Banking

  Bloomberg As the price of oil stays stubbornly low, investors in the Middle East are turning to deals. Mergers and acquisitions activity in the Gulf region is set to accelerate as lower oil prices force governments and corporations to consolidate fragmented industries, according to Bank of America Corp. (BofA) “The drop in oil prices has made people in the ...

  Bloomberg Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. expects to end its five-year dividend drought in early 2017 as it’s “very close” to clearing the main regulatory hurdle standing in its way, Chief Executive Officer Rakefet Russak-Aminoach said. The Bank of Israel requires lenders to meet a Tier 1 capital ratio of 10.25 percent by Jan. 1. The Tier 1 ratio is ...

  Bloomberg Global banking regulators are sticking to their guns on capital standards in the face of intense European pressure to soften planned rule-changes. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will wrap up work on the post-crisis capital framework on schedule by the end of the year, William Coen, the regulator’s secretary general, said. Key elements criticized by European Union ...

  Bloomberg ABN Amro Group NV, the state-controlled Dutch lender that returned to the stock market last year, is exploring a sale of its Asia private-banking business, people with knowledge of the matter said. The bank is working with a financial adviser and has reached out to potential buyers to gauge their interest, according to the people. The deliberations are ...

  Bloomberg An HSBC Holdings Plc. executive and a former employee have been barred from the banking industry by the Federal Reserve as they face U.S. criminal charges that they committed fraud in conducting foreign-exchange trades. The Fed’s move follows the August indictments of Mark Johnson, who was HSBC’s head of foreign exchange cash trading, and Stuart Scott, the bank’s ...

  Bloomberg Raiffeisen Bank International AG rose to the highest in about 10 months after announcing that it will go ahead with a plan to merge with its parent to address a capital shortfall at Austria’s biggest group of credit cooperatives. RBI climbed as much as 2.8 percent to 14.39 euros in Vienna, the highest since Dec. 9. The company ...

  Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc is considering taking on Bank of America Corp.’s (BoA) liabilities in the British payment protection-insurance scandal as it looks to beat private-equity firms in the bidding for the MBNA credit-card business, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Britain’s largest mortgage lender is vying with private-equity firms including Cerberus Capital Management and Advent ...

  Bloomberg India’s banking system is among those most vulnerable to profit declines as loan growth slows and soured debt rises, the International Monetary Fund said. The ability of Indian companies to service debt is the lowest among 19 emerging-market nations tracked by the IMF, according to figures in its semi-annual report on financial stability. The study showed that the ...

  AP Union leaders expressed confidence an agreement with Brazilian banks could be reached in the next few days to end a nationwide strike that has closed more than half the bank branches in Latin America’s biggest country. Roberto von der Osten, president of the National Confederation of Bank Workers, said the strike demanding a nearly 15 percent pay raise ...

  Reuters Pakistan will issue a $1 billion sukuk bond within hours, the finance ministry said, returning to the international U.S. dollar sukuk market after a two-year absence. The ministry said roadshows in Dubai, London, Boston and New York scored “unprecedented interest”. Pakistan’s economy grew 4.7 percent in the last fiscal year, its fastest pace since 2008, rebounding from a ...