Banking

Bloomberg Greece is trying everything to get its banks back on track, including a direct subsidy to some of their most troubled customers. The government is working on a plan to lessen the burden for borrowers of modest means who can’t repay their debts, according to two people familiar with the project. Though it’s not clear how many borrowers would ...

Bloomberg In the middle of UBS Group AG’s six-week tax trial in Paris, Presiding Judge Christine Mee’s tone changed. And that may have given a sign of what the bank can expect in a case that could cost it as much as $6 billion. The hearings, which have ended, started well for the Zurich-based bank. A team of 20 high-powered ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank Abp just dropped off the list of global banks deemed too big to fail, but that doesn’t mean it can hold less regulatory capital. The Financial Stability Board removed Nordea from a group it defines as global systemically important banks (G-SIB). A G-SIB needs to have more capital than other banks, so the assumption is that no ...

Bloomberg Poland’s finance minister and central bank chief pledged to provide liquidity for two lenders at the center of a corruption scandal as investors again sold battered bank stocks. “We are ready to guarantee that these banks have and will maintain liquidity,” Governor Adam Glapinski said on Monday. “Their clients are safe.” He spoke after the country’s Financial Stability Committee ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank may eliminate the floor on its benchmark interest rate in early December if it sees a second consecutive decline in inflation expectations, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan. The decision to eliminate the 60 percent floor may come as early as December 3, said the two people. Policy makers want to see ...

Bloomberg A plunging oil price gives African central banks more to think about as they move towards a cycle of raising interest rates. With a month to go before the US Federal Reserve delivers what would be its fourth interest-rate increase of the year, African policy makers may still move to tighten to avoid a further sell-off of assets and ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US economy is strong but could face headwinds next year as policy makers weigh how far and fast to raise interest rates. “We have to be thinking about how much further to raise rates, and the pace at which we will raise rates,” Powell said during a question and answers session in ...

Bloomberg China’s biggest lender pulled an offering of dollar bonds in the US market, adding to concern that American investor demand for Chinese offerings is dwindling amid the trade war. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Ltd had been marketing three-year and five-year floating-rate notes through its New York branch, then decided not to proceed with pricing, according to people ...

Bloomberg Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc is betting big on banks. The billionaire’s company piled more than $13 billion into those stocks in the quarter, making Berkshire a major shareholder in four of the five largest US banks, according to a regulatory filing. Berkshire disclosed a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co and increased bets on Bank of America ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank No. 2 official Guy Debelle says risky borrowing is more likely to be an accelerator to an economic downturn rather than its source, in an address discussing the impact of lending curbs. “If a negative shock were to hit the Australian economy, particularly one that caused a sizeable rise in unemployment, then the risk on the ...