Banking

Bloomberg Gold prices are set to jump to a four-year high of $1,400 an ounce by the end of the year over mounting tensions between North Korea and the US, and surging demand in the world’s biggest consumers, according to the head of precious metals at a Russian investment bank. Bullion could rise to $1,360 within three months before climbing ...

Bloomberg Ghana’s central bank approved a deal that will see Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd. take over the deposits and selected assets of UT Bank Ltd. and Capital Bank Ltd. after the two lenders failed to meet capital requirements. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will sell the rest of the assets to settle liabilities, Raymond Amanfu, head of banking supervision at Bank of Ghana, ...

Bloomberg If Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, is looking for signs of wage growth, he might find comfort in Finland. After delivering the euro zone’s fastest pace of economic growth in the first quarter, Finnish workers have had enough belt-tightening and are now demanding pay rises they say are only fair given the rebound in exports. ...

Reuters Egyptian financial services group Beltone Financial will launch a $1 billion investment fund in fixed income instruments in September, its chief executive officer told Reuters on Monday. The investment bank aims to raise $150 million to $200 million in the fund’s first phase, Bassem Azzab said in a telephone interview. The fund will seek to attract Gulf and European ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin soared past $4,000 for the first time on growing optimism faster transaction times will hasten the spread of the cryptocurrency. The largest digital tender jumped to a peak of $4,216 onMonday, a gain of nearly 18 percent since Friday, after a plan to quicken trade execution by moving some data off the main network was activated last week. ...

Bloomberg If Mario Draghi is worried about the strength of the euro, he’s hiding it well for now. The European Central Bank president has shirked any invitation so far to bemoan the recent appreciation of the single currency in the style of his predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet, who used to complain about “brutal” moves that risk damping growth. Instead, Draghi has ...

Bloomberg Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla called for calm on Sunday after the peso fell to an almost 11-year low against the dollar last week, saying the currency isn’t expected to free fall given the nation’s strong economic fundamentals. “The peso is market-determined. It’s natural for it to show volatility as it adjusts to market conditions and all ...

Bloomberg Bank of England policy maker Michael Saunders said the decision to leave the European Union will have a long-term effect on the economy, though there’s still an argument to increase interest rates now. In an interview in the Evening Standard newspaper, the external Monetary Policy Committee member said Brexit probably means the economy will grow “several percentage points less ...

Bloomberg Irish banks are set to face mounting pressure from regulators to write off bad loans, a person familiar with the matter said. European authorities that now oversee the biggest Irish lenders have consistently pushed bankers to deal with the legacy of non-performing assets left over from the nation’s financial crash through measures such as loan sales. Regulators are beginning ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin needs “Downtown” Josh Brown more than he needs bitcoin. Brown, the chief executive officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management and author of a popular finance blog, has long been skeptical of the digital currency. He finally bought some, he said, “because the goddamn thing won’t go away.” Still, Brown, who helps manage half a billion dollars, isn’t really a ...