Banking

Bloomberg The impending bankruptcy of PG&E Corp is threatening to foist large liabilities on five banks that have agreed to act as buyers of last resort for more than $760 million of bonds that the teetering utility issued through California government agencies. The company’s announcement that it plans to seek protection from creditors triggered a surge of selling by owners ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a second month, while keeping the door open for more policy action if needed. After hiking by 175 basis points since May, Bank Indonesia kept its seven-day reverse repurchase rate at 6 percent, as predicted by all 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Governor Perry Warjiyo said the rate was ...

Bloomberg It’s shaping up to be a sad bonus season for Europe’s battered bankers. ING Groep NV said payouts will be “significantly smaller” after the largest Dutch lender paid record fines to end a money-laundering probe. Two of France’s top banks are also weighing lower rewards after their trading units were hit by a broader downturn. At Deutsche Bank AG, ...

Bloomberg A combination of the China trade war and government shutdown could be enough to tip the US economy into recession this year, according to Torsten Slok, Deutsche Bank’s chief international economist. The stark warning comes amid emerging signs that the world’s biggest economy is slowing down as gauges of manufacturing and consumer sentiment have fallen in recent weeks. Economists ...

Bloomberg Angola’s central bank, which revoked two lenders’ banking licenses this month, will shut down more institutions if they fail to meet minimum capital levels amid an asset-quality review, Governor Jose Lima de Massano said. Bad loans have crippled the banking sector of Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after a sharp drop in crude prices in mid-2014 triggered a three-year economic ...

Bloomberg Societe Generale SA is considering closing its proprietary-trading unit, people familiar with the matter said, a week after French rival BNP Paribas SA decided to shut its operation. SocGen executives are reviewing the future of the Descartes Trading division, which makes risky bets with its shareholders’ funds, said the people, who requested anonymity as the details are private. The ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles expressed optimism about the state of the US economy, calling strong hiring and low inflation a “good environment” even as investors focus on mounting threats to growth. “Clearly markets are more attuned currently to the downside risks, but the core base case remains very strong,” Quarles, the central bank’s vice chairman for supervision, said ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi is running out of time to say whether he’ll shake up the responsibilities of his top officials to ensure smooth leadership in the supervision of the region’s banks. The European Central Bank president faces a deadline of February 11, when Executive Board member Sabine Laut- enschlaeger’s non-renewable five-year term as vice chair of bank supervision expires. He ...

Bloomberg Morgan Stanley, the world’s second-largest wealth manager, is beefing up its services for rich clients in Singapore with a focus on Chinese entrepreneurs looking to set up family offices in the city state. “The city is a key business hub for China entrepreneurs, as well as a family office nexus,” Vincent Chui, who heads the bank’s Asia wealth operations, ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Italy cut its growth forecast for this year and next while signalling that the euro region’s third-biggest economy might have slipped into a new recession at the end of 2018. The economy is seen expanding 0.6 percent this year and 0.9 percent next, down from prior projections of 1 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, the central ...