Banking

  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 ...

  Bloomberg Here’s another sign investors are growing more bullish on Egypt, which has interest rates of about 15 percent and a fresh loan from the International Monetary Fund under its belt: Citigroup Inc. is selling the first structured notes tied to the nation’s sovereign debt in six years. The New-York based bank plans to issue 305 million Egyptian pounds ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is courting investors to raise as much as $2 billion for a fund that will buy stakes in hedge-fund firms, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The Zurich-based bank’s Anteil Capital Partners unit will aim to buy minority stakes in 10 to 12 money managers, the people said, asking not to ...

  Bloomberg India’s war on cash has at least two likely victors: Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The world’s largest payment networks will see a surge in transactions and cardholders after the Indian government’s decision this month to remove high-denomination bills from circulation, according to analysts who cover the companies. The two networks have been pushing for this kind of ...

  New Delhi / AFP Huge bank queues have become an ubiquitous sight across India after the government suddenly withdrew the two highest denomination notes from circulation two weeks ago — but now you can hire-a-queuer online. New Delhi-based startup BookMyChotu — a play on the Hindi word “chotu” meaning “little one” — is cashing in on the cash crunch, ...

  Bloomberg The local unit of HSBC Holdings Plc is advising Saudi Arabia’s Public Pension Agency on the sale of its struggling financial hub to the country’s sovereign wealth fund, according to people familiar with the matter. The Public Investment Fund is offering to acquire the Riyadh district for less than the pension fund’s 30 billion riyals ($8 billion) investment, ...

  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 Nov. 30. Goldman is now “tactically bullish” on the likelihood of an OPEC agreement and expects oil prices in New ...