Banking

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to pursue deals to expand in asset and wealth management as the lender seeks to capitalize on the growing funds of the middle class in Asia and diversify its business away from traditional lending, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Europe’s largest bank aims to make three or four acquisitions ...

  Bloomberg Nykredit Realkredit A/S, the largest lender operating in the world’s biggest market for mortgage-backed covered bonds, reported a 56 percent jump in profit last quarter after management cut costs and revenue increased. The Copenhagen-based lender said net profit excluding minorities rose to 1.87 billion kroner ($269 million) in the fourth quarter from 1.2 billion kroner a year earlier, ...

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA reported fourth-quarter profit that exceeded estimates, helped by a surprise jump in earnings from French consumer banking. The lender announced plans for an initial public offering of its car-leasing business. Net income was 390 million euros ($417 million), down 41 percent from a year earlier but above the 315 million-euro average estimate of seven analysts ...

  Bloomberg India’s central bank unexpectedly left borrowing costs unchanged for a second straight meeting and signaled that its interest-rate easing cycle is coming to an end. The benchmark repurchase rate was left at a six-year low of 6.25 percent, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday. The move was predicted by just five ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank is holding a closed-door meeting with several domestic bitcoin exchanges, people familiar with the matter said, heightening concerns that regulators will tighten their oversight of trading in digital currencies. Officials from the People’s Bank of China are meeting with representatives from a number of the nation’s trading venues, the people said, asking not to be ...

  Bloomberg Six defendants, including ex-Deutsche Bank AG trader Christian Bittar, pleaded not guilty to accusations of conspiring to manipulate a key interest-rate benchmark while working at the German lender and Barclays Plc in a London court. Bittar, one-time colleague Achim Kraemer, and ex-Barclays employees Philippe Moryoussef, Colin Bermingham, Carlo Palombo and Sisse Bohart all denied the charges on Tuesday. ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank is more likely to cut interest rates than raise them if it moves at all this year, while an appreciating local dollar could make economic conditions tougher for industries outside mining, UBS Group AG’s Anne Anderson said. “Should they need to ease, I think it’s more likely that they would have to take a more ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank refrained from offering reverse-repurchase agreements for the third day in a row, which resulted in a net withdrawal of funds from the financial system. The People’s Bank of China didn’t carry out the open-market operation because it aims to keep liquidity basically stable, and current levels are relatively high, according to a statement posted on ...

  Bloomberg Indian Bank, a century-old state-owned lender based in the country’s south, has emerged as Asia’s top-performing bank stock in the past year, driven by a focus on consumer loans that are less likely to sour than corporate advances. The Chennai-based firm is aiming to boost retail lending, which includes mortgages and loans underpinned by gold as collateral, to ...

  Bloomberg New Zealand central bank (RNBZ) governor Graeme Wheeler will step down when his term ends in September and hand the reins to a deputy until a permanent successor is appointed in 2018. Deputy Governor Grant Spencer will helm the Reserve Bank for six months after Wheeler departs on Sept. 26, Finance Minister Steven Joyce said on Tuesday in Wellington, ...