March, 2020

• 29 March

  HSBC warns of virus credit losses even with BOE help

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc warned it still expects to book higher credit losses on the back of the coronavirus pandemic, even after regulators gave it more leeway to deal with unpaid loans. Europe’s largest bank also put its job-cutting programme on hold. In an update to investors contained in the prospectus for its latest debt sale, disclosed in a US ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Lessons of 2008 leave Europe markets better protected

  

  Bloomberg The convulsions in European markets for the past month have traders looking back to 2008-2009, the last time the financial world seemed on the verge of collapse. The good news this time around is that policy makers are applying lessons learned from that crisis. From the US’s $2 trillion rescue package to massive bond buying by the European Central ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Covid-19: Stranded gold may travel on chartered flights

  

  Bloomberg Gold suppliers are in talks to use chartered or cargo flights to transport the precious metal, which usually moves around the world in commercial planes and has been left stranded as global travel grinds to a halt. The global gold market has been thrown into upheaval by the coronavirus outbreak. Logistics are becoming increasingly difficult and some leading refineries ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  AfDB issues world’s biggest social bond

  

  Bloomberg The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it issued the world’s biggest social bond yet by selling $3 billion of notes to fight the impact of the coronavirus on the continent. Africa’s biggest multilateral lender received $4.6 billion in bids for its Fight Covid-19 social bond, it said in a statement. More than half of bids for the three-year bond, ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  BofA pledges to retain, pay staff during 2020

  

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) said it won’t cut any jobs this year as a result of the coronavirus, and is helping clients affected by the pandemic through increased commercial lending to companies and expanded forbearance for Main Street customers. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender has hired 2,000 people this month and is shifting more than 3,000 employees to ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Morgan Stanley wins US antitrust nod for E-Trade

  

  Bloomberg Morgan Stanley won US antitrust approval for its $13 billion acquisition of discount brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp., according to a person familiar with the matter. The Justice Department’s antitrust division has signed off on the takeover without requiring any changes, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. A Morgan Stanley ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Bank of Canada begins large scale asset purchases

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Canada announced a large scale asset purchase program and cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low in a bid to ease financial-market strain and shield the nation’s economy from coronavirus fallout. The central bank lowered its policy rate last week by another half a percentage point to 0.25%, adding in a statement that the ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  RBC cut prime rate by 50bps

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) cut its prime rate by 50 basis points (bps), matching Bank of Canada’s latest emergency rate cut. Canada’s largest lender by assets reduced the key rate to 2.45% from 2.95%, the Toronto-based bank said in a statement. Canada’s central bank unexpectedly cut its overnight lending rate by another half a percentage point to 0.25% ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Walmart’s hiring surge finds 25,000 workers in first week

  

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc has taken on 25,000 new employees and given offers to thousands more in the first week of a hiring push, as the biggest private employer in the US scrambles to keep its shelves stocked and checkouts staffed during the coronavirus pandemic. The retailer has compressed a hiring process that can often take two weeks into as little ...

  Read More »
• 29 March

  Thai airlines to seek $491m government bailout

  

  Bloomberg Seven airlines in Thailand are set to start talks with the Finance Ministry for a 16 billion baht ($491 million) bailout, the Bangkok Post reported. The airlines have jointly agreed to seek help, the newspaper said, citing Tassapon Bijleveld, executive chairman of Asia Aviation Pcl, the largest shareholder of Thai AirAsia. The seven carriers are Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion ...

  Read More »