Banking

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) told banks to start getting ready for negative interest rates, while saying that message shouldn’t be taken as a signal that the policy is imminent. The central bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority said most financial institutions aren’t sufficiently prepared, especially as regards to retail products like rate-tracking mortgages, so they should take at least six ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank ordered deposit-taking banks and other financial institutions to immediately close accounts transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges, saying such deals are “prohibited.” Failure to comply with the directive will result in “severe regulatory sanctions,” according to a circular sent to financial institutions and published on the central bank’s website. The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission said ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) pledged to add $10 billion to an affordable-homeownership program through 2025, tripling its initial commitment. The plan is aimed at low- and moderate-income communities, and may enable 60,000 individuals and families to purchase homes, the bank said in a statement. The program includes as much as $10,000 of assistance for down payments, as well as ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank President (ECB) Christine Lagarde predicted the euro-area recovery will pick up in the summer, while stressing that public authorities will have a difficult job weaning the economy off of emergency support. In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Lagarde expressed confidence in the region’s ability to emerge from the coronavirus crisis stronger, with ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank rejected all bids for its benchmark bond at an auction after yields jumped on concern the regulator’s measures to support the debt market fell short of expectations. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rises to its highest in over five months in early trading while corporate notes had their biggest weekly loss since May. Traders ...

Bloomberg Big banks still had 810 billion euros ($970 billion) of capital markets-related assets to move from the UK to the European Union at the end of September, underlining the extent of the moves ahead as they adjust to operating after Brexit. International banks have agreed to shift a total of about 1.2 trillion euros of assets to European units, ...

Bloomberg Ex-Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Martin Blessing is planning to raise funds for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) targeting deals in the European financial industry. Blessing has been speaking with potential partners about listing a blank-check company in Amsterdam. He’s seeking to raise about 300 million euros ($359 million), they said. Credit Suisse Group AG is advising on ...

Bloomberg Shares of State Bank of India, the nation’s largest by assets, surged this week by the most in almost three decades, buoyed by plans to tackle bad debt and a profit that beat expectations. The Mumbai-based lender jumped 39.4% — most since March 1992 — to a record close of 393.10 rupees. Investors cheered the fact that higher provisions ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin climbed towards $40,000 in a rally that helped the market value of digital tokens scale a new peak. The largest cryptocurrency rises as much as 4.3% to $39,499 on Saturday, taking it closer to early January’s record of almost $42,000. The value of more than 6,000 tokens tracked by CoinGecko hit an unprecedented $1.22 trillion. The jump comes ...

Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp. is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co. as it prepares to kick off a formal sale process for its life insurance business as soon as this month, according to people with knowledge of the matter. AIA Group Ltd., Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. are among the firms that have been approached ...