Bloomberg Funding costs in Europe have probably been given the tonic they need to keep easing from the highest level since 2016. Judging by moves in interest-rate futures, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) plan to pump a deluge of cash into the euro area’s banks will drag a key lending rate down on Monday, when most of the region’s markets …

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to buy the remaining 50% stake in its Chinese life insurance venture as the Communist Party-ruled nation opens its financial markets. The lender will take full ownership of HSBC Life Insurance Company Ltd. after buying out its partner, The National Trust Ltd., according to an emailed statement. “This transaction supports our ambition to accelerate growth …

Bloomberg Nigerian banks have more to worry about than the coronavirus: Cratering oil prices and the threat of another naira devaluation are emerging as the biggest risks to how many lenders will emerge unscathed. The industry has already agreed to forgo profit to support the economy as measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak bring most businesses to a halt. Now, …