Banking

Bloomberg RHB Bank, Malaysia’s fourth-largest lender by assets, and AMMB Holdings are planning to pursue talks to merge, people with knowledge of the matter said. The two Malaysian lenders have submitted an application for central bank approval to start formal negotiations, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of AMMB have risen 21 ...

Bloomberg European Union and Italian officials agreed on a plan to restructure Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, allowing Italy to inject capital to rescue the world’s oldest bank. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan reached “an agreement in principle” on a deal that paves the way for a precautionary recapitalization of the lender, ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is stepping up hiring for its Asian wealth-management business as part of a “multi-year” expansion to bolster a unit that has lost key executives and assets in recent years. Deutsche Bank Wealth Management plans to add 50 client-facing positions including relationship managers during the second half of the year after hiring 13 employees last month, Lok ...

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) Plc’s settlement with investors suing the bank, which seemed a certainty earlier in the week, has faltered as a handful of investors continue to hold out. Some of the shareholders who indicated they would end a lawsuit over the lender’s 2008 rights offering, now want a higher settlement offer, and the case could ...

Bloomberg China will pursue ‘neither loose nor tight’ monetary policy to ensure basically stable liquidity, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Deputy Governor Chen Yulu said. The central bank will continue to implement “prudent and neutral” monetary policy, and create a “neutral and moderate” financial environment for supply-side reform, Chen told the Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum in Beijing Saturday. Intensified ...

Bloomberg Italy may have no time to rest on its laurels after brokering a deal to keep Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in business. While an “in principle” agreement between Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager will help save the world’s oldest bank through paving the way for a precautionary recapitalization, the ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $41 million to settle Federal Reserve allegations that its U.S. operations failed to maintain adequate protections against money laundering, the latest in a string of fines that have cost the German lender billions of dollars. The Frankfurt-based bank’s US operations fell short in complying with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires lenders to ...

Bloomberg Co-Operative Bank Plc, the UK lender that put itself up for sale amid a capital shortfall, is coming closer to forcing bondholders to swap debt into equity and selling shares as it runs out of options to bolster its financial strength, according to people familiar with the matter. The Manchester, England-based lender is seeking an agreement with bondholders including ...

Bloomberg The Irish government fired the starting gun for the initial public offering of Allied Irish Banks Plc, laying out a plan to sell 25 percent of the nationalized lender. The government plans to sell the AIB stake in a share offering in London and Dublin, with terms to be set in mid-June, the country’s finance ministry said in an ...

Bloomberg The ‘stealth’ tapering of bond buying by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may take a summer break, at least for June. With medium-term Japanese government bond yields on the rise, a further scaling back of monthly debt purchases could risk upsetting the market, strategists say. That means the central bank may keep the pace of buying as is for ...