Bloomberg Morocco will adopt a more flexible exchange rate from Monday as part of a long-awaited plan aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the North African nation’s economy. Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco’s central bank, said in a statement it would widen the official band within which the dirham fluctuates to 5 percent, with a maximum daily moves of 2.5 percent above ...
Read More »Banking
Philippines plays catch-up as more banks tap big data
Bloomberg The Philippine central bank is beefing up its data tools to get a better handle on a fast-growing economy, which is starting to flash warning signs because of a rapid buildup of debt. Like central banks across Southeast Asia, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is pushing to capture information from “big data,†drawn from sources such as online search engines, ...
Read More »Draghi unheeded as ECB minutes prompt new bets on 2018 hike
Bloomberg The European Central Bank is again struggling to get the message across to markets that any unwinding of stimulus will be slow and steady. The euro soared, bonds slid and investors this week stepped up bets that interest rates will rise before the end of 2018, disregarding President Mario Draghi’s assurances that no such thing will happen until well ...
Read More »HSBC hires from Goldman, JPMorgan for Asia equities
Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc made a slew of hires from rivals including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as the bank revamps its equities business in the Asia-Pacific region and expands a nascent majority-owned securities venture in China, people familiar with the matter said. Among the recent additions are Michael Parry, who joined from Goldman Sachs as a director focused on Asian ...
Read More »Investors to central banks: Monetary policy planning could roil markets
Bloomberg Global central banks are being served a sharp reminder by investors that their monetary policy planning carries the potential to roil the financial markets in 2018. A minor tweak in the Bank of Japan’s bond-purchase operation saw the yen strengthen more than 1 percent in two days. A change in the way China’s central bank manages the yuan sparked ...
Read More »Dollar bears get warning as Asian banks put brake
Bloomberg Dollar bears take heed: Asian central banks may be putting the brakes on the greenback’s slide. After working for three years to staunch the yuan’s slump, China is now moving to combat the opposite problem. The People’s Bank of China has stopped using a component of its daily fixing formula that had been widely interpreted as a tool to ...
Read More »Nainital Bank put up for sale by India lender
Bloomberg Bank of Baroda, India’s third-largest state-run lender, is seeking to sell unit Nainital Bank Ltd. as it sheds non-core assets to bolster its balance sheet, people familiar with the matter said. A decision on the size of the stake to be sold will depend on approvals from the Indian central bank, the people said, asking not to be identified ...
Read More »Morgan Stanley counters bond bear market call
Bloomberg Morgan Stanley countered Bill Gross’s call that Treasuries are in a bear market. “Don’t worry, Treasuries continue to offer value,†Morgan Stanley strategists Matthew Hornbach and Guneet Dhingra in New York wrote in a note. “This isn’t the bear market you’re looking for,†according to the firm, one of the 23 primary dealers that underwrite US debt securities. A ...
Read More »China’s central bank changes way it manages Yuan after gains
Bloomberg China’s central bank has made a change to the regime used to manage the yuan, effectively removing a component used by banks to calculate their submissions to the currency’s daily reference rate, according to people familiar with the matter. The People’s Bank of China recently told some lenders that contribute to the rate — known as the fixing — ...
Read More »Spanish investment bank plans London HQ despite Brexit
Bloomberg Spain’s Alantra Partners SA is considering moving its headquarters from Madrid to London in a bet the UK capital will remain the center of European business and finance even after Brexit, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The investment bank and money manager, which oversees 3.7 billion euros ($4.4 billion) of assets and employs about 350 ...
Read More »