Banking

Bloomberg Chinese lenders are reacting to a regulatory crackdown on shadow financing by increasing activity in their more opaque receivables accounts, a practice Commerzbank AG estimates may result in losses of as much as 1 trillion yuan ($153 billion) over five years. Banks are increasingly using trusts or asset management plans to lend and recording them as funds to be ...

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) rallied after fourth-quarter profit rose more than analysts anticipated. Shares of its two large Singapore rivals fell. The bank’s stock surged on Wednesday by the most in almost six months following the release of an exchange statement showing net income climbed 21 percent on higher interest and trading income as well as gains from life ...

AMSTERDAM / AP ABN Amro, the Dutch bank that began a phased return to the market last year, says its 2015 net profit soared 70 percent to 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), despite rising regulatory costs. Chairman of the bank’s managing board Gerrit Zalm said Wednesday that “2015 was a good year for the bank.” Operating income rose 5 percent ...

Washington A Federal Reserve regional president called for the dismantlement of big banks whose failure could pose serious risk to the global financial system. Neel Kashkari, who took office as president of the Minneapolis Fed on January 1 and was a top Treasury official during the 2008 financial crisis, said in a speech that “bolder, transformational options” must be considered ...

Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said bad debt charges will be higher than analysts expect in the first half amid a slowdown in Asia and increased market volatility, even after profit rose in the first quarter. The lender expects a first-half group credit charge a little above A$800 million ($568 million), compared to the current market consensus ...

BLOOMBERG Bankia SA is starting a process to reimburse retail investors for losses they suffered in a public offering of shares in Spain’s fourth-biggest bank in 2011, a year before it need a European bailout. Retail investors will recover 100 percent of their investment plus 1 percent annual interest, the Valencia, Spain- based bank said in a filing to regulators ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept its key rate unchanged Tuesday for an eighth consecutive month as it waits for a clearer picture of first-quarter data and assesses the impact of unstable markets. The decision to keep the seven-day repurchase rate at a record low 1.5 percent was forecast by all 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey. South Korea’s ...

Bloomberg For years, the country’s central bank and financial supervisor have railed against lenders’ dependence on markets — rather than deposits — because of the risk that investors might flee, leaving banks in a lurch. Now, Sweden is finding the markets may be a better funding source than savers as central bank rates go deeper into negative territory. Market funding ...

Bloomberg China’s cabinet has discussed lowering the ratio of provisions banks must set aside for bad loans, potentially easing a drag on earnings after soured debts at lenders climbed to the highest in a decade. The China Banking Regulatory Commission would be responsible for deciding the timing and magnitude of any reduction, said people with knowledge of the matter, who ...

Bloomberg Rainer Neske, the former head of consumer banking at Deutsche Bank AG, is poised to become the next chief executive officer of state-owned regional lender Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, according to people with knowledge of the matter. LBBW’s supervisory board will meet on Tuesday to decide whether to approve the 51-year-old as successor to Hans-Joerg Vetter, 63, according to the people, ...