Banking

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 ...

Bloomberg Bank of Nova Scotia and Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank have some of the widest gender pay disparities among Canadian lenders in their UK operations, according to regulatory disclosures. Scotiabank, Canada’s third-biggest len-der, pays women 44 percent less than men on average in the UK, with the gap widening to 72 percent for bonuses, according to regulatory disclosures. Scotiabank’s London operations ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Paul Achleitner is facing intense pressure to clarify the future of Chief Executive Officer John Cryan within days, according to a person familiar with the inside workings of the bank. Supervisory board members will discuss the situation in an “update call” scheduled by Achleitner for Sunday evening, said two people familiar with the matter, who ...

TOKYO / Reuters The Bank of Japan (BOJ) bought the largest amount of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on record in March as the central bank supported a market hit by a rising yen and fears of a global trade war. The central bank, which usually buys ETFs to support the market when shares fall in morning trade, said it bought a ...

BRUSSELS / Reuters An early Easter helped drive a pick-up in euro zone inflation in March, keeping the European Central Bank on track with preparations to wind down its huge stimulus programme in coming months. Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro was 1.4 percent year-on-year, European Union statistics office Eurostat estimated on Wednesday — in line with market ...

Bloomberg Oman has the means to maintain its currency peg and has no plans to change it even though the decline in oil prices has hurt its finances, central bank Governor Tahir Al Amri said. Oman’s gross foreign currency reserves, which stood at $19.6 billion at the end of January, are enough to cover nearly nine months’ worth of imports, ...

BUCHAREST / Reuters Romania’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at 2.25 percent on Wednesday, it said, likely waiting to assess the impact of two consecutive hikes it delivered earlier this year on rising inflation. Nine of ten analysts polled by Reuters last month had expected the bank to hike interest rates by a quarter point. A ...