Bloomberg US President Joe Biden tried to send Vladimir Putin an ultimatum about the consequences of any invasion of Ukraine in an hour-long conversation that left both sides at an impasse and Russia’s intentions unclear. Biden warned his counterpart in Moscow that Russia would face “severe costs.” For his part, the Russian leader accused the US of failing to provide ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong will shorten the quarantine period for residents and staff of residential care homes for the elderly and those with disabilities because isolation beds will run out in days, the city’s welfare secretary said on his blog. The quarantine period for home-care residents and staff has been cut to seven days from two weeks if their test ...

  Bloomberg Frank-Walter Steinmeier was re-elected to a second five-year term in the mainly ceremonial post of German president. Steinmeier, 66, won the backing of about two-thirds of the Federal Assembly, a body convened solely for the purpose comprising all lawmakers from the lower house and representatives from the German states. He was supported by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) has begun talks with the UK Debt Management Office and the Treasury over how to handle active sales of bonds held in its quantitative easing (QE) portfolio, according an official with knowledge of the matter. The discussions come as the central bank last week said it would begin running down its 875 billion ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s banks will suspend operations at one in every four branches in the city after a number of employees were infected with Covid, the South China Morning Post has reported. HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered and Bank of China and another 13 major lenders will close a total of 276 branches. The closures started last week and ...

  Bloomberg Starling Bank Ltd. is weighing plans for a fresh funding round that could value the UK challenger at around 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion). The digital lender is considering raising money from its existing backers, which include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. London-based Starling is bidding ...

  Bloomberg Banco de Sabadell SA is exploring a sale of its payments business, according to people familiar with the matter. The Spanish banking group is working with an adviser on the potential disposal, which could fetch between 250 million euros and 350 million euros. The payments business handles the processing of transactions made with credit and debit cards. Any ...

  Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) reiterated it will encourage banks to expand lending to meet demand and bolster a slowing economy. The central bank will “keep liquidity reasonably ample, guide financial institutions to effectively expand loan extension, and make the overall credit growth more stable,” it said in the quarterly monetary policy published Friday. The PBOC will avoid ...

  Bloomberg Poland increased borrowing costs for a fifth consecutive month to an almost nine-year high as pressure grows on the central bank to tame record inflation in eastern Europe’s largest economy. The council that sets interest rates lifted the benchmark 50 basis points to 2.75%, in line with the median estimate of 32 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The ...

  Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank delivered its biggest interest-rate hike since the 2008 crisis, trying to quell inflation spurred by a rampant housing market. The Monetary Policy Committee in Reykjavik lifted the seven-day term deposit rate by 75 basis points to 2.75%, the highest level in almost two years. The increase was forecast by the nation’s two biggest banks, Landsbankinn ...