September, 2017

• 12 September

  Qatar slides further, Saudi Fransi down on stake sale

  Reuters Qatar’s stock market slid to a 52-month closing low on Tuesday as foreign investors sold, while Banque Saudi Fransi fell in Riyadh after France’s Credit Agricole agreed to sell a 16.2 percent stake in it to local investor Kingdom Holding. The Qatari stock index fell 0.7 percent to 8,472 points, though it ended off the day’s low of 8,390 ...

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• 12 September

  US sanctions spook Russian banks funding arms buildup

  

  Bloomberg The new US sanctions law threatens to cut off a vital channel for Russia’s funding of its massive defense buildup, according to four people familiar with the situation. Officials in the government and state banks—Sberbank PJSC and VTB Bank PJSC are the biggest players—are looking for ways to get around the restrictions or minimise their impact on the funding, ...

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• 12 September

  Credit Agricole to sell Saudi Fransi stake to Alwaleed

  

  Reuters France’s Credit Agricole has agreed to sell about half its 31.1 percent stake in Banque Saudi Fransi to billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding for $1.54 billion. The sale was part of a wider review of Credit Agricole’s assets and markets to meet new banking rules and tougher economic conditions. Sources had said in March it picked JPMorgan ...

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• 12 September

  Swiss Franc’s drop could let SNB relax

  

  Bloomberg As the Swiss franc weakens, the nation’s central bank must decide whether it can afford to relax a little. The currency’s 5 percent decline against the euro over the past three months is good news for the Swiss National Bank in its long-running bid to revive inflation. For President Thomas Jordan and fellow policy makers meeting this week, it ...

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• 12 September

  Banks from China, Japan lead globalisation charge: McKinsey

  Bloomberg Banks from China, Japan and Canada have overseen a surge in overseas lending since the financial crisis, helping to cushion a deep slide in cross-border capital flows thanks especially to a retreat by European banks, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. While the stock of global foreign holdings—including loans, equities, bonds and foreign direct investment—has remained about the same ...

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• 12 September

  Kotak Mahindra asset sees one more India rate cut

  

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India will have scope to cut benchmark interest rates once again as growth in Asia’s third-largest economy slows and consumer-price gains stay within the central bank’s target range, according to Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co. “You have a confluence of favorable CPI, lower GDP growth and a necessity to keep rates stable with easing bias,” ...

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• 12 September

  Japan banks turn to private equity, hedge funds for returns

  

  Bloomberg Japan’s regional banks are turning toward private equity, hedge funds and real estate in search of higher returns as regulatory concerns restrict ownership of foreign bonds. Alternative assets was the favoured choice of investment for five lenders, according to a Bloomberg survey of 11 regional banks conducted in August. Foreign bonds was picked by three respondents, while none of ...

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• 12 September

  Sim Tshabalala new CEO of Standard Bank

  Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd. appointed Sim Tshabalala as sole chief executive officer, ending a dual role he shared with Ben Kruger, and making him the first black person to lead Africa’s largest lender independently. Kruger, 58, will step down as joint-CEO immediately and continue as an executive director, reporting to Tshabalala, 49, Johannesburg-based Standard Bank said. The joint leadership ...

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• 12 September

  Whole Foods deal boosts Amazon.com’s sales

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s splashy takeover of Whole Foods, complete with deep price cuts, did more than bring a surge of publicity to the chain: It boosted customer traffic by 25 percent. That’s the finding of Foursquare Labs Inc., which compiled location information during the first two days after Amazon completed its acquisition of the grocer. The data, culled from shoppers’ ...

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• 12 September

  May asks Trump to look at Boeing-Bombardier tiff

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May asked US President Donald Trump to intervene in a court dispute between Boeing Co. and Canada’s Bombardier Inc. over state aid, her office said. The request, made in a call with the president on September 5, came as her government seeks to protect jobs at a Bombardier plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland. May’s government ...

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