Banking

HSBC profits rise in Q1 as positive outlook spurs credit loss reversal

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc posted its best quarter since the pandemic began as an improving economic outlook drove optimism about the ability of borrowers to repay loans and its strategic reset to Asia remained on track. First-quarter profit more than doubled as $400 million of loan loss reserves were released, spurred by the rollout of vaccination programs in markets like ...

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Nomura, UBS take global banks’ Archegos hit to over $10 billion

Bloomberg Global banks’ losses related to the collapse of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management topped $10 billion after Nomura Holdings Inc and UBS Group AG disclosed more than $3.7 billion of combined hits from the collapse of the US family office. The Japanese bank booked about 245.7 billion yen ($2.3 billion) of losses in the three months ended March 31, ...

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Kotak Mahindra shares fall as India caps CEO’s term

Bloomberg Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd were the most hit among peers after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capped founder’s tenure as chief executive officer of a bank to 15 years. That gives the world’s wealthiest banker Uday Kotak less than three years to find a successor, according to a note by Suresh Ganapathy, an analyst at Macquarie ...

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Citi’s Asia chief calls retail exit in 13 nations a strategic necessity

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s decision to exit retail banking operations in 13 markets outside the US including China was crucial for its ability to redeploy capital to areas where it can make bigger profits, according to an internal memo by the bank’s Asia-Pacific chief. “This was not about any specific markets or the attractiveness of individual consumer markets,” Peter Babej said ...

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Zimbabwe’s biggest bank to cut staff

Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s CBZ Bank Ltd., the country’s biggest lender, begun voluntary job cuts as it deals with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic on the corporate landscape. The bank needs to review its structures and operations to adapt to new ways of working, according to a memo from group CEO Blessing Mudavanhu and its chief human resources officer. “The manner ...

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Kuroda to miss price goal as Japan’s inflation hunt drags on

Bloomberg Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will fail to reach his goal of stable 2% price growth during his term after what will have been more than a decade of stimulus to stoke inflation, according to the Bank of Japan’s latest forecasts. Even with an economy expected to show a faster recovery from the pandemic, a slew of ...

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Citi retail units seen fetching $6 billion as sales kick off

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc could fetch as much as $6 billion from the sale of retail banking assets in 13 markets across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Middle East as the lender forges ahead with plans to fine-tune its global branch network, people familiar with the plan said. The sale process for Australia is the furthest along and the preliminary ...

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ICICI Bank’s profit jumps over threefold on interest income

Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd. posted a more than threefold rise in fourth-quarter profit, helped by strong earnings from its lending business even as it set aside a smaller pot of money to cushion the impact of more bad loans that could result from India’s deteriorating coronavirus situation. Net income at the nation’s second largest private lender stood at 44.03 billion ...

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MUFG weighs cutting Americas office space in hybrid-work era

Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc is considering ways to reduce its real estate footprint in the Americas while preparing for a post-pandemic world in which many workers come to the office just a few days a week. The lender anticipates that roughly 25% of workers in the region will be fully remote after the pandemic and another 25% will ...

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BoC’s more hawkish tone is ‘prudent, says Vachon

Bloomberg National Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon said the Bank of Canada (BoC) is being “prudent” in reducing government bond purchases and hinting it may raise interest rates earlier than expected. “We don’t know how this thing will evolve — we’re navigating in uncharted waters,” Vachon said in an interview after the bank’s annual meeting. “But by ...

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