Banking

Bloomberg After aggressive digitalisation and cost-cutting programs helped turned around Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd, Chief Executive Officer Rakefet Russak-Aminoach is preparing an international expansion of its mobile bank. “We are looking at going global; we are checking some business plays and considering some partnerships with others” including technology companies and larger banks, she said in an interview on the sidelines ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2014, with economists guessing that it won’t need to tighten again this year. Bank Negara Malaysia increased the overnight policy rate to 3.25 percent from 3 percent, it said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur, as predicted by 16 of the 20 economists in a Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg European banks may have scored a victory in having the Basel III capital standards toned down, but that doesn’t mean they can rest on their laurels. There are more battles to come in 2018, in particular lobbying lawmakers on a series of measures designed to reduce risk in the system. The regulations are deemed a vital step towards the ...

SYDNEY/ Reuters The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) plans to develop more detailed guidance on financial safety nets to help harmonise Islamic principles with existing legal systems, as the industry body strengthens ties with financial regulators. The Malaysia-based IFSB, one of the main standard-setting bodies in Islamic finance, is seeking to shed light on issues relating to sharia-compliant transactions in ...

Bloomberg As Nordea Bank AB’s Bitcoin ban for staff has unions questioning the legality of the move, Sweden’s minister in charge of financial legislation says it’s understandable that the industry is resorting to such measures. “If banks have rules on what investments they or their employees are trading in, it is up to them,” Financial Markets Minister Per Bolund told ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG plans to keep the maximum amount of jobs and business in the UK as the country works towards a solution with European authorities on its exit from the trading block. The bank considers a centralised model more efficient and favors a European financial center that can “balance” New York, investment banking head Andrea Orcel said in ...

Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest private lender by assets, predicts the nation’s rate-cut cycle has ended and traders should brace for tightening in the coming months. “Reduction in the interest rate cycle has stopped now,” Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar said in an interview with Bloom-berg TV. “We should be prepared for an increase over a period.” Kochhar wades ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan said Governor Haruhiko Kuroda wasn’t revising the inflation outlook when he said in Davos that consumer prices are finally moving close to the 2 percent target. “There are some indications that wages are actually rising, and some prices have already started to rise and even medium- to long-term inflation expectations, which have been so weak ...

Bloomberg There’s one question European Central Bank President Mario Draghi won’t be able to ignore at his first policy meeting of the year: whether the euro is too strong for the currency bloc’s health. In the six weeks since the previous decision, the single currency for 19 European nations has surged to the highest level against the dollar in more ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said the Swiss bank won’t trade Bitcoin or offer it to retail clients as increased regulation could lead to a “massive” drop in value. “This is something where the price is really unclear,” Weber said in an interview on Wednesday with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We fear ...