Banking

Bloomberg The outsize growth of a country’s banks is a sign that credit expansion is faster there than in other nations. In 1988, 9 of the 10 largest banks in the world were Japanese. Three years later the country’s financial system, along with its lenders, collapsed, sending Japan into its infamous lost decade (or three, considering the country is still ...

Bloomberg Some of Wall Street’s biggest banks are warning investors to steer clear of Russian assets after the ruble’s worst week since the 2015 oil crash amid mounting risks of crippling sanctions from the U.S. Morgan Stanley turned bearish and UBS Group AG closed its recommendation to buy the Russian currency, with analysts at both banks saying in notes that ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group has introduced a childcare programme in Japan that specialises in looking after employees’ sick children, stepping up efforts to retain more female workers and improve diversity. Under the programme, when a child falls ill the bank will dispatch a babysitter or nurse from a local provider on request within two to three hours. It’s the first ...

Bloomberg As much as Wells Fargo & Co. wants the public to believe it has put its troubled past behind it, yet another legal tangle shows it still doesn’t have a handle on its own questionable behaviour. In the latest turn of events, the Department of Justice has started an investigation into whether Wells Fargo colluded with developers to submit ...

Bloomberg Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. is considering buying Prudential Plc’s Asia business, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that would reshape Asia’s booming insurance industry and mark the biggest-ever Chinese acquisition. Ping An has sounded out the Chinese government about whether it would be supportive of a deal, according to one of the people. The Shenzhen-based insurer ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank said it won’t use the yuan as a tool to cope with trade tensions and other external issues, and that it won’t conduct any “strong” economic stimulus. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) won’t implement stimulus in “flood-irrigation” style, according to the quarterly monetary policy report released in Beijing. Prudent monetary policy should maintain neutrality and ...

Bloomberg Greek lenders face higher financing costs after the European Central Bank said it will stop accepting the country’s government debt as collateral from August 21, the day after the nation’s bailout programme ends. The ECB will remove a waiver exempting Greek bonds from a rule that all collateral must be investment grade. The exemption was conditional on Greece being ...

Bloomberg The list of perks at Deutsche Bank AG is shrinking fast. Investment bankers at Germany’s largest lender have been told to travel coach class on trains; fewer are able to attend conferences and some former employees said severance pay was less generous than previous handouts. Even small treats like the daily fruit bowls are disappearing. The frugal ethos described ...

Bloomberg Dutch state-controlled bank ABN Amro Group NV is edging towards raising its payout to shareholders after a strong second quarter and cuts to its underperforming investment bank. “Yes, we feel more confident there after this quarter,” Chief Executive Officer Kees van Dijkhuizen said at a press conference when asked about a dividend increase. The higher payout could take the ...

Bloomberg Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s record-profit run is over after the nation’s biggest lender paid the price for a series of scandals and missteps. Cash profit from continuing operations fell 4.8 percent to A$9.23 billion ($6.85 billion) in the 12 months ended on June 30, the Sydney-based lender said in a statement. That was the first drop in annual profit ...