Banking

Bloomberg The coronavirus has blown Brexit out of the headlines, and for pound traders that may be a silver lining. Sterling will strengthen to 80 pence per euro — a level not reached since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union — and possibly beyond, according to Standard Bank. The pandemic means that the deadline for a trade deal ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank is expected to lower borrowing costs for a third straight month as policy makers take unprecedented steps to bolster the economy amid the coronavirus. Bank Indonesia will cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, according to 18 of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. One economist predicted a 50 basis-point cut, while nine expect ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve will dial back its support for the market for repurchase agreements following signs that the recent upheaval in dollar funding has eased. The move to reduce the amount of funding it offers through both overnight and term facilities from May 4 comes “in light of more stable repo market conditions,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New ...

Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp. has set aside A$900 million ($574 million) to settle a massive breach of anti-money laundering laws, in what would be the biggest fine in Australian corporate history. The potential fine is part of A$1.43 billion of charges — including increased customer remediation — that will slash first-half profit, with newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Peter King ...

Bloomberg Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) said it issued C$3 billion ($2.16 billion) of subordinated bonds in the largest corporate bond sale in Canada on record as it bolsters its position to ride out the coronavirus slump. Canada’s second-largest bank by assets priced the 10-year bonds at 255 basis points above government bonds, according to Bloomberg data. The securities are callable after ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) can favour its own customers in making emergency loans for now, a federal judge ruled as small businesses start to compete for a piece of the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program. US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Baltimore rejected a request to temporarily bar the bank from giving preferential treatment to existing small-business loan ...

Bloomberg The amount of cash commercial banks hold at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) hit a record last week, highlighting officials’ battle to keep the franc from appreciating. Sight deposits increased by 6.9 billion francs ($7 billion) to 634.1 billion francs in the week ending April 10, data published on the central bank’s website on Tuesday showed. The SNB waged ...

Bloomberg India’s most ambitious attempt to influence how foreigners trade its currency slipped through with little fanfare two weeks ago. On a day when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executed an emergency rate cut and pledged $50 billion of liquidity, it also opened the way for local banks to trade non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), a currency derivative often blamed as ...

Bloomberg A “new wave of consolidation” among global investment banks could be triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by Oliver Wyman and Morgan Stanley. Some banks may find their lack of scale and the short term pressure “too acute” to survive the crisis, particularly in Europe where returns are lower compared to bigger, more profitable global ...

Bloomberg The funding needs of governments in sub-Saharan Africa could rise by $75 billion as the coronavirus pandemic hammers their economies, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. If measures such as tax cuts that some governments, including Kenya’s, have already announced are included, the financing gap might end up being higher, they said. A combination of lockdowns to contain the ...