Bloomberg The yuan climbed to its strongest level in a week, as Chinese authorities work to halt the currency’s recent plunge with stronger fixings and a verbal defense. The currency rose as much as 0.26 percent to 6.8900 per dollar, the strongest level since Nov. 22, before trimming the gains to trade 0.24 percent stronger as of 5:31 p.m. ...
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StanChat to cut 10% of investment banking staff
Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is cutting about 10 percent of the staff in its corporate and institutional division as part of a plan announced last year to eliminate 15,000 jobs and improve profitability at the Asia-focused bank, according to a person familiar with the plans. Staff will be notified of the cuts starting this week, and jobs will be ...
Read More »Santander to scrap plan for UK bank split post Brexit
Bloomberg Banco Santander SA is scrapping plans to separate its consumer lending operations from large corporate and institutional banking in the UK in the wake of the country’s vote to leave the European Union, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The Spanish lender is discussing fresh proposals with the Bank of England to meet the regulator’s ...
Read More »Monte Paschi begins crucial $4.6bn bonds-to-equity swap
Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA starts to swap 4.3 billion euros ($4.6 billion) subordinated bonds for equity on Monday, in the first crucial stage of the Italian bank’s turnaround plans. Bondholders will have five days from November 28 to sign up for the exchange, a step which will allow the bank to proceed with a share sale ...
Read More »StanChart’s Asean CEO resigns over disclosure lapse
Bloomberg Ajay Kanwal, the head of Standard Chartered Plc’s Asean and South Asian operations, left the bank after failing to disclose past personal investments. Kanwal said some of his disclosures about investments in businesses outside the bank didn’t meet the company’s “very high standards,†according to a statement from the lender on Monday. “Though I do not own these ...
Read More »BOJ suffers first loss in four years
Bloomberg The Bank of Japan had its first loss since Haruhiko Kuroda became governor after the value of foreign currency assets fell, it wrote down bond holdings and set aside more money to cover potential future losses on its holdings of government debt. The bank posted a net loss of 200.2 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in the six months ...
Read More »Portugal’s CGD bank boss quits
AFP The board chairman of Portugal’s troubled state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos bank has resigned after weeks of pressure as he refused to declare his assets, the government announced late Sunday. Portugal’s Socialist government said it “regretted” Antonio Domingues’ decision, adding he would not leave his post until the end of December. A finance ministry statement said the government ...
Read More »Barclays wealth units priced below estimate in OCBC sale
Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.’s purchase of Barclays Plc’s wealth-management units in Singapore and Hong Kong was priced at $227.5 million, 29 percent below an initial estimate, after the amount of assets being transferred fell. The final price is based on 1.75 percent of the $13 billion of Barclays assets transferred to Bank of Singapore, OCBC’s private-banking arm, the Singaporean ...
Read More »UK banks struggle in toughest stress tests
Bloomberg The Bank of England added a new, higher bar to its third round of public stress tests. Some of the UK’s biggest banks will scrape through; others may not clear it. The seven major British lenders tested will probably beat the lowest measures of strength required to pass the annual BOE health check when it is released Wednesday, ...
Read More »Indian central bank takes steps to curb rising bank liquidity
Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India told lenders to set aside more deposits as reserves to curtail surging banking system liquidity that risks stoking inflation. Banking system funds have surged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned 500 rupee ($7.30) and 1,000 rupee notes in a bid to curb graft and ordered people to deposit the money in banks. That ...
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