Banking

  Nairobi / AFP Kenya’s banking industry last year recorded the first decline in profit since 1999 as costs outpaced income in the wake of two failures and more onerous regulations. Pretax profit across the sector declined 5 percent to 134 billion shillings ($1.3 billion) in the 12 months through December, according to the central bank’s Bank Supervision Report, released in ...

  The Hague / AFP Dutch bank ING, the country’s biggest lender, said on Wednesday that its second-quarter operating profits rose by more than a quarter as it boosted lending. Underlying net profit, which strips out one-off items, rose by 26.7 percent to 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion). Net profit more than quadrupled to 1.3 billion euros, but the huge increase ...

  London / Bloomberg Three of the UK’s biggest banks face extra charges of about 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) after the Financial Conduct Authority said it will probably delay a deadline on payment protection insurance complaints by a year, according to Citigroup Inc. Lloyds Banking Group Plc may have to set aside an additional 750 million pounds to cover ...

  Sydney / Bloomberg Australia’s central bank cut interest rates to a fresh record low as it moves to counter disinflation and support a labour market hampered by high levels of part-time work and underemployment. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens and his board lowered the cash rate by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent on Tuesday, as predicted ...

  MILAN / AP Shares in troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena rose as a capital infusion means the bank won’t be nationalized. But the shares of other Italian banks fell as investors focused on the scale of their mountain of bad loans. Monte dei Paschi was by far the worst performer in stress tests of 51 European ...

  Frankfurt / Bloomberg Germany’s second largest bank Commerzbank warned on Tuesday that its profits in 2016 would be lower than the previous year. “The interest rate environment and persistent customer caution in view of the geopolitical uncertainties will continue to weigh on income despite growth,” the bank said in its second-quarter report. Commerzbank has also been forced to set ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India eased rules to allow applicants to seek permits for setting up banks on a continuous basis, replacing a system that created long delays between approvals. According to the rules — posted on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) website Monday — professionals with senior-level banking experience of at least 10 years can apply for a ...

  Poland / Bloomberg Polish banks jumped on a newspaper report that President Andrzej Duda will tone down his proposal to help the country’s Swiss-franc-denominated mortgage takers and won’t force lenders to convert $36 billion in home loans into zloty. Fixing the issue of foreign-currency loans, mainly in Swiss francs, has hung over Polish lenders for more than a year, ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of England is mere days away from its first interest-rate cut in more than seven years. It wasn’t easy getting here. After shocking traders by leaving the key rate on hold last month, Governor Mark Carney and the Monetary Policy Committee signaled that loosening would probably come this month. But with five sets of public comments ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank Executive Board received a complaint from the institution’s staff council last month, alleging that the appointment of its new Brussels representative looks like an act of favoritism. Employee representatives penned their letter after Stephane Rottier was chosen to lead the ECB’s office in the city that hosts most European Union institutions. The position was ...