Banking

Bloomberg Ghana completed a cleanup of its banking industry in which lenders were required to raise their capital and improve governance, with two-thirds of them meeting the new requirements, Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Addison said. The West African nation has “23 well-capitalised” banks, compared with 34 previously, which raised their holdings to at least 400 million cedis ($81.1 million), ...

Bloomberg South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Francois Groepe has resigned, leaving only five people on the central bank’s rate-setting panel. He will leave at the end of the month, which is after the Monetary Policy Committee’s next interest-rate decision on January 17. Groepe has been a deputy governor and member of the MPC since January 2012. The MPC increased ...

Bloomberg Jerome Powell has been sucked into a one-sided communication fight with Donald Trump, who blames the Federal Reserve chairman for losses in the stock market. Powell can’t match the president’s megaphone on social media. But he can try to prevent equity prices becoming the barometer of Fed success by reminding the public that Congress gave it a different mandate: ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled the central bank could pause interest-rate increases if the US economy weakened and pledged he will stay at his post even if President Donald Trump presses him to resign. Invoking events of 2016, when the Fed held rates unchanged through most of the year amid financial market turmoil spurred by concerns over slower ...

Bloomberg Polish central bank Governor Adam Glapinski is undergoing “routine” questioning by prosecutors in relation to a bribery scandal that led to the arrest of the country’s banking watchdog chairman. The latest in a string of central bankers from emerging Europe becoming involved in legal probes, Glapinski has rebuffed calls to step down from opposition parties that are demanding a ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) took the unprecedented step of placing the cash-strapped Italian lender Banca Carige SpA in temporary administration, a move that could be a prelude to a sale or merger. The administrators and a three-member surveillance committee will focus on reducing balance sheet risk and finding a possible partner for the bank, Carige said in a ...

Bloomberg The two Indian banks which will be merged into Bank of Baroda saw their share prices plunge in reaction to news of the terms of the deal. The share swap ratio has been set at 110 Bank of Baroda shares for every 1000 shares in Dena Bank, and 402 Bank of Baroda shares for 1000 shares of Vijaya Bank, ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank took a further step to secure liquidity to the slowing economy, amid investor jitters over the outlook and expectations that more easing moves are in the pipeline. The amount of cash lenders must hold as reserves will be cut by 1 percentage point, dropping by 0.5 percentage point on January 15 and a further 0.5 percentage ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank will permit lenders to restructure stressed loans to small companies, breaking from a five-year-old policy of eschewing sweeping corporate debt overhauls. The Reserve Bank of India will allow one-time restructuring of loans to micro, small and medium-sized companies that are in default, the regulator said in a statement. To be eligible for the program, the loan ...

Bloomberg A market indicator watched by the Fed as one of the most accurate gauges of economic health is pricing in lower rates for the first time in more than a decade. The little-known near-term forward spread, which reflects the difference between the forward rate implied by Treasury bills six quarters from now and the current three-month yield, fell to ...