Banking

Reuters Nigeria’s central bank said it is setting up two financial instruments to provide liquidity support to its non-interest paying lenders. It is a push by Nigeria, home to the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, to establish itself as the African hub for Islamic finance, which follows religious principles such as bans on interest and gambling. The central bank ...

Bloomberg The Gupta family are selling their assets in South Africa to little-known companies as their access to banking facilities dries up and allegations intensify that they used their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to wield undue influence over his administration. On Wednesday they announced the sale of a coal business to a Swiss company that has no history in ...

Bloomberg Jehan Chu says he’s got an early-mover advantage that will help his cryptocurrency fund stand out from the crowd. The Hong Kong-based former art adviser started investing in bitcoin in 2013, when the digital asset saw its first major rally. Since then, prices have quadrupled, enabling Chu to quit his job, start a venture capital firm investing in blockchain ...

Bloomberg As Russia’s second-biggest private bank implodes, its billionaire owners have been conspicuous by their absence. By leaving Bank Otkritie FC to fend for itself, the four shareholders controlling more than a third of the company—their combined fortune valued at over $20 billion —may be giving the authorities little choice but to swoop in with a rescue. Now the central ...

Bloomberg The deregulation winds blowing through Washington could add $27 billion of gross profit at the six largest US banks, lifting their annual pretax income by about 20 percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley would benefit most from changes to post-crisis banking rules proposed by Donald Trump’s administration, with pretax profit jumping 22 percent, according to estimates by ...

Reuters As India’s foreign-exchange reserves march towards the unprecedented $400 billion mark, its central bank faces a costly conundrum. To keep the rupee stable and exports competitive, it is having to mop up inflows that’s adding cash to the local banking system. Problem is, banks are flush with money following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation programme last year, leaving them ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi said that while central-bank actions over the last decade have strengthened the global economy, it is important to be open-minded in readying for future developments. In a speech that gave no specific signals on the European Central Bank’s current policy deliberations, the institution’s president stressed that officials must be “unencumbered by the defense of previously held paradigms ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank surprised most economists by lowering interest rates, reflecting its relative comfort with the currency and inflation outlook. The benchmark rate was cut by a quarter point to 4.5 percent, with all but six of the 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicting it would stay on hold. Bank Indonesia reduced borrowing costs six times last year, making ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp.’s investment bank executives are divided over where their European Union trading hub should be after Brexit, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Equities head Fabrizio Gallo has pushed for Frankfurt as the base for traders working with EU clients, while his fixed-income colleagues Sanaz Zaimi and Bernard Mensah have favoured Paris, the people ...

Bloomberg While central bankers from the US to Europe see inflation undershooting their targets as a headache for monetary policy, it may be a boon for the Bank of Russia. A surprise deceleration in consumer prices below 4 percent in July is set to cool off inflation expectations, which Russia’s central bank calls a “pillar” of its rate decisions, according ...