Banking

Bloomberg China pledged to step up measures to shore up its troubled banks and small businesses while continuing a crackdown on shadow banking and property speculation, in a difficult balancing act that risks exacerbating a build up in bad debt at its traditional lenders. As concerns mount over the state of China’s $45 trillion financial system, the nation’s central bank ...

Bloomberg The pound rebounded from its new year hangover, on speculation the Bank of England could avoid an imminent cut to interest rates following a post-election economic boost. Sterling advanced against all major peers and halted its losing streak since the start of 2020, after the UK’s services sector unexpectedly showed signs of strengthening. This may ease pressure on the ...

Bloomberg Investors should be careful about assuming that strong US economic conditions guarantee that president Donald Trump will win another term in November, Morgan Stanley strategists warned. “The most common misconception among investors we talk to is that solid economic growth assures the president’s re-election,” strategists at the Wall Street bank including Michael Zezas wrote in a note on Monday. ...

Bloomberg Escalating friction between the US and Iran will likely have limited impact on Asian stock markets, according to UBS Global Wealth Management and JPMorgan Asset Management. Following the US airstrike that killed Iran’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani last week, Iran said it will no longer abide by any limits on its enrichment of uranium and Iraq’s parliament voted ...

Bloomberg The two bronze lion statues standing guard over HSBC Holdings Plc’s main offices in Hong Kong still bear the marks of an attack by protesters, who last week daubed them with red and black paint, setting at least one ablaze. Graffiti declared that HSBC had been dyed the red of China. HSBC has vowed to restore the iconic lions ...

Bloomberg Indian companies have started the year with more debt offerings overseas, after record issuance in 2019 driven by stronger borrowers turning abroad as local credit markets struggled. The firms sold a record $22 billion of notes overseas in 2019. Yield-hungry global investors have been betting that the kind of higher-rated Indian issuers that have been big sellers could continue ...

Bloomberg Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke delivered what he called “a relatively upbeat” assessment of the US central bank’s ability to fight the next recession. While the Fed has limited room to cut short-term interest rates because they’re already so low, Bernanke argued that quantitative easing and forward guidance could provide enough extra punch to combat a future economic ...

Bloomberg Emerging Asia’s top-performing currency in 2019 may find itself dethroned this year by a rival that’s also armed with a strong current-account surplus. Both the Thai baht, which took the regional crown with a 9% gain last year versus the US dollar, and the Taiwanese dollar climbed above the psychologically significant 30-per-dollar level this week. Scotiabank, among the top ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s “strict” foreign-exchange regulations will remain in force as the government seeks to stabilise the economy, the Pagina/12 newspaper reported, citing Production Minister Matias Kulfas. Lawmakers last month handed President Alberto Fernandez extraordinary powers to renegotiate debt terms with creditors and increase taxes, marking a victory on his first legislation since taking office last month. “In the current context, ...

Bloomberg Two more consortiums said they submitted bids for digital banking licenses in Singapore as companies, ranging from a massage chair maker to a property giant and Chinese fintech firms, joined forces to go for the sought-after permits. Beyond Consortium, led by one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, V3 Group Ltd and stored-value card company EZ-Link Pte, submitted a ...