February, 2020

• 11 February

  China local authorities to sell $122bn of debt

  

  Bloomberg China will allow local governments to sell another 848 billion yuan ($122 billion) of debt before March, as authorities seek to offset the economic shock of the coronavirus. The new quota includes 558 billion yuan of local government debt as well as 290 billion yuan of so-called special debt, according to a Ministry of Finance statement on Tuesday. The ...

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• 11 February

  Mastercard wins approval to join China’s $27tn market

  

  Bloomberg Mastercard Inc won approval to set up a bank card clearing business in China, gaining access to a $27 trillion payments market as part of the nation’s financial opening. The announcement by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Tuesday signals the country is moving ahead with the speedier opening of its financial system that was agreed on as ...

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• 11 February

  Deposits are another pain point for capital-hungry Yes Bank

  

  Bloomberg When a former Yes Bank Ltd executive started selling his stake in September, the Indian lender’s top managers watched for any sign that the resulting drop in share price would trigger a rush to withdraw deposits. The stock sales came as customers of a regional lender — Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Ltd — were lining up outside its ...

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• 11 February

  China urges lenders to raise bad loan tolerance

  Bloomberg Local Chinese banking regulators are urging lenders to increase their tolerance for bad loans and lower profit targets as the coronavirus hits at businesses across the country. Over the weekend, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s Zhengjiang branch asked banks in the region to be more lenient on bad loans and reduce their profit targets. The local bank watchdog ...

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• 11 February

  UniCredit likely to cut about 6,000 jobs in Italy

  Bloomberg UniCredit SpA expects to cut 6,000 jobs and close 450 branches in Italy as Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier sets his three year-efficiency plan in motion. The reductions and closures will take place through 2023, according to a letter sent to unions and seen by Bloomberg News. The Italian redundancies are part of a plan announced in December ...

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• 11 February

  Lebanon weighs IMF help over $1.2b bond payment

  Bloomberg Lebanon needs the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to draft a rescue plan and decide whether to repay its $1.2 billion Eurobond maturing next month, the Annahar newspaper cited one of the country’s longest-serving politicians and a member of the ruling coalition as saying. With the country facing its worst financial crisis in decades after months of ...

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• 11 February

  Hacking charges by US show China deal’s unfinished part

  

  Bloomberg The Trump administration’s indictment of Chinese military personnel over one of the biggest data thefts in US history highlights a key source of animosity remaining between the two sides after their “phase one” trade deal. The US Department of Justice announced the charges against four People’s Liberation Army members over a 2017 hack of credit reporting agency Equifax Inc, ...

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• 11 February

  Virus may cost China retail sectors billions

  

  Bloomberg The outbreak of coronavirus may have cost China’s retail and food service sectors billions of dollars in sales during the Lunar New Year week, according to a leading food and agricultural bank. Revenue lost in both retail and food services during the Lunar New Year week could range from 20% to 80%, representing a fall of $31 billion to ...

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• 11 February

  Ghosn faces Nissan in Dutch court for 1st time since escape

  

  Bloomberg Carlos Ghosn’s lawyers faced off with Nissan Motor Co in an Amsterdam court for the first time since the former executive’s dramatic escape from Tokyo last year. Ghosn is suing his former employer for 15 million euros ($16.4 million) as part of a Dutch wrongful dismissal lawsuit. At a hearing, his lawyers asked a court for access to documents ...

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• 11 February

  Singapore braces for 30% tourism drop

  

  Bloomberg Singapore could see a 25% to 30% decline in tourist arrivals and spending this year because of the coronavirus outbreak, as the industry braces for a worse impact than the 2003 Sars pandemic, the city’s tourism chief said. The city-state is losing about 18,000 to 20,000 tourists a day, and the figures could plummet further if the situation persists ...

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