Banking

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 ...

Bloomberg The combined weight of the coronavirus and the monetary easing trend around the world could finally persuade one of Asia’s most cautious central banks to cut rates. Taiwan’s policymakers will likely lower borrowing costs in its first policy-rate move since June 2016, joining the expanding ranks of central banks seeking to shore up a receding global economy. Taipei’s monetary ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc might struggle to reach its profitability target for the year and could cut discretionary awards as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts its business, joining a string of global lenders. “It’s going to be a tough year for earnings,” Tushar Morzaria, finance director, said on Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference, held virtually this year. Barclays might ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc’s search for a new chief ended where it began: with its caretaker CEO Noel Quinn. The bank said Quinn would become its permanent boss, after seven months as interim leader. The board had struggled to secure an external candidate while trying to respond to an increasingly treacherous global economy that’s been rocked by the impact of ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank made a second emergency cut to its benchmark interest rate inside a week as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus rose to 247 in the tiny north Atlantic nation. The seven-day term deposits rate was reduced by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75%, its lowest level ever. Sedlabanki also reduced countercyclical capital buffer on financial institutions ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) pledged to donate $100 million to support populations hurt by the coronavirus. The funds will be distributed to various communities, as well as national and global organisations, the bank said. They’re intended to aid medical response, address food insecurity, assist educational efforts amid school closures and support vulnerable populations, according to the Charlotte, North ...

Bloomberg Germany’s financial watchdogs eliminated a key capital requirement for the country’s banks to keep credit flowing to an economy that’s approaching a standstill as the coronavirus spreads. The countercylical capital buffer, meant to strengthen banks in good times for a downturn, will be cut to 0% starting on April 1 and remain there until at least through December, the ...

Bloomberg Japanese banks tapped into the Federal Reserve’s revamped swap lines, taking up a total of about $32 billion in the first operation since the US central bank lowered rates on Sunday. Lenders from the Asian nation borrowed about $30.3 billion for 84 days at 0.370% in the swap coordinated by The Bank of Japan. They borrowed about $2.05 billion ...

Bloomberg Chinese banks face an unprecedented drop in profits this year as bad loans surge because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to UBS Group AG. In a severe downside case, China’s banking industry could see bad debt jump to 5.2 trillion yuan in 2020, UBS analysts led by May Yan said. The estimate is based on an assumption that China’s ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. told employees if they can work from home to begin doing so this week, escalating efforts to prevent the deadly coronavirus from spreading among staff. Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd. has gone further, telling the vast majority of its staff globally to work from home. Citigroup’s directive, which applies to employees in the ...