Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. is planning to promote bankers Tyler Dickson and Manolo Falco to run a reconstructed version of its investment banking operations, people familiar with the plan said. The lender was expected to announce the plan on September 6 to combine its corporate and investment bank with its capital markets origination business, the people said, declining to be identified ...
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Commonwealth, ANZ Bank raise home rates as funding costs bite
Bloomberg Two more of Australia’s big banks have raised home loan rates as funding costs climb, heaping additional pressure on indebted households. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, and Australia & New Zealand Banking (ANZ) Group Ltd. both raised their key standard variable mortgage rate, joining Westpac Banking Corp., which was the first of the big four ...
Read More »Fintech firms need more scrutiny by regulators, says DBS chief Gupta
Bloomberg Regulators need to increase their scrutiny of non-bank firms that are moving into the financial business, according to the chief executive officer of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest lender. “Absolutely,†Piyush Gupta said when asked at a Bloomberg forum in Singapore whether more regulation is needed for technology and other firms that are competing with traditional banks ...
Read More »Stifel, latest lender to grow leveraged debt business
Bloomberg Stifel Financial Corp. is expanding its leveraged finance business as the firm seeks to grow in a hot corner of the credit markets. The St. Louis-based financial firm is building a new unit that will arrange and sell loans and bonds for junk-rated companies. It plans to use its own capital to underwrite deals, according to a statement seen ...
Read More »Record earnings at Canadian banks no match for US tax cuts
Bloomberg Canadian banks are scoring back-to-back record earnings, beating big US lenders on profitability, productivity and dividend yields. They still can’t outperform US banks on the stock market. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and the nation’s other six large lenders collectively boosted profit 10 percent to a record $8.9 billion in the fiscal third quarter. Still, that’s no match ...
Read More »Rupee woes to deepen as India braces for external headwinds
Bloomberg India’s rupee owes its tag of Asia’s worst-performing currency this year to the selloff sweeping emerging markets. There’s more pain in store from beyond its borders. While foreign currency debt has zoomed, various external vulnerability indicators paint a rather mixed picture, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report. Indeed, data due as early as next week will ...
Read More »Carney’s future at BOE gets lawmakers’ mixed reactions
Bloomberg The prospect of Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney extending his term of office garnered mixed reactions from UK lawmakers. Carney told Parliament that he would be open to lengthening his tenure for a second time to help the UK’s transition out of the EU. The Financial Times reported later that he will stay until 2020 in a ...
Read More »Westpac admits lending breaches, settles for $25 million penalty
Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp. agreed to pay a A$35 million ($25 million) civil penalty after admitting it breached responsible-lending laws by failing to properly assess whether some customers could afford to repay their mortgages. In a settlement ahead of court, the regulator said in a statement that Westpac’s automated loan approval system had failed to use customers’ actual living expenses ...
Read More »Russia set for rate hike as ruble revs up inflation
Bloomberg Russia’s central bank is setting the stage for an increase in interest rates as a weakening ruble fans inflation. Just five months after it stopped easing monetary policy, the Bank of Russia raised the prospect of its first hike in borrowing costs since 2014. The country’s latest bout of currency weakness is combining with a worsening outlook for inflation ...
Read More »Germany dismisses UK demands on banks’ post-Brexit access
Bloomberg The European Union won’t rush to enhance market access for financial firms outside the bloc, a senior German official said, pushing back against key UK government demands in the Brexit negotiations. Expanding EU “equivalence†rules, which can open the single market to non-EU firms, to new areas such as banking is unlikely anytime soon, said Levin Holle, director general ...
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