In India, crises move slowly. We’ve known for years that the state-controlled banks that dominate the financial sector were groaning under the weight of bad loans. For years, though, the government successfully kicked the can down the road. All those assets haven’t been accounted for yet, the banks haven’t been fully recapitalised, the bankruptcy process isn’t working to schedule, yet ...

Chinese regulators have stepped back from imposing hard-and-fast rules on how much banks must lend to the cash-starved private sector. Their exhortation isn’t going away, though, and that means investors in shares of lenders should prepare for more pain. Authorities will refrain from imposing specific targets for each bank and are urging firms to conduct appropriate due diligence, according to ...

Never before has one company’s failure had such a devastating effect on the world, wrote the technology journalist David Kirkpatrick. He continued: Racists, autocrats, and purveyors of hate and disorder have found Facebook the perfect medium for spewing poison, normalising it, and gaining adherents. … Societies around the world are reeling from the consequences. Politics and democracy are under duress. ...

Bloomberg US stocks pared an advance after a key Democrat called into question the revamped Nafta deal, rekindling concern over trade. Crude rebounded from the worst rout in three years. The S&P 500 looked for its first gain in five sessions, while technology shares all but erased a rise that topped 1 percent. Bill Pascrell, in line to chair the ...

Bloomberg Volatility in the pound jumped as traders looked ahead to the next hurdle on the Brexit path even if a draft deal is signed off by Prime Minister Theresa May’s senior ministers. Overnight volatility in the pound against the dollar climbed to the highest level in more than a year. One-, two- and three-month measures also rose, suggesting that ...

Bloomberg Greek authorities are moving forward with two different plans to save their banks from a downward spiral. Some would-be investors think they’re too clever by half. To reduce non-performing loans, the Greek central bank is proposing a special-purpose vehicle created with the stricken lenders’ tax credits — themselves an accounting creation of the nation’s past debt restructuring. With those ...

Bloomberg Poland’s financial industry regulator quit after a newspaper reported that he made an improper offer to the owner of a troubled bank, triggering a government investigation. Financial Supervision Authority Chairman Marek Chrzanowski said allegations by Gazeta Wyborcza were a “dishonest and groundless” provocation, but that he must resign to ensure stability in the banking industry, he told Poland’s PAP ...

Bloomberg Denmark’s prime minister says he feels “deceived” and “let down” after backing free-market policies that helped make life easier for a financial industry now mired in scandal. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who leads a center-right coalition, told lawmakers in the Danish parliament that his country’s banks “didn’t behave at all,” leaving him feeling “completely let down.” Denmark is trying to ...

Bloomberg Interest-rate hikes are still on the table in Asia as market volatility returns, with Sri Lanka unexpectedly increasing its benchmark rate. Sri Lanka’s central bank raised the standing lending facility rate to 9 percent from 8.5 percent on Wednesday, and almost half of the analysts surveyed are calling for another increase in the Philippines on Thursday. A hike could ...

Bloomberg Karan Dua, an electronics shop owner in south-central Mumbai, placed his hope of crackling sales on Diwali — the Hindu festival of lights when Indians splurge on everything from clothes to cars and jewellery to houses. It hardly lit up business for the 35-year-old shop owner. Businesses like Dua’s are seeing sluggish sales this festive season in part because ...