Banking

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) influence in Pakistan’s central bank got another boost with the appointment of a second senior official from the fund. Murtaza Syed was appointed as deputy governor at the State Bank of Pakistan for a three-year term, according to a finance ministry notification. Syed was previously deputy division chief in the IMF’s strategy, policy, and ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the world economy will strengthen in 2020, albeit at a slightly slower pace than previously anticipated amid threats related to trade and tensions in the Middle East. Global growth will accelerate to 3.3% from 2.9% in 2019, marking the first pickup in three years, the fund said. Both figures are down compared with ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) took a brighter view of the economy and left its main policy settings unchanged on Tuesday, offering a further indication that it is unlikely to add to its stimulus. As had been widely expected, the BOJ raised its growth projections for the first time in a year, thanks to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s $120 ...

Bloomberg The pound advanced after the UK’s employment rate hit a record high, weakening the case for an imminent interest-rate cut. Sterling rose against all its Group-of-10 peers as the UK labour market figures ended a run of weak economic data. Money markets trimmed bets that the Bank of England (BOE) will lower borrowing costs on January 30 to around ...

Bloomberg Palladium’s extraordinary rally has the potential for prices to go on and test $3,000 an ounce, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Jeffrey Currie, who twinned that outlook with a clear warning that such peaks wouldn’t last for long as the record levels would cut into demand. “The upside potential is significant as the market is now in a ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG missed key targets for 2019 as investors pulled money late in the year, underscoring the challenge for new wealth management co-head Iqbal Khan as he seeks to turn around its most important business. The Swiss bank failed to meet several metrics set during a revamp of its goals just over a year ago, highlighting mounting headwinds ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc spends about $8.5 billion a year on technology, but the bank’s boss says that doesn’t mean branch workers will all be replaced by machines anytime soon. Modernising the bank’s app and digital-banking experience won’t necessarily result in Citigroup needing fewer people in its retail bank, Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said on Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television ...

Bloomberg Even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) takes a page out of the Federal Reserve’s playbook to push down borrowing costs, yields are headed higher as inflation is unlikely to abate soon, according to Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd. Inflation will probably remain elevated over the next six to 12 months, according to Maneesh Dangi, who oversees ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is offering to buy the debt of an Indian power producer at a discount of about 70%, according to people familiar with the matter, the second such proposal from the German lender in recent weeks. It proposed to pay 11.50 billion rupees ($162 million) for 39 billion rupees of loans, excluding accrued interest, to a power ...

Bloomberg Citi Private Bank appointed Christian Schuwey, formerly from UBS Private Bank, as its head of South Asia FX Advisory, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg. Schuwey, who worked at UBS for more than 30 years in foreign-exchange roles, is based in Singapore, according to the memo. He will drive Citi’s efforts to grow in Southeast Asia, India, ...