Banking

  Bloomberg A venture between JPMorgan Chase & Co and private-equity firm Lone Star Funds is the leading bidder to buy Propertize BV, the Dutch bad bank that holds 5.5 billion euros (US$6.1 billion) of loans and real estate, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Propertize may reach a deal to sell the firm in the next ...

  Bloomberg Investigators have linked malware used by Russian and eastern European cyber-gangs to a string of bank heists that culminated in the record-breaking theft of US$81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank, according to people familiar with the probe. The tools used in some of the attacks on as many as 12 banks, mostly in Southeast Asia, match those deployed ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of Canada is running experiments on interbank payment systems using blockchain-type technology to better understand how it works. The central bank has no plans to issue any digital currency for public use, Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins said in an e-mailed statement. Blockchain refers to the technology that underpins distributed ledgers, which are used for verifying ...

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank kept interest rates unchanged, conserving ammunition ahead of a British vote on European Union membership that has the potential to complicate monetary policy-making the world over. The SNB, whose currency is sought by investors at times of crisis, held its deposit rate at minus 0.75 percent, as forecast by economists in a survey. Saying ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Paul Achleitner has become the latest global banking leader to warn about the potential fallout if UK voters decide to leave the European Union. A yes vote next week on the so-called Brexit would be an “economic disaster for the UK and a political disaster for the EU,” Achleitner said at a dinner Wednesday ...

  Bloomberg Airbnb Inc secured a US$1 billion debt facility from some of the largest U.S. banks to help the home-sharing company develop new services and fund growth initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The debt deal was led by JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp Morgan Stanley also participated, according to the people, ...

  Bloomberg State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Mysore shares surged for a second day as India approved the merger of the lenders with their parent, amid a government push to strengthen the nation’s fragmented banking industry. Bikaner Bank rose 18 percent in Mumbai to a five-month high, while SBM climbed 20 percent to the highest ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s main bank lobby hinted that the central bank was right to keep monetary stimulus unchanged, saying that sending negative interest rates even lower would hurt the industry. “The impact on banks would be more severe if negative rates are expanded,” Japanese Bankers Association Chairman Takeshi Kunibe said at a briefing in Tokyo hours after the decision. Japanese ...

  Bloomberg As well as a surging yen, non-existent inflation and a weak economy, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has something else to think about when deciding monetary policy this week— unhappy banks. Japan’s biggest lender, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, has led the way in voicing concerns about the negative interest-rate regime introduced by Kuroda earlier this year. ...

  Bloomberg Poland’s largest lender PKO Bank Polski SA is planning to bid for Raiffeisen Bank International AG’s unit in the country, as the state-run company seeks to reinforce government efforts to boost domestic ownership of the financial industry, according to a person familiar with the process. Raiffeisen’s Polish assets, including its corporate banking unit, wouldn’t overlap much with PKO’s ...