Bloomberg Chinese officials have told Hong Kong that they think a lockdown will be needed to contain surging Covid-19 cases, according to people familiar with the discussions, with the city’s government conceding some kind of targeted stay-at-home restrictions may be necessary if the situation continues to spiral out of control. The two sides have been meeting frequently to discuss Hong ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank may start next year to sell the government bonds it bought as part of a $58 billion debt monetisation that supported stimulus spending during the pandemic. “We will discuss the possibilities later but based on the information that we have now, it is likely that we will roll back our government bond holding starting next ...

  Bloomberg India’s central bank will enter into sell-buy swaps worth $5 billion with banks to elongate the maturity profile of its forward dollar book. The 2-year USD/INR sell-buy swap auction will be held on March 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. This will enable access to a wider set of market participants and smoothen receivables relating to forward ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has warned its employees not to delete WhatsApp messages from their phones as part of moves by the German lender to clamp down on private communication channels. The Frankfurt-based bank earlier this year sent a memo to staff warning them that any business-related messages going through private channels mustn’t be deleted as the act could ...

  Bloomberg CDC Group, the UK’s development-finance arm, will provide a $100 million credit facility to First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. to help support women-owned businesses and small companies in Africa’s largest economy. The funding will “address the challenge of limited access to capital faced by under-banked and underserved groups in the country,” the firm said. A minimum of $30 ...

  Bloomberg British bank NatWest Group Plc plans to start paying its management cash bonuses, warning that compensation levels are falling “too far” behind competitors. The UK’s biggest corporate lender is seeking to introduce annual bonuses plus restricted share plan awards to replace the current long-term incentive program, the bank said in its annual report. The changes, which are subject ...

  Bloomberg The world’s largest provider of exchange-traded funds is bracing for a record year of trading in its flagship European credit fund as uncertainty about the timing and severity of central bank tightening pushes investors into more liquid instruments. BlackRock’s iShares euro corporate bond fund has already seen a daily average of more than 300 million euros ($341 million) ...

  Bloomberg Jes Staley departed Barclays Plc under a cloud because of an ongoing probe into his relationship with deceased offender Jeffrey Epstein. But his strategy for the British lender — to champion its investment bank — is set to outlast him. As his replacement as chief executive officer, CS Venkatakrishnan, prepares his maiden quarterly earnings presentation this week, Staley’s ...

  Bloomberg Stocks decline with US futures on Tuesday on intensifying tension between the West and Russia over Ukraine, a standoff that’s causing energy prices to soar and leading investors to seek havens among sovereign bonds. The Stoxx 600 Index pared a loss of as much as 1.8% at the open to trade 0.7% lower. US contracts pointed to declines ...

  Bloomberg Chinese technology stocks dropped for a third straight session amid fresh worries over Beijing’s regulatory plans for the sector. The Hang Seng Tech Index falls 1.9% on Tuesday to the lowest close since its inception in 2020. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was among the biggest losers following a Bloomberg report that authorities have begun another round of checks ...