September, 2019

• 14 September

  Deutsche Bank gets boost from tiering

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG will benefit the most by far from the European Central Bank’s new tiered deposit rate, JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts led by Kian Abouhossein said. Germany’s largest lender stands to save roughly 200 million euros ($222 million) in annual interest payments thanks to a new rule that exempts a big chunk of the money it holds ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Talk of rate cut boosts Swiss shares: Economist

  

  Bloomberg A further cut to negative Swiss interest rates could have the undesired effect of strengthening the franc as foreign investors pile into the country’s outperforming stock market to reap superior returns over bonds, former Swiss National Bank Chief Economist Kurt Schiltknecht wrote in daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung. “These investment opportunities don’t go unnoticed by foreign investors and often result ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Singapore lender still using faxes seeks virtual bank license

  

  Bloomberg Singapore’s Hong Leong Finance Ltd sees the country’s plan to issue virtual banking licenses as an opportunity to find new customers and re-invent itself as a tech-savvy lender to the nation’s new businesses. The firm, founded in 1961, has been in talks with financial-technology companies about a joint application for one of the licenses, according to President Ang Tang ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Trump’s diplomacy in China no substitute for clear policy

  

  As we move into the fall, there’s one overriding foreign-policy priority for America: Find a strategy to deal with a rising China that protects US interests but doesn’t subvert the global economy. China is the challenge of our time, and risks of getting it wrong are enormous. Huawei, the Shenzen-based communications powerhouse, argues in a slick new YouTube video that ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  People can’t save Google, Facebook

  

  The scrutiny of giant technology companies and the inevitable anxiety that follows are now so commonplace that they have become rote. Once terms like “techlash” become household words, it’s easy to become numb. The attorneys general of 48 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico announced an antitrust probe into Google parent firm Alphabet. For those in need ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  In the bond market, Italy has a golden opportunity

  The new Italian government coalition of the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement has been gifted a golden opportunity. The sharp drop in its sovereign bond yields means it can get ahead of its borrowing requirements for this year. Italian yields have fallen to record lows recently as investors have welcomed an administration that’s somewhat less antagonistic to the ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Fed loan data is showing waning power of rate cuts

  If the ultimate goal of lower interest rates is to spark economic activity through demand for loans, then the Federal Reserve’s first cut in more than a decade can be deemed a failure. After the central bank lowered its target rate for overnight loans between banks on July 31 to a range of 2% to 2.25%, demand for credit among ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Beware banks dipping into this murky trade

  

  A type of financial engineering that proved to be toxic during the financial crisis is slowly making a comeback as banks try to offset the risk of their borrowers not repaying their loans. Capital relief trades, or synthetic deals, are making a comeback – and Europe is about to refine the rules of the game. Getting those right will be ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Hong Kong protests make China wary of easing income gaps

  

  The longer Hong Kong protests drag on, the less likely China will be to unleash the trillion-dollar stimulus markets seem to want. Beijing has become painfully aware that its easy-money policies of the past inflated asset bubbles and widened the wealth gap. Any repeat endeavours could risk stoking social unrest on the mainland. Over the past decade, China flooded its ...

  Read More »
• 14 September

  Nissan, Ghosn and Japan’s legal double standards

  

  In Japan, is there one standard of justice for Japanese executives and another for non-Japanese executives? The forced resignation of Nissan Motor Co.’s chief executive officer, Hiroto Saikawa, certainly seems to suggest as much. When Nissan wanted to get rid of its then-chairman Carlos Ghosn, it conducted an internal investigation that was kept from Ghosn, found some examples of allegedly ...

  Read More »