Banking

Bloomberg Norway’s central bank is seen sticking to the script this week to slowly lift interest rates as it assesses the first tightening in more than seven years. Policy makers in Oslo will leave the benchmark rate at 0.75 percent when they announce their decision on Thursday, according to all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The meeting is in between monetary ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged as it cut its inflation outlook once again, underscoring how far away its price target is and how few options the central bank has for drawing closer. The BOJ maintained its yield curve-control program and asset purchases, it said in a statement on Wednesday, a result predicted by all but one ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s inflation rate reached the mid-point of the central bank’s target range of 3 percent to 6 percent in December — something the Reserve Bank says would allow for flexibility in dealing with price shocks. Consumer-price growth slowed to 4.5 percent from a year earlier compared with 5.2 percent in November, the Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in ...

Bloomberg Just when the Federal Reserve most needs fresh data to keep its policy in sync with the US economy, the government shutdown is getting in the way. Timely information on economic growth, jobs, consumer spending and inflation is always crucial to monetary policy making. Now, the longest shutdown on record is blocking the collection and reporting of many of ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG warned that the worst may not be over after clients pulled $13 billion in assets during a market meltdown in the final months of 2018. Increased volatility, rising protectionism and geopolitical tensions are still weighing on investors, which will hit wealth and asset management revenue in the first quarter, the Zurich-based bank said on Tuesday. Withdrawals ...

Bloomberg Philip Lane has staked his claim to become the European Central Bank’s (ECB) next chief economist — now he must wait to see if he has the field to himself. At a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, the Irish central-bank governor became the first nominee to replace Peter Praet on the ECB’s Executive Board in June. That puts him ...

Bloomberg Geneva prosecutors have opened a fresh investigation into alleged forgery by former Credit Suisse Group AG banker Patrice Lescaudron, seven weeks after his release from prison and just as appeals in the case got underway in Geneva. Swiss prosecutors in the more than three-year-old case are looking into how Lescaudron allegedly faked dozens of bank statements for one of ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan predicted another round of consolidation in the US that could lead to the emergence of a new competitor. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender, which controls about 13 percent of the US retail banking market, came together through the merger and acquisition of hundreds of companies, Moynihan said on a panel ...

Bloomberg Deciphering the intentions of Federal Reserve officials rarely gets this easy. As one after another preaches patience before their next interest-rate move, a tougher question is emerging about their plans to pause: Is this a pit stop or the peak? After nine rate increases since December 2015, Fed officials have shifted from signalling “gradual” tightening to a stance that ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) will only have a narrow window to raise interest rates before the euro-area economy becomes too weak, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Mario Draghi is seen lifting the deposit rate at his final meeting as president in October, but his successor will only have until spring of 2020 to tighten policy before ...