Banking

Bloomberg Singapore will issue as many as five new digital bank licenses to non-bank firms as the island nation seeks to strengthen competition in financial services, according to one of its top regulators. “We welcome firms with innovative value propositions to apply for the new digital bank licenses, even if they have not yet established a track record in banking,” ...

Bloomberg Axis Bank Ltd. is considering raising at least $1.3 billion through a share sale to institutional investors, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the Indian lender seeks to bolster capital ratios and expand lending capacity. India’s third-largest private sector lender, led by Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Chaudhry, is talking to potential advisers about the fundraising, according to ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is preparing to start cutting hundreds of jobs in its global equity division, the first major cuts in a broader restructuring after a potential merger with Commerzbank AG collapsed. The German lender is set to finalise a plan that may eliminate positions in equities trading and research, as well as derivatives trading, the people said, asking ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) the second-biggest US bank, will stop lending to companies that run private prisons and detention centers. “We have decided to exit the relationship’’ with companies that provide prison and immigration-detention services, Vice Chairman Anne Finucane said in an interview. “We’ve done our due diligence that we said we would do at the annual meeting, ...

Bloomberg Three big Chinese banks extended their drop on Wednesday, after a US media report suggested they could face fallout from an investigation into North Korean sanctions violations. China Merchants Bank Co., Bank of Communications Co. and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. fell in Shanghai and Hong Kong trading after the Washington Post said that a US judge found three ...

Bloomberg The Czech central bank took a step back from Europe’s most aggressive campaign of interest-rate increases as global risks to the export-oriented economy overshadow domestic price pressures. After raising borrowing costs last month for the eighth time in two years, the central bank left the benchmark rate at 2 percent on Wednesday, in line with expectations. Policy makers have ...

Bloomberg HDFC Bank Ltd., India’s biggest lender by market value, has picked Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley to manage an initial public offering of its non-bank finance unit, people with knowledge of the matter said. The bank plans to sell the shares in HDB Financial Services Ltd. before March 31 in a deal that may raise about 100 ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the downside risks to the US economy have increased recently, reinforcing the case among policy makers for somewhat lower interest rates. “Crosscurrents have reem-erged, with apparent progress on trade turning to greater uncertainty and with incoming data raising renewed concerns about the strength of the global economy,” Powell told the Council on Foreign ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi is once again testing the boundaries of the law in his efforts to lift the euro zone out of its economic malaise. When the European Central Bank president promised last week to add monetary stimulus if the outlook doesn’t improve, he said one option is to resume large-scale purchases of government bonds. He also said self-imposed limits ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight meeting, while at the same time downgrading its economic growth outlook and raising concerns about the strong currency. The Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to hold its key rate at 1.75 percent, the central bank said in a statement, in line with almost all of ...