Banking

Bloomberg A further cut to negative Swiss interest rates could have the undesired effect of strengthening the franc as foreign investors pile into the country’s outperforming stock market to reap superior returns over bonds, former Swiss National Bank Chief Economist Kurt Schiltknecht wrote in daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung. “These investment opportunities don’t go unnoticed by foreign investors and often result ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s Hong Leong Finance Ltd sees the country’s plan to issue virtual banking licenses as an opportunity to find new customers and re-invent itself as a tech-savvy lender to the nation’s new businesses. The firm, founded in 1961, has been in talks with financial-technology companies about a joint application for one of the licenses, according to President Ang Tang ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank Abp’s activist investor Cevian Capital wants management to conduct an in-depth review of its wholesale banking activities after years of underperformance. Christer Gardell, managing partner at Stockholm-based Cevian, said that “it’s obvious that the segment is not performing,” in emailed comments to Bloomberg. That’s why Cevian thinks Nordea needs to do “a thorough review of the size ...

Bloomberg The Indian lender that’s been most hurt by a yearlong shadow banking crisis in the nation is getting a reprieve after a local media report that it’s in early talks to sell a stake to an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd-backed company. Shares of Yes Bank jumped as much as 8.5 percent on Wednesday. While the lender is the worst ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Ghana is strengthening its capacity to regulate lenders and avoid a repeat of a sector cleanup which cost the West African nation more than 14 billion cedis ($2.5 billion). The central bank’s supervision unit is employing more staff and acquired a new IT system to monitor compliance, Osei Gyasi, head of the division, told a conference ...

Bloomberg Pound volatility is at emerging-market (EM) levels and UK assets are set for a substantial repricing once the Brexit outcome becomes known, according to Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney. Carney made the comparison, which echoes a long-standing quip on trading desks, at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. When asked to comment ...

Bloomberg The pain from the Fed’s rate cuts is a little worse than the biggest US banks expected. JPMorgan Chase & Co reduced the annual net interest income target it set two months ago, joining Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co in lowering the bar. Longer-term rates have continued to fall as investors expect the Federal Reserve to continue ...

Bloomberg Societe Generale (SocGen) SA is studying ways to save 600 million euros ($662 million) in annual costs tied to its operations in Paris, part of an effort to win back investor confidence and improve returns. The review, known internally as “Ithaque,” started in June, according to a person familiar with the matter. No decision has been made and the ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke softened the lender’s mid-term revenue target just two months after setting it. The company now expects revenue of 24 billion euros ($26.6 billion) to 25 billion euros in 2022, von Moltke said at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference in New York. That compares with a goal of about 25 ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc is putting aside an estimated 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) more after a rush in last-minute payment protection insurance claims, threatening t he lender’s promise to return more money to shareholders. The bank said a “significantly higher volume of PPI-related claims” ahead of the regulatory deadline led to the provision of between 1.2 billion pounds and 1.6 ...