Banking

Bloomberg A former Citigroup Inc currency trader told a jury that he plotted with rivals at other banks in chat rooms, on the phone and at social gatherings to rig currency trades while their customers were led to believe they were actually competing with each other. “The purpose was to try to make more money trading,” Christopher Cummins testified in ...

Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group Ltd profit was little changed as the lender faced a slowing economy and higher customer-compensation costs. Cash profit from continuing operations was A$6.47 billion ($4.46 billion) in the year ended on September 30, compared to A$6.49 billion the year before, the Melbourne-based lender said. “This has been a challenging year of slow ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc leaders have been coy about backing up their recent assertion that the Apple Inc card is the industry’s most successful credit card launch ever. Regulatory filings offer a first glimpse into the numbers that had the bank gushing. After a full roll-out of the card last quarter, credit lines the bank has extended to Apple ...

Bloomberg Christine Lagarde’s first day as the new president of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt protesters were brandishing a sign reading: “If the Earth was a bank you’d have long rescued it.” The march by some 150 people to the ECB’s headquarters — following a similar demonstration at the Bank of England last month — highlighted how technocrats tasked ...

Bloomberg China’s room to ease monetary policy to aid the slowing economy is being limited further by price rises due the ongoing swine fever epidemic, economists said. Analysts from Nomura International Ltd and Changjiang Securities Co warned that surging consumer inflation has become a major constraint on the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and the likelihood for major monetary easing ...

Bloomberg Investors are bracing for the dollar to keep appreciating through at least early 2020 even though the Federal Reserve looks poised to cut rates and the risk of a US recession remains elevated. The dollar has already surprised investors by holding steady even after Fed reductions in July and September. Now, with the world’s growth outlook decidedly downbeat, Columbia ...

Bloomberg Kenya should do more than removing interest-rate caps to boost access to finance and credit extension, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Africa director said. “There is also a need to foster more competition in the banking system,” Abebe Selassie said in an interview in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The sector should “have effective credit bureaus and quick resolution of disputes,” ...

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) could turn to unconventional monetary policy as soon as February following the decision by lenders to only pass on part of the latest interest-rate cut, according to Citigroup Inc. The central bank is likely to cut again in February, and with lenders’ ability to pass on such reductions now constrained “this date is ...

Bloomberg Swedbank AB faces an increased risk of fines amid allegations its Baltic operations may have handled more than $100 billion in potentially suspicious funds, the lender’s regulator said. Sweden’s financial watchdog gave its strongest indication yet that there’s evidence of serious wrongdoing at Sweden’s oldest bank and biggest mortgage lender. Its findings to date show there could be grounds ...

Bloomberg Thousands of 50-pence coins minted to commemorate Brexit on October 31 will be melted down after Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted an extension from the European Union, two people familiar with the matter said. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid had announced plans for millions of coins engraved with the date Johnson pledged to leave the bloc, but ...