Recent Posts

Timing looks right for MUFG’s Indonesian bank foray

Timing is everything. Hobbled by an aging population and negligible interest rates, Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is keen for growth and sees overseas expansion, particularly in Southeast Asia and the US, as key. In its moves to acquire 73.8 percent of PT Bank Danamon Indonesia, it may just succeed where DBS Group Holdings Ltd. failed. Indonesia now is ...

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The sovereign-debt doom loop still threatens banks

The world’s central banks recently signed off on the Basel III rules for bank capital. The new system, years in the making, is a step forward: It will make banks stronger and safer. But there are several loose ends. One of the most important concerns the treatment of sovereign bonds on banks’ balance sheets. Banks that hold large, concentrated portfolios ...

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Big three market themes of 2017 will remain in 2018

With 2017 mostly said and done, it’s instructive to put the bond market in perspective so we know what to reasonably expect in 2018. Recall that at the start of the year there was no shortage of calls for the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note to soar to 3 percent — or even 4 percent — by ...

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