Banking

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan’s unprecedented review of its unprecedented monetary policy has stepped up focus on a key group of Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s allies. A trio of top officials in the Monetary Affairs Department, led by Executive Director Masayoshi Amamiya — referred to by some as BOJ — is leading the initiative, according to people familiar with the ...

  Reuters Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group, one of the Gulf’s top Islamic banks, said its Pakistani unit would merge with Pakistan’s Burj Bank to create an institution with assets totalling more than $1.1 billion. The merger, which was approved by shareholders of the two banks last month and still needs regulatory approvals, would see Burj Bank holders receive one ...

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc will look beyond Angola’s oil and gas industry to pursue growth and remains committed to the southwest African nation even as a plunge in crude prices batters the economy, according to the U.K. lender’s local partner. The bank was “focused on the oil sector but with changes we’re seeing today in the market an adaptation” ...

  Mumbai / AFP India’s outgoing central bank chief Raghuram Rajan warned countries against a rush to low interest rates as his tenure as governor of the Reserve Bank of India came to an end. Rajan, who famously predicted the 2008 global financial crisis, told the New York Times that central banks across the world would find it hard to ...

  Tehran/ AFP Two private Iranian banks will open branches in Munich, officials confirmed on Monday, as the Islamic republic looks for ways around ongoing barriers to international financing. The central bank announced late on Sunday that Middle East Bank and Sina Bank would set up in Germany’s Bavaria state, following a visit by local economy minister Ilse Aigner to ...

  Reuters India’s central bank has proposed working with the government to introduce interest-free banking to tackle financial exclusion for religious reasons, potentially opening Islamic finance to the largest Muslim minority population in the world. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made the proposal in its annual report last week, as departing central bank governor Raghuram Rajan hands over the ...

  Bloomberg Axa SA is considering cutting 650 jobs in Belgium over the next two years, as Europe’s second-largest insurer overhauls its range of products sold in the country. Axa Belgium has presented the plan to unions Monday, Jef Van In, head of the unit, said in a statement Monday. The reductions would represent 15 percent of its insurance employees ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc is close to naming JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Tim Throsby to run the corporate and international division, including overseeing the investment bank, which will fill the final vacancy on Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley’s top management team, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. Barclays may announce the appointment over coming days, said one ...

  Bloomberg Mark Carney had better have made the most of his summer break, because he’s about to meet his critics again. In his first public appearance since the central bank unleashed a barrage of stimulus, the Bank of England governor will answer to a panel of lawmakers, including those who campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. As ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund is negotiating to buy a stake in one of the kingdom’s most ambitious real estate projects as Riyadh restructures the economy to cope with low oil prices, a source familiar with the plan said. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) aims to invest in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) on the Red ...