Banking

Bloomberg European banks are seeking to avoid setting aside billions of euros to cover bad loans after the coronavirus outbreak, in a departure from US competitors collectively taking a $25 billion hit. European lenders are set to report comparatively small increases in loan loss reserves in the first quarter and plan a similar approach during the rest of the year, ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) could take further action if needed to support the euro area through the economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, policy makers at the institution said. The central bank has already unleashed a barrage of support over the past few weeks to cushion countries across the bloc, including committing to spend more than 1 ...

Bloomberg The Philippines central bank stepped in to encourage banks to lend to small businesses reeling from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. A new rule allowing banks to count new loans to micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises as compliance with the reserve requirement is effectively a cut in the reserve ratio, central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said. Banks ...

Bloomberg Most Asian economies will suffer their biggest blow from coronavirus containment measures in the second quarter of the year, even as the worst seems to have passed already for China, according to Morgan Stanley. Asia excluding Japan will see two consecutive quarters of contraction — the technical definition of a recession — as lockdowns and social-distancing norms are still ...

Bloomberg Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina hinted at a bigger-than-normal interest-rate cut when the central bank meets next week, stressing that monetary easing is now the “main option.” “We are looking at different economic scenarios and weighing how much room we have to ease monetary policy and what size of steps we should take,” Nabiullina said in her final ...

Bloomberg Brazilian banks are snapping up a renewed wave of local corporate bonds after a sell-off sent yields soaring and left funds reeling from record withdrawals. As local bond spreads rise more than four-fold in secondary market, investors say companies in need of cash are opting to sell new debt directly to banks, which often charge lower yields than institutional ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank governor laid the ground for more interest rate cuts as he took a number of steps to boost liquidity and support lenders amid a nationwide lockdown that’s brought the economy to a virtual standstill. Governor Shaktikanta Das kept the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 4.4%, but signalled that inflation will ease to below the central bank’s ...

Bloomberg Banks in Denmark expect the Covid-19 crisis to hit them hard in the second quarter, with anticipated losses bigger than at any time during the financial crisis, according to the central bank. More lenders anticipate reporting bigger impairments and losses than at any other time in the poll’s history, according to a quarterly survey. With first-quarter earnings reports imminent, ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it will offer loans to brokerages and insurers to ease funding strains as coronavirus pandemic roils markets. South Korea’s central bank has slashed the policy rate to a record low and taken steps in tandem with the government to extend liquidity to financial companies. Yet some non-banking firms are still scrambling to fund daily ...

Bloomberg UK banks must get on with providing loans to small and medium-sized businesses to counter the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey. Asked about scenarios presented by the public spending watchdog this week that showed economic output could plunge 35% in the second quarter, Bailey said that isn’t implausible. The ...