Banking

  London / Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney isn’t finished yet. Economists in a Bloomberg survey predict another interest-rate cut in November, adding to the stimulus unveiled this month, even as they see UK inflation busting through policy makers’ 2 percent target just months later. The survey also puts the probability of Britain sliding into a recession ...

  Hong Kong / Bloomberg Hong Kong’s High Court ruled against Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.’s (OCBC) private bank in a mis-selling case, saying the unit and a relationship manager had breached their contractual duty towards an elderly couple who lost money on investments made with ING Asia Private Bank. In a court judgment dated Aug. 8, the court said Bank of ...

  Manila / Bloomberg The Philippine central bank approved a significant increase in the amount of foreign exchange that companies and individuals can buy without documentation in what analysts say is a bid to reduce the number of black market currency trades. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement that from September 15, the amount of foreign exchange ...

  Bloomberg Crime writers and Hollywood producers take note: Secret Swiss bank accounts aren’t so secret anymore. Switzerland’s reputation for tight-lipped discretion made it a magnet for money from dictators and tax dodgers, along with the fictional assassin Jason Bourne. Now whistleblowers and a crackdown after the 2008 financial crisis are creating a world less tolerant of offshore havens. That’s ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, climbed to an eight-month high in Mumbai stock trading as the firm reported a smaller increase in soured debt than expected in the first quarter. Bad loans as a percentage of total lending rose 44 basis points since March to 6.94 percent by June, the ...

  Singapore / Bloomberg The recent drubbing in Singapore bank stocks is turning Southeast Asia’s biggest lenders into bargains for money managers including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. lost S$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) in market value in seven days from July 28 when its client Swiber Holdings Ltd. signaled it was in financial trouble. DBS’s two smaller ...

  Bloomberg Kenyan lawmakers are threatening to overrule President Uhuru Kenyatta if needed to force the country’s banks to lower their lending rates. The country’s parliament on July 28 approved a bill that will limit the amount of interest banks can charge on loans, with the proposal only needing Kenyatta’s signature to become law. The proposals jolted lenders into signing ...

  La Paz / AFP Banco Bradesco SA, Brazil’s second-biggest bank by market value, named former executives of HSBC Holdings Plc’s local unit to new leadership positions as its acquisition of the business last month expands the investment-banking team 20 percent. Ricardo Lanfranchi, former head of Brazil equity sales for HSBC, is now global head of equities and derivatives for ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank may need to rely more on asset purchases for monetary stimulus as its negative interest rates approach the limit of their effectiveness, economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. While negative rates in the euro area have successfully eased financial conditions for banks and their customers — spurring a modest credit expansion that supports ...

  Bloomberg New Zealand’s dollar surged to the highest level since May 2015 after traders deemed the central bank’s decision to cut borrowing costs was insufficiently dovish amid the global ardor for yield that’s been spurred by unprecedented global monetary easing. The Aussie and kiwi dollars have gained at least 0.5 percent this month as their central banks reduced benchmark ...