Banking

  AFP Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank could slash around a fifth of its staff in the coming years as part of a billion-euro restructuring programme, a German newspaper said. Chief executive Martin Zielke is to present his vision for the bank’s future up to 2020 — including some 9,000 job cuts — to fellow board members on Friday, according to ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will forgo $41 million in compensation, the bank’s board of directors announced, as punishment for a bogus accounts scandal that has rocked the company. The bank has already apologized and said it fired 5,300 employees tied to the illegal conduct, which saw employees boost sales figures by opening unauthorized deposit and credit accounts ...

  AFP Credit growth to the private sector in the euro area was steady in August, European Central Bank (ECB) data showed on Tuesday, boosting expectations that the bank will refrain from adding firepower to monetary policy for now. Many of the European Central Bank’s measures aim to make access to credit easier, allowing people and businesses to invest and ...

  AFP The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday that central banks are struggling to beat back deflationary forces and that governments need to spend to help them succeed. In a new assessment of global economic conditions, the IMF said many countries worldwide are battling disinflation — low and slowing inflation — due to weak global economic growth. If central ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc., the largest foreign lender in India by assets, plans to shut about 10 percent of its branches in the nation as more customers switch to the firm’s digital platforms to conduct their banking transactions, people familiar with the matter said. The lender, which has 44 branches nationwide, may close about five outlets to focus on larger ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc will reduce office space at its loss-making Japanese securities unit to trim expenses after cutting jobs earlier this year. The UK bank, which rents two floors of the Mori Tower in Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills office complex, will vacate about half of the 31st floor as early as this year while keeping its space on the 32nd, ...

  Bloomberg American Express Co. can prohibit merchants from steering customers to credit cards with lower transaction fees, a federal appeals court ruled in a blow to businesses trying to reduce annual card fees that run around $50 billion. The decision by the appeals court in Manhattan is the most definitive ruling on AmEx’s relationship with merchants. A federal judge ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s central bank stepped up efforts to support lenders in the Arab world’s biggest economy as they grapple with the effects of low oil prices. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, as the central bank is known, said it decided to give banks about 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) in the form of time deposits “on behalf of ...

  Bloomberg Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato was jeered as he arrived at court on Monday for his trial for alleged of misuse of funds when he was the boss of two of Spain’s top banks. Rato is standing trial with 64 other former executives and board members at Caja Madrid and Bankia, whose near-collapse sparked an EU bailout of ...

  AFP French tax authorities have asked Switzerland to hand over client information for some 45,000 bank accounts as part of a probe into alleged tax fraud, Le Parisien daily said on Monday. Swiss banking giant UBS said in July that the Swiss authorities had asked it to provide client information following a French request for international administrative assistance in ...