Banking

  DOHA / Reuters Qatar’s central bank said that it raised its overnight lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.0 percent after the U.S. Federal Reserve tightened policy by a similar margin. The central bank also increased its overnight deposit rate by 25 bps to 1.25 percent. However, the central bank reduced banks’ reserve requirement — the amount of ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is weighing the sale of its Indian retail businesses as the German lender considers asset disposals to help boost capital levels, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The bank is also considering selling retail operations in European countries including Spain, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans aren’t public. ...

  Bloomberg Two of Australia’s largest banks vowed to toughen oversight of their foreign-exchange practices and each pay A$3 million ($2.3 million) to the nation’s financial literacy fund after a regulator found inappropriate conduct in their currency trading divisions. Westpac Banking Corp. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said on Wednesday they entered into so-called enforceable undertakings with ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates NBD Asset Management announced the launch of its Emirates Islamic India Equity Fund in partnership with UTI International, one of India’s largest money managers, following approval from the UAE Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA). The Fund aims to achieve medium to long‐term capital growth through direct investments in Shari’a compliant Indian equities. It will ...

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) views Dublin as its default destination for a new hub inside the European Union if Brexit means the U.K. loses easy access to the single market, according to one of the U.S. firm’s top executives in Germany. The bank will likely move some jobs to other cities across the EU, including Frankfurt, Madrid, ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan’s bond-purchase plan for March puts policy makers on track to miss an annual target, leaving investors debating whether they’re witnessing a stealth tapering. Calculations based on the plan released Feb. 28 suggest a net 66 trillion yen ($575 billion) of purchases if the March pace were to be sustained over the following 11 months. ...

  Bloomberg The Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a warning to the Japanese brokerage unit of Deutsche Bank AG after it found that a trader colluded with a counterpart at Citigroup Inc. on trades of European sovereign bonds — the first such notice handed down to a foreign securities company operating in the country. The trader at Deutsche Securities Inc. ...

  Bloomberg Equity Group Holdings Ltd. posted its first-ever drop in annual profit, missing analysts’ expectations for an increase, as non-performing loans at Kenya’s biggest bank by market value more than doubled. The stock head for it’s biggest fall in six months. Net income declined to 16.5 billion shillings ($161 million) in the 12 months through December from 17.3 billion ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Africa Group Ltd. sold less than half its target in a bond auction as a wall of debt issuance by South African banks and the impending exit of its UK parent, Barclays Plc, damped demand. Barclays Africa offered 1.5 billion rand of notes but raised only 642 million rand within price guidance, according to Deon Raju, head ...

  Bloomberg Scandinavia’s biggest financial conglomerate, Nordea Bank AB, says a Swedish proposal to increase bank fees for a crisis fund may force it to move its headquarters away from Stockholm as efforts to find common ground with the government stall. “This isn’t a bluff. This is dead serious,” Rodney Alfven, head of investor relations, told Bloomberg on Wednesday. “Our ...