Banking

Bloomberg The French economy will barely grow this quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slams the brakes on activity in both services and industry, according to a Bank of France survey. The downbeat assessment comes amid concern that Europe may be headed for a recession after Italy put its industrial heartland into lockdown, and global equities and oil prices tumbled. It’s ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon’s emergency heart surgery has put the spotlight on succession, and in Asia, on how much of the lender’s push into China hinges on his commitment. Dimon, who underwent surgery after suffering acute aortic dissection, has temporarily handed control of the largest US bank to his lieutenants. His plan to bring ...

Bloomberg Betsy Duke stepped down as chair of Wells Fargo & Co. ahead of a dramatic congressional hearing set for this week examining the board’s role in the bank’s scandals. Democrats atop the House Financial Services Committee made no secret of their intent to target Duke and other past and current leaders, issuing a scathing report last week on the ...

Bloomberg Philippine central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno’s plate is full as he starts his second year in office. Diokno must enforce a range of new laws, including ones allowing the central bank to issue bonds and boost the country’s stubbornly low saving rate. And he ends his first year in office with a fresh global worry: the coronavirus outbreak weighing ...

Bloomberg Swiss National Bank (SNB) logic would dictate that it’s time to cut interest rates. With markets in a tailspin due to the coronavirus, the spread between Swiss and German bond yields that SNB President Thomas Jordan has repeatedly cited as necessary to prevent the franc from appreciating has melted away. The yield on German 10-year government bonds plunged to ...

Bloomberg Global central bankers enter a new week under fresh pressure to outline the next steps in their battle to address the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Policy makers got a wakeup call last week as the Federal Reserve’s emergency interest rate cut did little restore confidence, leaving officials hunting for innovative ways to add stimulus that can have a ...

Bloomberg Intesa Sanpaolo SpA will go ahead with its plan to take over smaller rival UBI Banca SpA if at least 50.1% of its shareholders adhere to the offer, Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. “Given the value of the deal for the country, as well as for Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI itself, ...

Bloomberg The fallout from the global spread of coronavirus may be starting to affect credit and funding markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Supply-chain disruptions and demand shock from the virus fallout could already be causing cash-flow problems for businesses, JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. That’s probably even more true for smaller companies and those in ...

Bloomberg The governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has ended the limit imposed on the exposure of Greek lenders to the country’s sovereign debt, Greece’s Finance Minister said. The ECB believes that the reasons and conditions that led to the March 2015 decision no longer exist, Christos Staikouras said in an emailed statement, citing rising deposits, the improved ...

Bloomberg The Czech central bank pushed back against billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s criticism of its efforts to curb inflation with higher borrowing costs. The surprising February rate increase — the only one globally this year — prompted a rebuke from Babis, who said such moves are boosting banks’ earnings while hurting the economy during a slowdown. The bank is ...