BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Central Bank told euro zone finance ministers that the bloc may need fiscal measures worth up to 1.5 trillion euros ($1.6 trillion) this year to tackle the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, officials told Reuter... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – With the euro zone economy in need of help from the coronavirus pandemic, officials have until April 9 to design a package that satisfies members with completely opposing views: those calling for joint debt issuance and those fiercely agai... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s largest state banks said the impact of restrictions on movement imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus could pull down asset quality as borrowers struggle to repay loans, though they are likely big enough to weather ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England canceled this year’s stress test of major banks on Friday and said it may be hard to implement new global capital rules on time given the focus now on supporting lending to customers hit by the coronavirus epidemic. The d... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve and its global counterparts moved aggressively with sweeping emergency rate cuts and offers of cheap dollars to help combat the coronavirus pandemic that has jolted markets and paralyzed large parts of the world econ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – The Bank of Italy “positively” fulfilled its supervision duties and is ready to account for its actions on failing lender Banca Popolare di Bari, Governor Ignazio Visco told Corriere della Sera daily in an interview published on Monday. Prose... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s major financial institutions are set to undergo a stress test to prepare for any major shakeout in financial markets in light of worries about a global recession and a protracted Sino-U.S. trade war, sources with direct knowledge of t... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch central bank said on Tuesday it would require banks to retain 3 billion euros ($3.31 billion) in additional capital to compensate for risks posed by mortgage portfolios. In its autumn report on financial stability, De Nederlands... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s banking regulator on Tuesday said it plans to ask lenders to meet higher capital levels domestically to offset their exposure to large overseas units – a move that comes in response to plans by New Zealand to hike capital ratios ... More »
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Switzerland’s supreme court on Friday voted in favor of handing over historical data on over 40,000 UBS clients to French authorities in a landmark ruling. Three of the five judges voted in favor of overthrowing the lower cour... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest lender, UniCredit (CRDI.MI), will stick to organic growth in its new business plan, Chief Executive Jean Pierre Mustier said in an interview published in La Stampa newspaper on Monday, saying European mergers were difficult. “... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian mid-sized lender Creval said on Tuesday it would spin off its bad debts into a separate unit and sell half of them, in order to roughly halve its gross soured loan ratio to below 6.5% in 2023. Presenting a five-year business plan unde... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s ruling parties could expose the nation to market shocks and put its savings at risk if they were not ready to compromise with the European Union over their budget plans, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Corriere della Sera newspaper... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy is firmly committed to preserving financial stability while also relaunching investments, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said on Monday. “The ‘Def’ document clearly states Italy’s will to meet commitments on public deficit and debt,” Tr... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank said on Monday it will cut reserve requirement ratios (RRRs) to release about 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) for some small and medium-sized banks, in a targeted move to help companies struggling amid an economic slowdo... More »
MILAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. fund Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco) has bought all of a $3 billion, five-year bond offered with a hefty return by Italy’s top bank UniCredit (CRDI.MI) to comply with capital buffer rules, two sources familiar with the ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone banks which issued large amounts of loss-absorbing debt under English law could have more time to meet requirements after Britain leaves the European Union, the bloc’s agency responsible to winding down failing lenders said on Th... More »
(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) is exploring a sale of its Eastdil Secured real-estate division, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. bank has been weighing a sale of Eastdil, which provides financ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) will buy Commerzbank’s (CBKG.DE) derivatives and asset management businesses in a move the French bank said will boost its Lyxor funds division and raise its profile in Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy. Stil... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The 35 largest U.S. banks are poised to put more money toward dividends, share buybacks and business investments, after clearing the first stage of an annual regulatory stress test on Thursday, showing they have enough capital to withsta... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Emboldened by President Trump’s pledge to loosen laws introduced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, U.S. banks are pushing to scrap or revise more than a dozen other lesser-known rules they say are outdated, costly and hurt... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Quirks in the new U.S. tax code are sowing doubts over how much big banks can boost dividends and stock buybacks this year, threatening to take the shine off what are likely to be strong quarterly profits. Changes in how companies can meas... More »
FILE PHOTO: A man using a mobile phone passes the logo of global secure financial messaging services cooperative SWIFT at the SIBOS banking and financial conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo MAGNITOGORSK, R... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former banking executive and associate of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday to be U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, serving as the leading regulator of national banks. The Senate approved Jos... More »
A new investigation of Italian banking scandals by a parliamentary commission has already revealed some improper behavior, the commission's chairman, Pier Ferdinando Casini, told the newspaper La Repubblica in an interview. More »
China's banking regulator has extended by two months a June deadline for banks to submit risk assessments over concerns it was putting strain on the lenders, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. More »
FILE PHOTO – Visa CEO Charles Scharf (2nd R) and company executives ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, March 19, 2013. Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N) named Visa Inc’s (V.N) former chief executive Charles Scharf as its CEO, effective imm... More »
A Banca Popolare di Vicenza sign is seen in Rome, Italy, March 29, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi Italy’s multi-billion-euro closure of two lenders drew sharp criticism on Monday for hurting a project devised to underpin confidence in the euro zone during th... More »
FILE PHOTO: Intesa Sanpaolo bank logo is seen at the headquarters during shareholders’ meeting in Turin, Italy, April 27, 2017. REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino/File Photo Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) said on Monday its planned acquisition of the good assets of Banca Pop... More »
