Banking

Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has narrowed the list of bidders for its wealth unit, which could fetch more than A$4 billion ($3 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said. The Melbourne-based bank has invited AIA Group Ltd., MetLife Inc. and Zurich Insurance Group AG to make second-round offers for the business by Sept. 15, according ...

Bloomberg Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA laid out a five-year restructuring plan that includes cutting thousands of jobs and selling assets as part of an agreement with the European Union that lets the bank receive 5.4 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in state aid. The lender plans to reduce headcount by 5,500, close 600 branches and dispose ...

Bloomberg China’s banks are weaning themselves off short-term debt — with a little help from the authorities. The amount of negotiable certificates of deposit outstanding is likely to drop by the end of this quarter, according to 15 of 26 traders and analysts polled by Bloomberg last month. That would be the first quarterly decline since the instruments were introduced ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG is consolidating its wealth management business in Europe and emerging markets to streamline operations, expanding the role of top executives in much of the region. Cross-border operations will be combined with domestic businesses in a set-up that will reduce the number of offshore booking centers from about 10 to three — Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. ...

Bloomberg Ten years since the Bank of England (BOE) last raised interest rates, policy makers are warning Britons to prepare for the next one. “Our foot is pretty much on the floor with the accelerator,” Michael Saunders, a member of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, told The Guardian in an interview published late on Tuesday. “Households should prepare for interest ...

Bloomberg Italians may be about to experience something they haven’t felt in some time: confidence in their country’s financial system. European Union officials capped years of turmoil in Italy’s banking industry by approving a plan to salvage Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, a onetime pillar of the financial establishment brought to the edge of ruin by bad loans ...

Bloomberg India’s $750 billion sovereign-debt market is caught in a tug of war between foreign investors and state-run banks, the biggest holders of the securities. As lenders sold Rs95,200 crore ($14.7 billion) of sovereign bonds last quarter, overseas funds added more than Rs42,200 crore to their holdings of the debt. The dichotomy is stemming from the potential for future gains ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region and a pioneer in private sector CSR volunteering in the UAE, has announced that its award-winning Exchanger programme has completed thirteen thousand seven hours of volunteering so far this year, thus coming close to completing its fifteen-thousand-hour target for 2017. The Exchanger programme which has grown 245% since ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) facilities staff voted to go on strike for four days in a dispute over pay in the first action of its kind at the central bank in 50 years, according to a labor union. Ninety five percent of Unite’s members in the BOE’s maintenance, security and the governors’ private offices — known as the parlours ...

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA said its takeover of failing Banco Popular Espanol SA will have a minimal impact on first half earnings, with the bank set to post a profit of 3.6 billion euros ($4.1 billion). Spain’s largest lender also set the price of its 7.07 billion-euro capital increase, saying it will sell about 1.5 billion shares at 4.85 euros ...