Banking

Reuters Bank of America reported a 34 percent rise in first-quarter profit on Monday, topping Wall Street estimates, as the lender benefited from higher interest rates and growth in loans and deposits. Revenue rose at three of BofA’s four major businesses. In consumer banking, its biggest business, revenue increased 9 percent as higher interest rates helped BofA charge more for ...

ATHENS / Reuters Greek banks will pass the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stress test of their financial health, the chief executive of the country’s second-biggest lender, National Bank (NBG), said on Monday. The ECB will publish the results of a stress test of Greece’s four largest lenders — Piraeus, NBG, Eurobank and Alpha — in May to allow time for ...

Reuters A Swiss investor adviser group said Credit Suisse Group AG share-holders should vote against the bank’s 2017 compensation plan, splitting with overseas advisers that backed changes made following uproar last year. Ethos, which advises Swiss pension funds, also said investors shouldn’t support the re-election of Chairman Urs Rohner because renumeration changes were driven by management rather than the board, ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has been asked by the European Central Bank to simulate an orderly wind-down of its trading book, Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke told Bloomberg on Monday. “There’s no novelty about the exercise per se; the novelty is that we’re doing this with the ECB,” von Moltke said. The exercise will take several months, being “broader ...

Bloomberg Canadian banks have amassed their biggest war chest in five years — and they’re ready to use it. The country’s six largest lenders are approaching their strongest capital position since 2013, leaving them with enough resources to pursue acquisitions, buy back shares or build from within. That has the chiefs of Canada’s big banks weighing options. “It’s great to ...

TOKYO / Reuters The Bank of Japan mostly held an optimistic view on regional economies, in a sign of its conviction over a broadening recovery but warned that labour shortages and a US-China trade war could cloud the outlook. The central bank’s assessment in a report suggests it will probably maintain its upbeat growth and price forecasts when it conducts ...

WASHINGTON / Reuters US bank regulators proposed easing a key capital rule designed to restrict bank leverage, a move that would free up $400 million of capital across the largest US banks. The proposal from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would reduce the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio” (eSLR) and more closely tie the ...

LONDON / Reuters The Japanese Bankers Association (JBA) and the China Banking Association (CBA) have joined forces to challenge proposed European Union regulations aimed at policing possible market risk posed by foreign lenders doing business in the bloc. In a letter to the European Commission seen by Reuters, the JBA and CBA — which represent hundreds of lenders from both ...

FRANKFURT / Reuters Once one of Germany’s chief power brokers in finance, Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner’s switch of chief executive has triggered criticism that it was rushed through, casting a cloud over his own future. Achleitner forced out CEO John Cryan after a row that centred on what some describe as Cryan’s ‘indecisiveness’ in cutting jobs and costs, according ...

LONDON / Reuters Tougher rules introduced after the financial crisis have made it harder for banks to support the economy, a European banking lobby said in a study they hope will stem the flow of new regulation. Banks have been forced to hold far more capital since many of them were bailed out by taxpayers during the 2007-09 financial crisis. ...