Banking

Bloomberg Half a million of Bank of America Corp.’s (BofA) 66 million customers have deferred loan payments because of financial fallout from the coronavirus. “The idea is to defer the payment, defer the impact,” Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said in an interview on CNBC. “We’re working with our customers who need help, who are losing their jobs. We have ...

Bloomberg Euro-area governments are ramping up their bond sales, but there are few signs of investor fatigue with the European Central Bank (ECB) increasing its purchases. Yields from Germany to Italy climbed after debt management offices sold more than 40 billion euros ($43 billion) of bonds, the most in seven years, according to Commerzbank AG. However, investors have stepped up ...

Bloomberg The bad-asset bank created when a group of Russia’s biggest private lenders collapsed sees the twin shocks of plunging oil prices and global economic pain wrought by the coronavirus pandemic as a chance to expand. “There’s every reason to believe that the amount of problem assets in 2020 will grow significantly,” Bank Trust Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Khabarov said ...

Bloomberg Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, lost a record $113 billion in the first quarter after the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic triggered a sell-off in global stock markets. The loss comes at an historic moment for the fund, as it may soon need to liquidate assets for the first time to cover Norway’s emergency spending ...

Bloomberg For years, there was an allergy inside Goldman Sachs to owning a private corporate jet. Top bankers had access to rides on planes shared with others, but didn’t want to erode their less-than-stellar image on Main Street with the unnecessary extravagance of having their own. Until David Solomon took over. The bank ordered a pair of Gulfstreams late last ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan expects the US economy to bounce back fairly quickly once the coronavirus health crisis is resolved. “There are no structural issues in the economy — it’s a health-care crisis, and I think if we mitigate that health-care crisis, you will see on the other side of this a rebound,” ...

Bloomberg The World Bank Group’s arm for the private sector is working to stave off widespread bankruptcies in developing nations that could be even worse than the coronavirus’s impact in advanced economies, according to its chief. The International Finance Corp. (IFC) has $8 billion to lend in its initial pandemic response for emerging nations, Chief Executive Officer Philippe Le Houerou ...

Bloomberg The Mexican peso led global currency losses after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected calls for fiscal stimulus to offset the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The peso sank as much as 4% amid a global sell-off, its third decline in four days. While economists forecast the economy could contract as much as 7% this year, the president, ...

Bloomberg Banks are under increased pressure to raise loan margins in the Greater China region as the coronavirus pandemic weakens lending and a global dollar liquidity squeeze pushes up funding costs. That’s a key takeaway from a Bloomberg survey of 15 major syndicated loan arrangers operating in the region, including international and Chinese banks. The survey was conducted between March ...

Bloomberg DNB ASA, Norway’s biggest bank, is postponing its $1.4 billion dividend as it gives in to calls from national and European authorities to show restraint during the current economic crisis. DNB initially dragged its feet after Norway’s financial watchdog last month urged banks to refrain from dividends. The Norwegian bankers’ association, Finance Norway, argued the move was unnecessary and ...