Banking

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc agreed to pay $20 million to settle an investor lawsuit accusing traders at the bank, along with 15 other financial institutions, of rigging prices for bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As part of the settlement, disclosed in a court filing, Goldman Sachs will cooperate with investors in their case against the other …

Bloomberg Ron Sim, founder of one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, is in talks to partner with a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte and other firms to bid for one of Singapore’s new virtual banking licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. V3 Group Ltd, Sim’s Singapore-based firm, is discussing forming a consortium with Temasek’s Heliconia Capital Management …

Bloomberg France added to the growing chorus of lawmakers and executives seeing consolidation as an avenue to revive Europe’s ailing banks, ahead of a key meeting that may jumpstart a plan to create a single market for the industry. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, speaking in an interview in Paris, said mergers to create “critical-size, global actors” in European finance would …

Bloomberg The world’s biggest banks pressed policy makers to pass an urgent Brexit fix to ensure European traders’ access to London derivatives clearinghouses and avoid rupturing 61 trillion pounds ($78 trillion) in contracts. The industry’s top lobbying associations told the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, that it must act fast or risk turmoil when the stopgap solution elapses …

Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank (RBNZ ) left interest rates unchanged — defying widespread expectations of a cut — saying there are signs the domestic economy will stop slowing and that inflation will pick up. The local currency jumped. “Economic developments since the August Statement do not warrant a change to the already stimulatory monetary setting at this time,” the …

Bloomberg It took two years, but Home Capital Group Inc shares have regained all their lost ground since the Canadian alternative mortgage lender almost collapsed in 2017. Home Capital has doubled this year to become the sixth-best performing stock on Canada’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index. The Toronto-based lender closed at C$29 on the Toronto Stock Exchange for a market value …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ecb)appointed Imene Rahmouni-Rousseau, a director at the Bank of France, as its next chief of market operations — a key role in implementing monetary policy following the resumption of quantitative easing. Rahmouni-Rousseau will take over as Director General Market Operations on February 1, replacing long-time chief Ulrich Bindseil, who now heads market infrastructure and payments …

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc said the prospect of rehiring a former trader after he was acquitted of rigging foreign-exchange markets last year is a “non-starter” following the “clearest possible breakdown in trust and confidence.” Rohan Ramchandani was fired after a swift investigation by the bank into his chatroom messages and is suing the bank in an employment tribunal in London, asking …

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is likely to signal again this week that monetary policy is on hold, buttressing the belief that he may steer clear of action through 2020. Surprisingly, that would be an historic anomaly for a US presidential election year. Rather than keeping its head down, the Fed has changed policy in one direction or another …

Bloomberg China’s local governments are helping inject fresh capital into small lenders across the country, part of an expanding campaign to restore confidence in the world’s largest banking system. At least 10 small Chinese banks have raised money this year by selling shares packaged with non-performing loans, in several cases to buyers controlled by local authorities. In at least one …