Bloomberg A rate used to price loans in Saudi Arabia climbed to the highest level since the financial crisis. But unlike 2016, it’s the race to stay ahead of Libor, and not a liquidity squeeze, that’s raising borrowing costs. The three-month Saudi interbank offered rate advanced on Tuesday to 2.38625 percent, two basis points above the London interbank offered rate ...
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Australia’s scandal-plagued banks face up to a bleak future
Bloomberg Australia’s beleaguered banks are facing up to a bleaker future. In another bad day for the industry, a scathing report released on Tuesday into the nation’s largest lender found a “widespread sense of complacency†from the top down blinded it to risks that led to a massive breach of anti-money laundering laws. And in a stark warning the good ...
Read More »China is bolstering lenders for new assault on shadow banking
Bloomberg Investors who pushed up Chinese bank shares last week on news of lower reserve requirements may have been celebrating too soon. The subtext to the move is an effort to prepare the banks for a painful new phase in China’s campaign to reduce financial-sector risks, as regulators free up deposit rates and accelerate their crackdown on the nation’s as ...
Read More »Barclays, Deutsche Bank paths diverge as Sewing plots retreat
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is retreating from its Wall Street rivals. Barclays Plc still thinks it can take them on. The paths of two of Europe’s biggest investment banks are diverging after trading revenue slumped 17 percent at Deutsche Bank in the first quarter and climbed 8 percent at Barclays. The German lender outlined plans to retrench on Wall Street, ...
Read More »Cyber attacks target Mexican e-payment systems
Bloomberg Cyber attackers attempted to penetrate Mexico’s electronic payment systems, forcing three banks to enact contingency plans, according to people familiar with the matter. Three banks experienced “incidents†in recent days when operating the SPEI, Mexico’s interbank electronic transfer system, and will be connecting to the central bank’s network under “contingency schemes,†Banco de Mexico said in a statement. That ...
Read More »Danske tops highest profit bet amid tight cost controls
Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S earned more money in the first quarter than expected as Denmark’s biggest lender saw an increase in interest income and kept costs under control. Net income was 4.9 billion kroner ($796 million), less than a year earlier, but beating the 4.7 billion-krone estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net interest income was broadly in line with ...
Read More »Argentina’s extraordinary rate hike could be just the beginning
Bloomberg Argentina investors say the central bank’s extraordinary effort to bolster the peso may be just the beginning, with more such actions to be expected if the currency doesn’t stabilise soon. Policy makers’ decision to raise the key interest rate 3 percentage points to 30.25 percent, a surprise move announced just days after they held borrowing costs, led the peso ...
Read More »BOE rate-hike forecasts dumped as growth shock proves last straw
Bloomberg Economists abandoned predictions that the Bank of England (BoE) will increase interest rates next month after two weeks of disappointing data and the public doubts of Mark Carney. The shock near-stagnation of the economy proved the final straw after the BOE governor raised questions about such a move last week. Firms including NatWest Markets, SEB, Berenberg and ING have ...
Read More »Japan bank draws scrutiny for switch to Trump regulator
Bloomberg Japan’s biggest bank has been accused by New York officials of dodging tough oversight by swapping its state license for a federal one, putting itself under a US agency on the front lines of President Donald Trump’s push to ease financial rules. The November move by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) is now drawing scrutiny from a key ...
Read More »Central banks take it easy to give global growth second look
Bloomberg Central banks from Frankfurt to Ottawa appear to be taking a lower gear on the road away from easy monetary policy amid signs some key economies are slowing. The European Central Bank avoided any discussion of its next steps toward ending bond buying and Sweden’s Riksbank pushed back a plan to raise interest rates for the first time in ...
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