Banking

Bloomberg It’s not every day that a bank gets thrown out of a country. But, Estonia took the extraordinary step of telling Danske Bank A/S to get out. Within two hours, Danske did the country’s financial watchdog one better: the harassed Danish lender annou- nced a retreat from the entire Baltic region as well as Russia. It’s the latest dramatic ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG plans to start rebuilding its South African workforce just months after scaling back staff and cutting costs as part of a global restructuring. “The hiring we’re currently pursuing is geared towards enhancing the areas where we have global and local strengths, such as fixed income,” South Africa Chief Executive Officer Muneer Ismail said in an interview. ...

Bloomberg Some of the European Central Bank’s heavy hitters are laying the groundwork for action. The top economist and the market chief at the Frankfurt-based institution have already signalled they’re discussing options in case the current euro-area slowdown worsens, and the vice president echoed that on Tuesday. There have been similar hints from Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who is the ...

Bloomberg Greece’s government submitted to the European Commission a plan to help the country’s banks speed up their bad-loan disposals, in a bid to restore confidence in the battered sector, according to two people familiar with the matter. Greek banks are grappling with 88.6 billion euros ($100 billion) of bad loans, a legacy of the country’s financial crisis. That constrains ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is bracing for riskier times after missing fourth-quarter earnings estimates, warning that political tensions in its key markets have made the prognosis for 2019 far less predictable. Chief Executive Officer John Flint has vowed to keep a keener eye on costs while avoiding additional payouts to shareholders, after a disappointing quarter capped his first year in ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank should signal interest-rate cuts to draw more foreign money into the nation’s bonds, according to a top emerging markets asset manager. The current-account deficit will remain manageable and Bank Indonesia has room to reverse some of the rate hikes it implemented last year, Anil Kumar, who helps manage about $76 billion of funds at Ashmore Plc, ...

Bloomberg Japan Inc.’s record acquisition spree is proving to be better news for overseas investment banks than for their home-grown rivals. Foreign firms led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grabbed the first three places in Japan’s merger advisory rankings last year, handling deals worth a combined 44.6 trillion yen ($403 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nomura Holdings Inc, ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank approved an early transfer of a part of its profit to the government, which is desperate for cash to fund populist pledges ahead of a national election. The Reserve Bank of India’s board, approved 280 billion rupees ($4 billion) as interim dividend, according to a statement. This is the second straight year that the RBI has ...

Bloomberg Yes Bank Ltd. fell after India’s central bank reprimanded it for selectively revealing a “confidential” report by the regulator that led to a 30 percent surge in the lender’s shares. The regulator called the disclosure a “deliberate attempt” to mislead the public. The risk assessment report on Yes Bank prepared by the Reserve Bank of India identified several lapses ...

Bloomberg When HNA Group Co. became Deutsche Bank AG’s top shareholder in early 2017, the German lender’s shares were trading near two-year highs and the fledgling Chinese airline was voicing ambitions of turning into a big player on Wall Street. Then both firms ran into roadblocks. HNA has since lost its seemingly insatiable appetite for growth, embarking on a selling ...