Banking

Credit Suisse to pay $135mn to settle New York FX probe

Bloomberg Credit Suisse AG will pay $135 million to resolve currency-manipulation allegations by New York’s banking regulator, the latest echo from authorities’ long-running scrutiny of foreign-currency trading at big banks. Traders at the Zurich-based bank, prodded by executives in some cases, shared information about clients’ currency orders, talked to traders from other banks and in some instances front-ran customer orders ...

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Sberbank third quarter profit hits record as dividend boost eyed

Bloomberg Sberbank PJSC set a record for profit in the third quarter, strengthening the case for fatter dividends as Russia’s biggest bank weighs changes to shareholder payouts. Net income rose 62 percent from a year earlier to 222 billion rubles ($3.68 billion), compared with a 193 billion-ruble average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloo-mberg. The previous record was set ...

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Bank rescue plan may squeeze a corner of Canada’s bond market

Bloomberg New rules to protect taxpayers from bank failures may push investors out of a C$95 billion ($75 billion) corner of Canada’s corporate bond market, reducing liquidity and raising borrowing costs. Under a regime set to take effect in 2018, short-term bank-deposit notes typically sold to institutional investors will gradually be replaced by senior “bail-in” debt that can convert to ...

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BOE on a one-a-year path on interest rate increases

Bloomberg The Bank of England is on a one-a-year cycle when it comes to interest-rate increases, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The BOE lifted its benchmark to 0.5 percent on November 2 — the first hike in a decade — and the median forecast is for another move in the fourth quarter of 2018, earlier than then 2019 prediction ...

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S African banks prepare for worst as junk rating looms

Bloomberg South African banks are preparing for the worst when it comes to the threat of another downgrade of the country’s debt. “FirstRand anticipated the downgrades since 2015 and has been working on a number of proactive strategies to mitigate the impact,” said Andries du Toit, the treasurer at Johannesburg-based FirstRand Ltd., the country’s second-biggest bank by assets. The measures ...

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IMF chief lauds China’s plan to open financial system

Bloomberg China’s plan to ease foreign-ownership limits on financial firms drew praise from IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who described the move as a “very positive development.” The partial removal of barriers “is an indication of two things: openness and also better strength and confidence in their own system,” the International Monetary Fund managing-director said in an interview in Danang, Vietnam. ...

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Mizuho’s profit falls on signs of job cut

Bloomberg Mizuho Financial Group Inc.’s profit fell and the Japanese bank offered a bleak assessment of the long-term outlook, confirming it will eliminate thousands of jobs to cut costs. The nation’s third-biggest lender will shed 19,000 positions — about a quarter of its workforce — in the next 10 years, it said in a statement, confirming recent media reports. Lending ...

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RBA sees slow inflation as cash rate stays on hold

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank used its Statement on Monetary Policy to flesh out its consistent recent view of accelerating growth and sluggish inflation, suggesting interest rates will stay at a record-low 1.5 percent. Underlying inflation forecasts revised slightly lower for 2018 and cut by half percentage point for 2019, mainly to allow for upcoming reweighting of CPI. “The assessment of ...

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HSBC chairman eyes US takeovers

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc Chairman Mark Tucker has met with shareholders and discussed takeovers of US credit-card businesses in his first month in office, the Sunday Times reported. Investors are said to be wary of the plans given the retrenchment by the world’s largest banks in recent years, the newspaper said, citing people it didn’t identify. People linked to the ...

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Goldman’s bankers target smaller firms to boost business

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment bankers may be coming to an airport near you. Dealmakers at Wall Street’s top-ranked merger firm are fanning out across the US and Western Europe as part of a new plan to drum up additional business. They’re targeting smaller companies, many in America’s hinterlands, ingratiating themselves to a tier of clients often neglected by ...

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