Banking

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s traditional banks are set to face one of their biggest challenges yet: a new breed of financial technology firms estimated to snare as much as 30 percent of their revenue. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has granted three virtual bank licenses and is processing five more, Deputy Chief Executive Arthur Yuen said in a briefing on Wednesday. ...

Bloomberg Malaysia lowered its economic growth forecast for 2019, and pledged to keep policy accommodative as global risks weigh on the trade-reliant economy. Gross domestic product is expected to increase 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent in 2019, with trade tensions and lower commodity prices among the biggest wildcards, Bank Negara Malaysia said in its annual report on Wednesday. The projection ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has hired Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) Pcl’s Pimolpa Suntichok to head its business in Thailand, according to people with knowledge of the matter. She will join the German lender in May as chief country officer and head of the financing and solutions group for Thailand, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because ...

Bloomberg As Sweden gets to grips with the money laundering scandal battering its oldest bank, questions are being asked about the impartiality of those overseeing the case. Swedbank AB reportedly handled more than $10 billion in suspicious flows tied to the Danske Bank A/S Estonian laundering scandal. The case became public knowledge only this year, but according to Swedish media ...

Bloomberg Euro-area banks will know by June how generous the terms of the European Central Bank’s new loans are going to be, according to Governing Council member Olli Rehn. Policy makers have yet to pass judgment on the severity of the current slowdown that prompted that measure, the Finnish central bank governor told Bloomberg in an interview. They are determined ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. faces a 133 million yen ($1.2 million) fine for allegedly manipulating prices in the Japanese government bond futures market, its latest regulatory setback in Asia. Japan’s securities watchdog said Citigroup placed orders in October for JGB futures contracts at the Osaka Exchange without intending to execute them, a practice known as spoofing. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG has named Patrick Tsang as head of telecommunications, media and technology investment banking for Asia Pacific, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Tsang, a Hong Kong-based managing director for the Swiss bank, is replacing Randy Gelber, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter ...

Bloomberg A Japanese lender has this year bought the lion’s share of top-rated bonds that are backed by pools of European corporate loans, propping up the region’s market for collateralised debt obligations amid a very difficult first quarter. Norinchukin Bank, starved of yields thanks to Japan’s negative interest rates, is expected to keep buying AAA-rated tranches in Europe until at ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve may have to put interest-rate increases on hold or even ease monetary policy if economic forecasts for 2019 disappoint, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said. “At the moment, the risks from the downside scenarios loom larger than those from the upside ones,” Evans said in remarks prepared for a speech on Monday in Hong Kong. “If ...

Bloomberg Jens Weidmann may struggle to pass the test that France’s finance minister is setting for prospective successors to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. In a rare foray on the matter this week, Bruno Le Maire lavished praise on the Italian incumbent for quantitative easing, and suggested France would want someone with similar “courage” as a replacement. That may ...