Banking

Bloomberg Visa Inc became the latest payments firm to face a hit from the spread of coronavirus. The company warned that cardholders’ spending overseas has slowed sharply, especially for travel related purchases, and that this quarter’s revenue growth will be about 2.5 to 3.5 percentage points lower than the outlook it shared on January 30. Visa said it won’t give ...

Bloomberg Several of the biggest US banks and the nation’s largest life insurer expanded their restrictions on employee travel, curbing all non-essential trips abroad as the coronavirus spreads across the globe. Citigroup Inc, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co told employees not to travel internationally without approval from top company executives, expanding earlier restrictions that targeted countries where the ...

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it’s ready to act to counter financial market volatility amid the coronavirus outbreak, reiterating comments from global central bankers in recent days. While spillovers into domestic financial markets have been relatively contained, the RBI said in a statement on Tuesday it “stands ready to take appropriate actions to ensure orderly functioning of ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve is now prepared to reduce interest rates this month even though it recognizes monetary policy cannot completely shelter a US economy increasingly threatened by the coronavirus. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell opened the door to a rate-cut at the Fed’s March 17-18 meeting by issuing a rare statement pledging to “act as appropriate” to support the economy. ...

Bloomberg China’s financial regulators will allow the nation’s lenders to delay recognising bad loans from smaller businesses reeling from the deadly coronavirus outbreak, giving temporary reprieve to trillions of yuan of debt. Qualified small- and medium-sized businesses nationwide with principal or interest due between January 25 and June 30 can apply for a delay to the end of the second ...

Bloomberg Global central bankers from Japan to the UK pledged action aimed at stabilising financial markets rattled by the spreading coronavirus as pressure builds on them to ease monetary policy to safeguard their economies. In an emergency statement on Monday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said it would “strive to provide ample liquidity and ensure stability in financial markets.” The ...

Bloomberg After spending more than $6 billion to stem the exodus of foreign investors from Indonesian assets last month, Bank Indonesia has signaled it’s ready to splurge more to defend the nation’s battered currency and bonds. The central bank offered to buy sovereign bonds worth 2 trillion rupiah ($140 million) from the secondary market on Monday after the yield on ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank is all-but certain to cut interest rates on Tuesday, money markets show, after a key manufacturing gauge in top trading partner China slumped. Traders are pricing in a 25 basis-point cut by Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe and his board as a done deal and see a slight chance of a 50 basis-point reduction. At the ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s board should remove its boss Jes Staley from the board of directors following the disclosure of his ties with deceased financier and offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to its top shareholder. Edward Bramson’s Sherborne Investors Management LP said in a letter on Monday it “strongly recommends” the board led by Chairman Nigel Higgins “rescind their unanimous recommendation to ...

Bloomberg The world economy may be heading for its worst performance since the financial crisis more than a decade ago as the spread of the coronavirus increasingly dashes hopes of a swift rebound. Just weeks since most economists bet the China-led slump would quickly reverse once the virus was contained, many are rethinking that optimism as swathes of Chinese factories ...