Banking

Bloomberg Mario Draghi’s plans for a parting stimulus shot before he retires as European Central Bank president are laced with even more suspense than usual. While the ECB is widely expected to cut interest rates next month, the prospect of a renewed round of asset purchases is shrouded in uncertainty. Investors must judge how much quantitative easing the euro-zone economy ...

Bloomberg Three years into Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke’s turnaround, the party’s over. Shares of the lender fell to a record low, capping a roller coaster ride that saw the stock more than double after the CEO announced his plan, buoyed by expectations for higher interest rates and consolidation in European banking. Zielke has refocused the bank on ...

Bloomberg Australia’s back-to-back interest-rate cuts are flowing through the financial system and into the economy, while the falling currency should provide a similar stimulus to sustained declines of previous years, a senior Reserve Bank official said. “The transmission of monetary policy in Australia to financial conditions is working in the usual way,” Christopher Kent, assistant governor for financial markets, said ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) may have to do more than pump billions into foreign exchange markets into prevent the franc from appreciating to a damaging level. With data suggesting the central bank recently intervened after the currency rose to the highest since 2017 against the euro, an increasing number of economists expect the SNB to reduce its benchmark ...

Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd.’s push to reclaim market share lost while under the control of Barclays Plc is beginning to pay off at the South African lender’s main retail-banking business. First-half net income climbed 5.4% to 7.64 billion rand as Absa provided more personal loans and credit cards, while boosting the revenue it generates from fees and commissions, the Johannesburg-based ...

Bloomberg It doesn’t look like the hub of an online bank. But that’s what the yellow and blue metal kiosk becomes when Albert Agane locks himself behind the metal bars every day at 6 a.m. From his perch along a dusty suburban thoroughfare in Accra, the 28-year-old helps fellow Ghanaians withdraw or deposit cash for accounts they operate from their ...

Bloomberg Senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) officials reassured foreign companies that the currency won’t continue to weaken significantly, a day after the yuan fell below 7 per dollar for the first time since 2008. The central bank held a meeting with a number of foreign exporters in Beijing, at which officials also said that companies’ ability to buy and ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private banking unit agreed to pay about 294 million euros ($329 million) to settle a Belgian criminal probe into allegations it helped wealthy clients dodge hundreds of millions of euros in taxes. The preliminary agreement in Belgium’s largest criminal settlement still needs to be approved by a judge at a hearing that should take place ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday for the first time in more than four years to boost the economy, and said it sees more room to ease as global risks surge. The Monetary Policy Committee voted five to two to cut its key rate by a quarter-percentage point to 1.5%, the central bank ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by an unconventional 35 basis points, its fourth reduction this year to support a slowing economy. The repurchase rate was reduced to 5.4%, the lowest since 2010, surprising most of the 40 economists surveyed by Bloomberg who had predicted a quarter-point cut. AasthaGudwani, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch ...