Banking

Bloomberg Former HSBC Holdings Plc currency trader Mark Johnson took the witness stand, insisting that he cheated no one in a $3.5 billion foreign-exchange transaction. Johnson is accused of fraud for buying British pounds ahead of a client’s order, forcing the client to pay a higher price. The bank made an $8 million profit as a result of the currency ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) loss of one of the four career officials managing its supervisory arm adds to a swelling vacancy list at the top of the bank watchdog just when its workload is set to increase. Jukka Vesala, one of a quartet of director generals at the helm of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, has resigned, the Frankfurt-based ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is edging closer to a settlement with regulators over the crisis-era mortgage bonds investigation that took a $1 billion chunk out of third-quarter profit, according to Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry. “We are now having a negotiation, so it’s a matter of probably months or quarters, not anything more than that,” Shrewsberry said. The bank ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney is ready to raise interest rates from a position of economic weakness rather than strength. The fastest inflation in four years has left the UK central bank preparing to hike next month for the first time in more than a decade, yet it’s not an accelerating economy fanning those price pressures. Instead, ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) policy makers are poised to preserve their commitment to ultra-low interest rates even as they wrangle over how long to keep their bond-buying program going. Members of President Mario Draghi’s Governing Council will meet this month amid discord over whether a strengthening economy means now is the time to plot an end to more than ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s shock policy U-turn in 2015 has gone down in the annals of history for roiling markets. Now two of the institution’s economists have, in effect, backed its approach to communications. Thomas Lustenberger and Enzo Rossi argue that increased central bank communication over the years has “created confusion rather than clarity” and hasn’t helped investors and ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti signaled that the world’s largest wealth manager has resolved its capital and legacy costs and shareholders’ focus is turning to returns. “Investors are waiting for the time in which the capital buildup to fulfill regulatory requirements is over and the costs associated with legacy matters is addressed,” Ermotti said in a ...

Bloomberg Cash-loving Swiss will soon have a 50-50 chance of paying with a crisp, new banknote. With the introduction of its new 10-franc bill, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) will be half way through its new series. Introduced in April 2016, the notes feature motifs depicting typically Swiss characteristics and have cutting-edge security features. The newest is yellow and based ...

Bloomberg Regulators worldwide are finding that it’s incredibly hard to control the explosive growth of money tied to no nation. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the latest to call for regulation of cryptocurrencies, saying there are “serious risks” they can be used for money laundering or tax evasion. Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov has called for regulating digital money as ...

Reuters The head of Banque Saudi Fransi’s corporate bank is leaving the bank, sources familiar with the matter said. Mohamad Abdulhadi, senior executive director at the Saudi lender partly owned by Credit Agricole, left this week, sources said. One of the sources familiar with the move said Abdulhadi was in his 60s and had retired. There was no official announcement ...