Bloomberg China’s central bank remains on course to taper its emergency support even as a string of defaults by government-linked companies sends tremors through the credit markets. Officials have been preparing investors about the possibility of withdrawing some of that stimulus as the economic recovery picks up pace. While a surge in market interest rates following the defaults appears to ...
Read More »Banking
Absa South Africa rules out dividends
Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd said it’s unlikely to pay an ordinary dividend this year as the South African bank conserves cash to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Earnings before one-time items and accounting adjustments will probably decline more than 40% from a year earlier, Johannesburg-based Absa said. It’s withholding payouts despite having strong buffers and forecasting ...
Read More »Santander plans 4,000 job losses, adding to wave of cuts
Bloomberg Banco Santander SA plans to cut as many as 4,000 jobs in Spain, adding to a global wave of staff reductions across the financial industry. The lender told union leaders it will lay off as much as 13% of its Spanish workforce and close as many as 1,000 branches after the pandemic boosted a switch by customers to digital ...
Read More »Baoshang Bank writes off $980m of capital bonds
Bloomberg Baoshang Bank, which was taken over by Chinese authorities last year, plans to fully write off a subordinated capital bond after it was deemed a non-viable entity by regulators. The People’s Bank of China and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission determined that a “non-viability trigger event†had taken place at the lender, Baoshang Bank said in a company ...
Read More »Goldman names 60 new partners in smallest class
Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc elevated its smallest class of new partners in more than two decades. The firm picked 60 employees in its biennial promotions that serve as a nod to the bank’s history as the last major private firm on Wall Street. That’s the fewest since 1998, a year before it went public, and almost half the number ...
Read More »Mexico central bank pauses rate cuts to assess inflation
Bloomberg Mexico’s central bank wants to better evaluate the recent increase in the country’s inflation rate before considering a further reduction to its benchmark interest rate, Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon said. Banxico, as the central bank is known, surprised markets by pausing a record monetary easing cycle that has lent one of the few supports to an economy expected ...
Read More »Japanese banks warn of tougher road after solid earnings
Bloomberg Japan’s biggest banks warned of a bleaker outlook for the next six months as the resurgent pandemic slams economies, even as they reported first-half profits that exceeded expectations. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc raised their full-year profit targets, thanks mainly to strong results from trading and serving cash-strapped corporate clients in the six months ...
Read More »Lloyds probe over fraud faces ‘delays’
Bloomberg A probe into allegations of a possible cover-up of fraud by Lloyds Banking Group executives has hit fresh delays, the Times reported. The investigation into the bank’s treatment of irregularities at the HBOS Reading branch won’t be completed until 2021, or more than four years after it was commissioned, the newspaper said citing Dame Linda Dobbs, who is leading ...
Read More »Borrowers from Asia ramp up dollar debt sales again
Bloomberg Borrowers from Asia are ramping up dollar debt sales again and are on the cusp of exceeding the full-year record for issuance. Issuers from Asia ex-Japan have sold over $323 billion of notes in the US currency so far this year, compared with $326 billion for all of 2019 — the current all-time high, according to data compiled by ...
Read More »Orr readying new RBNZ stimulus tool as step towards negative rates
Bloomberg New Zealand central bank (RBNZ) governor Adrian Orr is set to unveil a new monetary stimulus tool aimed at driving borrowing costs to fresh historic lows to spur economic growth. Orr is expected to lay out plans on November 11 to provide cheap loans to banks, giving them scope to further reduce lending rates. The Funding for Lending Program, ...
Read More »