Banking

Bloomberg Central banks in the Asia Pacific pledged to spend billions of dollars and implemented new policy steps to stem a bond market rout. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) and Bank of Korea (BOK) offered to buy bonds worth a total of $13.1 billion, while Japan’s authority said it would supply another $36.7 billion of funds. Australia’s central bank (RBA), ...

Bloomberg Bank of Ghana has told the country’s lenders that they must seek approval before declaring and paying dividends on 2019 earnings as the regulator moves to guard against banks taking advantage of eased reserve rules due to the coronavirus to boost payouts to investors. After cutting its benchmark interest rate by 150 basis points on March 18 to combat ...

Bloomberg Central banks stepped up their emergency efforts to calm financial markets and support their economies in a historic week of market losses as more of the world shuts down to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Meeting into their nights, policy makers at the Federal Reserve launched a program to support money market mutual funds, hours after those at the European ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for a second straight month and slashed its economic growth forecast, joining global policy makers seeking to shore up their economies amid the coronavirus crisis. Bank Indonesia lowered the seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.50%, in line with the forecasts of 14 of 26 economists surveyed by ...

Bloomberg India’s most-valuable bank is betting big on the nation’s businesses at a time when a slumping economy and souring loans have forced peers to retreat. HDFC Bank Ltd.’s lending to large and small companies surged 63% over the two years through December 31 as India’s economy went from world-leading growth to its slowest expansion in six years. Behind the ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it will purchase 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in government bonds in order to stabilise markets amid the coronavirus crisis. Futures on the bonds rose after the announcement. The BOK routinely buys government bonds, but the last time it bought them for the stated purpose of market stability was in 2016 when volatility ...

Bloomberg Norway’s central bank said it is ready to intervene after the bottom seemed to fall out of the krone market. “In recent days, there has been an extraordinary situation in the market for Norwegian kroner and movements in the exchange rate have been historically large,” the central bank said. “Against this background Norges Bank is continuously considering whether there ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) cut interest rates to a record-low 0.1% and added 200 billion pounds to its asset-purchase program in its latest emergency action to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The pound rose. The decision, just days into the tenure of new Governor Andrew Bailey, saw the central bank lower rates by 15 basis points ...

Bloomberg Pressure is intensifying on the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to join policy makers around the world who’ve cut interest rates and increased stimulus in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. The central bank hasn’t dropped a bombshell so far this year, despite the franc being at a five-year high against the euro. Instead, data suggest it’s relied on occasional ...

Bloomberg The World Bank is boosting its coronavirus response package by $2 billion with funds from the International Finance Corporation, its lender to the private sector. The IFC’s planned funds are in addition to the $12 billion announced on March 3 by the bank, the world’s top development institution said in a statement. The assistance is aimed at supporting industry ...