Bloomberg Investment bank Jefferies Group is reorganising its energy group, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg. Pete Bowden, the current co-head of energy banking and the leader of Jefferies’s midstream franchise, will become global head of energy, according to the letter from Ralph Eads, the chairman of the group. Guy Oliphint and Greg Chitty have been promoted to co-heads ...
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Indonesia rate hike aims at curbing ‘current-account’ gap
Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate a fourth time since May in a surprise move aimed at underpinning the currency as volatility sweeps across emerging markets. The seven-day reverse repurchase rate was increased to 5.5 percent from 5.25 percent on Wednesday, as forecast by just seven of 28 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with the rest predicting ...
Read More »Canada lenders strong enough for adverse shock, says Moody’s
Bloomberg Canada’s largest lenders have boosted their capital enough in the past two years to withstand a 35 percent decline in housing prices in Ontario and British Columbia and 25 percent in the rest of the country, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Canada’s six biggest banks and Quebec’s Desjardins Group “incrementally improved†their capital buffers to absorb $10.9 billion in ...
Read More »Berkshire adds to bets on Goldman, others
Bloomberg Berkshire Hathaway Inc. added to its stakes in two of Warren Buffett’s most favoured industries as the billionaire investor widened bets in banking and the airline industry. Berkshire boosted investments in Goldman Sachs Group Inc., US Bancorp, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. in the second quarter, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said in a filing. Buffett’s company ...
Read More »Citi touts Europe banks in ‘world’s contrarian trade’
Bloomberg European banking stocks have been punished like no other sector in the region this year. Unless you’re expecting a financial crisis, now may be the time to take advantage of valuations near a two-year low, according to strategists at Citigroup Inc. Fearful of potential contagion from Turkey, investors accelerated their flight from the Stoxx 600 Banks Index in the ...
Read More »Top Swiss bank settles a decade after secrecy began to crumble
Bloomberg About a decade after Swiss bank secrecy laws started to crumble under the impact of a US investigation, one of the last large lenders still entangled in the matter agreed to settle the dispute. Zuercher Kantonalbank, Switzerland’s largest publicly-owned regional bank, will pay $98.5 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice to end ...
Read More »Rupee breaches 70 a dollar as RBI’s job gets complicated
Bloomberg There’s not a moment of respite for India’s inflation-targeting central bank. Just when gains in consumer prices eased, the Turkish lira-led sell-off in emerging-market currencies has renewed an onslaught on the rupee, pushing it to a record low and possibly demanding more rate action from the Reserve Bank of India. The rupee dropped to as low as 70.08 per ...
Read More »Saudi Arabia mortgage growth to help rebound in lending at Al Rajhi Bank
Bloomberg A jump in mortgages and a recovery in Saudi Arabia’s economy may help Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom’s second-biggest lender, reverse a decline in lending. Overall lending may improve to show “low single-digit†growth this year and increase to match historical levels of expanding in mid-single digits from 2019, Chief Executive Officer Steve Berta mini said in an interview ...
Read More »Credit Suisse splitting its wealth unit into 7 regions
Bloomberg About six months after UBS Group AG decided to merge its wealth management businesses into one super-unit, rival Credit Suisse Group AG is said to be taking a different approach. The bank plans to split its key international private banking unit into seven regions from four, with each having its own management and greater decision-making power, according to people ...
Read More »Ithmaar Holding posts $10mn profit in H1
MANAMA / Emirates Business Ithmaar Holding BSC, a Bahrain-based financial institution, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ithmaar Bank BSC, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, each announced their financial results for the first half of 2018 with both reporting profits for the period. The announcement by the Ithmaar Holding Chairman His Royal Highness Prince Amr Al Faisal, who is also the Ithmaar ...
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