Banking

Bloomberg Sweden’s central bank committed to a plan to raise interest rates this year and dropped a mandate that had allowed policy makers to intervene rapidly in the currency market to help drive inflation higher. The krona gained on the news, after many in the market had expected the Stockholm-based Riksbank to signal a more cautious stance. The bank left ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) reduced purchases of bonds for the first time in two months, stepping in to arrest a decline in yields amid a global debt rally spurred by rising risks to growth worldwide. The central bank offered to buy 180 billion yen ($1.6 billion) of securities maturing in 10-to-25 years at regular operation, versus 200 billion ...

Bloomberg ABN Amro Group NV missed fourth quarter profit estimates on increased anti-money laundering costs and an anticipated dividend increase failed to materialise. The Dutch lender kept its dividend at 1.45 euros for 2018, the same as the year before, missing analyst estimates of 1.54 euros. Fourth quarter net income was 316 million euros, this result includes 85 million euros ...

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA reminded investors that juicy bonds can come with nasty surprises. The Spanish lender rattled the bank Additional Tier 1 market by saying it will skip an option to call 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) of perpetual contingent-convertible notes next month, sending the bonds tumbling. The announcement came right at the deadline for a decision, after the ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is paying some of the highest rates among large banks to raise debt this year, highlighting a key obstacle in the lender’s turnaround effort. Germany’s biggest bank this week sold $1.25 billion of three-year dollar bonds that pay 255 basis points over benchmark interest rates, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc may unveil plans to pay out more money to shareholders to fend off criticism of its investment-banking performance — and continued pressure from activist Edward Bramson. That’s a growing view among several analysts ahead of the London-based bank’s earnings report on February 21. Returning surplus capital could be part of a “cohesive strategy to improve returns,” said ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG reduced the 2018 bonus pool for its investment bankers in Asia by about 8 percent after a slump in equity offerings last quarter hurt fees, according to people familiar with the matter. Managing directors were the hardest hit, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. More executive directors will get ...

Bloomberg The world’s lowest interest rate will be around for longer than previously anticipated, with economists forecasting that a dovish shift for central banks around the world will also affect Switzerland. Citing a delay in European Central Bank tightening, Zuercher Kantonalbank’s David Marmet pushed back his expectations for a 25 basis point increase in the Swiss National Bank’s deposit rate ...

Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank may acknowledge the rising risk of an interest-rate cut when it delivers its first policy decision of the year. While Governor Adrian Orr is expected to hold the official cash rate at a record-low 1.75 percent on Wednesday and signal no change for some time, he could concede there’s an increasing possibility of looser policy ...

Bloomberg A policy of cautious lending to the silk weavers and shopkeepers of Tamil Nadu has allowed a small local bank to outpace the largest Indian banks in terms of share price performance. City Union Bank Ltd., a small lender based in Kumbakonam, has risen more than 27 percent over the last twelve months, the best performance of any Indian ...