Banking

Bloomberg VBS Mutual Bank, one of South Africa’s smallest lenders, has been put into administration after it was unable to repay money owed to municipalities, according to the country’s central bank. The management team has been relieved of its duties and a curator from the auditing firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo put in place following a “severe liquidity crisis,” Lesetja Kganyago, governor of ...

Bloomberg Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. said it aims to raise as much as 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) in what would be the biggest-ever follow-on share offering by a Chinese company as it moves to replenish capital. China’s third-largest lender will sell up to 27.5 billion shares to seven state-linked entities including the country’s Finance Ministry, Central Huijin Investment ...

Bloomberg Egypt selected four European banks to manage its first euro-denominated bond sale, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs in Europe as it looks to secure funding to plug the budget deficit. The government picked BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Intesa Sanpaolo for the issuance worth between 1 billion and 1.5 billion euros that’s slated to be held ...

Bloomberg The Polish central bank could yet waver on its commitment to keep interest rates stable. While three of Poland’s biggest lenders said Governor Adam Glapinski last week delivered the most dovish briefing of his tenure, its message was still so nuanced that some in the market are having second thoughts. The zloty, after a brief decline, has settled down ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. sees initial public offerings and M&A driving Middle East deals this year in what the US bank expects to be its busiest in the region. Private sector mergers and state sell-offs as part of privatisation plans will accelerate, while corporate bond sales are also likely to rise, Sjoerd Leenart, the bank’s global head of corporate ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG boosted Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti’s pay and increased the bank’s bonus pool by about 6 percent after underlying profit rose. The Zurich-based lender boosted the bonus pool for 2017 to 3.1 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), according to its annual report. Ermotti remains the highest-paid executive, earning 14.2 million francs, up from the 13.7 million ...

Bloomberg Just because China’s financial regulators are cracking down on cryptocurrencies doesn’t mean they’re souring on the idea of digital money. People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan made that clear at a press conference in Beijing, saying physical cash may one day become obsolete. Zhou said the PBOC is looking into digital currencies as it pursues faster, cheaper and ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada released an upbeat assessment of the country’s economic expansion, but reiterated the central bank will remain cautious as it seeks to bring interest rates back up to more normal levels. The outlook was delivered in a speech by Deputy Governor Tim Lane, a day after an interest-rate decision where the central bank left borrowing costs ...

Bloomberg Finland is promising it won’t add to the list of financial regulations facing Nordea Bank AB as the lender prepares to move its headquarters to the northernmost euro member. The pledge, made by Finance Minister Petteri Orpo, comes a week before shareholders in Nordea vote on its proposal to relocate from Stockholm. The largest Nordic lender, which has been ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank President Mario Draghi turned a spotlight on banks’ riskiest assets when he said they need to reduce their holdings of hard-to-value investments. A decade after the financial crisis, lenders in the region are still sitting on billions of dollars of illiquid holdings that could include the kind of mortgage-backed bonds and bespoke derivatives that sank lenders ...