December, 2020

• 8 December

  Bank of Korea faces pressure to broaden mandate on jobs

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) is facing mounting pressure to broaden its mandate for the first time in nearly a decade as global central banks are asked to tackle a wider range of economic issues highlighted by the pandemic. More than a dozen South Korean lawmakers are pushing for the passage of a bill to add employment stability to ...

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• 8 December

  India’s top lender to boost retail book

  

  Bloomberg State Bank of India (SBI) will accelerate retail loans and expects most lenders to post stronger-than-anticipated earnings as the economy revives faster than expected, according to Chairman Dinesh Khara. “The banks were expecting worse, so they strengthened risk management significantly,” Khara, who took charge as head of the country’s largest lender in October, said in an interview with Bloomberg ...

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• 8 December

  UBS’s Weber sees no deal with Credit Suisse soon

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said that the bank doesn’t expect to combine any time soon with Credit Suisse Group AG because of recent executive changes at the two lenders and the time needed to undertake such a complex transaction. His comments follow an interview by Credit Suisse departing chairman, Urs Rohner at the weekend, who gave the ...

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• 8 December

  France’s Societe Generale seeks $500mn savings in retail shift

  

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA expects to cut annual costs by about 450 million euros ($545 million) by combining its French retail operations with its Credit du Nord subsidiary, as Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea seeks to bolster profitability. The number of branches in the merged division will fall by about 600 to 1,500 by 2025, the bank said in a ...

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• 8 December

  Indian shadow lenders show some signs of recovery

  

  Bloomberg The fortunes of India’s shadow lenders have been improving amid early signs Asia’s third-largest economy is rebounding from an unprecedented recession. Two of four indicators compiled by Bloomberg that reflect the state of shadow banks strengthened last month from October. Shares of such firms that are part of the benchmark S&P BSE 500 index jumped two levels higher. The ...

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• 8 December

  BOJ is biggest Japan stock owner with $434b hoard

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has taken over as the biggest owner of the nation’s stocks, with the total value of its holdings climbing well above $400 billion. Massive exchange-traded fund purchases by the BOJ to support the market amid the pandemic this year combined with subsequent valuation gains pushed its Japanese equity portfolio to 45.1 trillion yen ($434 ...

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• 8 December

  Global stocks slide as pound drops on Brexit deadlock

  

  Bloomberg Global stocks retreated from an all-time high and the pound weakened the most in three months on concern that Brexit talks could collapse. The pound slid 1.3% against the dollar with officials on both sides pessimistic about the prospect of a breakthrough. Banks and retailers led losses in the Stoxx 600 Index, while the export-heavy FTSE 100 Index climbed ...

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• 8 December

  Hong Kong’s Chinese stocks decline on sanction risk concerns

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong stocks dropped, with investors selling some of the quarter’s top performers on concern more firms may be kicked out of global equity benchmarks and that Chinese banks may be targeted as China-US tensions grow. The Hang Seng Index retreated as much as 2.2% before paring to end Monday 1.2% lower, with volume 42% higher than the three-month ...

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• 7 December

  Abu Dhabi banks’ investments in debt securities hit AED19bn

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM Statistics from the Central Bank of the UAE showed that the investments of Abu Dhabi banks in debt securities in the first nine months of 2020 amounted to AED19 billion, contributing to an increase in the cumulative balance of this type of investment to AED201.5 billion at the end of September 2020. Investing in securities is ...

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• 7 December

  Iraq to honour Opec oil-cut decisions as exports surge

  

  Bloomberg Iraq will remain committed to Opec’s decisions on oil output as it nudges crude exports higher in December. The country will export 2.8 million barrels a day this month, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said Sunday, up from 2.7 million in November. It will start shipping a new medium grade of its flagship Basrah crude in January and try ...

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