Banking

Bloomberg Swedish inflation was back at the target in April, bringing comfort to the Riksbank as it struggles to bring interest rates back above zero after years of extreme monetary policy. Consumer prices with a constant interest rate rose an annual 2.0% in April, according to Statistics Sweden. That was in line with the 2.0% predicted in a survey of ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve officials are speaking out about rising inequality and the harm it does the US economy, but most still hesitate to say monetary policy can do much to help. Neel Kashkari is starting to sound like an exception. Since becoming president of the Minneapolis Fed in 2016, he’s been a consistent dove, arguing for keeping interest rates lower ...

Bloomberg Germany’s latest banking upstart has a message for the millennials it’s trying to lure away from giants like Deutsche Bank AG: We’re one of the good guys. Hamburg-based Tomorrow, which offers free current accounts via mobile phones, promises to use customer deposits to finance only sustainable projects such as renewable energy and organic agriculture. The company claims that its ...

Bloomberg As banks around the world shut branches and lay off tellers, Pakistan’s Faysal Bank is headed in the opposite direction in the hope that a drive into Islamic financial services will boost deposits and shareholder returns. The Karachi-based lender plans to open 200 new branches offering Shariah-compliant deposit accounts in the next two years, and convert 40 regular branches ...

Bloomberg Shares in Metro Bank Plc fell more than 9% to a fresh record low despite the British lender’s assurances that its 350 million-pound ($455 million) share sale to repair its finances was well advanced. Metro has started “final discussions with existing shareholders and new investors, and the feedback continues to be positive,” the firm said in a statement, confirming ...

Bloomberg To help pull off the biggest media deal of the year, JPMorgan Chase & Co. embraced a Wall Street practice that fell out of favor after the financial crisis. The largest US bank agreed to take a $1 billion equity stake using its own money. The check helped Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. amass the cash it needed for a ...

Bloomberg A posse of Federal Reserve policy makers met with skepticism when they described ways to potentially improve their management of the economy. Participants at a Hoover Institution monetary conference questioned whether the central bankers have the will or the way to implement the fresh strategies they outlined, including average inflation targeting. The experts also voiced concern that the US ...

Bloomberg India’s biggest investors in shadow bank debt are getting cold feet, spelling more trouble for the hard-hit sector. Mutual fund investments in commercial paper and bonds that mature within 90 days dropped to 3.24 trillion rupees ($46.4 billion) at the end of March, the lowest in six quarters, data from the securities regulator show. The fallout from shock defaults ...

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank cut its benchmark interest rate and will consider easing the reserve ratio for lenders next week to boost economic growth from a four-year low. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas lowered the overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to 4.5%, the first reduction since an operational adjustment to the rate in 2016. The Philippines joins Malaysia ...

Bloomberg Brazil held its benchmark interest rate at a record low and signaled that a period of weaker-than-expected growth is still insufficient for reduced borrowing costs. The bank’s board, led by its President Roberto Campos Neto, voted unanimously to keep the Selic rate unchanged at 6.50 percent. The monetary authority has held borrowing costs steady for roughly a year. In ...