Banking

Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand held its benchmark interest rate steady at an all-time low and cut its forecasts for economic growth, saying it was gauging whether further efforts were needed to restrain the local currency. The central bank kept its policy rate at 1.25% on Wednesday in a unanimous decision. All 23 economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted a ...

Bloomberg Togo and the World Bank have agreed a $150 million loan to refinance its more expensive debt after the global lender failed to guarantee the initial 300 million euros that the country is seeking. “Due to the refusal of the new board of the World Bank to guarantee the syndicated loans,” Togo has held discussions on a cheaper loan,” ...

Bloomberg Traders have ramped up bets for the Bank of England (BOE) to lower interest rates at the end of 2020 after Prime Minister Boris Johnson reignited fears of a no-deal Brexit. Money markets see an 80% probability of the central bank cutting by 25 basis points in December 2020, up from about 30%. While Johnson’s victory last week fueled ...

Bloomberg Grab Holdings Inc and gaming company Razer Inc will need to demonstrate how their millions of users can help them generate profits if the two technology firms are to win one of Singapore’s coveted virtual banking licenses. That’s because the Monetary Authority of Singapore is putting more emphasis on profitability and strong capital requirements than some other regulators inviting ...

Bloomberg The pound slumped more than 1% after UK prime minister Boris Johnson moved to change the law to guarantee the Brexit transition phase isn’t extended beyond the end of next year, reviving the threat of a no-deal split. Sterling dropped by the most since July as traders reacted to the news. Johnson’s planned legislation will include legal text to ...

Bloomberg A German court paved the way for the trial of six people including three former London-based investment bankers for their role in the nation’s Cum-Ex tax scandal. The ruling by a court in the city of Wiesbaden sets up a second trial in the country over the trading strategy that’s triggered multiple probes by German prosecutors involving about 500 ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in November as food prices continued climbing following border closures. Consumer prices rose 11.9% from a year earlier compared with 11.6% in October, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published on Tuesday. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.8%. Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark rate ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s operation to inject cash into the financial system over the end of the year was oversubscribed on Monday, an indication that demand for funding through the beginning of 2020 remains ravenous. Primary dealers submitted $54.25 billion in bids for the Fed’s 32-day term repo operation, which matures January 17. That was more ...

Bloomberg India this week joined a select club of countries offering fund transfers around the clock, a move that will give banks more flexibility to manage their liquidity requirements, the central bank said. The National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) sees transactions worth 800 billion rupees ($11.3 billion) daily and the round-the-clock service is expected to boost online transactions for customers ...

Bloomberg The Credit Suisse Group AG spying incident surrounding the departure of former wealth management head Iqbal Khan might not be an isolated case. The bank may have spied on former Chief Human Resources Officer Peter Goerke, Swiss newspaper NZZ reported, citing documents it obtained as part of an investigation. A former Credit Suisse employee in the US also recently ...