Banking

  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 ...

  Mumbai / Bloomberg Bank of Baroda, India’s second largest state-run lender by assets, fell the most in almost three months after surging bad-loan provisions dragged first-quarter profit lower. Shares of Baroda fell 8.3 percent, the biggest intraday drop since May 16, to 147.15 rupees as of 12:20 p.m. local time. The stock has lost 6 percent this year, compared ...

  Bloomberg South Korea’s central bank held its key interest rate at a record low as board members deferred further policy action until they have a clearer picture of the economy’s path. The decision to keep the seven-day repurchase rate at 1.25 percent was forecast by all 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. All seven board members agreed on the decision, ...