Banking

BLOOMBERG The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) threatens to further besmirch the reputation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, on top of the blemish he’s suffered for being slow to recognise the risk of rampant inflation. Friends and foes of the Fed alike have faulted the central bank for not heading off the troubles at the nation’s 16th-largest lender ...

BLOOMBERG When the European Central Bank (ECB) sets interest rates, attention will be on the increasingly acrimonious path that lies ahead. Despite its insistence on decisions being taken “meeting by meeting,” investors have grown accustomed to getting a preview of where borrowing costs are likely to head in the ensuing weeks and even months. But with officials bickering over how ...

BLOOMBERG The pain in the US banking sector may turn out to be a blessing for incoming Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda. Yield on Japan’s benchmark 10-year government note dropped below 0.3% for the first time since the BOJ unexpectedly doubled the yield cap to 0.5% on December 20. The move came in the wake of a slide ...

BLOOMBERG The troubles at Silicon Valley Bank and its subsequent collapse have driven investor attention to the heavy investment in US bonds by Japan’s lenders, casting a pall over their shares. SVB’s woes have been rooted in tens of billions of dollars it plowed into longer-term bonds, confident that rates would stay steady. Japanese banks have also stepped up investment ...

BLOOMBERG Binance Holdings Ltd, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is suspending deposit and withdrawal services via bank transfers and card payments for UK customers after its local banking partner stopped providing support for transactions in British pounds. Paysafe, a London-based online payments company, said it would stop providing one of its products to Binance’s customers in the UK, citing local ...

BLOOMBERG Credit Suisse Group said it found “material weaknesses” in its reporting and control procedures for the past two years, after questions from US regulators. The Zurich-based bank said it will take steps to fix ineffective checks on the process it follows to pull together its financial reports. But the firm said its statements for 2022 and 2021 “fairly present” ...

BLOOMBERG The cost of insuring the bonds of Credit Suisse Group AG against default climbed to the highest on record as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sparked concern about broader contagion in the banking industry. Five-year credit default swaps for the Zurich-based lender jumped as much as 44 basis points 446 basis points, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They ...

BLOOMBERG The positive effect from the American regulators’ overnight support actions in the banking system quickly evaporated, with stocks signalling that fallout from the incident is far from over. S&P 500 futures erased most earlier gains and traded little changed, while Nasdaq futures trimmed their advance and the Cboe Volatility Index spiked, set for the highest since end-October. Turmoil continued ...

BLOOMBERG Less than a week after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a re-acceleration in the pace of interest-rate hikes, traders slammed it shut again amid the sudden eruption of financial strains at US regional banks. Goldman Sachs Group economists said they no longer expect the Fed to deliver a rate increase next week, even after US ...

BLOOMBERG China reappointed several top economic officials in a leadership reshuffle Sunday, giving investors greater continuity as Beijing overhauls financial regulation and grapples with escalating tensions with the US. People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang, 65, will remain in his post, as will the finance and commerce ministers. He Lifeng, a close ally of President Xi Jinping, was ...