Banking

Bloomberg More bankers working at foreign firms in Japan expect their salaries will increase this year, despite their outlook for a weakening economy, volatile financial markets and a stronger yen, according to a survey by Morgan McKinley. About 58 percent of respondents received an indication from their employers that their base salary will rise in 2016, compared with 42 percent ...

Bloomberg For Europe’s banks, rising capital requirements represent a huge cost. But for one Swedish firm, the post-crisis world order is proving a goldmine. Hoist Finance, which helps international banks restructure debt by acquiring or managing non-performing unsecured consumer loans, anticipates stricter capital demands will force more banks to shed their problem loans in an effort to remove the costliest ...

Oslo / Reuters Norway’s biggest bank DNB must provide a written explanation of its policy of helping clients set up offshore companies in the Seychelles, the Norwegian industry minister said in a statement on Monday. “DNB says this should not have happened and that the bank should not have participated. That I agree to,” Trade and Industry Minister Monica Maeland ...

Madrid / Reuters At the end of a tough quarter, the fraught debate over how policymakers should tackle the world’s economic woes gets another airing in the coming week as central banks on both sides of the Atlantic publish minutes. Solid growth in US employment and an unexpected manufacturing uptick in China in March will have provided some comfort, but ...

Harare / Reuters Foreign banks operating in Zimbabwe have submitted credible plans on how they intend to transfer majority shares to locals, the country’s finance minister said on Saturday, reducing the chances the government could cancel their licences. Under an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act all foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe were given a March 31 deadline to sell at ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve has given final approval to a rule that will let banks include investment-grade municipal bonds among the assets they use to meet regulatory requirements to ensure they have sufficient liquidity to weather a crisis. The Fed and other US financial regulators adopted the liquidity coverage ratio requirement in October 2014 as a response to bank deficiencies ...

Reuters Emerging Markets (EMs) are fast losing their shine for the world’s biggest investment banks. Faced with falling fees from fewer deals – and bleak prospects ahead – many have put the brakes on a decade-long expansion, with some cutting jobs and shutting offices. Subdued deal activity has meant there are fewer dollars for banks to fight over: fees in ...

Dubai / Reuters National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has announced on Sunday it had signed a murabaha facility with Riyad Bank valued at whopping 1.425 billion riyals ($380 million). This facility is aimed at financing the construction cost of five very large crude carriers (VLCCs). According to the concerned authorities, the facility lasts for a period of 10 ...

Shanghai / AFP China Construction Bank (CCB), the country’s second-largest lender, reported flat growth in net profit in 2015, as bad loans jumped with economic growth slowing. The bank’s net profit edged up 0.14 percent year-on-year to 228.15 billion yuan ($35 billion) in last year, slowing from a 6.1 percent annual increase in 2014, according to a statement that was ...

WARSAW / Reuters Poland’s Alior Bank has agreed to buy Bank BPH from General Electric for 1.225 billion zloty ($329 million) and said it will look to make another acquisition this year after moving into the country’s top 10. Shares in the lender, which has a market capitalisation of 4.67 billion zlotys, jumped by up to 5.7 percent, with investors ...