Banking

  Bloomberg Intesa Sanpaolo SpA said it’s considering a merger with Assicurazioni Generali SpA, a deal that would reshape Italy’s financial industry by combining its second-biggest bank with the largest insurer. “Possible industrial combinations with Assicurazioni Generali are currently being examined by the bank’s management,” Intesa said in a statement. “The bank is interested in industrial growth in the areas ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank increased the interest rates on medium-term loans that it uses to manage liquidity, a move analysts say signals its intent to keep a tight rein on leverage in the financial system. The one year Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) rate was raised to 3.1 percent from 3 percent and the six-month rate to 2.95 percent from ...

  Bloomberg China should tighten monetary policy as signs of overheating emerge amid quickening inflation, according to the top-ranked forecaster for the nation’s economy. With policy makers torn between reining in price gains and stabilizing growth, corporate lending has become too cheap, said Song Yu, chief China economist at Beijing Gao Hua Securities Co. The real interest rate for companies ...

  Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc was hit by a cyber attack that disrupted online services for customers two weeks ago, a person with knowledge of the matter said, amid mounting concern over the threat hackers pose to major banks. Britain’s largest mortgage lender was targeted by a denial-of-service attack, which aims to cripple an online system by flooding it ...

  Bloomberg A new row is brewing between Kenyan banks and parliament after a lawmaker proposed placing restrictions on deposits by state-owned companies, months after the state imposed a cap on lending rates. Kimani Ichungw’a, vice chairman of the Public Investments Committee, drafted a bill seeking to bar state-owned corporations from investing or depositing public funds with lenders in which ...

  Reuters Turkey’s lira was little changed on Tuesday, with investors holding back from taking big bets ahead of a central bank meeting later in the day seen as a critical test of its monetary policy credibility. The lira has fallen some 8 percent so far this year, making it one of the worst performing major emerging market currencies. Investors ...

  Bloomberg Bond investors are snapping up Canadian bank debt that’s likely to start disappearing under new government rules expected early this year to protect taxpayers from having to bail out a failing financial firm. About C$100 billion ($75 billion) in deposit notes outstanding — senior unsecured bank debt valued for its credit quality, liquidity, and widespread inclusion in portfolios ...

  DUBAI / Reuters National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) , the Gulf Arab state’s largest commercial lender, posted a 40 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, according to Reuters’ calculations, as the bank continued to benefit from government spending. The bank made a net profit of 75.9 million dinars ($248.9 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, compared with ...

  Bloomberg Equity strategists are yet again predicting that this will finally be the year European profits deliver. This time, it’s Citigroup Inc.’s Jonathan Stubbs forecasting the region’s earnings will jump at least 10 percent to end a three-year dry spell. His bullishness on Europe is reminiscent of early 2015 and 2016, when strategists and investors doubled down on the ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank added funds to the financial system through open-market operations, after injecting a record amount of cash last week and offering liquidity support to some lenders. The monetary authority added a net 60 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) using 14-day and 28-day reverse-repurchase agreements. There are no contracts maturing. The People’s Bank of China pumped in a ...