Banking

UBS Group AG is branching out into rural Brazil to find millionaires created by rapid growth in the agribusiness and tech industries. The Swiss bank plans to open a wealth-management office in the midwestern city of Goiania, the capital of what’s known as Brazilian Texas because of its similarities to the farm-rich US state. Another will open this month in ...

Cash is king, with investors fleeing to the safety of cash funds at the fastest pace since the coronavirus pandemic as the Federal Reserve remains firmly hawkish, according to strategists at Bank of America Corp (BofA). The asset class had inflows of $62.1 billion in the week through November 2, according to a note from the bank citing EPFR Global ...

China’s central bank Deputy Governor Fan Yifei is under investigation by an anti-graft agency, the latest high-level finance official to be probed as President Xi Jinping cracks down on corruption. Fan is being investigated for “suspected severe violations of discipline and laws,” according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s top graft buster. Fan ...

The Czech central bank confirmed a preference for keeping borrowing costs stable, defying its new forecast that called for significant monetary tightening. Policy makers left the benchmark rate at 7%, keeping it unchanged for a third meeting after the bank’s new leadership halted a year of rapid hikes. Officials also reaffirmed their intervention policy of preventing excessive koruna swings, which ...

India’s central bank started a pilot program of its digital currency, allowing select banks to use it for settling secondary-market transactions in government securities. Several lots of bonds were traded, with data from Clearing Corp of India showing 7.38% 2027 debt and 7.26% 2032 bonds were among the first to change hands using new form of currency. Nine banks are ...

ING Groep NV said it will buy back as much as €1.5 billion ($1.47 billion) of shares to reward investors, after a mixed third quarter in which profit missed estimates following charges at its Polish business and in accounting for hedges. Net income of the bank reached €979 million in the three months through September compared with analysts’ expectations for ...

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde warned that a “mild recession” is possible but that it wouldn’t be sufficient in itself to stem soaring prices. Speaking a week after the ECB’s second straight 75 basis-point hike in borrowing costs, and as fears mount that the energy crisis will drag down output in the 19-nation euro zone, Lagarde said “we ...

The People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang reaffirmed a pledge to make the yuan exchange rate more flexible, while vowing to improve the monetary policy. The central bank will keep the yuan basically stable at a reasonable equilibrium level, Yi reiterated in a meeting held to study the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress, according to a statement published by ...

HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc raised their main lending rates in Hong Kong again on Thursday, a move that will push borrowing costs higher for property owners as the economy continues to face massive strain. HSBC, the city’s biggest lender, said it is raising its prime rate by 25 basis points to 5.375% after the Hong Kong Monetary ...

Norway’s central bank slowed the pace of interest-rate increases amid signs the economy is cooling, delivering a move forecast by just half the economists surveyed. Norges Bank lifted its key deposit rate on Thursday by 25 basis points to 2.5%, the smallest increase in its benchmark rate since June. The hike brings the rate to its highest level since 2009, ...