Banking

  Bloomberg Computerised trading firm XTX Markets Ltd. has come from out of nowhere to dethrone major banks including Deutsche Bank AG in the rankings of the world’s biggest spot currency traders. The London-based proprietary trader is now the fourth-biggest trader, accounting for 7.6 percent of spot foreign exchange. It’s the first time an electronic specialist has displaced a bank ...

  Bloomberg Sberbank PJSC reported record first-quarter profit, better than analyst estimates, as provisions and financing costs declined. Net income rose to 118 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) from 30.6 billion rubles in the first quarter last year, Russia’s biggest lender said in a statement on Wednesday. That was better than the average estimate of 102 billion rubles from six analysts ...

  Bloomberg UniCredit SpA’s decision to replace Chief Executive Officer Federico Ghizzoni after almost six years at the helm paves the way for a strategy review that may include a capital increase and asset sales, according to analysts. Ghizzoni will depart once a successor has been chosen, the Milan-based bank said in a statement. Chairman Giuseppe Vita will lead the ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank is considering loosening lending regulations to help stoke credit growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. One possible measure is to let homeowners take out loans to purchase a second property “off the plan,” or one that is pre-construction, Mirza Adityaswara, senior deputy governor at Bank Indonesia, said in an interview in Jakarta. Another option is raising ...

  Reuters Malaysia’s Bank Muamalat will set up a 1 billion ringgit ($243.4 million) sukuk programme, after the Islamic lender said on Wednesday it would redeem 400 million ringgit worth of subordinated sukuk on June 15. Bank Muamalat’s new sukuk programme has loss-absorption features to meet Basel III criteria, qualifying as Tier 2 capital, rating agency RAM Ratings said in ...

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank is preparing to weaken its naira and abandon a currency peg that has starved Africa’s biggest economy of dollars and slowed foreign investment to a trickle. Naira forward contracts soared to record highs as traders added to bets on a weaker currency. In a retreat for President Muhammadu Buhari, who has resisted calls to let ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG had its credit rating cut by Moody’s Investors Service, which said the German lender faces mounting challenges in carrying out its turnaround. The bank’s senior unsecured debt rating was lowered to Baa2 from Baa1, Moody’s said in a statement this week. That left the grade two levels above junk. The firm’s long-term deposit rating fell ...

  Bloomberg Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman sounded a positive note about the Wall Street bank’s business, telling investors to “stay tuned” for better performance as markets recover. Speaking to Bloomberg Television in Beijing, where the firm is hosting its China summit, Gorman said a 6 percent return on equity in the first quarter was in “a very ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG hired Thomas Piquemal as head of global mergers and acquisitions and chairman of corporate and investment banking in France. Piquemal, 47, most recently senior executive vice president for finance at French electricity utility Electricite de France SA, will be based in Paris and report to corporate and investment banking chief Jeff Urwin, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) warned that risks of financial-market turmoil have increased amid slower growth in emerging economies, weak bank profitability and the rise of populist movements across the 19-nation euro region. “A sharper-than-expected fall in Chinese growth could well lead to a synchronized downturn across other emerging market economies, particularly commodity exporting economies,” the ECB wrote ...