Banking

Bloomberg DNB ASA, Norway’s biggest bank, delivered second-quarter earnings that beat even the most optimistic estimates as impairments proved less dire than feared. The Oslo-based lender’s net income reached 4.77 billion kroner ($508 million) in the three months through June. Impairments fell 63% from the first quarter, DNB said. Thomas Eskildsen, an analyst at Handelsbanken, said trading and commission income ...

Bloomberg The road to recovery for the US economy will be uneven, unclear and uncertain as the coronavirus retains its hold on business and Americans’ everyday activities, according to the heads of the nation’s biggest banks. In the wake of brighter data on employment, retail sales and housing over the last two months, most financial-institution executives curbed their enthusiasm about ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings global head of equities is leaving the lender as the bank revives restructuring plans that are hitting the securities unit. Hossein Zaimi, who has held the role within HSBC’s global banking and markets division since 2017, is leaving within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information. HSBC’s ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. plummeted after reporting its first quarterly loss since 2008 as loan-loss provisions soared with the bank expecting a more severe downturn from the coronavirus pandemic. The firm set aside a record $9.5 billion for credit losses, about $4 billion more than analysts had expected. Wells Fargo executives had warned they would earmark more for soured ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. set aside $7.9 billion for souring loans even as the bank’s revenue from fixed-income trading surged 68%, keeping bank solidly profitable. The $5.6 billion windfall from trading bonds, currencies and commodities was even greater than what the firm generated in the year’s first three months, when the pandemic set off a flood of client transactions. Combined with ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s results were one more marker of the disconnect between ebullient markets and concern about the US economy. The biggest US bank said second-quarter profit fell 51% to $4.69 billion, a smaller drop than forecast, as record trading revenue helped counter the biggest loan-loss provision in the firm’s history. It’s the second consecutive quarter that trading ...

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank will likely keep policy accommodative over the next two years to deal with lingering economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Benjamin Diokno said. “We know that this crisis may be protracted,” Diokno said when asked how long the central bank will continue its bond-buying and liquidity support programs. “At least for the next maybe ...

Bloomberg India’s shadow banks are benefiting from a drop in borrowing costs after government stimulus steps, but the troubled sector faces more challenges ahead as the economy reels from the pandemic. The lenders’ borrowing costs declined in June for a second straight month, according to a gauge that’s among four indicators compiled by Bloomberg to check on the health of ...

Bloomberg The Indonesian rupiah slumped to a seven-week low as traders positioned for a policy decision due on Thursday and concern about rising domestic virus infections damped sentiment. The rupiah dropped as much as 1% to 14,597 per dollar, the weakest level since May 29. BI is forecast to cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 4.00%. “If ...

Bloomberg Indian banks, which are already struggling with one of the world’s worst loan ratios, are set to face more pain as the coronavirus pandemic slams growth, the central bank’s chief warned, urging lenders to gird up their defenses. “The economic impact of the pandemic, due to the lockdown and the anticipated post-lockdown compression in economic growth, may result in ...