Banking

Bloomberg India’s central bank is actively managing bond yields to keep borrowing costs in check, analysts say, after five interest-rate cuts last year failed to spur lending in the economy. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent shift to targeted cash injections and credit easing contrasts with the central bank’s insistence that it only looks to smoothen liquidity and facilitate ...

Bloomberg Poland’s central bank is raising eyebrows in its justifications for maintaining record-low borrowing costs. Governor Adam Glapinski has brushed aside concern about the worst economic expansion in three years and an upward shift in inflation surpassing anywhere else in the European Union (EU). Western sluggishness is weighing on growth, he says, while factors beyond the bank’s control are driving ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) has set out an ambitious timetable for its strategic review that could see a decision on whether to change its inflation goal by the summer, according to euro-area officials. Speaking on condition of anonymity because the process is confidential, the officials described a rushed agenda under President Christine Lagarde, who reached her 100th day ...

Bloomberg China will allow local governments to sell another 848 billion yuan ($122 billion) of debt before March, as authorities seek to offset the economic shock of the coronavirus. The new quota includes 558 billion yuan of local government debt as well as 290 billion yuan of so-called special debt, according to a Ministry of Finance statement on Tuesday. The ...

Bloomberg Mastercard Inc won approval to set up a bank card clearing business in China, gaining access to a $27 trillion payments market as part of the nation’s financial opening. The announcement by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Tuesday signals the country is moving ahead with the speedier opening of its financial system that was agreed on as ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...