Banking

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s central bank on Tuesday held interest rates at a record low of 1.50 percent and indicated what analysts called a “wait and see” approach to future monetary policy easing despite a run of soft inflation figures. The country is transitioning away from a resources investment boom that has helped the economy mark a quarter of ...

  London / AFP Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney put an end to speculation over his future by announcing he would extend his contract for one year to 2019 to help secure an “orderly transition” to Brexit. The Canadian will not take up his option to leave in 2018, but at the same time has declined to serve ...

  AFP Standard Chartered Plc reported third-quarter profit that fell short of analyst estimates as revenue declined at all four of its divisions. Adjusted pretax profit was $458 million compared with a loss of $139 million a year earlier, the London-based lender said in a statement on Tuesday. That missed the $520 million average estimate of six analysts surveyed by ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s decision to cut 25 percent of its London office space highlights the growing risk that tenants will be in short supply for developers of buildings being constructed. The lender is seeking to sublease offices in the Canary Wharf financial district to the UK government, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. They asked not ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank Governor Agus Martowardojo was questioned by the nation’s anti-corruption agency as a witness in a probe relating to a government contract that was awarded during his time as finance minister. Martowardojo appeared at the offices of the agency known as KPK on Tuesday, Andiwiana Septonarwanto, deputy director of communications at Bank Indonesia, said in a ...

  Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.’s sale of businesses in five Asian markets to DBS Group Holdings Ltd. offers the latest sign of consolidation in the region’s highly competitive wealth industry, which has already seen a retreat by European players like Barclays Plc and Societe Generale SA. DBS will pay S$110 million ($79 million) for retail and ...

  Dubai/ Emirates Business Saxo Bank, the online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, revealed that the most traded equity CFDs (Contracts for Difference) in the MENA region are focused on the US stock market and US tech companies. Two of the top three most traded CFD equity indexes by Saxo clients in the MENA region since January 1, 2015 are ...

  Bloomberg Two of China’s biggest banks, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp., are testing their regulator’s tolerance by protecting profits at the expense of bad-loan buffers. ICBC and Construction Bank both reported loan-loss coverage ratios below a regulatory minimum of 150 percent of existing nonperforming loans when they disclosed third-quarter earnings. So far, ...

  Bloomberg The UK’s biggest banks and financial firms could gain an additional 12 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) a year in revenue from Britain leaving the European Union, according to a report from a pro-Brexit lobby group. Leaving the 28-nation trading bloc and ending membership in the EU single market for trade and services would help Britain cut “stifling Brussels ...

  Bloomberg If the world’s biggest economy is really on the upswing, then why are America’s banks stockpiling a record amount of ultrasafe bonds? After all, jobs are back, the Federal Reserve is close to raising interest rates again and growth has perked up after a sluggish first half. But instead of ramping up lending to keep up with deposits, ...