Banking

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 ...

Bloomberg Call it a New Year’s resolution for Royal Bank of Canada’s top investment banker: Doug McGregor wants to spend more time with private equity in 2019. As head of RBC Capital Markets, McGregor spent a decade expanding a Canadian bank-owned firm once focussed on its home turf into a global operation with more bankers, resources and revenue in the ...

Bloomberg The Board of Access Bank Plc announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Diamond Bank Plc regarding a potential merger of the two banks that will create Nigeria and Africa’s largest retail bank by customers. This follows its selection as preferred bidder after a competitive process undertaken by the Board of Diamond Bank. The proposed merger ...

Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd is having a hard time convincing some investors it can win back the market share lost while under the control of Barclays Plc. South Africa’s third-largest lender was once the leading retail bank with over 10 million customers and more mortgages on its books than any of its Johannesburg-based peers. Now, released from the shackles of ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve realises that it can’t put its key policy tool, the federal funds rate, on autopilot, and that it needs to better communicate its policy decisions, said Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz SE’s chief economic adviser. “Even the Fed is understanding that it needs to communicate better,” El-Erian said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” It needs to ...

Bloomberg Until a trade dispute between the US and China is resolved, a single tweet on the matter will have the power to ignite rallies and sell-offs. The tweet in question this week is President Donald Trump’s declaration that “big progress” is being made towards a deal between the US and China, and it may spur gains across emerging markets. ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank expects the global economy to slow in 2019 as rising protectionism curbs trade growth. While economic activity has remained resilient around the world, it has also become more uneven and signs of moderating momentum are increasingly evident, according to the ECB’s latest economic bulletin. Global trade growth has weakened and uncertainties about future trade relations ...

Bloomberg United Bank of India became the first of the country’s ailing state-run banks to announce a new cash injection from the government, disclosing in a filing that it will receive 21.6 billion rupees ($308 million) to improve its capital ratios. The announcement sent the bank’s shares up as much as 14 percent, set for the biggest gain since October ...

Bloomberg Swiss National Bank (SNB) interest rates are stuck to the floor and 2019 could see criticism of the policy growing louder: The financial sector hates it and there’s trouble brewing in the real estate market. After nine years of economic growth and the eradication of deflation risks, the arguments are building for the SNB to call time on the ...