Banking

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has a new way of enforcing the world’s lowest interest rate. With the franc near a two-year high against euro, the SNB’s decade-old battle against an overly strong currency is back in focus. There’s evidence it’s been intervening again and analysts are increasingly betting that it will soon follow with a rate cut. That ...

Bloomberg Mark Carney laid out a radical proposal for an overhaul of the global financial system that would eventually replace the dollar as a reserve currency with a Libra-like virtual one. Just a few months before he steps down as Bank of England governor, Carney offered his vision for the international economy at a time of sweeping change. Trade wars ...

Bloomberg Commerzbank AG is considering cutting an additional 2,000 jobs as part of its strategy update this fall, as Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke contends with a weaker economy and the prospect of even lower interest rates. The bank would seek to achieve those cuts by 2022 or 2023, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Various other scenarios ...

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) and Banco Santander SA were ordered to appoint an independent auditor for their claim processes after issuing inaccurate information, or failing to send reminders altogether, about the insurance policies that turned into the costliest scandal in UK banking. The banks had previously been ordered to send yearly reminders, including how much customers ...

Bloomberg A Zurich-based fintech firm whose investors include Josef Ackermann has raised additional money to value the company at more than $1 billion as it prepares to expand outside its main market of Germany. Numbrs Personal Finance raised $40mn to bring the total capital invested to almost $200mn, CEO Martin Saidler said. Numbrs offers an app that enables users to ...

Bloomberg National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) has been sued by the securities regulator for allegedly accepting home loan applications from unlicensed ‘introducers.’ Under its so-called Introducer Program, the bank’s staff accepted information and documents in support of 297 loan applications from 25 people who weren’t licensed to engage in credit activity, Australian Securities and Investments Commission said in a statement. ...

Bloomberg Sri Lanka cut interest rates for a second time this year, a day after Indonesia did the same, as central banks in the region move to cushion their economies against a global slowdown and trade tensions. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka lowered its benchmark standing lending facility rate to 8% from 8.5%, in line with the forecasts of ...

Bloomberg At Wells Fargo & Co.’s town hall meetings, executives have fielded countless questions from employees about efforts to resolve scandals that erupted almost three years ago. One looming topic hasn’t come up recently: Who will run the bank? While the abrupt exit of Chief Executive Officer Tim Sloan in March kicked off a succession hunt that’s captivated the industry, ...

Bloomberg Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund ended a long-running bet on higher interest rates as market turmoil drove a quarter of its massive bond portfolio into yields below zero. After presenting second-quarter earnings in Oslo on Wednesday, Norges Bank Investment Management’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Trond Grande said the fund is now no longer short duration compared to its benchmark, ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists predict Federal Reserve officials will cut interest rates at each of their next two meetings — in part because of a desire to keep bond markets calm. Having lowered their benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 2-2.25% in July, policy makers will execute reductions of the same size in September and October with ...