Banking

Bloomberg The US imposed sanctions against Venezuela’s national development bank and four financial institutions it controls, alleging it helped prop up the government of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. The penalties were imposed on Banco de Desarrollo Economico y Social de Venezuela, or Bandes, the Treasury Department said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cited the arrest of opposition leader Juan Guaido’s ...

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged in Governor Benjamin Diokno’s first policy meeting, as officials remained cautious even as inflation eases. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas held the overnight reverse repurchase rate at 4.75 percent, it said in a statement in Manila, in line with the forecasts of all 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The ratio ...

Bloomberg It looks like a textbook example of political meddling with a central bank in an emerging market, except it’s happening in the US. President Donald Trump said he’s nominating former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to be a governor of the Federal Reserve — potentially putting a political loyalist in lockstep with Trump’s view on juicing the economy into the ...

Bloomberg Big banks extended losses into a fourth day, as 10-year Treasury yields tumbled, the 3-month/10-year yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007, US manufacturing data missed expectations and Europe’s economic outlook darkened. The KBW Bank Index slid 4.5 percent, the most since December 4, to a session low after President Trump said he will nominate long-time supporter ...

Bloomberg Swedbank AB may now be facing substantial fines for money laundering that could put pressure on its capital buffers. Sweden’s oldest bank has so far failed to convince markets that it stayed on the right side of the law amid allegations it was used to launder more than $10 billion from the former Soviet Union. A report intended to ...

Bloomberg India delayed the introduction of tough new accounting rules for the second year running, in a move that will spare the country’s banks from adding another layer to the $190 billion pile of bad loans on their books. The Reserve Bank of India said that legislative amendments needed to implement the new Indian Accounting Standards are still under consideration ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG pledged to reverse years of declining revenue and kept a key profit target intact, striking a more upbeat tone than some rivals as it starts merger talks with Commerzbank AG. The defiant outlook — just two days after UBS Group AG warned that the first quarter was one of the worst environments in recent history — ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it’s up to Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG executives to decide if their historic merger plans make sense, exposing divisions in the coalition. The plan to combine Germany’s two biggest lenders is a private business matter, Merkel said at the Global Solutions summit in Berlin, after the lenders announced talks on a deal ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s central bank sees inflation behaving well in the next financial year beginning July, but will stand ready to use monetary policy tools after the most aggressive interest rate tightening in Asia last year, its governor said. Consumer price growth will be anchored by low food inflation, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa said in an interview. While ...

Bloomberg Norway’s central bank is leaving its closest peers behind. Policy makers in Scandinavia’s richest economy are this week expected to raise interest rates to their highest level in almost four years. The step will mark a second hike since September, helping to cap inflation in western Europe’s biggest oil exporter. Backed by oil income that pumps massive amounts of ...