May, 2019

• 1 May

  StanChart is making the right billion-dollar move

  

  Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters is going make a lot of shareholders, including its largest stockholder Temasek Holdings Pte, very happy. Having paid out a $1 billion fine for violating Iran sanctions, the bank had cleared the decks for buybacks to cheer disgruntled shareholders and boost its return on tangible equity. On April 29, the bank delivered. ...

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• 1 May

  Carney’s replacement needs to be committed

  

  The UK government’s decision to publish a job listing for the next Bank of England (BOE) governor has prompted speculation over who will replace Mark Carney and where he or she should come from. But the issue of when the next bank chief should be expected to step down from the role is just as important. Philip Hammond, Chancellor of ...

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• 1 May

  ECB wins respite as growth cheer cancels Draghi stimulus alarm

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank policy makers who sounded the alarm about the region’s slowdown last month can now relax a bit as the stimulus they prepped becomes less urgent. It was during the first quarter that officials, led by President Mario Draghi, reactivated plans to aid growth in a moment of embarrassment so soon after concluding bond purchases last year. ...

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• 1 May

  Goldman plans Mexico expansion with new stock-trading brokerage

  

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is planning to open a stock-trading brokerage in Mexico as it boosts its presence in Latin America’s second-largest economy. The move will allow the firm to buy and sell stocks locally on behalf of clients, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new business line, still months away from being up and running, ...

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• 1 May

  Singapore central bank projects softer growth amid global lull

  

  Bloomberg Singapore’s economy will slow in 2019, reflecting a weakening in key trading partners and a further cooling of the electronics sector, the central bank said. The city state is set to expand slightly below the midpoint of a 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent forecast range for this year after growing 3.2 percent in 2018, the Monetary Authority of Singapore ...

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• 1 May

  US cuts government borrowing estimate

  Bloomberg The US Treasury Department indicated that the government will need to borrow less than previously estimated as the Federal Reserve slows the reduction of its asset portfolio on its balance sheet. The department expects to issue $30 billion in privately held net marketable debt between April and June, assuming a cash balance of $270 billion at the end of ...

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• 1 May

  HSBC’s Hong Kong fortress faces biggest threat from virtual banks

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc spent 150 years building a financial fortress around Hong Kong that touches nearly every aspect of life in the former British colony. One of the bank’s biggest threats? A pack of upstart virtual lenders, which barely existed two months ago, backed by the likes of Standard Chartered Plc and Chinese internet insurer ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance ...

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• 1 May

  Sainsbury gets boost as CEO clings on after Asda failure

  

  Bloomberg J Sainsbury Plc got some breathing space from better-than-expected profit after the collapse of a 7.3 billion-pound ($9.5 billion) deal to acquire Walmart Inc’s Asda. The grocer’s shares rose as much as 6.4 percent as the company laid out its Plan B for fighting the UK’s supermarket wars alone. Sainsbury said it will invest in improving its stores, where ...

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• 1 May

  Saudi’s Flynas plans Africa, Balkan hub

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabian budget airline Flynas LCC plans to open a hub in West Africa or the Balkans within five years to expand beyond its oversupplied domestic market, according to the airline’s chief executive officer. “Since we are a short-haul carrier, we seek to link those hubs with the current hubs in Saudi Arabia,” CEO Bander Al-Mohanna said in an ...

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• 1 May

  Italian fashion brand unveils its SS19 collection in UAE

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Italy’s leading apparel fashion brand is set to release its Spring/Summer 2019 collection for men, women as well as kids across its stores in the UAE. For women, making a big comeback this summer from OVS are suits with oversized jackets, the new trench in both traditional beige gabardine and in bright check prints. When it ...

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