Banking

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 ...

Bloomberg The UK is considering delaying two key announcements in the latest sign that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is on an election footing. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid may wait to name a successor to Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney until after Britain’s planned October 31 departure from the European Union. Javid may also have to ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) has hired investment banker Samardh Kumar from Citigroup Inc. to co-head a recently formed group focused on emerging private companies. Kumar, a managing director, will lead the emerging growth and regional coverage group alongside New York-based banker Brendan Hanley, who was appointed to the role in July, according to an internal company memo. Kumar ...

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) is in talks with companies including Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. about seeking one of the city-state’s planned virtual bank licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. Singapore’s second-largest bank would take a minority stake in any virtual-banking joint venture and sees it as a way to tap new customers and markets. For example, Singtel might ...

Bloomberg The global hunt for yield is a boon for Chinese banks raising capital via perpetual bonds. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. sold 85 billion yuan ($12 billion) of perpetual bonds last week at a coupon of 4.39%, the lowest level since lenders first started selling the debt instruments in January. Total sales of the bonds, which lack a maturity ...