Banking

Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank has eased restrictions on bank dividend payments, allowing them to distribute as much as 50% of net income to shareholders. The decision partially reverses steps the Reserve Bank took in April last year to provide more credit to the economy via the banking system. The remaining 50% limit will be lifted in July 2022 subject ...

Bloomberg Wall Street banks grappling with the implosion of Bill Hwang’s investment firm spent time briefing US regulators as Washington starts to dig into one of the biggest fund blowups in years. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) summoned the banks for hasty meetings on what triggered the forced sale of more than $20 billion of stocks linked to Hwang’s ...

Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. joined a growing list of global financial firms as it warned of a potential loss tied to a US client. MUFG’s securities arm is evaluating the extent of the loss and currently estimates it at about $300 million, it said in a statement on Tuesday, without naming the client. Japan’s biggest bank said an ...

Bloomberg Stocks valued at $2.64 billion changed hands in a flurry of block trades as tumult from the wind-down of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management extended into a new week. Five block trades valued at a combined $2.14 billion were executed by Wells Fargo & Co., according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank solicited interest from investors ...

Bloomberg Poland’s financial regulator wants offer incentives to banks that decide to start settlements with borrowers in the latest attempt to resolve the country’s $32 billion foreign-currency mortgage debacle. The plan would allow banks to tie up less capital against Swiss franc loans once they decide to start deals with borrowers, according to a proposal by the industry regulator floated ...

Bloomberg Commerzbank AG expects to post a loss this year as new Chief Executive Officer Manfred Knof ditches a failed growth strategy in favour of deep cost cuts. While the German lender seeks to achieve an operating profit, 900 million euros ($1.1 billion) in costs for its turnaround plan and loan loss provisions between 800 million euros and 1.2 billion ...

Bloomberg The UK government sold part of its stake in NatWest Group Plc for 1.13 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), reducing its holding for the first time in almost three years. The Treasury sold 590.7 million shares to the bank at the closing price of 190.50 pence, according to a statement. Its holding will be reduced to 6.9 billion shares, representing ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada (BOC) provided the greatest guidance yet into how it plans to slow purchases of government bonds as the economic recovery accelerates, fuelling expectations it could begin doing so as soon as April. In a speech, Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle said the central bank is winding down emergency liquidity programs it deployed to grease markets when ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) flagged instances of illiquidity as a broader risk to the financial system after a rout in some government bond markets pushed yields higher. The comments in a routine assessment of threats to the financial system indicate concerns at the central bank that Governor Andrew Bailey has sought to play down. The bank’s Financial Policy ...

Bloomberg Philippine central bank Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan has long wanted to make electronic money so ubiquitous that one could pay at a street stall via mobile phone. Now he’s leading the bank’s digital drive. “This is my life’s purpose,” Tangonan said in a March 24 interview, his first since he took office in February. Tangonan, 58, is point man ...