March, 2019

• 31 March

  ECB needs clear monetary policy case for tiering: Knot

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank would need a clear monetary-policy reason to consider acting to mitigate the effects of negative interest rates on banks, Governing Council member Klaas Knot was quoted as saying. “There must at least be some evidence that negative rates are disrupting the impact of monetary policy through their effect on bank profitability,” Knot, who is the ...

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• 31 March

  One-year Brexit extension likely, says Goldman

  

  Bloomberg The defeat of Theresa May’s stripped-down divorce agreement with the EU means a softer and longer Brexit process is now more likely, according to Goldman Sachs. While there’s still time for London and Brussels to renegotiate the exit deal before the next “cliff-edge” on April 12, the timing of the ratification of a modified pact are now skewed towards ...

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• 31 March

  French banks call on Yellow Vests to spare local branches

  Bloomberg French banks are urging Yellow Vests protesters to spare local branch offices as the nation braces for the 20th week of street demonstrations. “Hundreds of local agencies” were vandalised in the past four months and employees have been threatened, the heads of BNP Paribas SA, Credit Agricole SA, Groupe BPCE, Societe Generale, Credit Mutuel and Banque Postale wrote in ...

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• 31 March

  Banks slash outlook for Swedish krona

  

  Bloomberg Everyone is lining up to attack Sweden’s currency, from investors to the country’s leaders. The krona’s four-year slump has led to soul-searching in the Scandinavian nation about whether the policies pursued in the wake of the financial crisis have backfired. Banks are slashing their outlook for the krona, a former prime minister has suggested dumping it for the euro ...

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• 31 March

  Swedbank hires Nordia to represent it in ‘probe’

  

  Bloomberg Swedbank AB has hired the law firm Nordia as its external legal counsel to handle a criminal investigation into potential fraud, amid a growing money-laundering scandal that has engulfed the bank. Swedbank fired Chief Executive Officer Birgitte Bonnesen as laundering allegations against Sweden’s oldest bank and biggest mortgage lender pile up. The lender is being investigated by the financial ...

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• 31 March

  London banker fired for stealing bike part sues Mizuho

  

  Bloomberg A former Mizuho Bank Ltd executive — who was fired for taking a part from a bicycle in the company storage shed — is suing the bank, saying it used the episode as a “convenient way” to get rid of him after he complained about bullying and potential regulatory breaches. Marius Caracota, who worked as a relationship manager for ...

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• 31 March

  Airbus stays mum about sales amid Boeing crisis

  

  Bloomberg The ceremony at the Elysee palace in Paris exuded the full pomp of the French state. Under ceilings dripping with chandeliers, executives of Airbus SE and the agency that buys planes for China’s airlines signed an order worth $35 billion as French President Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, looked on. Normally, such an event would be ...

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• 31 March

  Kenya Airways in talks to buy Airbus planes

  

  Bloomberg Kenya Airways Plc is in discussions with Airbus SE to acquire an unspecified number of planes from the Toulouse, France-based company, but remains a “happy and loyal customer” of Boeing Co, according to Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Mikosz. Sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest carrier, which wants to add 50 airliners to its fleet over the next six years to ward off ...

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• 31 March

  Boeing crash fallout widens on TUI profit hit, lawsuit

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co faced widening fallout from the crisis over its 737 Max jets, as travel giant TUI AG warned the grounding of the aircraft will cut its profit and the estate of a passenger who died in this month’s crash in Ethiopia sued the planemaker. Boeing, based in Chicago, has been under intense scrutiny after two 737 Max crashes ...

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• 31 March

  Tiffany adds manufacturing jobs to boost its diamond business

  

  Bloomberg Tiffany & Co has quietly added thousands of manufacturing jobs over the past two years as it digs deeper into the diamond business. The jeweller has increased its staff by 2,300 employees since early 2017, about a 19 percent rise in headcount. Nearly all of the new jobs are in Tiffany factories abroad or jewellery manufacturing in the US. ...

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