Banking

  AFP US and European stock markets retreated, as banking shares led by Deutsche Bank slumped on news US authorities were hunting down Germany’s biggest lender over a record fine. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was the hardest hit, closing down 1.5 percent, while the Paris CAC 40 shed nearly 1.0 percent from Thursday. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index lost 0.3 percent, ...

  Bloomberg Investors in Europe’s biggest banks, frustrated with the problems of today, just got a reminder that the lenders still have to pay for the sins of the past. Shares in Credit Suisse Group AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Barclays Plc and UBS Group AG fell after Deutsche Bank AG disclosed that the US Department of Justice ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. was sued by customers in what may be the first of many lawsuits to come after disclosures that employees created unauthorized accounts to boost the bank’s fees. Three Utah customers sued the bank in federal court, blaming the scandal on the lender’s push to increase the number of accounts held by clients to an ...

  AP The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.25 percent on Thursday after a run of better-than-anticipated news in the wake of the country’s decision in June to leave the European Union. The unanimous decision was widely anticipated after last month’s series of post-Brexit measures by the bank’s policymaking body that ...

  Bloomberg A decision to cap Kenyan interest rates may favor the biggest banks as small lenders will struggle to raise cheap deposits to fund lending, according to Equity Group Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi. At least 30 of Kenya’s 42 lenders may have difficulty paying the minimum for deposits as demanded by a new law on interest ...

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc offered 181.8 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in Japanese currency bonds on Thursday in the biggest single sale by an issuer in the Samurai market since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The London-based bank’s sale included 64.4 billion yen in 10-year notes priced at 1.207 percent, according to a statement from SMBC Nikko Securities ...

  Bloomberg Some analysts expect the Bank of Japan to fire another blast of monetary stimulus at the end of its two-day policy meeting on September 21. Others see a central bank with little if any ammunition left — or one turned gun-shy. For some economists, the BOJ’s decision to undertake a comprehensive review of its easing program to be ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. has started doing damage control on Capitol Hill. Tim Sloan, the bank’s president and chief operating officer, has spent most of the week reaching out and meeting with members of Congress and their staffs in Washington, as the lender confronts blowback over allegations it opened more than 2 million accounts without customers’ approval, said ...

  Bloomberg Despite hopes of a new dawn for Iran’s economy after nuclear-related sanctions were lifted, major Western banks are reluctant to do business with the Islamic republic for fear of US retribution. President Hassan Rouhani has said that to reach the target of eight-percent growth needed to modernise the industrial sector and relaunch the hobbled economy, Iran needs up ...

  Bloomberg A South African bank that gave President Jacob Zuma a mortgage to settle a Constitutional Court order to repay taxpayers the money spent on upgrading his residence said it sticks to loan processes no matter who the client is. “In granting a loan, the usual processes and conditions apply no matter who the client may be,” VBS Mutual ...