July, 2020

• 12 July

  High-stakes vote in Poland tests populists’ grip on power

  

  Bloomberg Poland is voting in a high-stakes presidential election as the coronavirus pandemic tests the populists’ grip on power and threatens one of the biggest nationalist makeovers in the heart of Europe. In what may be the closest ballot in Poland’s post-communist history, incumbent Andrzej Duda is battling Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski for the presidency in a runoff ballot on ...

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• 12 July

  Romney condemns Trump move on Stone

  

  Bloomberg Senators Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey became the first major Republican elected officials to criticise President Donald Trump‘s decision to commute the prison sentence of Roger Stone. “Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” Utah senator Romney said. The tweet trended on the ...

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• 12 July

  Indonesia’s coronavirus cases exceed 75,000 mark

  

  Bloomberg The number of coronavirus cases in Indonesia exceeded 75,000 as infections in the two largest hotspots continued to accelerate after the government eased physical-distancing curbs more than a month ago. There were 1,681 new cases in the 24 hours to midday on Sunday, bringing the total to 75,699, authorities said, adding that 71 people succumbed to the virus. The ...

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• 12 July

  India central bank chief foresees more pain for embattled banks

  

  Bloomberg Indian banks, which are already struggling with one of the world’s worst loan ratios, are set to face more pain as the coronavirus pandemic slams growth, the central bank’s chief warned, urging lenders to gird up their defenses. “The economic impact of the pandemic, due to the lockdown and the anticipated post-lockdown compression in economic growth, may result in ...

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• 12 July

  China may face sharp rebound in bad loans

  

  Bloomberg China may face a sharp rebound in non-performing loans after virus-relief incentives delayed the reflection of risk exposure on the balance sheet of lenders. The bad-loan ratio rose 8 basis points from the start of the year to 2.1% as of end-June, while non-performing loans are expected to increase, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said in a ...

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• 12 July

  Scotiabank, CIBC to fill 3.5% of top roles with black employees

  

  Bloomberg Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce say they will fill at least 3.5% of senior executive and board positions in Canada with Black leaders by 2025. The two banks confirmed they plan to sign the BlackNorth Initiative CEO pledge, the brainchild of a group led by Wes Hall, a prominent Black executive who founded Toronto-based ...

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• 12 July

  BOE urged to end Covid-19 funding for carbon emitters

  

  Bloomberg Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion called on the Bank of England (BOE) to stop providing emergency funding to companies that contribute to climate change. The UK central bank should require companies that have received more than 18 billion pounds ($22.7 billion) of aid in recent months to commit to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, according to a statement ...

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• 12 July

  Top US banks set for worst quarter since financial crisis

  

  Bloomberg US banks had only a few weeks’ experience with the full-blown pandemic when they last tried to forecast how bad things would get. Now, they’re about to reveal what three more months of Covid-19 did to the industry. Second-quarter results, set for release next week, will probably show that the trends that took hold at the start of the ...

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• 12 July

  Riksbank governor sees QE more effective than rate cuts

  Bloomberg Stimulus measures like bond purchases are more effective than interest rate cuts to support the economy at this point in time, Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves said. “Altogether, these measures entail a monetary policy that is aimed in full at attempting to alleviate the negative effects of the corona pandemic on the Swedish economy,” Ingves said, according to minutes of ...

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• 12 July

  Yes Bank sets 55% discount for $2 billion share offering

  Bloomberg Yes Bank Ltd. set a large discount in the price range for its $2 billion public offering scheduled for next week. The Mumbai-based lender plans to sell the shares at 12 rupees to 13 rupees apiece, a filing showed. That’s a discount of as much as 55%. Yes Bank, which was bailed out this year, is the latest Indian ...

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