Banking

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. retail clients who don’t live in the US will no longer be able to keep investment accounts as the bank shuts a business that it’s operated for decades. “After careful review, we’ve decided to no longer service Chase retail investment accounts to non-US residents,” said Elizabeth Seymour, a JPMorgan spokeswoman. “This decision allows us to …

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. is restructuring its consumer-banking operation in a shake-up that includes the departure of its global credit-card chief. Judson Linville, who ran the world’s largest portfolio of credit-card loans, is leaving as the bank merges that business with its wealth and retail units in the US, according to an internal memo from Stephen Bird, who leads Citigroup’s global …

Bloomberg Higher Canadian interest rates don’t appear to be worsening the pain for consumers, yet. Some 53 percent of Canadians say rising borrowing costs haven’t had a negative impact on their personal spending, according to a survey by Nanos Research taken earlier this month. Around 43 percent of respondents say they are feeling at least somewhat of a pinch, with …

Bloomberg Bank of East Asia Ltd. slumped the most since July 2015 following news it will be cut from Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index along with China Merchants Port Holdings Co., which also tumbled. BEA closed down 5.8 percent on Monday, making it the worst performer on the Hong Kong benchmark, even after paring some earlier losses. China Merchants Port …

Bloomberg Malaysia has a higher proportion of female investment bank chiefs than any other big country. In the male-dominated world of investment banking, women are increasingly rising to the top in a place you might not think to look. Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country better known for its recent political turbulence than its gender diversity, now has female bosses at …