Banking

WARSAW / Bloomberg Dropping valuations aren’t enough to convince Eastern Europe’s third-largest lender Erste Group Bank AG to buy assets in Poland, the region’s biggest market, amid growing political uncertainty in Warsaw. Consolidation among Polish banks has been slowed by uncertainty stemming from the government’s plan to convert $44 billion in foreign currency-denominated loans, a proposal called “pure evil” by …

Canberra / Bloomberg The cost of insuring the debt of Australia’s largest banks surged by the most in four years after a report by research firm Variant Perception fueled speculation about risks in the nation’s housing market. The average cost of credit default swaps for the four biggest Australian lenders surged by 18.6 basis points, the largest one-day increase since …

Bloomberg Petroleo Brasileiro SA secured a $10 billion loan from the China Development Bank as the beleaguered state-owned oil producer endures the worst crude market in a generation and faces more than double that amount in maturities over the next two years. The lifeline is part of a deal to supply crude to the Asian country, Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras …

London / AFP Britain’s state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) posted its eighth annual loss in a row although the latest result came in 43 percent smaller at around £2.0 billion. The loss after tax stood at £1.979 billion ($2.771 billion, 2.518 billion euros) last year compared with a net loss of £3.47 billion in 2014, helped by the sale …

Washington / Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. said it received a subpoena from the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York regarding the bank’s possible role in bribes paid to international soccer officials. The government is seeking information on banking relationships and transactions tied to FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, New York-based Citigroup said Friday in its annual regulatory filing …

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc said the US Justice Department shut an antitrust probe into bank’s precious metals trading as prosecutors focus on a criminal fraud investigation. The bank was informed in January that the antitrust division was closing its investigation, while the probe run by the fraud section is ongoing, the company disclosed in a filing. HSBC didn’t immediately comment …

TOKYO / Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Inc., Japan’s largest bank, sold the equivalent of $9.4 billion in bonds this week to help boost buffers to meet regulatory requirements, making it the biggest issuer of corporate notes globally this week. MUFG offered 300 billion yen ($2.66 billion) in higher-tier capital-counting notes to institutional investors on Friday, in addition to …

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc surged after the lender increased its dividend payout and indicated it may have reached the end of charges for wrongly sold payment protection insurance that cost it 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) last year. The firm’s shares climbed as much as 11 percent, the biggest intraday gain since October 2011. Pretax profit for 2015, excluding …

Bloomberg China will allow domestic banks to issue up to 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) of asset-backed securities based on their non-performing loans, the first quota for such sales since 2008, people familiar with the matter said. The quota, which will initially be allocated mainly to China’s largest banks, will allow lenders to remove non-performing loans from their balance sheets …

LISBON A Portuguese bank salvaged from the collapse of a major lender has reported losses of 981 million euros ($1 billion) in 2015, casting a cloud over the government’s attempts to sell it. Novo Banco, a so-called good bank that emerged from the surprise 2014 bankruptcy of Banco Espirito Santo, said Wednesday legacy debts soured its performance. The bank last …