Banking

CBA to take mobile-bank service deeper into Africa

  Bloomberg A Kenyan lender that transformed from an also-ran into the country’s biggest deposit-taker, mainly through a mobile-phone banking service started four years ago, plans to use the product as a beachhead to expand outside its East African home base. Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd., which also has units in Tanzania and Uganda, is seeking to export its M-Shwari ...

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Goldman to axe nearly 30% of Asia investment banking jobs

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to cut about a quarter of its investment-banking jobs in Asia, excluding Japan, because of a slump in deal-making in the region, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The New York-based bank plans to make the cutback of about 75 jobs in the region later this year, the person said, ...

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Banks take up $51bn in cheap ECB loans

  Bloomberg European lenders took up almost twice the amount of cheap loans that analysts had predicted in a second round of European Central Bank refinancing, according to data. In a move suggesting banks may be increasingly willing to lend to households and businesses, the ECB announced that it had agreed to lend 45.3 billion euros ($51 billion) to 249 ...

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Commerzbank may cut 5,000 jobs in CEO overhaul

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG is preparing to eliminate thousands of jobs as Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke seeks to boost profitability at the German lender, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Commerzbank may reveal the changes next week when Zielke presents his plan to the supervisory board, said two people, asking not to be identified because the ...

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Wells Fargo sued over bogus accounts

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. managers were accused of fueling the creation of bogus accounts in what may be the first lawsuit by fired or demoted employees since the bank was called out by regulators. The lawsuit offers details of how low-level bankers were allegedly pushed to create at least 10 new accounts a day in a sales initiative ...

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Deutsche Bank’s miseries to stir German concern on finances

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG’s finances, weakened by low profitability and mounting legal costs, are raising concern among German politicians after the U.S. sought $14 billion to settle claims related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities. At a closed session of Social Democratic finance lawmakers this week, Deutsche Bank’s woes came up alongside a debate over Basel financial rules, according ...

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China to allow default swap trade as bad debts rise

  Bloomberg China’s central bank has approved trading of credit-default swaps by financial institutions in the nation’s interbank market, as it seeks to help investors tackle rising non-payment risks among the country’s borrowers, according to people familiar with the matter. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), a unit under the People’s Bank of China, will likely make ...

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Bad debt in China’s top banks raises eyebrows

  Bloomberg Forecasts for what would be the first decline in total profits at China’s biggest banks in 10 years are raising concern in the bond market that lenders will need state help to clean up mounting bad debts. The yield premium for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.’s 6 percent Additional Tier 1 securities, which count as capital ...

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BOE to cut interest rates again

  Bloomberg The Bank of England will cut interest rates close to zero later this year as concern persists about the longer-term impact of the Brexit vote, according to a survey. Forecasts in the latest Bloomberg monthly poll show that recent signs of strength haven’t dissuaded economists from the view that there will be a sharp cooling in growth in ...

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ICICI Prudential’s $904mn Indian IPO draws strong demand

  Bloomberg ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. attracted strong demand for its initial public offering of as much as 60.6 billion rupees ($904 million), as the nation’s biggest such deal in six years drew orders of more than 6.5 times the amount of stock for sale. Institutional investors subscribed to about 7.82 times the number of shares reserved for them, ...

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