Banking

Bloomberg UK home buyers returning to the market after the coronavirus lockdown are finding they’re not benefiting from record-low central bank interest rates. Five months after the Bank of England (BOE) slashed its benchmark to 0.1%, mortgage rates have barely changed as banks fret about risks. For people with smaller deposits, average borrowing costs actually increased by more than half ...

Bloomberg Switzerland’s financial regulator (Finma) started enforcement proceedings against Credit Suisse Group over a spying scandal that led to the ouster of ex-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tidjane Thiam. The move marks an escalation of regulatory involvement in the espionage charges, which also triggered probes by Swiss prosecutors. Finma said it will pursue any potential violations of supervisory law, and in ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank expanded a lending facility for banks as it kept key policies unchanged, and signalled a renewed willingness to explore additional measures to boost an economy still mired in recession. “The board will maintain highly accommodative settings as long as is required,” Reserve Bank chief Philip Lowe said after keeping both the cash rate and three-year yield ...

Bloomberg Nigerian naira strengthened to its strongest level in informal trading since at least April as supplies of the US currency surged ahead of an auction set for next week by the central bank. The local unit traded 440 naira per dollar on Wednesday from a peak of 477 naira last week, according to abokifx.com, which collates rates from street ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christian Sewing says showing skeptical analysts he can hit revenue targets is the lender’s next big challenge after convincing the market on cost and capital goals. Speaking at a conference in Frankfurt, Sewing re-affirmed a target of making a pretax profit this year, even though the bank is expected to make a ...

Bloomberg New Zealand central bank (RBNZ) Governor Adrian Orr signalled his intent to continue to loosen monetary policy as required, saying he’s determined to head off unnecessarily low inflation or even deflation. While persistently low interest rates could lead to undue risk-taking and pose financial stability risks, Orr said these were outweighed by the damage that stagnant or falling prices ...

Bloomberg Former European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi urged governments to channel stimulus funds toward sectors that can create new jobs for young people rather than spending money to defend the status quo. “Subsidies will have to go down but at the same time jobs will be created,” Draghi said at an online event. “It’s very good if the ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG plans to double its headcount in China over five years as the firm accelerates its pursuit of the nation’s wealthy, seeking to move past a scandal that’s engulfed once-favoured client and Luckin Coffee Inc. founder Lu Zhengyao. The bank has largely normalised approvals for Chinese companies, ending the increased scrutiny on loans that followed allegations ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s National Treasury says there are no additional resources available for government departments in the next three years. Any additional allocations will have to be funded from reductions in other programs, either within the department’s budget, or from another department’s budget, according to the document presented by Edgar Sishi, the acting head of the budget office, to the ...

Bloomberg Chinese firms that delayed debt payments during the coronavirus crisis are about to get the check. At least 10 companies will face fresh repayment tests on a combined 10.68 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) of bonds over the next two quarters or so, after they postponed maturities or swapped old debt for new notes to alleviate immediate pressure earlier this ...