FILE PHOTO – The entry to the Home Capital Group’s headquarters is seen at an office tower in the financial district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 1, 2017. Picture taken using a wide angle lens. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo Warren Buffett’s Berkshire ... More »
A combination file photo shows international banks Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch from Reuters archive. REUTERS/File photos The 34 largest U.S. banks have all cleared the first stag... More »
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a UniCredit bank in downtown Rome, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo The chief executive of UniCredit (CRDI.MI), Italy’s biggest bank by assets, said on Sunday he was confident a solution for the country’s two ailing Ve... More »
Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA will halve its U.S. headcount by shutting its equity research services, as declining payments prompt it to make an about-turn from its recent measures to expand the business in the world’s largest economy. More »
Andreas Dombret, member of the board of the Deutsche Bundesbank speaks during a news conference at the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Hesse in Frankfurt October 26, 2014. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski There is no rush to complete new bank capital rules give... More »
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Including funds that banks set aside to cover potential losses, known as capital buffers, in the annual stress tests that U.S. r... More »
Unicredit’s bank logo is pictured on block notes and pens at the headquarters in Milan, Italy, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini/File Photo Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit (CRDI.MI) said on Monday its end-2016 capital ratios will not meet requirement... More »
FILE PHOTO: The logo of UBS is seen outside the building housing the headquarters of the Swiss bank in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 31, 2015. REUTERS/Alvin Baez/File Photo UBS (UBSG.S) hopes optimism surrounding new U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed polici... More »
The main entrance of the Monte dei Paschi bank headquarters is seen in Siena, Italy March 13, 2012. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File Photo On the morning of July 29, former Italian Industry Minister Corrado Passera was traveling in a high-speed train towards the medieva... More »
The logo of Privatbank is pictured outside its branch in central Kiev, Ukraine, December 18, 2016. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko Ukraine declared the country’s largest lender PrivatBank insolvent on Monday and said bringing it under state ownership was the only wa... More »
The main entrance of the Monte dei Paschi bank headquarters is seen in Siena, Italy March 13, 2012. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File Photo The European Central Bank has rejected a request by Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) for more time to raise capital, a s... More »
A logo of Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank is seen on the ground in Siena, Italy, November 5, 2014. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito/File Photo Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) said Italian market regulator Consob had approved its debt-to-equity conversion offer whi... More »
The headquarters of UniCredit bank is seen in Milan, Italy, in this February 8, 2016 file photo. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini UniCredit (CRDI.MI) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) declined to comment on talk of a possible merger between them after their shares rose... More »
The headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, September 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo A European Central Bank push to iron out differences in how banks calculate capital requirements will inadvertently hel... More »
The Deutsche Bank headquarters are seen in Frankfurt, Germany October 29, 2015. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo There is no reason for speculation about possible German state aid for Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), a spokesman for Angela Merkel said on Monday, co... More »
MILAN Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena has secured underwriters to back a turnaround plan involving the sale of 9.2 billion euros ($10.3 billion) in bad loans and a 5 billion euros capital increase, the lender said in a statement on Friday. The country’s... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank would publicly pledge to backstop financial markets in tandem with the Bank of England should Britain vote to leave the European Union, officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The preparations illustrate the hei... More »
FRANKFURT Central banks around the globe are preparing financial backstops to mitigate market turmoil in case Britons vote next week to leave the European Union, hoping to buffer the real economy from any short-term impact. Operating with so-called swap lines,... More »
TRENTO, Italy Excessive capital requirements can backfire, Italy’s economy minister said on Saturday, defending a joint French-Italian proposal to cap the amount of reserves that euro zone banks should have to wipe out before they can be rescued. Rules in forc... More »
LONDON HSBC (HSBA.L), Europe’s largest bank, started laying off 840 information technology workers in Britain on Monday, the first big tranche of redundancies under a restructuring plan that will eliminate 8,000 British jobs by the end of next year. Most of th... More »
LONDON Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) tried to put its troubled past behind it on Wednesday by making a 3.6 billion pound ($5.1 billion) provision to top up its pension fund and make amends for British and U.S. mis-selling. Chief Executive Ross McEwan has been... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank looks set to continue to support the economy as the euro zone’s upswing broadens and strengthens, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday. “The ECB has been accommodative … supportive for the economic recovery a... More »
Six big U.S. banks need to raise an additional $120 billion, most likely in long-term debt, under a rule proposed on Friday by the Federal Reserve. The requirements are aimed at ensuring that some of the biggest and most interconnected banks, which include Gol... More »
ZURICH Swiss bank Credit Suisse plans to tap investors for a “substantial” capital raising to fund a restructuring of the bank under new Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam, the Financial Times said on Thursday. Since taking charge of Credit Suisse in July, Thiam ha... More »
LONDON The world’s nine biggest insurance companies will have to hold more capital under new rules just finalised by global regulators that aim to prevent taxpayer bailouts of the industry in a crisis. Regulators decided to look at the multi-trillion dollar in... More »
HELSINKI Earnings quality at Finland’s banks is at risk of being eroded by a struggling domestic economy and financial market together with low euro zone interest rates, the country’s financial watchdog said on Monday. With borrowing costs at historic lows, th... More »
ATHENS Turned down for a 10,000 euro ($11,100) loan, George Sarris is one of hundreds of thousands of small business owners shunned by Greek banks. Pointing to the parliament building overlooking his small cafe in Athens’ Syntagma Square, the 35-year-old blame... More »
ATHENS Greece hopes to conclude negotiations with international creditors by early Tuesday at the latest, a Greek official said as talks continued in Athens on a new multi-billion euro bailout. Greece’s finance and economy ministers were locked in negotiations... More »
