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 ...
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Pakistan bank bucks global trend with plan for 200 new branches
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 ...
Read More »Metro Bank falls despite progress in fundraising
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 ...
Read More »JPMorgan bets $1bn of its own cash again for Sinclair deal
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 ...
Read More »Fed faces skepticism over plan to improve monetary strategy
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 ...
Read More »Shadow banks feel sting as Indian mutual funds cut exposure
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 ...
Read More »Philippines cuts rate, mulls easing reserve ratio to bolster economy
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 ...
Read More »Brazil holds key rate, signals no cuts in sight
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 ...
Read More »Bank secrecy rules get rethink after Danske laundering shock
Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S is turning into a case study for European regulators, legislators and bankers to rethink fundamental assumptions about how the finance industry should operate. First up is the principle that bank clients should be protected by secrecy laws. The sheer scale of the Danske money-laundering scandal means those rules may now get a review. The financial regulator ...
Read More »Fed likely to cut rates as US raises Chinese import tariffs
Bloomberg The Federal Reserve probably will be more inclined to cut interest rates now that President Donald Trump has followed through on his threat to increase tariffs on US imports from China. But it won’t rush into doing so. While the higher levies will put upward pressure on inflation by raising import prices, the central bank will likely be more ...
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