Banking

Bloomberg Ilan Goldfajn is racking up the milestones as Brazil’s central bank president, but he’s still a long way from securing the institution’s ultimate goal: greater independence. Since taking the helm in June last year, the 51 year-old former Itau Unibanco chief economist has helped bring inflation to an 18-year low, hastened the end of subsidized state loans, and saw ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB is losing clients in Sweden in what independent mortgage brokers say appears to be a protest against the bank’s plan to redomicile to Finland in pursuit of a more accommodating regulatory environment. The customer shift has been registered by two online home-loan brokers and confirmed by other banks operating in Sweden. Nordea says flows in the ...

Bloomberg Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, the former governor of the Bank of Spain, was absolved of possible criminal acts in the Bankia SA case, along with seven other central bank and regulatory officials. Their omission of not taking action to prevent the Spanish commercial bank’s initial public offering wasn’t a criminal action — even though its accounts may have been ...

Reuters Turkey’s central bank said it will keep monetary policy tight until the inflation outlook displays a significant improvement, after it kept rates steady for the third straight meeting. Current elevated levels of inflation and developments in core inflation indicators pose risks to pricing behaviour and the bank would deliver further monetary tightening if needed, it said. It kept all ...

Bloomberg The South African Reserve Bank’s fight against its detractors escalated this week, and now even has President Jacob Zuma in its sights. The central bank in court papers accused Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane of bias and being part of a campaign to undermine its independence after documents showed the anti-graft ombudsman held a secret meeting with Zuma’s lawyers before ...

Bloomberg Kenyan lenders risk needing to raise expensive debt on local markets next year to shore up their core capital levels, which may be eroded by new accounting standards the country is introducing that compel banks to classify losses differently. That’ll be a double whammy for an industry already reeling from the effects of interest-rate caps introduced a year ago, ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin’s meteoric summertime surge risks coming to a painful end as Chinese policy makers move to restrict trading amid growing warnings of a market bubble. The biggest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 40% since reaching a record high of $4,921 on 1 September, cutting about $20 billion in market value. The collapse extended to as much as 30% this ...

Bloomberg India’s foreign-exchange reserves rose past $400 billion for the first time ever, strengthening policy makers’ buffers ahead of an expected reduction in US stimulus. The stockpile stood at $400.7 billion on September 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a release. With the Federal Reserve set to shrink its balance sheet—details of which could be announced next ...

Bloomberg The pound climbed to the highest level against the dollar since just after Brexit vote and UK government bonds tumbled. Sterling surged past $1.36 after Vlieghe, considered a dovish voter, turned hawkish to tell a conference that the moment was approaching for a rate hike. The premium to hold call options on the pound relative to puts rose to ...

Bloomberg Governor Elvira Nabiullina really means it when she says the Bank of Russia will follow no predetermined course on rates. Its outlook will allow for pauses as well as cuts of 25 to 50 basis points, depending on forecasts and the situation with inflation and the economy, Nabiullina told reporters in Moscow. The governor spoke after the central bank ...