February, 2021

• 2 February

  HNA units say $10b in funds misused by shareholders

  

  Bloomberg Three listed companies of China’s HNA Group Co said shareholders and affiliates misappropriated at least 63 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) of funds, deepening the woes of the indebted conglomerate that’s set to be restructured. Hainan Airlines Holding Co, HNA Infrastructure Investment Group Co and CCOOP Group Co also reported they have failed to disclose about 46 billion yuan in …

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• 2 February

  Philippine Airlines to cut 2,300 jobs

  Bloomberg Philippine Airlines Inc, owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, said it will cut 2,300 jobs or about a third of its workforce by mid-March as it continues to take a beating from the pandemic. “This has been an extremely difficult and painful decision,” President Gilbert Santa Maria said. The job cuts, first announced in October, include voluntary and involuntary separations, …

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• 2 February

  Massive India borrowing loads pressure on RBI to tame yields

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank is under pressure to step in to keep yields in check after the government surprised bond markets with a bigger-than-expected borrowing plan. That puts the burden on Governor Shaktikanta Das to calm bond traders when he meets to decide policy on Friday. He’s already had to assuage them that a recent measure to mop up excess …

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• 2 February

  Deutsche Bank’s 20% fixed-income gain beats Wall Street

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG saw revenue from fixed-income trading rise by about a fifth in the final quarter of last year, a bigger jump than most of its Wall Street rivals as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christian Sewing increasingly leans on the unit to drive growth. The bank’s traders generated approximately 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in the period, a …

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• 2 February

  Australia’s central bank extends QE programme

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank will extend its quantitative easing program by a further $76.2 billion and doesn’t expect to increase interest rates until 2024, following in the footsteps of global peers in moving to stamp out premature tapering speculation. Governor Philip Lowe left the key rate and three-year yield target at 0.10%, the Reserve Bank said in a statement on …

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• 2 February

  BofA clients with $561bn say Bitcoin is most crowded trade

  

  Bloomberg For the first time since 2017, Bank of America Corp. (BofA) clients with $561 billion combined say Bitcoin is the world’s most crowded trade as speculative euphoria hits Wall Street. Investors surveyed by the investment bank see signs that long positions in the largest digital currency are reaching unprecedented levels, while retail traders and institutional names join the crypto …

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• 2 February

  HDFC faces external tech audit

  Bloomberg India’s banking regulator has appointed an external firm to audit the technology infrastructure of the country’s biggest private-sector bank, a rare move that follows a penalty for repeated outages. HDFC Bank Ltd. will “extend its cooperation” to the auditor, the Mumbai-based lender said in an exchange filing on Tuesday. The bank will pay for the audit, it said. The …

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• 2 February

  HSBC to set up new office in China’s Greater Bay Area

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc will establish an office to spearhead its strategy in China’s fast-growing Greater Bay Area, stepping up its bet on the world’s second-largest economy. Daniel Chan, currently head of business banking at HSBC in Hong Kong, was named head of the unit, which will oversee the strategy to “capture opportunities” in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, the …

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• 2 February

  Tanzania’s central bank urges lenders to slash costs

  Bloomberg Tanzania’s central bank ordered the nation’s lenders to deal with souring loans and slash costs, threatening jobs in the latest industry reforms announced by President John Magufuli’s government. Bank of Tanzania gave lenders until the end of 2022 to reduce their cost-to-income ratios to below 55% and to cut non-performing loans to below 5% of their books, according to …

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• 2 February

  Apple sells $14b of bonds as share buybacks seen rising

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. has sold $14 billion of bonds to take advantage of cheap borrowing costs, tapping the market for a third time since May as the company looks to return more cash to shareholders. The company issued debt in six parts. The longest portion of the offering, a 40-year security, will yield 95 basis points above Treasuries, after initially …

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