AP Poland’s lawmakers have approved economist Adam Glapinski to be the nation’s new top banker. Glapinski succeeds Marek Belka, whose six-year term as head of the National Bank of Poland expired. The 66-year-old Glapinski is a member of the bank’s Monetary Policy Council and its board of managers, and is considered to be a moderate. He has vowed to ...
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Guy Hands shows why private equity shouldn’t sue bankers
Bloomberg Here’s a tip to buyout funds that rely on bank debt to buy promising companies. Don’t take those same banks to court unless you’re sure you have a very, very good case. Terra Firma’s Guy Hands clearly thought he had his reasons to haul Citigroup before a London court this week over his 4 billion-pound (US$5.7 billion) 2007 ...
Read More »EU to miss Sept deadline for swap rules
Bloomberg The European Union will push back the completion of collateral rules for the multi-trillion-dollar swap market to the end of the year, breaking with US authorities who have set a September deadline for the biggest banks to comply. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, won’t be able to meet the deadline adopted by the US — and ...
Read More »Peru keeps rate as slower CPI gives bank room to bolster GDP
Bloomberg Peru kept borrowing costs unchanged after four increases in the past year as slowing inflation and a stronger sol give policy makers room to bolster growth. The central bank board, led by bank President Julio Velarde, held the key rate at 4.25 percent for a fourth consecutive month, matching the forecast of 11 of 12 economists surveyed. One ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank may raise capital to resolve USA claims
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG may have to raise more capital because of the need to resolve US claims over the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis, Barclays said as it downgraded the two banks. Deutsche Bank may face settlement payments of as much as US$4.5 billion, while Credit Suisse may have to ...
Read More »Swiss bank’s quick road to ruin in Asia
Bloomberg Even in Asia’s cutthroat world of wealth management, the news of a mass defection at RBS Coutts, venerable bankers to the British royals, came as a shock. Lenders battered by the financial crisis were fighting for Asia veterans who could bring the lucrative accounts of the region’s growing ranks of millionaires, and Coutts rainmaker, Hanspeter Brunner, had jumped ...
Read More »Japan world’s biggest energy lender
Bloomberg Japanese banks, known for the risk-aversion that spared them the worst of the credit crisis, have quietly grown into some of the world’s largest energy lenders. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s largest bank, disclosed last month it has become one of the biggest oil and gas lenders with 9.2 trillion yen, or about US$85 billion, in exposure ...
Read More »ECB chief does whatever it takes to save the Euro
Bloomberg Since a surprise interest-rate cut at his first meeting as European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi has shown a penchant for pushing the envelope. The bank’s entry into the corporate bond market was no exception: buying bonds with junk ratings. Purchases on the first day included notes from Telecom Italia SpA, according to people familiar with the matter, ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank CEO gets no relief as his biggest hire exits
Bloomberg John Cryan’s plan to revamp Deutsche Bank AG risks unraveling as the departure of the chief executive officer’s most senior hire presents one more false start to a strategy he laid out last year. Quintin Price, hired in October to oversee growth in the bank’s asset-management business, is leaving the bank after going on medical leave in mid-April, ...
Read More »Citigroup sale of Brazil unit to face tougher scrutiny
Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s sale of its Brazilian unit should face tougher scrutiny from the nation’s antitrust office because the local banking industry is already highly concentrated, one of the agency’s regulators said. Any banking mergers should immediately be deemed ‘complex,’ Cristiane Alkmin Junqueira Schmidt, a member of the agency, said. “I am really uncomfortable approving any transaction in the ...
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