Banking

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. may not be willing to help customers invest in bitcoin, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t plowing into the technology underlying the cryptocurrency. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender has applied for or received at least 43 patents for blockchain, the ledger technology used for verifying and recording transactions that’s at the heart of virtual currencies. ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea left its key interest rate unchanged as inflation remains below target and the nation’s currency trades near a multi-year high. The unanimous decision to keep the seven-day repurchase rate at 1.5 percent, in the next-to-last rate decision before Governor Lee Ju-yeol’s term ends in March, was forecast by all 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, plans to increase its bonus pool for last year as the lender makes progress on its three-year restructuring plan, two people familiar with the plans said. The pool may increase by a low single-digit percentage, but is yet to be finalised, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified ...

Bloomberg Economists brought forward their estimate of when the European Central Bank will set an end-date for its bond-buying program, amid signs that more optimistic views on inflation might be gaining sway among policy makers. While no action is expected at the Governing Council meeting on January 25, almost half of respondents in a Bloomberg survey predicted the ECB will ...

Bloomberg Indian bank shares surged the most since November on a report the government is considering allowing foreign investors to own larger stakes in the country’s lenders. The Bankex Index, a gauge for 10 lenders, rose 2 percent to a new record high as of 9:30 a.m. in Mumbai. Gains were led by privately owned Yes Bank Ltd., which is ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada indicated it’s in no rush to pursue aggressive interest rate hikes, citing “important unknowns” such as the future of Nafta as it raised borrowing costs for the third time since July. At a rate decision, central bank officials led by Governor Stephen Poloz sought to quell expectations Canada’s economic boom could prompt them to move ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc is eliminating as many as 100 senior staff at its investment bank as the unit’s chief, Tim Throsby, overhauls the underperforming division, according to people familiar with the decision. The cutbacks will fall mainly at the managing director and director levels and are evenly split between Europe and the US, said the people, who asked not to ...

Bloomberg The Argentine peso has a split personality, with analysts forecasting both big losses in the spot market and the highest total return for emerging-market investors. The reason for the divergence comes down to inflation and interest rates. Consumer-price increases of more than 20 percent will wreak havoc on the peso’s value, but any weakness will be more than offset ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. once excited investors by pledging steep cost cuts by the end of this year. It still has a ways to go. The lender showed promise on revenue growth, as net interest income jumped to the highest in more than five years and revenue from trading and investment banking both topped estimates. Now, analysts question whether ...

Bloomberg A minor tweak in the Bank of Japan’s bond purchases has emboldened investors to bet the central bank is about to wind back monetary stimulus. Going long on the yen is the biggest currency wager for AMP Capital Investors Ltd.’s Nader Naeimi. Singapore-based hedge fund Kit Trading Fund Ltd. started a bet on the yen last week, predicting the ...