Banking

Bloomberg Commonwealth Bank of Australia is being sued by the nation’s securities regulator for allegedly rigging the benchmark bank-bill swap rate, adding to legal problems for the nation’s largest lender. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission said it began legal proceedings on Tuesday in the Federal Court in Melbourne, alleging the bank engaged in “unconscionable conduct and market manipulation” between ...

Bloomberg Morocco may need anything from five to 15 years to fully float the dirham, with further currency liberalisation dependent on other reforms including strengthening the country’s export base and reducing the current-account deficit, central bank Governor Abdellatif Jouahri said. Policymakers finally eased their grip on the dirham on January 15, allowing the currency to trade 2.5 percent above or ...

Bloomberg The rationale for merging some of Europe’s biggest lenders is compelling. That’s the view of many financial executives who met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week. A decade after the financial crisis, some of the region’s biggest lenders are facing declining revenue as interest rates linger near record lows, while legal bills and capital demands ...

DUBAI / Reuters Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank plans to add more than 100 branches in Pakistan this year through its subsidiary Faysal Bank, to capitalise on the country’s low penetration rate of banking services, a senior executive said. Ithmaar Bank owns 66 percent of Faysal Bank, whose contribution to the Islamic retail bank’s overall balance sheet would likely grow to more ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank has to end its quantitative easing as soon as possible, according to ECB Governing Council member Klaas Knot, who said there’s not a single reason anymore to continue with the program. “The program has done what could realistically be expected of it,” Knot, who also heads the Dutch Central Bank, said in an interview on ...

DUBAI / Reuters The Saudi Arabian central bank’s foreign reserves rose in December for a third consecutive month, a sign that higher oil prices may be easing pressure on the government’s finances, official data showed. The bank’s net foreign assets grew $2.0 billion from November to $488.9 billion last month, after increasing $1.0 billion in November and $8.3 billion in ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG’s big hit from stricter global capital standards may be softened by the small print. New rules give supervisors the option to exclude banks’ litigation payouts when calculating their so-called operational risk. If that happens, it would be a boon for Deutsche Bank and potentially improve returns for shareholders. The bank declined to comment specifically on the ...

Bloomberg Pressure on the ratings of India’s state-owned banks is set to ease after the government unveiled plans to inject 881 billion rupees ($14 billion) of fresh capital to help the lenders meet looming Basel norms without hurting a nascent recovery in credit growth. “The large recapitalisation is credit positive and will stem downward pressure on viability ratings, which have ...

Bloomberg DBS Group Holdings Ltd. plans to increase the number of relationship managers in its private banking business to tap into surging Asian wealth. Headcount will rise between 10 percent and 20 percent this year — after increasing more than 20% in 2017 — adding to a team that currently comprises 200 private bankers, Lawrence Lua, deputy private-banking head, said ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB reported a slump in profit at the end of last year, lagging behind analyst estimates, as the Nordic region’s only global systemically important bank struggles with a transformation it says will ultimately make it more efficient. Investors were quick to express their dissatisfaction. Shares in the bank opened more than 4 percent lower in Stockholm, their ...