Banking

Bloomberg Mario Draghi said the improvement in euro-area inflation is on a self-sustained path as he struck a confident tone that the European Central Bank (ECB) can withdraw its stimulus despite the rising specter of a global trade war. Addressing European Parliament lawmakers, the ECB president urged the region’s governments to lead by example by pushing back against creeping protectionism, ...

Bloomberg Denmark’s financial watchdog is telling smaller lenders to brace for an assault by money launderers as big banks respond to intense regulatory scrutiny and improve their defenses. The head of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) in Copenhagen, Jesper Berg, says smaller institutions are now particularly vulnerable. The comments come amid a string of revelations alleging that Danske Bank A/S was ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s new central bank governor presides over her first interest-rate meeting in a better position than most of her peers in Southeast Asia. Unlike her counterparts in Indonesia and the Philippines — who are ramping up rate hikes to defend their currencies — Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus doesn’t have to do anything for now. Even in Thailand, where rates ...

Bloomberg Two Wall Street strategists are casting doubt on one of this year’s most-popular trades: buy small-cap stocks. Don’t be fooled by the consensus that smaller companies are better positioned to weather a global trade war, Barclays’ Maneesh Deshpande said. While it’s true that their domestic focus makes them less vulnerable to trade barriers, their bigger reliance on imports means ...

Bloomberg VP Bank AG, the Liechtenstein-based private bank, is expanding its wealth management operations in Asia as it draws a line under four years of losing clients in Europe due to tax compliance issues. VP Bank has been adding headcount in Singapore and Hong Kong, and is eyeing partnerships with a view to gaining more wealthy Chinese clients, according to ...

Bloomberg If a US or global recession is looming, it’s time to own the Swiss franc, Singapore dollar, US dollar and Japanese yen – and ditch emerging market currencies, according to analysts from JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Recessions are when creditors get to ask for their money back,” analysts including Paul Meggyesi said in a note. “Three of the top ...

Bloomberg Global debt is becoming a bigger worry as the global policy tightening cycle takes hold, a top boss at the World Bank warned Monday. “After a decade of low interest rates, the corporate and public debt in many places has ballooned to a staggering $164 trillion,” Kristalina Georgieva, chief executive officer of the World Bank, said in an interview ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) policy makers are adjusting to an upheaval at the statistics office at the very point when they need as much clarity as possible to help decide whether to raise interest rates next month. The UK is this week shaking up the way it reports growth, publishing monthly updates and delaying its usual quarterly figures. The ...

Bloomberg Makram Azar, chairman for Barclays Plc’s Europe, Middle East and Africa banking operations, retired from his role at the British lender, according to a memo to obtained by Bloomberg News. Azar, who also headed the bank’s Middle East’s operations, will return as a senior adviser in January 2019, according to the memo issued by Joe McGrath, global head of ...

Bloomberg Investment bankers in Hong Kong are catching biotech fever. At least seven senior bankers and analysts from top-tier securities firms have quit to join biotechnology companies in the city since December, responding to the industry’s growing demand for financial expertise after rule changes at Hong Kong’s stock exchange smoothed the path for biotech initial public offerings. Richard Yeh, a ...