Banking

Bloomberg Asset sales from Saudi power plants and football clubs to African energy firms are set to help deliver a bumper year for deals in the region. Investment banks expect the pace of transactions in the Middle East and Africa to gain momentum after a busy first quarter. Mergers and initial public offerings in the first three months of 2018 ...

BEIJING / Reuters China’s foreign exchange reserves rose slightly in March as broad US dollar weakness continued and escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies bolstered expectations of a firmer Chinese currency. Reserves rose $9 billion in March to $3.143 trillion, compared with a drop of $27 billion in February, central bank data showed on Sunday. Economists polled ...

CHICAGO / Reuters Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, one of the Fed’s most dovish policymakers, said that he is optimistic inflation will reach the Fed’s 2 percent goal and that slow, gradual rate increases will be appropriate. “Fiscal policy has been much more supportive of further growth and so the need for accommodative monetary policy is less than ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s monetary policy should remain accommodative to nurture the economic recovery and as inflationary pressure remains weak, central bank Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said. Thailand is still in the “early stage of a recovery of domestic demand,” Veerathai said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore. The most important factor in deciding policy is inflation pressure, followed by the ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s second-largest bank by assets aims to double its current-account deposits in five years as it extends its reach into the nation’s rising middle class through new technology and a branch revamp. United Bank Ltd. is seeking to increase its number of customers by about 40 percent to 10 million in three years, with domestic current-account deposits doubling to ...

Reuters The Czech National Bank (CNB) may raise its main interest rate above 1 percent by the end of this year, sooner than its staff forecast predicts, as the economy is overheating, Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl was quoted as saying. The central bank’s board kept the two-week repo rate at 0.75 percent at its last policy meeting on March 29 after ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said the trade spat picked by the US risks increasing the burden on central banks — as well as hurting the poor — by dimming global growth prospects. Protectionist sentiment has already “contributed to tighter financial conditions,” Coeure said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy. “A ‘trade war’ scenario ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged for the fourth straight meeting and cut its inflation forecast citing lower food prices. Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel and his monetary policy committee retained the benchmark repurchase rate at 6 percent. The move was predicted by all 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Five of the six-member MPC voted ...

Bloomberg Japanese banks, long content to foster the nation’s love for cash, are now diving into digital payments thanks to a regulatory change that threatens to usher in new rivals. In recent months, lenders around the country have announced a flurry of initiatives designed to grab a slice of the $50 billion market for electronic settlements. Projects are under way ...

Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S unveiled a set of broad changes to its management team, replacing its head of wealth management and appointing a new finance chief as part of a plan it says will make its business more efficient. The reorganisation was announced just one day after Denmark’s biggest bank, which is based in Copenhagen, said an executive who had ...