Banking

Nordea sets record on riskiest bank bonds

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 ...

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China’s micro-lender assault threatens path to US listings

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 ...

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Banks in Eastern Europe go from punching bags to growth leaders

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 ...

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Brexit spurs European banks to trim exposure to UK assets

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 ...

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Pimco, BlueBay score political win by buying Catalonia bonds

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 ...

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Iraq’s TBI opens office in Abu Dhabi

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. ...

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‘Investment bankers are hard to replace with bots’

Bloomberg Not all bankers need to fear the march of the robots. Nordea Bank AB, which last month said it will need to cut 6,000 jobs as part of a process to become a more digital firm, is now offering some insight into who’s likely to be hardest hit. Ewan MacLeod, Nordea’s chief digital officer, says customers should expect to ...

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China’s mammoth policy banks feel squeeze from bond rout

Bloomberg A $2.2 trillion superbank is feeling the pinch of China’s bond slump. The yield on China Development Bank’s 10-year bonds surged past 5 percent, bringing the rise this quarter to about 70 basis points. More striking has been the jump in its premium over government debt with a similar maturity, given that the state-owned lender is a so-called policy ...

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Barclays, Lloyds dividends in focus in toughest stress test

Bloomberg UK banks are bracing themselves for their grades in the toughest round of stress tests yet, with the fate of their dividends and strategies at stake as the Bank of England models how the seven largest British lenders will cope in another crisis. On Tuesday the central bank will reveal how they fared in a scenario that includes sharp ...

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Banks squeeze Indian companies harder in $207bn bad loan fight

Bloomberg Roiled by India’s high-profile corporate defaults, the nation’s lenders are tightening the screws on borrowers with stricter debt covenants and greater enforcement as the battle to curb delinquent loans intensifies. Banks are asking for collateral that may amount to one-and-a-half times the value of the debt on new loans extended and are insisting on contracts that allow loans to ...

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