Banking

Bloomberg Facebook Inc’s Libra digital currency will be a focus for antitrust and financial regulators in the near future, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, confirming an early-stage probe into how the new payment system will work. “From both a competition and a financial stability perspective, Libra will have our interest,” Vestager told reporters in Copenhagen. She said the EU ...

Bloomberg Incoming European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde offered a clear sign that she’s ready to follow Mario Draghi’s path and keep monetary policy ultra-loose to lift euro-area inflation. In her first comprehensive comments on monetary policy since winning the job, she said the ECB has the tools to tackle a downturn and must be ready to use them ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG’s only retail banking franchise outside Europe is getting more investment, amid sweeping cost cuts and restructuring taking place elsewhere at the German lender. After receiving a 470 million euro ($520 million) capital injection earlier this year, Deutsche Bank’s Indian operation is set to hire about 140 people and boost its retail banking and wealth management operations. ...

Bloomberg The Australian central bank’s No. 2 official warned that current threats to the global rules-based trading system were a major risk to both his country’s economy and the world’s. Australia has been a key beneficiary of global trade, as its current account approaches its first surplus since the 1970s, Deputy Governor Guy Debelle said in Canberra. The local currency ...

Bloomberg China’s yuan is headed for a record monthly plunge as an intensifying trade war with the US damages investor confidence. The currency has plummeted 3.9% this month against the dollar, the biggest loss since January 1994, when the modern exchange-rate regime was adopted. The slump past the 7 level for the first time since the financial crisis comes as ...

Bloomberg Colombia has no leeway to join central banks around the world that are lowering interest rates to bolster growth, according to Ana Fernanda Maiguashca, a member of the central bank board. “Our inflation outlook, while not alarming, just doesn’t give us much space to provide greater stimulus to the economy,” Maiguashca said in a telephone interview. Central banks in ...

Bloomberg The stock market is starting to look good again to JPMorgan Chase & Co. After August’s sell-off, the time to buy stocks is approaching, strategists led by Mislav Matejka wrote in a note, saying equities will move higher starting with an up trend in September. Benchmarks including the S&P 500 Index, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index and the MSCI ...

Bloomberg A Berlin-based fintech company backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is acquiring one of its crosstown rivals as it tries to capitalise on the 12 trillion euros pension and retirement savings market in Europe. Raisin, originally a marketplace for bank-savings products, is buying 100% of Fairr’s share capital in exchange for Raisin shares as well as cash. Fairr, co-founded ...

Bloomberg Germany’s central bank is buffing up its green credentials as part of an international effort to spur lenders to brace for the fallout from climate change. The Bundesbank is heading a review of central-bank strategies to support sustainable investments, and scrutinizing the dynamics of the quickly growing market. Together with its peers, it’s working on a handbook on the ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) policy makers will need to muster a broad consensus in favour of more monetary stimulus in September to make it credible, Governing Council member Peter Kazimir said. While expectations among investors and economists are growing for a package of measures in September, there’s a risk of a split among officials on how comprehensive their response should ...