Banking

Bloomberg The Bank of Canada is optimistic higher interest rates and regulatory efforts to rein in risky borrowing will make the country’s financial system more resilient, though the process could take time to unfold and the outcome remains uncertain. In its semi-annual financial stability report, Canada’s central bank painted a picture of a housing market where key steps have been ...

Bloomberg Societe Generale SA, seeking to restore growth and profitability, will deepen job cuts at its French consumer bank and take exceptional charges of about 570 million euros ($678 million) against fourth-quarter earnings. As many as 900 reductions may take place as the domestic retail banking business cuts branch numbers, resulting in a charge of about 400 million euros, SocGen ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is sticking to the substance of its plan to toughen bad-loan rules for euro-area banks even as it makes some adjustments in response to a barrage of criticism from Rome and Brussels, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The ECB was accused of overreach in its recent proposal to hold banks to firm ...

Bloomberg A group of former Credit Suisse Group AG staff, led by Australian investment banker John Wylie, has started an Asia-Pacific credit investment fund to take advantage of banks reining in lending. Tanarra Credit Partners has raised more than A$285 million ($216 million) for its Asia-Pacific Fund I, which will invest in senior and mezzanine debt, and is targeting as ...

Bloomberg It may well be the lowest interest rate ever set on the riskiest bank debt, and investors wanted seven times as much as was offered. Nordea Bank AB’s issuance of so-called additional Tier 1 notes, which act much like equity if a lender gets into trouble, got a good deal of attention this week as it became clear the ...

Bloomberg A new assault by Chinese authorities on the country’s cash micro-lenders threatens to stymie any new listings in New York, as regulators in Beijing escalate their campaign to reduce risks in China’s $40 trillion financial-services sector. According to the International Financial News, China plans to purge the country’s 157 online micro-lenders, leaving only large state-owned companies and the biggest ...

Bloomberg Consumer spending is booming. Interest rates are bottoming out. Eastern Europe’s banking sector is on an upswing. After surviving the toxic mix of near-zero borrowing costs, harsh regulatory curbs and damage from foreign-currency mortgages, lenders are benefiting from economic expansion accelerating to the fastest in years across much of the European Union’s east. Polish banks’ combined net income rose ...

Bloomberg European banks pared their exposure to Britain in the aftermath of its vote to quit the European Union, slashing their UK assets by $425 billion in the span of a year. The decline was driven by a 35 percent drop in derivatives exposures, showing European banks are preparing for the risk that the UK fails to reach an agreement ...

Bloomberg For proof that taking on political risk is a winning formula in Europe this year, look no further than Pimco’s wager on Spanish unity. The California fund manager has amassed the largest position of Catalonia’s $6 billion of junk-rated debt, undeterred by a raucous independence movement and a snap election next month that may produce another victory for separatist ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, making it the only Iraqi Trade Finance bank to have a presence in the UAE. The wholly government owned bank, which holds 80% market share in Iraq, has established its first international office at Abu Dhabi Global Market on Al Maryah Island. ...