Banking

  Bloomberg China’s central bank raised its yuan fixing for the first time in 13 days as the dollar’s ascent eased, reinforcing speculation that policy makers are prepared to step up measures to slow the currency’s declines. The People’s Bank of China strengthened its daily reference rate by 0.3 percent to 6.8779 per dollar, ending a 12-day decline that took ...

  Bloomberg SBM Holdings Ltd., Mauritius’s second-biggest lender, said it’s acquiring Fidelity Commercial Bank Ltd. of Kenya to kick off an expansion in East Africa that will target four more countries. The bank is buying FCB’s entire share capital for 100 shillings and injecting 1.46 billion shillings ($14.3 million) of new capital, Port Louis-based SBM said in a statement on ...

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi may be first among equals in the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, but he certainly isn’t the best paid. The central bank governors of Belgium, Italy and Germany make more than the ECB president’s annual 386,000 euros ($409,400), data compiled by Bloomberg show. Belgium’s Jan Smets took the crown with about 480,000 euros, almost six times ...

  Bloomberg Global banking regulators said US lenders present a bigger risk to the financial system than last year and should face stiffer capital requirements to ward off threats. Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. all face higher capital surcharges after they rose in the Financial Stability Board’s latest ranking of the most systemically important ...

  Lisbon / AFP Chinese conglomerate Fosun will become the biggest shareholder in the ailing BCP, Portugal’s biggest private bank, by agreeing to buy a 16.7 percent stake, the two sides said Sunday. Fosun is paying nearly 175 million euros ($185 million) via a capital increase after an agreement reached on Friday. Portugal’s banking sector is saddled with debt and ...

  Bloomberg Ghana’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than five years after inflation slowed to the lowest rate since 2014. The Bank of Ghana cut the rate by 50 basis points to 25.5 percent, Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku told reporters on Monday in the capital, Accra. Five of the six economists in ...

  Bloomberg Shares of India’s big state-owned banks fell on the risk that the government’s recall of high-value currency notes will dent their profits. State Bank of India, the nation’s biggest by assets, declined by as much as 4.8 percent on Monday, its biggest intraday fall since Nov. 9 and the worst performance on the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. Bank ...

  Bloomberg Iranian banks are trying to catch up with the rest of the world. After years of isolation left them with outdated practices, they’re attempting to fall in line with international standards of transparency so they can better attract business and integrate with the global industry. The central bank has instructed local lenders to set up compliance departments and ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s biggest commercial bank cut its quote for three-month money in the interbank market in a signal that rates could fall further as a liquidity crunch in the banking system eases. Saudi interbank offered rates soared this year, pressuring companies and banks seeking to raise funds, as low oil prices slashed flows of petrodollars into ...

  Bloomberg The booming demand for hot exchange-traded funds (ETF) has finally caught up with the staid, sleepy insurance industry. US insurers are the latest group of investors to start buying ETFs en masse, with one of the fastest adoption rates among institutions. And they’re not done yet, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Mark Snyder, who helps oversee funds ...