Banking

Bloomberg BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, said it is preparing to start a private fund in China after the nation opened the market wider to global players. The firm plans to set up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) first for its private fund business in the nation, according to Chen Ting, general manager at BlackRock Overseas Investment Fund ...

Bloomberg It was the elephant in the room throughout Europe’s debt crisis, but ultimately too sensitive an issue for supervisors to fiddle with. Regulations have historically implied that government bonds are risk-free. But Greece’s near-death experience quickly made a mockery of that assertion. Now, Sweden is taking the next step and banks in the country are starting to assign risk ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping said the central bank will play a stronger role in defending against risks, calling for more work on safeguarding the financial system and modernizing its regulatory framework. China will set up a Financial Stability Development Committee under the State Council, Xi said at a twice-a-decade National Financial Work Conference held July 14-15, state media reported ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is no longer releasing the customer account figures it started disclosing after a scandal in September erupted over employees creating fake accounts to reach sales goals. Wells Fargo had been reporting 19 measures of client activity monthly, including the number of retail bank customers opening and closing checking accounts or applying for credit cards. Just ...

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest lender, bought minority stakes in three financial-technology firms as Chairman Ana Botin makes machine learning a hallmark of her growth plan. Santander InnoVentures is investing in Pixoneye and Curve, both based in the U.K., and Gridspace, located in the U.S., according to a statement. Terms weren’t disclosed. The acquisitions bring the number of fintech ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc is in talks with Irish regulators to expand operations in Dublin as it activates plans to preserve access to European Union markets, as Brexit negotiations drag on with no financial-services deal in sight. CEOr Jes Staley and Helen Keelan, chairman of Barclays Bank Ireland, met country’s PM Leo Varadkar in Dublin. Barclays said that while it ‘remains ...

Bloomberg As Sweden weighs the pros and cons of joining Europe’s banking union, the Nordic country says Italy’s decision to involve taxpayers isn’t encouraging. After months of deliberations, Italy said in June it will tap state coffers to pay for the wind-down of Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA and Veneto Banca SpA. Italy is also using a provision in Europe’s ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. has lost ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in revenue from municipal and state clients since a sales scandal in its consumer bank erupted 10 months ago, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry said in a statement. Shrewsberry said the decline isn’t material to Wells Fargo’s earnings, but added the company is working to regain the business. ...

Bloomberg The Indian rupee may weaken as global funds start to hit buying limits for the nation’s debt and valuations for equities look expensive, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. “I won’t be surprised if we drift down to 65-65.25 to the dollar over the next two months,” Pradeep Khanna, HSBC’s head of global markets trading for India in Mumbai, said ...

Bloomberg Fears of a long spell of low oil prices haven’t shaken Wall Street’s confidence in the sector. With the price of crude languishing around $46 a barrel in New York, the industry’s bankers remain optimistic about their energy investments, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. That’s different from a year earlier, when banks pulled ...