Banking

Bloomberg Facebook Inc.’s shares rose on optimism that the company is forging deeper relationships with banks to offer customer-service products via its Messenger chat application, a business that could boost engagement as growth slows on its main social network. Facebook has for years worked to make Messenger a natural place for consumers to communicate with businesses, aiming to replace email. ...

Bloomberg Iran’s central bank, acting on the eve of US sanctions, scrapped most currency controls introduced this year in a bid to halt a plunge in the rial that has stirred protests against the government of President Hassan Rouhani. Under the measures, the central bank will allow the market to determine the rate of foreign-exchange transactions except the imports of ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc posted one of the worst equities-trading revenue performances among global banks in the second quarter amid an overall slump at its markets business. Revenue from stock trading at the Asia-focused bank fell 17 percent to $279 million, according to a company presentation. US banks posted a 14 percent average increase for the period and some of ...

Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd. forecast that its return on equity, a measure of profit, will improve slightly this year, helped by the South African lender’s operations in the rest of the continent. While costs will improve by the end of the year, expenses are still likely to grow faster than income, the bank said. Absa, which rebranded from Barclays Africa ...

Bloomberg Romania unexpectedly left borrowing costs unchanged, looking past the European Union’s fastest inflation as the economy cools. The National Bank of Romania kept its benchmark interest rate at 2.5 percent on Monday. Three of 18 analysts in a Bloomberg survey predicted the decision, while 15 saw a quarter-point increase. Governor Mugur Isarescu was expected to hold a briefing in ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. could offer a boost for the burgeoning universe of funds betting on cryptocurrencies. The firm is considering a plan to offer custody for crypto funds, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That means the bank would hold the newfangled securities on behalf of the funds, reducing risk for clients seeking to guard against ...

Bloomberg Writedowns of underperforming loans drove Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) to a second-quarter adjusted loss of about $200 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The student-loan refinancer, which has been trying to transform itself into a broader online financial-services company, took a one-time charge on loans originated before the second quarter, one of the people said. The company ...

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA’s investment bank and retail business are both benefiting from the thirst for credit. Financing revenue jumped 17 percent in the second quarter after the bank provided advice and arranged debt financing on large deals including Altran Technologies SA’s takeover of Aricent Inc., helping the investment bank beat estimates. The bank’s French LCL retail business also did ...

Bloomberg American International Group Inc. fell 2.7 percent after second-quarter earnings came in below estimates as a restructuring expense hurt results. Profit in the period fell from a year earlier as private equity and hedge fund performance weakened, the New York-based insurer said in a statement. Net investment income, which declined 12 percent to $3.1 billion, is on target for ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. disclosed another round of lapses and potential scandals in a quarterly report, saying it faces a US inquiry into its purchase of low-income housing credits and conceding it may have unnecessarily foreclosed on about 400 homeowners. Government agencies are examining how Wells Fargo negotiated and purchased “certain federal low-income housing tax credits in connection with ...