Banking

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co.’s new chief executive officer told lawmakers that the bank hasn’t done enough to turn itself around following a series of scandals and is now more focused than ever on fixing its problems. “The sense of urgency within the company is very different today than it was four months ago,” Charlie Scharf, who took over as ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Russia said it would begin selling foreign currency ahead of schedule after the rout in oil prices made the ruble the worst-performing currency in the world. The move is aimed at “increasing the predictability of the actions of the monetary authorities and reducing volatility on financial markets amid significant changes in the world oil market,” according ...

Bloomberg Taiwan’s central bank disclosed its outstanding position in foreign-exchange swap trading, a rare move aimed at answering calls for improved transparency. The bank’s outstanding position in foreign-exchange swap trading was $99.1 billion at the end of February, the central bank’s Governor Yang Chin-long wrote in a report prepared for legislators. The central bank purchased a net $5.5 billion in ...

Bloomberg The Italian government is negotiating with banks to provide breaks from debt payments including mortgages, as individuals and businesses are hit by a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus. The country is also studying relief for temporary layoffs and additional fiscal measures to support the economy, Deputy Finance Minister Laura Castelli said in a radio interview. A new decree ...

Bloomberg Kazakhstan, the biggest oil producer in central Asia, raised its benchmark interest rate by 2.75 percentage points to 12% at an emergency meeting and started selling foreign currency to help support the tenge. The National Bank of Kazakhstan raised the base rate from 9.25% to protect the tenge from increased external risks, support price stability and hold down the ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to its lowest level ever at an emergency meeting called to counter the impact of the coronavirus. The 7-day term deposit rate was cut by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25%, Sedlabanki said in a statement. “Furthermore, the Committee has decided to lower deposit institutions’ average reserve requirement from 1% to 0%. ...

Bloomberg Europe moved to provide relief for its ailing banks as efforts to combat the coronavirus threaten to push more borrowers into default and disrupt lending. The Bank of England on Wednesday announced a package of emergency measures, including a 50 basis point rate cut and a lower capital buffer to free up cash for lending. Germany’s banking watchdogs earlier ...

Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak will add $100 billion in credit losses to banks in the Asia-Pacific region this year with Chinese lenders bearing the brunt of the damage, according to S&P Global Inc. “Some activity will be lost forever,” Shaun Roache, S&P’s Asia-Pacific chief economist, wrote in a note on Tuesday. “We estimate an income loss of about $211 billion, ...

Bloomberg Bank of East Asia Ltd., (BEA) the Hong Kong lender that has been besieged by activist investor Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp., is considering options including a sale of insurance assets as part of its strategic review, according to people familiar with the matter. BEA could seek more than $1 billion from a sale of assets including its life ...

Bloomberg Bank of Montreal (BMO) is splitting up its trading operations in Canada, the US, Asia and London, following other firms including Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in taking measures to ensure business continues amid the coronavirus outbreak. “We are separating some of our critical trading staff to our business continuity plan sites in some locations as part of our ...