Banking

  Bloomberg Changes to the capital treatment of sovereign bonds discussed in Brussels and Basel may force European banks to raise as much as 171 billion euros (US$195 billion) in new capital or sell 492 billion euros of the securities, according to research published. European banks own about 2.3 trillion euros of sovereign debt, of which about 1.5 trillion euros, ...

  AP French bank Societe Generale has been ordered to pay about 450,000 euros ($510,000) to former trader Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal, after he was accused of one of the biggest trading frauds in history. Kerviel has become an icon for critics of the banking world, and his supporters hailed decision in his favour by a labour arbitration court. ...

  Bloomberg From Washington to Mumbai, central bankers are finding their policy decisions gummed up by a potential British exit from the European union. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen became the highest-profile monetary policy maker to speak out this week, when she warned a so-called Brexit would have “significant economic repercussions,” a concern echoed by counterparts including Reserve Bank of ...

  Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd raised US$1 billion with the first offshore sale by an Aussie bank of hybrid bonds that qualify as additional tier 1 capital under the current regulatory regime. The perpetual contingent convertible securities, which can be called by the issuer from June 2026 onward, were priced in the US currency market at ...

  BLOOMBERG India’s privately owned banks are extending new loans faster than their state-run rivals for the first time ever, as government lenders struggle to bring surging bad loans under control. New credit from private lenders amounted to 3.5 trillion rupees (US$52.4 billion) in the year to March 31, taking their outstanding advances to 17.9 trillion rupees, while state banks’ ...

  Bloomberg The main lending unit of Japan’s biggest bank may quit as one of the 22 primary dealers that underwrite auctions of the nation’s bonds, potentially becoming the first major financial firm to withdraw since the Bank of Japan introduced negative interest rates this year. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd is considering the move and nothing has been decided, ...

  Bloomberg The yuan’s pricing mechanism is increasingly transparent and its rate against a basket of currencies may alternate between appreciation and depreciation, according to Ma Jun, chief economist of the People’s Bank of China’s research bureau. Since the spring festival holiday in February, changes in the yuan’s central parity rate against the dollar have been closely aligned with the ...

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc, the London-based bank that generates most of its income from Asia, is seeking to double operating profit at its Pakistan unit within five years as the country’s economy grows and banks churn out more loans. The bank is targeting an advance to deposit ratio of at least 45 percent in 12 months from 35 percent ...

  Bloomberg June is out. July might be too soon. The Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate increase is coming, but even September isn’t a sure bet. That’s the message investors and economists are taking from Chair Janet Yellen’s remarks. Her comments were the last the public will hear from a Fed official before the central bank’s policy-setting meeting next week. In ...

  BLOOMBERG Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer John Cryan said Germany’s largest lender is abandoning plans for a new digital bank in the US, led by Henry Ritchotte, just months after it was announced. While the team under Ritchotte developed an “excellent blueprint” for the service in the US, Deutsche Bank decided that the project would “divert resources from ...