Banking

Bloomberg The Italian state lender that’s backing Elliott Management Corp. in a battle for the future of Telecom Italia SpA is considering doubling its stake in the former phone monopoly, people familiar with the matter said. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA was authorized by its board to buy as much as 10 percent of Telecom Italia’s stock if a management ...

Bloomberg Greece plans to pump as much as 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) into its banks over the next five years by subsidizing a part of households’ mortgage repayments. Under the plan, some households unable to repay their home loans will restructure their debts with the banks, with the state then paying part of the remaining monthly installments, according to ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) took a step closer to injecting fresh stimulus into the weakening euro-area economy as one of its top policy makers said discussions are under way on offering banks new long-term loans. The comments by Benoit Coeure, the ECB Executive Board member in charge of markets, provided the strongest signal yet that euro-area policy makers ...

Bloomberg Yes Bank Ltd. came under fire from the Reserve Bank of India, which said its selective disclosures from an audit report by the regulator was a “deliberate attempt” to mislead the public. The risk assessment report on Yes Bank prepared by the RBI identified several lapses and regulatory breaches in various areas of functioning, the company said in a ...

Bloomberg Commerzbank AG vowed to restore revenue growth after posting its weakest fourth quarter in four years as competition for corporate clients weighs on Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke’s turnaround plan. Revenue for the group declined 3.3 percent to 2.04 billion euros, the Frankfurt-based lender said. “Commerzbank will concentrate on further growth in the core segments, and is targeting higher ...

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) plans to award shareholders a special dividend as the British lender seeks to assuage concerns with the UK’s departure from the European Union looming. The bank, which required one of the costliest bailouts in financial history, swung to a better-than-expected profit before tax of 572 million pounds ($733 million) in the fourth ...

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA’s trading revenue plunged in the fourth quarter, extending a tough quarter for French investment banking after volatile markets at the end of the year kept clients on the sidelines. Capital-markets and investment-banking revenue declined 29 percent in the last three months of 2018, led by fixed income. However, the lender’s earnings are less dependent on investment ...

Bloomberg It was supposed to be China’s answer to JPMorgan Chase & Co. But less than five years after China Minsheng Investment Group Corp. (CMIG) outlined plans to become a financial colossus, the company has instead turned into a symbol of the turmoil sweeping China’s once-vaunted private sector. After shocking investors with a missed bond payment last month, CMIG has ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG aims to rebuild in the Middle East after years of cost cutting and has hired executives to help win debt and advisory deals. “We have pivoted from a pure cost-control focus in 2018 to a controlled, disciplined growth phase in 2019,” Jamal Al Kishi, chief executive officer of the Middle East and Africa for the Frankfurt-based ...

Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank pushed out its forecast for an interest-rate increase to early 2021, disappointing investors looking for signs of a policy easing later this year and sending the currency surging. Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr left the official cash rate at 1.75 percent on Wednesday in Wellington and said he expects to keep it there “through 2019 ...