Banking

  Bloomberg Financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region will be more inclined to hire technology specialists this year than investment bankers as they enhance product offerings and upgrade their systems, according to a survey by Options Group Inc. Among regional financial-services managers, 40 percent say they expect to increase their headcount for information technology-related roles this year, according to a …

  DUBAI / Reuters Oman’s Bank Dhofar, the second-largest lender in the sultanate by assets, posted a 19.6 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, according to Reuters calculations. The bank reports a net profit of 10.75 million rials ($27.95 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, compared to 13.37 million rials in the same period of 2015. Net loans …

  DUBAI / Reuters Bank Muscat, Oman’s largest lender, posted a 1.3 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, according to Reuters calculations, in line with analysts’ estimates. The bank made a profit of 39.7 million rials ($103.2 million) in the three-month period ending Dec. 31, up from 39.2 million rials a year earlier. Bank Muscat didn’t disclose a …

  Dubai Annika Falkengren, the chief executive officer of SEB AB, will leave the Swedish bank after running it for 11 years. SEB, which was founded by Sweden’s Wallenberg family in 1856 to become Stockholm’s first private bank, will now start looking for a replacement for Falkengren, the board said in a statement on Monday. The 54-year-old, who will step …

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA named Didier Valet as its third deputy chief executive officer, promoting its investment-banking head as the French bank prepares a new business plan. Valet, who turned 49 on Sunday, was appointed to the newly created position on Jan. 13. and will retain his role as head of corporate and investment banking, private banking, asset management …

  Bloomberg A substantial chunk of the bank bonds needed to comply with new rules designed to protect taxpayers may come from Scandinavia, according to calculations by Danske Bank A/S. In an extreme scenario, which assumes local regulators set the toughest criteria, the region’s lenders may need to find investors for more than $120 billion in notes to meet minimum …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Mashreq, one of the leading financial institutions in the UAE, on Sunday became the first local bank to launch the Corporate Virtual Card, enhancing its comprehensive product suite for Commercial Payments. Mashreq Corporate Virtual Cards is a dynamic electronic payment platform, empowering corporates with real-time transaction security and control. This powerful tool, built on Mastercard’s …

  Bloomberg Wall Street’s biggest banks are in a bright spot after years of massive layoffs and pay cuts. The same cannot be said for the largest asset managers. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. reported generally positive fourth-quarter earnings, with debt-trading revenues surging amid volatility after Donald Trump’s election as next US president. BlackRock Inc., on …

  Bloomberg Regulators are notorious for falling behind the financial industry, cracking down on risk in one area only to watch it move swiftly beyond their reach. This phenomenon has rearranged the competitive landscape in the nearly $1 trillion market for US leveraged loans. This week, Bloomberg News highlighted how private-equity firms have been winning a growing number of assignments …

  Bloomberg As the Bundesbank turns 60 this year, it might have a message for the teenage European Central Bank: we’ve been there before. While the two Frankfurt-based institutions haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, the ties between them run deep. The ECB was deliberately infused with the spirit, and some of the staff, of the German central bank when it was …