January, 2020

• 11 January

  Tunisia parliament rejects government

  

  Bloomberg Tunisia’s parliament rejected the government put together by PM Habib Jemli, a move that could delay efforts to implement reforms in the North African nation. Jemli won the votes of 72 of the 217 deputies in parliament in the vote of confidence, according to the Watania 1 television station. The move gives President Kais Saied a key role in appointing ...

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• 11 January

  ‘Fed’s Jerome Powell was early spotting labour market slack’

  

  Bloomberg Jerome Powell was an early adopter of the view that US unemployment could fall further than thought, but back then didn’t parlay that insight into a more dovish stance on interest rates. Transcripts of Fed meetings in 2014 showed then-governor and now-Chairman Powell was already among the most optimistic Fed officials about how many Americans could be drawn back ...

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• 11 January

  Lisa Raitt appointed new CIBC ‘vice chair’

  

  Bloomberg Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce hired former Conservative Party lawmaker Lisa Raitt as a vice-chair for global investment banking. Raitt joins CIBC on January 27 and will focus on developing and fostering senior-level client relationships and business development globally for CIBC’s capital markets division, the Toronto-based bank said in a statement. She’ll be based in Toronto. “Lisa’s experience leading ...

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• 11 January

  World Bank cuts Ethiopia growth forecast to 6.3%

  

  Bloomberg The World Bank cut its forecast for Ethiopia’s economic growth in the 2020 fiscal year to 6.3%, well below the government’s projection. The National Bank of Ethiopia has forecast that gross domestic product growth would accelerate to 10.8% for the fiscal year ending in July, up from a 9% pace in fiscal 2019 as the government implements a blueprint ...

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• 11 January

  AmEx all set to enter China’s $27tn market

  

  Bloomberg American Express Co cleared a key hurdle in its bid to accessing China’s $27 trillion payments market after the central bank accepted its application to start a bank card clearing business. The People Bank of China made the announcement on its official Wechat account, without giving more details. The decision to accept the application signals that it’s moving closer ...

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• 11 January

  JPMorgan boosts annual fee on Chase Sapphire Reserve card

  

  Bloomberg The popular Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is about to get more expensive. JPMorgan Chase & Co is boosting the annual fee for customers to $550 from $450 as it adds new perks with partners such as DoorDash and Lyft Inc, according to bank spokeswoman Ashley Dodd. For new cardholders, the increased annual fee will go into effect on ...

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• 11 January

  South Africa’s ANC commits to reserve bank mandate

  Bloomberg South Africa’s ruling African National Congress reaffirmed the central bank’s role, mandate and independence in an annual policy statement. The assurance may allay fears of renewed attacks by some ANC leaders on the South African Reserve Bank in the run-up to the party’s national general council later this year. The gathering will mark the mid-point of the current ANC ...

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• 11 January

  Powell likened dot-plot dangers to nuclear meltdown in 2014

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell likened the potential fallout surrounding the central bank’s interest-rate forecasts to a nuclear meltdown in what even he admitted was a stretched metaphor back in 2014. “The market doesn’t really understand how the SEP works and how it gets put together,” the then-Fed governor said in March 2014, referring to the central bank’s quarterly ...

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• 11 January

  Citi sees a busy year for Korea bond sales

  Bloomberg South Korea’s biggest arranger of offshore bond sales expects another busy year in 2020 due to a big wall of maturing debt and foreign investor demand at a time of rising uncertainties elsewhere. Korean issuers sold $33.3 billion of notes abroad last year, only slightly below the six-year high marked in 2018, Bloomberg-compiled data show. Issuance in 2020 will ...

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• 11 January

  Relief for Tata in India’s biggest corporate feud

  

  Bloomberg India’s Tata Group scored a temporary victory in a corporate feud after the nation’s top court said an ousted chairman can’t return to his old job, a move that promises to reduce the legal distractions threatening to stunt growth at the $111 billion conglomerate. A three-judge Supreme Court bench put on hold a lower court verdict last month that ...

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