Bloomberg Polls are open in Ecuador in an election that will decide whether the country turns its back on the US and restores an alliance with socialist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. The result of Sunday’s voting has the potential to upend relations with Beijing or Washington, and could even jeopardise Ecuador’s continued use of the US dollar. Long lines ...

Bloomberg Taiwan penalised Deutsche Bank AG and three other foreign lenders after a probe into speculation on the surging local currency last year involving grain companies. Deutsche Bank’s trading approvals for Taiwan dollar deliverable forwards and non-deliverable forwards will be revoked, and it will be banned from engaging in transactions of foreign exchange derivatives for two years, the island’s central ...

Bloomberg Discussions among UK banks to establish a shared debt collector for unpaid payments on Covid loans have stalled, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. Lobbying group UK Finance was leading talks on a shared entity but several of the UK’s biggest banks such as HSBC Holdings Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc have soured on ...

Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is giving up several floors in its main offices in Hong Kong, as global banks accelerate efforts to cut costs and pandemic upends work styles. The UK lender is relinquishing the lease on eight floors it occupies in its Standard Chartered Bank Building in Central, and will rent out three levels in its Kwun Tong office ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) told banks to start getting ready for negative interest rates, while saying that message shouldn’t be taken as a signal that the policy is imminent. The central bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority said most financial institutions aren’t sufficiently prepared, especially as regards to retail products like rate-tracking mortgages, so they should take at least six ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank ordered deposit-taking banks and other financial institutions to immediately close accounts transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges, saying such deals are “prohibited.” Failure to comply with the directive will result in “severe regulatory sanctions,” according to a circular sent to financial institutions and published on the central bank’s website. The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission said ...

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) pledged to add $10 billion to an affordable-homeownership program through 2025, tripling its initial commitment. The plan is aimed at low- and moderate-income communities, and may enable 60,000 individuals and families to purchase homes, the bank said in a statement. The program includes as much as $10,000 of assistance for down payments, as well as ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank President (ECB) Christine Lagarde predicted the euro-area recovery will pick up in the summer, while stressing that public authorities will have a difficult job weaning the economy off of emergency support. In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Lagarde expressed confidence in the region’s ability to emerge from the coronavirus crisis stronger, with ...

Bloomberg Having propelled the benchmark gauge almost 10% this week in a budget-driven rally, stock bulls in India are now counting on earnings to be the catalyst for the next leg up. The 34 NSE Nifty 50 Index members that have declared December-quarter results have posted a 34% jump in earnings from a year earlier, according to a note from ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) portfolio of US equities rose to a record $141 billion as of December, reflecting a buoyant stock market. Switzerland’s central bank has 20% of its reserves in stocks, and its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed it owned shares in 2,490 companies as of December 31. Notable holdings included Apple Inc., Amazon ...