Banking

  Frankfurt / AFP European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi will be under pressure this week to clarify the bank’s stimulus plans after investors were spooked by talk of an end to its massive bond-buying programme. The ECB governing council is not expected to make any changes to its ultra-loose monetary policy at its regular meeting on Thursday, keeping interest ...

  Bloomberg An end to eight long years of government ownership is finally in sight for Lloyds Banking Group Plc, though it took another 10 million pounds ($12 million) on the way out, according to two people familiar with the matter. Britain’s largest mortgage lender filmed a black horse galloping on a beach, built several websites and prepared space for ...

  Bloomberg Union Bancaire Privee, (UBP) the Swiss private bank that increased assets in Asia 10-fold through its purchase of Coutts International, is open to making additional acquisitions as consolidation among regional wealth managers accelerates. The Geneva-based bank is seeking to double assets under management in Asia and increase its number of relationship managers to about 100 from 60 currently, ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. posted third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as bond-trading revenue surged 35 percent from a year earlier, helped by interest-rate and currencies trading. The lender helped lead bank shares higher after reporting net income of $3.84 billion, or $1.24 a share, down 11 percent from a year earlier. That still beat the $1.15 average estimate for ...

  Reuters Wells Fargo & Co reported its fourth straight fall in quarterly profit as it set aside funds for potential legal costs amid an increasingly politicized bogus-account scandal that cost Chief Executive and Chairman John Stumpf his job. The bank, which faces numerous federal and state investigations into its practices, said noninterest expenses rose due in part to higher ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG may be forced to shrink its US activities as part of a deal to settle litigation over residential mortgage-backed securities with the Department of Justice, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the discussions. Radical changes to the business model are typical requirements in settlement arrangements with the U.S. government, ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is exploring the possibility of granting more licenses to foreign banks and easing restrictions on their operations to boost growth in the private sector, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, or SAMA as the central bank is known, is weighing proposals that would allow foreign banks to open more branches ...

  NEW YORK / AP Wells Fargo’s embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation’s second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices. The San Francisco bank said Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won’t be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit ...

  Milan / AFP UniCredit said on Thursday it had raised over half a billion euros as part of its latest asset sale, part of Italy’s largest bank’s effort to boost its funds without raising capital from shareholders. The 552 million euros ($609 million) from the sale of 20 percent of its online banking subsidiary Fineco will be used to ...

  Bloomberg Preoccupied by ultra-low interest rates in much of the industrialized world, the financial industry risks being blindsided by an even bigger challenge, according to Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina. “Banks could fall into a trap,” Nabiullina said at a conference in Kazan, capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan. “What do they mostly complain about now? Low interest ...