Banking

Bloomberg Brazil held its benchmark interest rate unchanged and signalled that Congress needed to approve cost-cutting measures before borrowing costs can fall. The bank board, led by its President Ilan Goldfajn, kept the Selic rate at 6.50 percent for a seventh straight meeting in a decision expected by all 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. It was likely the last ...

Bloomberg Major US banks shaved about $21 billion from their tax bills last year — almost double the IRS’s annual budget — as the industry benefited more than many others from the Republican tax overhaul. By year-end, most of the nation’s largest lenders met or exceeded their initial predictions for tax savings. On average, the banks saw their effective tax ...

Bloomberg The impact of Brexit on London’s financial sector came into stark relief as a judge approved plans by a UBS Group AG unit to shift some of its UK business — involving assets valued at more than 32 billion euros ($36.5 billion) — to Germany. The Swiss bank’s plans are a response to the “external shock” of Britain’s exit ...

Bloomberg Casper von Koskull, the chief executive officer of Nordea Bank Abp, says he has no intention of becoming a market leader when it comes to offering the fattest pay packages to entice talent. The comments come as the biggest Nordic lender revealed that the amount of money it set aside to pay bonuses to its employees slumped 31 percent ...

Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA cut revenue and profitability targets after the French bank was among the hardest hit by a stock market rout at the end of last year. France’s biggest lender is planning 600 million euros ($684 million) in additional cost cuts, focussing on the investment bank that Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe had targeted as a growth driver. ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged for a second meeting as policy makers face slowing economic growth while inflation remains far above target. The Central Bank of Iceland kept its key interest rate at 4.5 percent, according to a statement. The bank predicted that growth in the smallest Nordic economy will cool to 1.8 percent this year, ...

Bloomberg Christian Sewing’s options for turning around Deutsche Bank AG are shrinking. After an eighth straight quarter of declining revenue, reaction from investors and analysts suggested that the cost cutting at the heart of the chief executive’s strategy won’t be enough to keep markets at bay. “I can hardly see a future for Deutsche Bank as long as there’s no ...

Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has set up a department to oversee and eliminate financial risks, as part of its restructuring of departments and personnel. The PBOC established the macro-prudential management bureau to draft rules, monitor and handle financial systemic risks, and to advise on currency issues including yuan convertibility, according to a statement published by the State ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell met President Donald Trump at the White House for dinner to discuss the economy’s performance and outlook, but the central bank said its chief did not share his expectations for monetary policy. Powell’s comments were “consistent with his remarks at his press conference of last week,” the Fed said in a statement. “He did ...

Bloomberg A regulatory spring-clean that’s cut the number of Ghanaian banks by almost a third is strengthening the industry, brightening prospects for lending growth and easing the pain of unpaid debts. The expanding economy is also helping lenders put behind them years of challenges weighing on the West African nation — including daily power outages, poor banking regulation and an ...