Banking

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) tensions over how and when to discuss ending its emergency bond-buying program are starting to bubble over into the public domain. Little more than an hour after President Christine Lagarde said in an interview that it is “far too early” to debate when to end the stimulus, Austrian central-bank Governor Robert Holzmann said the program ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) is hiring top investment banker Vito Lo Piccolo, who’ll leave Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA just as the state-backed lender revamps its strategy under new leadership chosen by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Lo Piccolo, 46, will join BofA to strengthen its investment banking division, people with knowledge of the matter said. He will ...

Bloomberg SEB AB, one of Sweden’s biggest banks, is planning a new range of services to cater to the growing number of wealthy clients in northern Europe. The Stockholm-based bank says the list includes personalized advice on investing in art as well as coaching services for the children of the very rich to help them look after the fortunes they ...

Bloomberg After more than a year of near-empty skyscrapers and virtual conferences, the City of London is hoping the UK government’s latest lockdown guidance next week will help kickstart a more widespread return to the office. Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co have told UK-based staff that workers should ready themselves for a gradual return ...

Bloomberg Japan’s biggest bank is planning to plow about $9 billion into a new investment team that will look to buy credit, equities and alternative assets in a bid to lift investment returns. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc expects to begin buying the assets in the second half of this year that will likely focus on US securities, said the ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG cancelled a plan to back star trader Hamza Lemssouguer’s credit fund in a stunning about-face as it dials back risk after the implosion of Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital. The Swiss lender agreed with Lemssouguer that he should take his Arini European Credit fund outside the bank, according to an internal memo seen by ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG warned of a 300 million-euro ($365 million) hit after a German court allowed some clients to challenge higher fees, adding to headwinds for Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing as he enters the second half of his turnaround plan. Germany’s largest bank will book 100 million euros in provisions in the current quarter because of the ruling, ...

Bloomberg Bank of Montreal (BMO) picked Amazon.com Inc’s web-services division as its preferred cloud provider to help the bank modernize operations and introduce new digital applications. The deal includes using Amazon Web Services technology for the bank’s call centers and for remote-work tools for its employees, as well as employing the tech firm’s machine-learning capabilities, Seattle-based Amazon said. Financial terms ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is seen standing pat on its main policies at next week’s meeting, while tinkering on the margins of its toolkit by extending aid for pandemic-hit businesses as the country’s fight against the virus drags on. Some 89% of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg see the BOJ keeping in place its negative interest rate and ...

Bloomberg Japanese banks are in a bind — again. Sitting on record levels of excess cash, lenders are turning to riskier investments that need complex foreign exchange hedges, such as US Treasuries, to make a return on deposits that ballooned during the pandemic. Many will be seeking to avoid past mistakes. The surplus, calculated by subtracting bank loans from deposits, ...