Banking

  Bloomberg Canada’s banks could see their costs rise by as much as 30 basis points under government proposals that would force them to take on a greater share of mortgage defaults, as policy makers seek to engineer a soft landing in the country’s housing market. The estimates, contained in consultation documents released by the country’s finance department, outline two ...

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is considering opening offices in Kenya and Morocco to boost its African business as Japanese companies seek natural resource and infrastructure-related opportunities on the continent, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Japan’s largest bank has begun studying the possibility of opening the offices in the countries and no decision has been ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley cast a positive light on the progress he’s making in his turnaround program, as he reiterated his commitment to shedding lower-priority assets to bolster returns. The London-based bank’s core consumer and investment-banking businesses generated a return on tangible equity of about 11 percent as of June, higher than the roughly 10 ...

  Bloomberg MetLife Inc., the largest US life insurer, elected David Herzog, the former chief financial officer of American International Group Inc., to its board of directors. The addition brings the total number of directors to 13, with 12 being independent, the New York-based insurer said in a statement. Herzog is also a director for Ambac Financial Group Inc. and ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is reorganizing its European investment banking and capital markets business and cutting some jobs, a move prompted in part by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. The Zurich-based lender will cover large, global companies domiciled in the UK through industry teams, Marisa Drew and Mark Echlin, who lead the bank’s investment banking and ...

  Bloomberg African banks are sinking deeper into trouble. Drowning in bad debt and swamped by slowing economies, more and more of the continent’s lenders are starting to fail. The collapse of a Ugandan bank, said to be an acquisition target of Bob Diamond’s Atlas Mara Ltd., is adding to woes stalking the industry from Mozambique to Nigeria. High interest ...

  Bloomberg China’s campaign to crack down on illegal capital outflows saw its currency regulator bust underground banking operations that involved more than 1 trillion yuan ($148 billion), according to a newspaper published by the country’s central bank. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also seized $8.43 billion in foreign exchange funds as part of the nationwide checks on illegal ...

  Bloomberg California prosecutors are investigating whether Wells Fargo & Co. bankers committed criminal identity theft by creating millions of fraudulent accounts. Attorney General Kamala Harris served a search warrant on the bank seeking the names of employees who opened unauthorized accounts from May 2011 to July 2015. The warrant, provided by Harris, also demands detailed communications, the bank’s fee ...

  Bloomberg The Nordic region’s biggest foreign-currency trading bank told investors it has finished building capital buffers for now as shareholders look for clues as to how Sweden’s banks might treat excess cash. Annika Falkengren, the chief executive officer of SEB AB, said the 170 basis-point buffer the bank holds on top of the requirement set by Sweden’s regulator is ...

  Bloomberg A rewards war that’s helped U.S. credit-card customers amass points for perks or cash proved costly in the latest quarter for some of the nation’s biggest banks. That may signal fresh pain at American Express Co. Issuers have sweetened rewards, cut fees and sought to improve services to lure customers, making it tougher to grow profits. In the ...