Banking

Bloomberg Banks in the UK may face an unexpected hit to their finances from British regulators if there’s no Brexit deal, further quashing hopes that they can carry on with business as usual. The Treasury in London said banks won’t be able to treat debt issued by European Union governments as risk-free once the nation withdraws from the bloc. That ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) search for a new watchdog to oversee one of the world’s biggest banking systems has its first candidate: the Irish central bank’s deputy governor, Sharon Donnery. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed Donnery’s application, the day submissions to lead the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) were due to close, saying that she’s an “exceptional candidate.” ...

Bloomberg UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank, climbed in Milan trading after a report that it had hired an adviser for a possible merger with France’s Societe Generale SA, a deal rumored already two years ago. Talks between the lenders to study integration and acquisition possibilities have been continuing, Italian financial newspaper MF reported, without citing anyone. UniCredit appointed Daniel Bouton, ...

Bloomberg National Australia Bank Ltd. and Commonwealth Bank of Australia may face criminal charges over multiple breaches of the law in their treatment of pension customers, an inquiry into misconduct in the financial industry has been told. The two lenders faced particular criticism in a 200-page closing statement by counsel assisting the inquiry Michael Hodge following 10 days of evidence ...

Bloomberg Three senior executives at Banco de Sabadell SA’s British unit will step down in an overhaul that the bank said is unrelated to the meltdown of its IT system earlier this year. The UK arm, known as TSB Banking Group, will see Treasurer Ian Firth, Chief Marketing Officer Nigel Gilbert and Human Resources Director Rachel Lock retire in the ...

Bloomberg Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is becoming more aggressive in chasing riskier clients outside Japan as it seeks to reverse the recent decline in its full-year profit, according to Chief Executive Officer Tatsufumi Sakai. The Tokyo-based lender may have been a “little conservative” in adjusting its asset profile towards non-investment grade assets overseas and away from lower-margin clients, Sakai said. ...

Bloomberg Australian central bank chief Philip Lowe said he’d still like to see the nation’s currency weaken further and sees interest rates remaining at a record low “for a while yet.” “It is likely to be some time before we are at full employment and the inflation rate is comfortably within the target range on a sustained basis,” Lowe said ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc has tapped Rocket Internet SE’s chief financial officer to lead its German operations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The British bank will soon name Peter Kimpel as head of Germany as early as next week, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. He will fill a post that’s been vacant ...

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc tapped Katie Murray to be its interim chief financial officer as Ewen Stevenson prepares to leave the state-controlled lender and step down from the board. Murray, who is currently deputy CFO and one of a handful of women in the City of London in a senior finance role, will take the position in ...

Bloomberg Economic growth in Nicaragua, once a top performer in the region, will slow to a crawl this year after months of violent chaos left hundreds dead and paralysed business activity. The $13.7 billion economy will expand just 1 percent this year in an “optimistic scenario” compared with an original forecast of 5 percent, Central Bank Chief Ovidio Reyes said ...