Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley improved on last year’s poor results in the first round of the latest Federal Reserve stress tests, a sign they may have more flexibility to boost payouts to shareholders. In figures posted by the Fed, the pair didn’t come as close to breaching regulatory minimums as they did last year, offering hope ...
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Only a few lenders reap rewards from digital shift globally
Bloomberg While global banks have been pouring money into information technology — to the tune of $1 trillion over three years — only a handful appear to be fully committed to a digital transformation and are therefore reaping the benefits, according to an Accenture Plc study. Just 19 of the 161 largest retail and commercial banks that the consulting firm ...
Read More »BOJ stands pat as Fed, ECB signal rate cuts amid global growth risks
Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept monetary policy unchanged, just hours after the Federal Reserve became the latest central bank to signal a willingness to cut interest rates in the face of rising threats to global growth. The BOJ maintained its interest rates and asset purchases, it said in a statement. All 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted ...
Read More »Brazil holds interest rate at a record low
Bloomberg Brazil held its benchmark interest rate at a record low and signaled it can cut borrowing costs to help a frail economy once a key austerity measure advances further in Congress. The bank’s board, led by its President Roberto Campos Neto, kept the Selic unchanged at 6.50 percent in a decision expected by all but one of the 39 ...
Read More »StanChart makes ‘digital fray’ in Ivory Coast
Bloomberg In the Ivory Coast, Standard Chartered Plc may have found its template for the future of banking. Didier Drogba, the retired Ivorian soccer star, was drafted as a “digital bank ambassador†on social media. Fifteen months later, more than 18,000 of his compatriots have signed up for digital-only accounts, outstripping the London-based lender’s early targets. Ivory Coast is just ...
Read More »Lloyds fined $58mn by FCA over HBOS scandal
Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc’s Bank of Scotland unit was fined $58 million by UK’s finance regulator over a scandal at the bank’s Reading division that siphoned millions from failing businesses a decade ago. The company “failed to alert the regulator and the police about suspicions of fraud at its Reading branch when those suspicions first became apparent,†the Financial ...
Read More »Draghi’s new stimulus plan may include rate cuts, asset buying
Bloomberg Mario Draghi is set on pushing the limits of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) firepower right up until he leaves office. With little more than four months to go in his job, the ECB president has all but pledged new stimulus for Europe’s flagging economy that may include both interest-rate cuts and asset purchases. Adding potency to that statement ...
Read More »Banks postpone assets move as Brexit looms
Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc are among global firms postponing the transfer of several billion euros of capital outside the UK despite regulatory pressure to complete the move. Other lenders including Citigroup Inc. have only shifted part of the assets they were initially planning to relocate due to the delays in Brexit, people familiar with the ...
Read More »Morocco holds key rate despite nation’s dim economic outlook
Bloomberg Morocco’s central bank held its benchmark rate steady, refusing to budge even as the country’s economic prospects took a turn for worse. The decision, which Bank Al-Maghrib said was link-ed to bullish inflation projections and monetary conditions, came even as government pres-ses ahead with measures that will inject billions of dirhams into the economy — steps that also are ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank weighs sweeping changes at senior level
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing is planning sweeping changes to his top management, considering replacing finance chief James von Moltke and investment banking head Garth Ritchie, as he purges executives who rose under his predecessor. The bank is expected to decide on the future of several management members within weeks, according to people familiar with the ...
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