Banking

  Brasília / AFP Brazil’s central bank cut its key interest rate for the second month running, as data showed that the recession hitting Latin America’s largest economy continued into the third quarter. The central bank lowered the benchmark Selic rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 13.75 percent — still one of the world’s highest. “The available ...

Emirates Business Barclays was named Best Overall GCC Private Bank at the WealthBriefing GCC Region Awards 2016, further emphasizing the bank’s continuous commitment to delivering outstanding services in the private banking sector across the region. This recognition from Wealthbriefing comes from a distinguished panel of independent jury members and is considered to be one of the most prestigious awards for ...

  Bloomberg The greatest risks facing European Union banks are high levels of bad loans and lower profitability, the bloc’s financial regulator said in a report. The European Banking Authority said that while EU-wide lenders had strengthened their capital buffers, technology-related risks were increasing amid lingering litigation concerns. Presenting its ninth report on “risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking ...

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will probably deepen cuts at its investment bank and its Irish business to boost capital after flunking Bank of England stress tests, according to analysts. The Edinburgh-based lender may need to dispose of 44 billion pounds ($56 billion) of risk-weighted assets to improve its capital buffers, analysts at Barclays Plc led by ...

  Reuters Fourteen former and current executives of the Wendel investment company will face trial for tax fraud while US bank JP Morgan Chase is to be pursued for complicity, legal sources said. The former head of Wendel, Jean-Bernard Lafonta, and Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, ex-chief of the main French employer’s association, are among those to be tried, legal sources said. An ...

  Singapore / AFP Singapore’s financial regulator said it has fined two British banks and barred a former Goldman Sachs banker in a widening crackdown on money laundering linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Standard Chartered Bank was slapped with a Sg$5.2 million ($3.65 million) penalty while Coutts bank was fined Sg$2.4 million for breaching anti-money laundering regulations in 1MDB-linked ...

  Reuters Islamic banks are gradually embracing socially responsible finance, from renewable energy to microfinance efforts, helping unlock new funding sources for environmentally-friendly projects, an industry survey shows. The two sectors have developed separately from each other, but green projects could benefit from tapping Islamic banks in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, where they now hold a ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG has frozen dozens of accounts as it tries to determine if U.S. clients are hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after the firm pledged to come clean about secret assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank is looking at indicators such as phone numbers or powers of attorney ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) is searching for a potential solution to the use of animal fat in its new polymer banknote after days of controversy. Innovia, the printer of the five-pound bill, “is now working intensively with its supply chain and will keep the bank informed on progress towards potential solutions,” the central bank said in a ...

  Bloomberg Global banking regulators are standing by a key reform of capital rules in defiance of opposition from Europe, potentially complicating efforts to complete work on the post-crisis framework by the end of the year. Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Chairman Stefan Ingves said “good progress” was made during talks in Santiago, Chile, this week and the “contours” of ...