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 ...
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AfDB seeks funds to plug Africa’s $170 billion infrastructure gap
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 ...
Read More »Lloyds disappointed by Standard Life’s move to keep $148bn
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 ...
Read More »ICICI surges after CEO says bad-loan ratios will improve
Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest private sector lender by assets, was Asia’s best-performing bank stock on Tuesday after its top official said bad-loan ratios will improve. ICICI jumped 7.1 percent, set for the biggest gain since October 25, and was the top stock on Bloomberg’s Asia Pacific Banks Index. Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar, who has been assuring investors ...
Read More »Goldman’s $1 billion bankers are benchmark in Asia’s wealth race
Bloomberg For years, Asia’s biggest private banks have been on a hiring spree to keep pace with the ranks of newly minted millionaires. Now, they’re squeezing more out of their bankers. Relationship managers who cater to wealthy clients in the region are running larger pools of money, with average assets run by each surging to an all-time high of $341 ...
Read More »Smart money selling emerging markets assets, says JPMorgan
Bloomberg Stocks down for a third successive week, bond yields at their highest since 2016 and a currency market replete with bears. Such have been the declines in emerging markets that the more sanguine commentators have begun saying the selloff has run its course and it may even be time to buy the dip. But JPMorgan Chase & Co. says ...
Read More »Bonds rise as Indian central bank announces $1.5bn debt purchase
Bloomberg Sovereign bonds in India rallied after the central bank said it will purchase debt to meet the cash needs of the banking system. The Reserve Bank of India said it would buy 100 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) of securities with maturities ranging from 2020 to 2033 maturities on May 17. The purchases comes after the shortest bond on sale ...
Read More »ECB warns on trade tensions as ‘economy’ falters
Bloomberg The European Central Bank warned that a rise in trade protectionism would undermine the global economy, and said the US would be among the worst-affected. The cautionary comments coincide with data showing factory orders in Germany unexpectedly slid for a third month in March, another sign of the weakness that’s dogged the euro-area economy since the start of the ...
Read More »OCBC drops on concern profit growth relied on loan provisions
Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) shares fell the most in a month after the Singaporean bank posted first-quarter profit growth that relied largely on a drop in loan provisions as lending margins stagnated. Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank slid as much as 3.2 percent in Singapore on Monday morning after Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien signaled that last quarter’s decline in ...
Read More »China set to give global finance sector the chance of a lifetime
Bloomberg China’s $42 trillion financial sector is set to open up to the world like never before. To deliver on longstanding pledges and help stave off the threat of tariffs from US President Donald Trump, Chinese officials have set a June 30 deadline to ease ownership and business restrictions for banks, securities firms, asset managers and life insurers. Securities firms ...
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