Banking

Bloomberg US banks think a Wall Street revival is coming. Executives cited a good start to April and the expectation of several large initial public offerings in coming months to offer hope after a rough start to 2019 for their capital-markets businesses. The five largest Wall Street firms’ trading and investment banking revenue both fell in back-to-back quarters, the first …

Bloomberg South Korea’s central bank cut its economic growth and inflation forecasts and left its key interest rate unchanged as the nation’s export-dependent economy faces rising risks. BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol said the gross domestic product was now expected to grow 2.5 percent and inflation to register 1.1 percent in 2019. Those marked downgrades from forecasts of 2.6 percent and …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) cut bond purchases for the first time in two months, surprising traders as local markets approach a 10-day shutdown for this year’s extended Golden Week holidays. The central bank offered to buy 160 billion yen ($1.4 billion) of securities maturing in the 10-to-25 year zone at regular operation, versus 180 billion yen previously. It …

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have made an important shift in their strategy for dealing with inflation in a prelude to what could be a more radical change next year. The central bank has backed off the interest-rate hikes it had been delivering to avoid a potentially dangerous rise in inflation that economic theory says could …

Bloomberg The biggest US banks have leaned on retail banking businesses to offset a prolonged slump in trading and drive record profits. Now comes the question of whether they can keep it up. The lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., are delivering on the promise that the stockpiles of deposits they spent years attracting …

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. both delivered better-than-expected earnings. Instead of celebrating, executives were assuring investors they’ll make more progress on revamping units that are dragging down results. Growth stalled at Citigroup’s consumer unit, so executives pointed to green shoots in a digital bank effort. Goldman Sachs had the biggest first-quarter trading decline among banks that have …

Bloomberg China’s central bank cut some of the long-term funding it supplies banks in a sign it may be dialing back its monetary stimulus as the economy strengthens. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) rolled over about half of the funds coming due via 1-year medium-term lending, and also offered to lend 160 billion yuan ($24 billion) for 7 days …

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) is looking for a Chinese firm to team up with on a securities joint venture on the mainland, the latest foreign bank seeking to capitalsise on the nation’s financial-industry loosening. Obtaining a Chinese securities license would allow OCBC to do asset management, investment banking and fund management business in the nation, Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien …

Bloomberg Commerzbank AG has been sounded out by ING Groep NV about a possible combination of the two lenders, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the German firm’s talks with domestic rival Deutsche Bank AG draw increasing criticism. Commerzbank shares extended gains after Manager Magazin first reported the talks, citing people it didn’t identify. ING Chief Executive …

Bloomberg The delay to Brexit has potentially given the Czech central bank a small window to raise borrowing costs this year as it tries to put a lid on price growth before the economy slows, board member Tomas Holub said. After leading Europe with five interest-rate hikes last year, policy makers in Prague will most likely deliver only one in …