Banking

  Cape Town / Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc led a rally in Japanese bank shares after the Sankei newspaper reported that policy makers are considering allowing the central bank to directly finance government stimulus spending. MUFG, Japan’s largest bank, closed 5.3 percent higher in Tokyo trading on Wednesday and was the best performer on the Topix Banks Index, ...

  Bloomberg Just as Israel is close to legislating major reforms to the banking industry, critical voices are starting to mount. A cabinet member echoed concerns of a credit crisis raised by the International Monetary Fund, days after the organisation said certain points of the government’s proposal contradict the lessons of the last financial crisis. “I would not ignore the ...

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s new central bank governor Muhammad Ibrahim unexpectedly cut interest rates for the first time in seven years, joining Asian counterparts from Indonesia to Taiwan in easing policy as global risks mount. In his second rate-setting meeting since taking office two months ago, Muhammad lowered the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent, a decision ...

  Bloomberg Bank of England financial-stability officials discussed the risk that freeing UK banks to lend more may prompt them to reward investors instead. In the record of meetings held in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the Financial Policy Committee — lead by Governor Mark Carney — said the stability-risk outlook had “materially changed” and ...

  Bloomberg UniCredit SpA is selling as much as a 10 percent stake in online bank FinecoBank SpA and launching a review of its strategy as incoming Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier seeks to boost capital. The bank will take “a more proactive approach” to its non-core loans, and the review will focus on further cost cuts and improving ...

  Bloomberg DNB ASA’s shares slumped after Norway’s largest bank missed profit estimates amid a jump in loan losses. Net income for the three months ended June 30 declined 10 percent to 4.45 billion kroner (US$525 million), missing the 4.85 billion-krone estimate in an analyst survey. Loan losses more than tripled to 2.32 billion kroner. Low interest rates drove net ...

  BLOOMBERG The International Monetary Fund called for action over concerns relating to the bail-in of retail investors in Italy, noting that “very high” amounts of non-performing loans and slow judicial processes were straining bank balance sheets. Financial industry reforms “are critical to entrench financial stability and support the recovery,” the IMF said in a statement following its regular review ...

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc started its first brokerage business in Japan with 100 employees as institutional investors in the country seek products from emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa for better returns. The UK bank will deploy 20 salesmen to meet with Japanese life insurers, brokerages, banks and asset managers to sell products that invest in ...

  AFP Mark Carney’s third week managing Britain’s response to the economic shock of Brexit is about to begin. With UK politics in disarray after the nation opted to split from the European Union, the Bank of England governor has been leading the charge in offering stability. After boosting liquidity, freeing banks to lend more and signaling a willingness to ...

  Bloomberg Forget Brexit, go for raw materials. Citigroup Inc says that it’s bullish on the outlook for commodities in 2017 as the impact of the UK’s vote to quit the European Union will fade, global growth chugs along and investors will plow more cash into funds. “Citi is especially bullish commodities for 2017,” analysts led by Ed Morse wrote ...