Banking

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) slashed euro holdings in its currency reserves to 20 percent from 45 percent in 2012 and recently added the South Korean won. The central bank said on Wednesday it had allocated 5 percent of net reserves to the won, in line with holdings of the Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound and Chinese ...

MELBOURNE / Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group Ltd. said its wealth management head Joyce Phillips is leaving as the lender folds parts of the business into its retail unit. The Australian wealth distribution business, and wealth management activities in Asia and New Zealand, will be merged with the retail units, the Melbourne-based lender said in a regulatory ...

Bloomberg With liquidity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region falling and economic growth cooling, companies want to maximise the efficiency of their cashflow and working capital finance. They are starting to look for more complex instruments, driving change in the banking sector. Traditionally, firms sourcing supplies from abroad simply used letters of credit (LCs). The LC then allowed the ...

Frankfurt / AFP Deutsche Bank has announced further results of the bond buyback scheme aimed at boosting confidence in its financial solidity, insisting that the low take-up was proof of investors’ trust in Germany’s biggest lender. Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank had announced plans to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of dollar-denominated securities, as well as 3.0 billion euros of ...

London / Bloomberg British bank Barclays on Tuesday said net losses more than doubled last year and announced plans to gradually reduce its majority stake in the group’s African unit. Barclays also said it would split the company overall into two units, Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate and International, as it undergoes major restructuring under new chief chief executive Jes ...

Kuala Lumpur / Bloomberg Giles Ong, Malayan Banking Bhd.’s head of Asia investment banking, is leaving after building the advisory business beyond the lender’s home market during his four-year tenure. Ong, 46, tendered his resignation last week, according to an e-mail he sent to colleagues that was obtained by Bloomberg News. In a telephone interview Tuesday, he confirmed the contents ...

London / Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) defied European Union regulators by retaining a bonus-cap exemption for smaller UK financial firms, as the bloc’s policy makers reassess remuneration rules that have been repeatedly blasted by British regulators. The BOE and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that they will comply with all EU remuneration rules apart from applying the ...

BEIJING / Bloomberg The Chinese economy is pock-marked with companies that can’t pay their bills and survive only with government help. Jiangshi, the Chinese call them — ‘vampire companies’ or ‘zombies’. These ghoulish companies and their debts are hindering the world’s second-biggest economy and will likely do so for years. Companies that miss debt payments inflict losses on banks, which then ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, poised to announce the fate of the lender’s African business, must convince investors he can improve the investment bank’s profits just as slumping trading revenue batters the industry. Staley is leaning toward maintaining the securities unit without pursuing a major restructuring or spinning off the business, according to people familiar with the ...

Bloomberg China Zheshang Bank Co. postponed gauging demand for a $1 billion Hong Kong initial public offering, after stock buyers reported difficulty transferring money out of mainland China, people familiar with the matter said. Potential cornerstone investors from China told deal arrangers they couldn’t get timely regulatory approval to send money across the border, according to the people, who asked ...