Banking

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada plans to buy for the first time government-backed mortgage bonds in a bid to broaden the range of high-quality assets in its operations to manage its balance sheet. The move, which is part of a decision of including government-guaranteed debt issued by federal Crown corporations, will allow Ottawa-based central bank to offset continued growth in ...

Bloomberg The South African Reserve Bank increased its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than two years as it sees inflation risks remaining elevated. The Monetary Policy Committee voted to raise the benchmark repurchase rate to 6.75 percent from 6.5 percent. Of the six panel members, half preferred the increase and the rest favored an unchanged stance, ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank officials warned that uncertainty and tension over Italy’s expansive budget risk causing damage to the country’s economy in the long-run. “Italy’s current financing conditions are much too tight for a country with weak growth and low inflation,” ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet told Handelsblatt in an interview. Italian central bank Governor Ignazio Visco urged his government ...

Bloomberg When it comes to US banks’ lending risk, it doesn’t get much bigger than General Electric Co. The five biggest Wall Street firms have committed to lending at least $3.5 billion each to the industrial giant facing concerns about the sustainability of its debt. GE has almost $41 billion in credit lines it can draw from, according to its ...

Bloomberg Investors in Deutsche Bank AG have added the lender’s role in Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal to their growing list of worries. A management shakeup, weak earnings and political turmoil saw Deutsche Bank shares hit multiple lows this year. Now, concerns about its involvement in Europe’s biggest money-laundering scandal are weighing on the stock after the key whistle-blower pointed ...

Bloomberg Big US banks that are already smashing profit records will soon get a $5 billion windfall, courtesy of the federal government. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announced that lenders will no longer have to pay quarterly surcharges that cover some of the costs of insuring their customers’ deposits. Megabanks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America ...

Bloomberg Mark Carney has at least four more opportunities before the end of the year to talk about Brexit, with his words potentially taking on greater weight as the split gets closer. The political process is grinding towards a parliamentary vote in coming weeks — date yet to be decided — on the divorce deal with the European Union, and ...

Bloomberg It’s open season on central bank chiefs. In the US, President Donald Trump has complained that the Federal Reserve has gone “loco” because its interest rate hikes threaten to snuff out his deficit-swelling, tax cut stimulus. Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused his compatriot Mario Draghi of “poisoning the atmosphere” after the European Central Bank president warned ...

Bloomberg Societe Generale SA settled its longstanding sanctions violations case with US authorities, entering a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors and paying $1.34 billion to regulators in New York and Washington. As part of the settlement, France’s third-largest bank acknowledged violations of US sanctions laws against Cuba, Iran and Sudan starting as far back as 2003 and extending to ...

Bloomberg Mark Carney gave his seal of approval to the transition deal agreed by Prime Minister Theresa May’s with the European Union, and signalled that he would welcome even longer for the UK to adjust. In his first public comments on the government’s draft agreement, the Bank of England (BOE) governor united with other central bank officials to warn of ...