Banking

All change at top of ECB as Draghi era approaches end

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is heading for a two-year leadership overhaul that peaks with the selection of a successor to President Mario Draghi, and it will be politics as much as ability that determines who get the jobs. Five of the ECB’s seven top posts will be vacated by the end of 2019, starting with Vice President Vitor Constancio ...

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All talk, few answers from FOMC for Yellen’s long inflation miss

Bloomberg Janet Yellen’s Federal Reserve probably didn’t make much progress last month toward resolving the biggest topic of debate during her tenure leading the central bank: low inflation. Minutes of the US central bank’s December 12-13 policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee gathering will probably show the outlook for consumer prices continued to dominate the discus- sion when they are published ...

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China’s small banks dumped on signs of more policy pain

Bloomberg China’s smaller banks started the New Year with a double whammy from regulators and investors, and more pain may be looming. Bank of Tianjin Co. tumbled by as much as 12 percent in the first two trading days, the biggest two-day decline since its Hong Kong listing in March 2016, after rallying at the end of last year. Bank ...

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PBOC poised to raise money market rates 3 times this year

Bloomberg China’s central bank will make modest increases in money-market rates in 2018 as it aims to keep up the pressure on deleveraging and prevent too much divergence with US policy, according to a Bloomberg survey. The People’s Bank of China is seen raising interest rates on reverse-repurchase agreements by five basis points three times this year, starting in the ...

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MiFID shake-up gets real as wary traders see volumes dry up

Bloomberg After seven years of preparation, $2 billion in compliance costs and one false start, the biggest shake-up to European regulation in a decade is finally here. With so much at stake, investors are likely to sit on their hands for now. Trading volumes slumped ahead of the changes, according to two brokers with knowledge of the matter, with client ...

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New York Fed takes names in search for new president

Bloomberg It may be the trickiest job to fill in central banking. And as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York search committee casts a wide net to find a replacement for its outgoing president, William Dudley, the wish list is getting long. Interviews with 10 members of the Fed’s advisory boards, which the committee is consulting, suggest they want ...

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European bonds slip on first day of 2018 trading

Bloomberg European bonds slipped on the first day of 2018 trading, led by longer-dated securities after European Central Bank policy maker Benoit Coeure said its current extension of stimulus may be the last. German 30-year bunds led the drop in the euro-area’s debt, followed by the Netherlands and France, while UK gilts also slid. Coeure said that given the region’s ...

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Indonesia’s rupiah range shrinks to 20-year low

Bloomberg While volatility in many financial markets has been rising over recent weeks, one notoriously unpredictable currency has been dead in the water. The trading range for Indonesia’s rupiah shrank to the least in two decades last year and volatility all but vanished as the central bank made maintaining the currency’s stability its chief mission. All this in a year ...

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Former UBS trader says bank ‘mandated’ conduct that led to ban his from industry

Bloomberg An ex-UBS Group AG trader banned from the finance industry over allegations that he manipulated Libor rates told a London court that his actions were “mandated” and “sanctioned” by the bank. Arif Hussein, a former head of UBS’s sterling rates desk, is challenging a decision by the Financial Conduct Authority to ban him at a London court hearing on ...

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At a glance: What key Africa markets hold for investors in 2018

Bloomberg For bond investors, Africa was a happy hunting ground last year. Its local-currency and dollar securities easily outperformed those of emerging markets overall as investors piled into a continent offering high yields and starting to recover from the commodity bust of three years ago. But risks abound, among them policy tightening in advanced economies, local and global politics, weakening ...

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