Banking

Bloomberg UniCredit SpA suspended a dividend payment and a share buyback in a setback to Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier’s plan to improve shareholder rewards. The decision comes after the European Central Bank recommended that lenders restrict payouts until at least October as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on markets. Its previous call for banks to be prudent on ...

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India (EBI) delivered an emergency rate cut and pledged $50 billion of liquidity infusion. Now traders want it to join other central banks in unleashing a massive-bond buying program. Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc are among those who see the RBI taking the next step of buying debt from the market, or the government, ...

Bloomberg Barclays said it plans to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero over the next 30 years and only provide finance to projects that align with the temperature reduction goals of the Paris climate accord. The London-based bank will put the proposal to go “net zero” by 2050 to shareholders for a vote at its annual general meeting ...

Bloomberg Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were granted approvals to take control of their securities joint ventures in China as policy makers push ahead with the opening of the nation’s $45 trillion finance industry even as they fight to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Morgan Stanley plans to boost its stake to 51% from 49% with the approval from ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) will provide $12 billion to banks in its first round of dollar injections using a currency swap line with the Federal Reserve. The auction will be held on Tuesday at 10 am Seoul time, and banks may apply for seven-days debt of up to $300 million, and 84-days debt of up to $1.5 billion, ...

Bloomberg The two-decade run of record profits at China’s biggest banks, which even survived the financial crisis, is facing its biggest test. Banks such as Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest by assets, are caught in a vise as their operations are hammered by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus. At the same time, they are ...

Bloomberg South African banks are being criticised by labour unions and small business owners for not doing enough to help struggling customers as the coronavirus lockdown looms. “The response is quite underwhelming,” said Matthew Parks, a parliamentary coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions. “There are too many ifs and buts. It’s hitting too few people. It’s just ...

Bloomberg PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia has revived its plan to sell a stake in its life insurance arm, which is attracting interest from suitors in a deal that could fetch about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. FWD Group Ltd., backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, and BNP Paribas Cardif SA are among potential bidders for ...

Bloomberg Jamal Al Kishi, Deutsche Bank AG’s chief executive officer (CEO) for the Middle East and Africa, has quit to join Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB). Al Kishi, who had been with the German lender since 2007, will become CEO of GIB’s parent company and deputy group CEO, the bank said in a statement. Headquartered in Bahrain, GIB is almost ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc warned it still expects to book higher credit losses on the back of the coronavirus pandemic, even after regulators gave it more leeway to deal with unpaid loans. Europe’s largest bank also put its job-cutting programme on hold. In an update to investors contained in the prospectus for its latest debt sale, disclosed in a US ...