Banking

Bloomberg International politics are looming large over the race among global investment banks to secure coveted permits for taking majority stakes in Chinese securities joint ventures. Switzerland’s UBS Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc. of Japan in the past week became the first to apply for permission to buy 51 percent stakes in local securities JVs. Both banks acted after ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is considering a sweeping restructuring in the US that could result in the firm cutting about 20 percent of staff in the region, according to people briefed on the matter. The bank is nearing a decision and the final reductions may end up lower, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the ...

Bloomberg The Irish state received a payment outstripping last year’s 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) from the country’s Central Bank, according to a person familiar with the matter. The payment flowed from the Central Bank’s earnings for 2017, said the person who asked not to be named as the information is private. Details of the latest payment will be published ...

Bloomberg India’s banks are getting syndicated loans at razor-thin interest rates from international lenders amid signs the country is moving towards cleaning up $210 billion of non-performing assets. Axis Bank Ltd, IndusInd Bank Ltd, State Bank of India and Yes Bank Ltd are among those reaping the benefits of cheaper funds as confidence in the world’s fastest-growing major economy increases. ...

Bloomberg Rarely has a New Zealand interest-rate decision been more keenly awaited when there’s no change of rates in sight. Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr delivers his first Monetary Policy Statement on Thursday and is expected to keep borrowing costs at a record low. Yet there’s considerable interest in how Orr will present the policy outlook. Since taking the RBNZ’s ...

Bloomberg Two of the biggest US banks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co, are on the brink of piling into credit-card lending, seeking a share of the $183 billion in fees and interest tied to the product. Goldman Sachs is weighing the move as part of a push into consumer finance with its Marcus online lender, Chief ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BoE) will probably keep interest rates unchanged this week after an economic roller coaster that saw market bets on an increase flip from near-guaranteed to almost no chance. A majority of the nine Monetary Policy Committee members will vote to maintain a 0.5 percent benchmark on Thursday, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Governor ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve’s gradual push towards higher interest rates shouldn’t be blamed for any roiling of emerging market economies, which are well placed to navigate the tightening of US monetary policy, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said. In a speech that argued US decision-making isn’t the major determinant of flows of capital into developing economies, Powell said the influence of ...

Bloomberg The African Development Bank (AfDB) seeks investments from global pensions and commercial financiers to help fund the continent’s infrastructure gap of as much as $170 billion a year. The Abidjan-based lender is launching its Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg. The forum will host its first meeting in November in South Africa’s commercial hub and will have “no speeches,” but ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc is “surprised” and “disappointed” by Standard Life Aberdeen Plc’s decision to challenge the bank’s plan to pull 109 billion pounds ($148 billion) from the asset manager, the lender said in a statement. Lloyds gave notice in February that it planned to end the mandate after the merger of Aberdeen and Standard Life made the combined ...