Banking

Sabadell’s UK TSB chief Pester exits after IT meltdown

Bloomberg The chief executive officer of Banco de Sabadell SA’s British unit is leaving as the lender continues to struggle with the meltdown of its IT system earlier this year. Paul Pester will step down after seven years with the UK arm, known as TSB Banking Group. Richard Meddings, the current non-executive chairman of TSB, temporarily takes on an executive ...

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$50bn fight over who owns South African central bank

Bloomberg South Africa’s Lesetja Kganyago has a fight on his hands to protect the central bank’s $50 billion of reserves. More than eight months after the ruling African National Congress decided that the South African Reserve Bank should be state-owned, like most other central banks, the governor said his main concern remains to protect the regulator’s independence and mandate. But ...

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UBS to start currency pricing and trading engine in Singapore

Bloomberg UBS Group AG will introduce a new electronic currency pricing and trading engine in Singapore next year in a bid to boost liquidity in Asia’s largest foreign-exchange center. The facility will go live in the second quarter of 2019, Zurich-based UBS said in an emailed statement. The bank is undertaking the initiative in partnership with the Monetary Authority of ...

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UK govt plays down reports Carney to stay longer at BOE

Bloomberg Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is still expected to leave the central bank in 2019, according to a UK government spokesman. “The governor has said that he intends to step down in 2019. That is still the plan,” spokesman James Slack told reporters in London. Asked if the government would like him stay, he said “the Prime Minister ...

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‘Yuan gaining at cost to dollar, yen’

Bloomberg China’s currency is set to take an increasing share of world foreign-exchange reserves, with the dollar and yen having to make the most room proportionally for the newcomer on the block, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. An acceleration in foreign inflows into Chinese fixed income in recent months — despite a tumble in the yuan — has showcased ...

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ECB’s Mersch calls for Europe’s own global payment services

Bloomberg European Central Bank policy maker Yves Mersch called on Europe to develop its own global card payment services to compete with international peers and as a defense against any further escalation in geopolitical tension. Noting the dominance of California-based PayPal for online payments, and the services offered by Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, Mersch warned that European providers such ...

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Rupee weakness poses ‘dilemma’ for RBI at October meeting

Bloomberg A sustained weakness in the rupee may push the Reserve Bank of India to further tighten monetary policy, perhaps as early as next month, JPMorgan Chase and Co.’s chief India economist Sajjid Chinoy said. “The RBI meeting becomes an interesting dilemma,” Chinoy told Bloomberg Television in an interview, adding that after two interest rate hikes since June, he, like ...

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ICBC profit rises most since ‘14 before ‘challenging’ times

Bloomberg Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Ltd. posted its fastest profit growth since September 2014 as margins and asset quality improved, but flagged challenging times ahead as the trade war with the US intensifies. Net income at the world’s largest lender by assets rose 5.8 percent to 81.6 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) in the quarter ended June from ...

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Offshore yuan gains most in week as China sends signal with fix

Bloomberg The offshore yuan headed for its biggest gain in a week, after China set the daily reference rate for the onshore currency stronger than expected, stoking bets the government wants to stabilise the exchange rate. The Chinese currency rose 0.23 percent to 6.8517 per dollar in Hong Kong, while the onshore rate gained 0.11 percent. The yuan’s fixing was ...

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Pound investors face months of volatility into Brexit endgame

Bloomberg The next few months are going to be fun for pound traders. Sterling’s volatility left political pundits scratching their heads last week, as European Union Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier’s promise to offer the UK an unprecedented partnership sent the currency soaring more than 1 percent even though he had said it before. With both sides warning of the risk ...

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