Bloomberg When a former Yes Bank Ltd executive started selling his stake in September, the Indian lender’s top managers watched for any sign that the resulting drop in share price would trigger a rush to withdraw deposits. The stock sales came as customers of a regional lender — Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Ltd — were lining up outside its ...
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China urges lenders to raise bad loan tolerance
Bloomberg Local Chinese banking regulators are urging lenders to increase their tolerance for bad loans and lower profit targets as the coronavirus hits at businesses across the country. Over the weekend, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s Zhengjiang branch asked banks in the region to be more lenient on bad loans and reduce their profit targets. The local bank watchdog ...
Read More »UniCredit likely to cut about 6,000 jobs in Italy
Bloomberg UniCredit SpA expects to cut 6,000 jobs and close 450 branches in Italy as Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier sets his three year-efficiency plan in motion. The reductions and closures will take place through 2023, according to a letter sent to unions and seen by Bloomberg News. The Italian redundancies are part of a plan announced in December ...
Read More »Lebanon weighs IMF help over $1.2b bond payment
Bloomberg Lebanon needs the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to draft a rescue plan and decide whether to repay its $1.2 billion Eurobond maturing next month, the Annahar newspaper cited one of the country’s longest-serving politicians and a member of the ruling coalition as saying. With the country facing its worst financial crisis in decades after months of ...
Read More »China’s hurting banks brace for worst-case economic scenario
Bloomberg Just as it looked like Beijing was starting to get a handle on its regional banking crisis, a much more severe threat is engulfing the world’s largest banking system as a deadly new virus hits the country’s economy. The impact of the spreading coronavirus risks bringing to life the worst-case economic scenarios contained in China’s annual banking stress tests. ...
Read More »Discontent among HSBC staff ahead of business review
Bloomberg A survey of HSBC Holdings Plc’s 237,000 staff has highlighted falling morale as employees brace themselves for job cuts in a strategy review due later this month. At HSBC’s European arm, confidence in the direction of the bank dropped 21 points in the second half of 2019 compared to the first half, according to an internal document seen by ...
Read More »Italian banking mergers nowhere in sight
Bloomberg Consolidation in Italy’s banking industry will probably be postponed — again. Potential tie-ups were high on the agenda of the bankers who gathered in the northern town of Brescia for the Assiom Forex conference, but no one seemed ready to take the first step. The current regulatory framework and Italy’s poor economic prospects will probably delay deals that analysts ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank seeks 50% haircut on India firm’s debt
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG and SSG Capital Management have made a joint bid for an Indian power producer’s debt of 60 billion rupees ($842 million), according to a person familiar with the matter. The consortium has submitted a binding bid of about 31 billion rupees for the delinquent debt of Chennai-based Coastal Energen Pvt, the person said, asking not to ...
Read More »World’s lowest rate may soon be raised in Denmark
Bloomberg Denmark and Switzerland have long shared the world record in negative interest rates, at minus 0.75%. But that may be about to change. Economists at some of the biggest Nordic banks say Denmark, which pegs the krone to the euro, is likely to raise its key rate in the coming months. Not long ago, they thought a cut was ...
Read More »Irish property stocks lead slide after Sinn Fein surge
Bloomberg Irish stocks slid on Monday after polls put Sinn Fein in place for a possible role in government, fuelling declines in banks and property shares given that the party’s policies include a wealth tax and a freeze on residential rents. The benchmark ISEQ Index slid as much as 1.4%, with Bank of Ireland Group Plc and AIB Group Plc ...
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