Bloomberg ING Groep NV posted fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and joined peers across Europe in signaling more payouts to shareholders once the European Central Bank removes restrictions. The Dutch lender reported net income for the final three months of last year of 727 million euros ($881 million), compared with estimates of 499 million euros. The bank set aside ...
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RBI’s currency strategy is drawing more hot money
Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) strategy to shift some of its currency intervention to the forwards market is adding to its problems. Its balancing act to keep the rupee stable amid heavy foreign inflows while also keeping excess liquidity in check is flooding the market with more foreign funds, prompting a vicious cycle of interventions. The RBI’s outstanding ...
Read More »Citi reduces Corbat’s pay to $19m for 2020
Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. reduced the compensation of outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Corbat by 21% to $19 million for 2020, a year in which regulators sanctioned the lender over its internal controls. Corbat, who is ceding CEO job to Jane Fraser, was granted stock awards totaling about $12.3 million; a cash bonus of $5.3 million and a $1.5 million salary, ...
Read More »India plans more than $41bn in sovereign bond purchases
Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will seek to buy more than 3 trillion rupees ($41 billion) of sovereign bonds in the next fiscal year to support the government’s borrowing plans, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. That will exceed the 3 trillion rupees the RBI is expected to spend for the current year ending March. ...
Read More »SocGen to return capital to investors after first losing year in decades
Bloomberg Societe Generale SA vowed to return capital to investors even as it ended its first losing year in more than three decades with a slump in trading. In contrast to double-digit trading gains at Wall Street peers, SocGen saw equities trading — its traditional strength — falls 7% from a year earlier and fixed-income revenue drop 16%. Net income ...
Read More »ABN Amro scraps 2020 dividend after first annual loss in a decade
Bloomberg ABN Amro Bank NV scrapped its dividend for 2020 and posted its first annual loss in a decade as pandemic weighed on lending income and lender restructured its investment bank. An unexpected profit of about 54 million euros ($65 million) in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough to save the Dutch lender from its first negative result since 2010. The ...
Read More »Citi to refund $4.2mn to overcharged consumers
Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. will refund an additional $4.2 million to some credit-card customers who were overcharged years ago. The bank reached an agreement with attorneys general from Pennsylvania, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey and North Carolina to refund the money to customers in those states. The refunds follow a 2018 settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in which Citigroup agreed ...
Read More »Nordea’s entire $425b wealth unit is going ESG
Bloomberg The entire wealth and asset management business of Nordea Bank Abp — which currently oversees about $425 billion — may exclude all investments that aren’t deemed sustainable in as little as half a decade. The unit is already “very close†to that goal, and will probably be “100% ESG†in “5 to 10 years,†Frank Vang-Jensen, Nordea’s chief executive, ...
Read More »Wells Fargo pledges investments in black-owned banks
Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. made equity investments in six black-owned banks as part of a broader $50 million pledge to support minority-focused lenders. The San Francisco-based bank will assign dedicated teams to provide the lenders with financial, technology or product expertise, it said in a statement. Wells Fargo didn’t disclose the amounts of each investment. The lenders are: Broadway ...
Read More »Taiwan penalises Deutsche Bank, three others for currency trades
Bloomberg Taiwan penalised Deutsche Bank AG and three other foreign lenders after a probe into speculation on the surging local currency last year involving grain companies. Deutsche Bank’s trading approvals for Taiwan dollar deliverable forwards and non-deliverable forwards will be revoked, and it will be banned from engaging in transactions of foreign exchange derivatives for two years, the island’s central ...
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