost pay as the industry struggles to retain junior talent that has been inundated by deal flow amid the work-from-home grind. The Japanese brokerage will introduce the pay bump in July, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The move …

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA’s US unit agreed to buy Amherst Pierpont Securities in a deal that gives Spain’s biggest bank a greater presence in the fixed-income trading business that’s been a boon to Wall Street rivals over the past year. Santander Holdings USA is acquiring the independent broker-dealer through a $600 million takeover of its parent company, Pierpont Capital Holdings …

Bloomberg Wall Street dealmakers basked in the spotlight this week as the biggest US banks touted their windfalls from a surge in corporate hookups. But as Morgan Stanley finished the parade of earnings reports, some competitors smirked. The firm — one of three that dominate the world of mergers and acquisitions — had lost ground to arch rivals Goldman Sachs …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) joined the battle against global warming by offering a series of incentives for lenders to help businesses move toward a greener economy, with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda insisting there was no longer any time to waste. The BOJ said it would offer banks interest-free funds for climate-linked loans or investments and exempt more of their …