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 ...
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India central bank chief foresees more pain for embattled banks
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 ...
Read More »China may face sharp rebound in bad loans
Bloomberg China may face a sharp rebound in non-performing loans after virus-relief incentives delayed the reflection of risk exposure on the balance sheet of lenders. The bad-loan ratio rose 8 basis points from the start of the year to 2.1% as of end-June, while non-performing loans are expected to increase, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said in a ...
Read More »Scotiabank, CIBC to fill 3.5% of top roles with black employees
Bloomberg Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce say they will fill at least 3.5% of senior executive and board positions in Canada with Black leaders by 2025. The two banks confirmed they plan to sign the BlackNorth Initiative CEO pledge, the brainchild of a group led by Wes Hall, a prominent Black executive who founded Toronto-based ...
Read More »BOE urged to end Covid-19 funding for carbon emitters
Bloomberg Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion called on the Bank of England (BOE) to stop providing emergency funding to companies that contribute to climate change. The UK central bank should require companies that have received more than 18 billion pounds ($22.7 billion) of aid in recent months to commit to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, according to a statement ...
Read More »Top US banks set for worst quarter since financial crisis
Bloomberg US banks had only a few weeks’ experience with the full-blown pandemic when they last tried to forecast how bad things would get. Now, they’re about to reveal what three more months of Covid-19 did to the industry. Second-quarter results, set for release next week, will probably show that the trends that took hold at the start of the ...
Read More »Riksbank governor sees QE more effective than rate cuts
Bloomberg Stimulus measures like bond purchases are more effective than interest rate cuts to support the economy at this point in time, Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves said. “Altogether, these measures entail a monetary policy that is aimed in full at attempting to alleviate the negative effects of the corona pandemic on the Swedish economy,†Ingves said, according to minutes of ...
Read More »Yes Bank sets 55% discount for $2 billion share offering
Bloomberg Yes Bank Ltd. set a large discount in the price range for its $2 billion public offering scheduled for next week. The Mumbai-based lender plans to sell the shares at 12 rupees to 13 rupees apiece, a filing showed. That’s a discount of as much as 55%. Yes Bank, which was bailed out this year, is the latest Indian ...
Read More »Banks with ‘shattered’ business models warned by Japan’s FSA
Bloomberg Japan’s financial regulator is running out of patience with regional banks that are struggling to adapt to an increasingly grim business environment. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has targeted some local lenders for “intensive dialogue,†which could lead to regulatory action if they fail to convince it of their viability, Commissioner Toshihide Endo said. He hinted at the need ...
Read More »India’s ICICI bank to raise $2bn in capital
Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd. plans to raise as much as 150 billion rupees ($2 billion) in capital, adding to the list of Indian lenders that are bolstering buffers as the pandemic threatens to push up bad loans. The nation’s second-largest private-sector bank will raise the funds via shares or equity-linked securities in one or more tranches, it said in a ...
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