Banking

  Bloomberg Some European banks are seeing their capital ratios come under pressure as the region’s top supervisor takes a more conservative view of their risk models. Last month, the European Central Bank raised the risk-weightings which determine capital at Finland’s biggest financial services group after finding “shortcomings” in its models. Lenders including Bank of Ireland have started to take ...

  Bloomberg Co-Operative Bank Plc, the British lender that put itself up for sale last month, said it might look to raise as much as 750 million pounds ($912 million) by selling new shares and converting debt to equity if a buyer isn’t found. The bank may seek about 300 million pounds by selling new stock while asking bondholders to ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank plans to apply a stricter method for assessing banks’ capital as part of efforts to contain financial-sector risks, people with knowledge of the matter said. Under the proposed change to the so-called Macro Prudential Assessment (MPA) framework, the People’s Bank of China will remove an intermediary category in its evaluation of banks’ capital adequacy, the ...

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Union National Bank (UNB), 50 percent owned by the Abu Dhabi government, will open its first branch in China next month, its chief executive said, as Gulf banks expand in the world’s second biggest economy. Union National has got approval from China’s central bank to convert its representative office into a branch in Shanghai, ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank has cut borrowing costs enough to spur growth in the economy, Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara said, giving his clearest signal yet that the bank’s easing policy is over as inflation pressures pick up. Boosting growth is “not about interest rates anymore,” Adityaswara said in an interview in Jakarta on Thursday. “We monitor the external ...

  Bloomberg For Mario Draghi, ‘all talk and no action’ at the European Central Bank may be just fine this week. The ECB president essentially preempted Thursday’s monetary policy decision back in December, when he announced that bond purchases will be extended until at least the end of 2017. With updated inflation forecasts said to be little changed for 2018 ...

  Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA, France’s third-largest bank by market value, is considering a sale of its 31 percent stake in Saudi Arabian lender Banque Saudi Fransi, in a deal that could potentially fetch about $2.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The shares fell on concern a disposal may hit operating profit. The bank is speaking to ...

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA wants an accelerated sale process of about 28 billion euros ($29.6 billion) of bad loans to start as soon as European authorities approve its new business proposal, according to people familiar with the matter. Monte Paschi intends to sell all of the loans in a single block and it will only ...

  Bloomberg There’s no point speculating whether rains expected this month will begin on time to help tame inflation that’s accelerated to five-year highs on spiraling food prices, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. “Nobody knows if the long rains will come in time, and be adequate,” he said on Tuesday in an interview in London. “Last time ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. community banking head Mary Mack is seeking three new deputies and shaking up regional leadership of the division she inherited after a bogus-account scandal. Mack announced the moves in an internal memo, saying she’s looking for candidates within the bank and externally for a trio of senior posts focusing on strategy, customer experience and ...