Bloomberg Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte surprised central bank watchers by naming his budget secretary as governor of the monetary authority. The peso slumped the most in more than five years. Benjamin Diokno, 70, will succeed Nestor Espenilla, who died in February after a battle with cancer. The new Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor will serve the remainder of his predecessor’s ...
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Australia’s central bank holds policy nerve
Bloomberg Australia’s central bank held its nerve in the face of a credit squeeze and tumbling property prices, keeping interest rates unchanged as it waits to see how consumers respond. Governor Philip Lowe kept the cash rate at 1.5 percent on Tuesday — as expected by markets and economists — saying “the main domestic uncertainty continues to be the strength ...
Read More »Malaysia keeps rate on hold amid low inflation
Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Tuesday, saying inflation is likely to remain low after the economy slipped into deflation in January. The central bank kept its overnight policy rate at 3.25 percent, in line with the forecasts of all 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Bank Negara Malaysia has left the rate on hold since ...
Read More »Nordea sinks as investors fear more laundering allegations
Bloomberg Nordea Bank Abp sank as much as 6.5 percent on Monday ahead of report due to be broadcast this afternoon that will focus on the biggest Nordic lender’s alleged involvement in money laundering. The news appeared to drag down a number of other Nordic bank shares with DNB ASA, Norway’s largest lender, falling as much as 4.6 percent. SEB ...
Read More »BNP wins dismissal of suit over $186mn ‘fat finger’ mistake
Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA won dismissal of a German lawsuit by a trader seeking 163 million euros ($186 million) for a “fat-finger†mistake in a 2015 transaction. The Frankfurt Regional Court on February 26 ruled it can’t look into merits of the case, which involved an error on the bank’s system that displayed derivatives priced at 108.80 euros each instead ...
Read More »Dalton calls for buybacks, board seat at Shinsei Bank
Bloomberg Dalton Investments stepped up its pressure on Shinsei Bank Ltd., continuing a years-long effort to bring change at the Japanese lender. The US investment firm is proposing that its co-founder, Jamie Rosenwald, be put on Shinsei’s board, according to a copy of a letter to Shinsei provided by Dalton to Bloomberg. Dalton also renewed its call for the bank ...
Read More »Euro area has a glimmer of hope as ECB waits for slowdown response
Bloomberg Scratch below the surface of the euro area’s dismal economic numbers and there’s a glimmer of hope that things could improve. While inflation remains in hibernation and factories are seeing orders drop, companies are continuing to hire and consumers are spending more from their rising wages. That’s why European Central Bank officials are showing reluctance to race into action ...
Read More »German growth to remain subdued: Bundesbank
Bloomberg German economic growth is likely to remain subdued at least through the first half of the year as deteriorating business expectations threaten to hamper company investment — yet there’s no reason for concern, according to the Bundesbank. “There are no signs that the slowdown is morphing into a downturn,†the country’s central bank said in its monthly report. Some ...
Read More »Trump says dollar too strong, swipes at Fed for rate hikes
Bloomberg President Donald Trump said that the US dollar is too strong, and took a swipe at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as someone who “likes raising interest rates.†The US economy is doing well in spite of the actions of the central bank, Trump said during a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. ...
Read More »RBC follows US banks in trading declines
Bloomberg The debt-trading malaise that hurt US lenders last quarter has extended north of the border, though Royal Bank of Canada’s equities traders helped soften the blow. The lender saw a 12 percent drop in trading revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities in the three months through January, advancing the trend that affected US banks including JPMorgan Chase & ...
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