Bloomberg India’s inflation is seen accelerating in the final reading on consumer prices before the central bank decides on interest rates next month, complicating matters for Governor Urjit Patel amid increasing evidence that economic growth is weak. Consumer prices probably rose 3.24 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg survey ...
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Aussie banks sit on $402bn of ‘liar loans’: UBS
Bloomberg Here’s something else for policy makers to worry about as they attempt to engineer a soft landing in Australia’s property market. The country’s lenders could be sitting on $402 billion of “liar loans,†or mortgages obtained on inaccurate financial information, according to an estimate from UBS Group AG. A survey by the firm of 907 Australians who took out ...
Read More »White House considering at least six for Federal chair
Bloomberg The White House is considering more than a half-dozen candidates to be the next head of the Federal Reserve, including economists and business people, with a goal of filling out a depleted board with expertise ranging from financial regulation to community banking, according to three people familiar with the matter. The breadth of the search goes against the narrative ...
Read More »Pakistan bank to pay $225mn, end US operations
Bloomberg New York’s banking regulator ordered Habib Bank Ltd. to pay $225 million and surrender its license to operate in the state, effectively removing Pakistan’s largest lender from the US financial system. Managers in Habib’s branch office in Manhattan failed for more than a decade to shore up weak anti-money-laundering controls and sanctions compliance, New York’s Department of Financial Services ...
Read More »Indonesia bank rally imperilled by sluggish lending, bad loans
Bloomberg The rally in Indonesian bank stocks may be nearing an end amid sluggish credit growth and tougher regulations for loan quality assessments. Equity analysts are now downgrading banking stocks after the Jakarta Finance Index rallied 21 percent this year—more than double that of the main gauge—as they expect nonperforming loans in the $527 billion industry to creep up again. ...
Read More »Nordea move has Riksbank chief warning of dangerous fallout
Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB’s relocation from Stockholm to Helsinki in pursuit of a friendlier regulatory environment is drawing expressions of dismay from some of Sweden’s highest-ranking officials. Stefan Ingves, the governor of Sweden’s Riksbank and the chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, called the decision “dangerous for everyone in the Nordics and Baltics†if Nordea’s intention was to ...
Read More »Private equity prowls for young bankers early in frenetic ritual
Bloomberg Wall Street’s newbies—investment banking analysts straight out of college who just hit the desk—have barely started one job when another starts beckoning. Junior analysts a few weeks on the job can now expect a flurry of emails from headhunters for some of the most prestigious private equity firms in the world. The jobs they’re being recruited for can pay ...
Read More »British pound climbs to five-week high
Bloomberg The pound rose to a five-week high against a weaker dollar as investors covered short positions and UK manufacturing data beat expectations. Sterling headed for its third weekly gain against the dollar and hit $1.32, as the greenback dropped against all its Group-of-10 peers. Data showed UK manufacturing rose in July for the first time this year, while the ...
Read More »Blockchain developers face off over $1 billion in digital cash
Bloomberg Two of the world’s largest block- chain developers are battling over more than $1 billion in virtual-currency options, in a dispute that may help establish the leading player in providing new payment technologies to financial companies. R3, a blockchain startup that leads a group of more than 100 firms, sued rival Ripple Labs Inc. in state court in Delaware, ...
Read More »BOE may shift tone while keeping policy on hold
Bloomberg The Bank of England won’t budge on policy next week, though it could present a shift in tone. In the six weeks since the Monetary Policy Committee’s last decision, the economy has performed broadly as the bank expected and there have been tentative signs of a long-awaited pickup in wage growth. At the same time, the pound’s renewed decline ...
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