Banking

  Bloomberg The Central Bank of Kenya maintained its benchmark interest rate at 10.5 percent with an eye on accelerating inflation and concerns that Britain’s exit from the European Union may trigger capital flight. The decision by the monetary policy committee led by Governor Patrick Njoroge was anticipated by seven of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. One economist predicted a ...

  AFP A series of spectacular cyber attacks against banks, resulting in the theft of tens of millions of dollars, has heightened fears for an industry becoming an increasingly attractive target for hackers. Banks in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam and Ecuador have been victimised over the past year in the attacks on the global interbank service known as SWIFT, and ...

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s naira fell to a record against the dollar as Africa’s largest economy struggles with a scarcity of foreign exchange more than a month after the currency was devalued. The naira weakened beyond 300 to the dollar for the first time on Friday, according to generic data compiled by Bloomberg, tumbling 2.3 percent to 300.25, Nigeria’s commercial capital. ...

  BLOOMBERG Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain’s second-biggest bank, is weighing a fresh round of job cuts across the company to lower costs, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The bank may eliminate 2,000 positions or more, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The cuts would mostly affect branches and ...

  Bloomberg The US unemployment rate is below five percent, manufacturing is picking up, and jobless claims are falling, but Deutsche Bank AG says there’s still reason to worry about a recession. According to the firm’s Chief US Economist Joseph LaVorgna, looking at the index of leading economic indicators — a measure by the Conference Board that includes economic indicators ...

  Bloomberg China expanded efforts to steady the currency markets, with the central bank adding verbal support to the exchange rate after a week that saw it slip past a key level against the dollar. The People’s Bank of China will work hard to keep the yuan stable against a basket of currencies, Deputy Governor Chen Yulu said at a ...

  Bloomberg PayPal Holdings Inc and Visa Inc just made up after more than a decade sparring over the future of digital payments. The two companies announced an agreement in which PayPal will stop discouraging customers from linking accounts to Visa cards and share more data with the card network in exchange for “long-term Visa fee certainty” and other incentives. ...

  Bloomberg The world’s largest currency trader says forget about the Federal Reserve driving the dollar higher, even if the central bank does raise interest rates later this year. The greenback, which strengthened for a third week for the first time since May, is more likely to trade on evidence of US economic growth than on what the central bank ...

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co plans to exit the business of settling government securities for most dealers by the end of 2017, including some transactions in a key corner of the US$1.6 trillion repurchase-agreement market. The departure from the business of facilitating settlement of such trades with 30 dealers and broker-dealers, a fraction of the bank’s hundreds of clients, ...

  Bloomberg Azerbaijan closed down four more banks as the former Soviet Union’s third-largest crude exporter reels from the worst collapse in oil prices in a generation. The Financial Markets Supervisory Authority revoked the licenses of Dekabank, Kredobank, Parabank and Zaminbank to “reduce risks in the banking sector, ensure financial sustainability and increase trust,” Rufat Aslanli, head of the Baku-based ...