Banking

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its oil-price forecast for early next year, while Russia, Iran and Iraq separately signaled optimism that producer nations will be able to reach a deal to limit output at OPEC’s next meeting on November 30. Goldman is now “tactically bullish” on the likelihood of an OPEC agreement and expects oil prices in New ...

  Bloomberg National Bank of Greece SA, the country’s oldest lender, will only consider selling batches of bad loans to distressed debt managers once country risk recedes and bids improve, Chief Executive Officer Leonidas Fragkiadakis said. “We are actively talking to people. As of now there is no closing-in of agreements I can report,” Fragkiadakis said in the interview from ...

  Sydney / AFP Australian banks ANZ and Macquarie agreed to pay Aus$15 million (US$11 million) in fines for trying to manipulate the benchmark rate of the Malaysian ringgit. ANZ admitted to 10 instances of attempted cartel conduct and Macquarie to eight relating to setting the daily rates for derivative instruments linked to Malaysia’s currency in 2011. The Australian Competition ...

  DUBAI /Reuters Saudi Hollandi Bank said it would change its name to Alawwal Bank as part of a new corporate identity that will be rolled out over the next three months. Alawwal, meaning “The First” in Arabic, references the bank’s status as the first bank to launch in the country in 1926. The name change coincides with Royal Bank ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is trying to keep dozens of customers suing over bogus accounts opened by its employees out of court, saying they agreed to resolve any disputes in arbitration when they began doing business with the bank. The lender also asked for the lawsuits, filed by 80 customers in federal court in Salt Lake City to ...

  Bloomberg Tougher economic conditions and overcapacity in the steel, coal and cement sectors are making it harder and less profitable for China’s bad-loan managers to dispose of soured credits, according to a survey. Only 4 percent of 101 respondents at the nation’s distressed asset-management firms said they found it “easy” or “relatively easy” to dispose of bad loans, China ...

  Reuters The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will seek a strategic stake in Turkey’s main stock exchange and collaborate on developing a gold trading platform for use by majority-Muslim countries, part of a broad agreement signed on Thursday. The Saudi-based IDB did not specify a size or timeframe for the acquisition of share capital in Borsa Istanbul, but said in ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock ban on high-denomination currency notes may present a tricky situation for India’s central bank: a shortage of bonds needed to manage its money-market operations. About 6 trillion rupees ($87.3 billion) have been deposited at lenders since Modi’s November 8 move, as citizens in Asia’s third-largest economy rush to submit the now defunct 500-and-1,000 ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank warned that the risk of an abrupt global market correction on the back of rising political uncertainty has intensified, posing a threat to banks, stability and economic growth. “More volatility in the near future is likely and the potential for an abrupt reversal remains significant,” the central bank said in its twice-yearly Financial Stability ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Bank of Singapore, a unit of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, said on Tuesday it had received a licence to open a branch in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as it aims to tap demand from wealthy individuals in the Middle East. The bank said the licence allows it to conduct private banking including investment, credit and wealth ...