Banking

BLOOMBERG Banco Popolare SC Chief Executive Officer Pier Francesco Saviotti is studying options including a potential capital increase to meet the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) requests to back its planned merger with Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl. “Our capital is sound, but considering that we want to do the deal and that the ECB insists in taking actions to improve ...

Bloomberg Ana Botin, chairman of Banco Santander SA, has appointed a tech-heavy advisory board in a sign that information technology has become crucial to her growth plans at the Spanish lender. “I can’t think of a precedent where you’ve seen a panel of this nature,” says Julian Skan, a managing director at Accenture Plc in London who advises banks on ...

Bloomberg As they grapple with shrinking profitability and the threat of a British exit from the European Union, the UK’s banks also face another challenge, slippery banknotes. Lenders from HSBC Holdings Plc to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are working to upgrade or replace thousands of cash machines before the Bank of England starts to switch paper money with ...

Frankfurt / AFP It’s a concept that conjures up images of European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi donning his flying suit, starting his helicopter and flying out over the eurozone to throw money to the crowds below. In the question-and-answer session of his traditional post-meeting press conference last week, Draghi was asked whether “helicopter money” was part of the ...

Bloomberg Hackers who stole $101 million from Bangladesh’s central bank stalked its computer systems for almost two weeks beforehand, according to an interim investigation report seen by Bloomberg. Prepared for Bangladesh Bank by cyber security firms FireEye Inc. and World Informatix, the assessment offers a tantalising glimpse into how cyber criminals can use banks’ own systems against them. The cyber ...

LONDON / Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) should force banks to set aside more capital to support lending in a downturn, former policy maker Charles Goodhart said. The countercyclical capital buffer is currently set at zero and while the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has said it intends gradually to increase the level to 1 percent, Goodhart said such a ...

New York / AFP US banking supvervisors should beef up their oversight of large banks beyond stress tests with deep-dive audits and greater use of outside examiners, a top regulator said. Under a ‘full-scope’ exam, a team of regulators would converge on the largest US banks to pull ledgers, check whether loan payments are on time and “systematically review a ...

BLOOMBERG Executives at Banco Popolare SC and Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl are racing to reach a merger accord that meets the European Central Bank’s (ECB) capital demands as Italy’s biggest banking deal in years threatens to unravel. After a month of talks with the lenders failed to assuage the ECB’s concerns over capital and governance, the central bank sent ...

LONDON / Bloomberg The UK Green Investment Bank Plc moved closer to selecting special shareholders who can veto changes to its environmental mission after the institution is privatised. The national science academy known as the Royal Society, Scotland’s Institute of Chartered Accountants and Scotland’s Law Society will help create a committee to protect the mandate of the bank, according to ...

Washington / AFP The Federal Reserve has cut its outlook for the US economy and kept its interest rate policy unchanged, citing the impact of the global slowdown and turmoil in world markets. Giving a picture of the US economy less bullish than many had expected, the Fed still forecast continuing hikes to the federal funds rate this year, but ...