Global equity funds racked up significant inflows in the week to Feb. 14 propelled by investor optimism amid a robust stock market rally, despite lingering uncertainties over the Federal Reserve’s rate cut plans.
Severe droughts and heatwaves in Spain could have a persisting impact on the domestic lenders’ solvency by slowing down the economy and leading to more loan losses, the Bank of Spain Governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos said on Friday.
Standard Chartered has appointed former Walt Disney Company executive Diane Jurgens to its board as an independent non-executive director, the British-based bank said on Friday.
HSBC plans to tighten risk management at Hong Kong unit Hang Seng Bank due to worries about a potential rise in bad loans amid growing economic headwinds and property sector crisis in China, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
Record annual profits from Italy’s two biggest banks last week showed both Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit benefiting from a drop in loan losses, but also highlighted different policies towards provisions.
NatWest confirmed Paul Thwaite as its permanent chief executive on Friday and reported forecast-beating profit for 2023, as the British bank gears up for a crunch sale of state-owned stock after a scandal-hit year.
Reinsurance company Swiss Re said on Friday that net profit for 2023 surged 580%, in line with expectations, as it recovered from a difficult period a year earlier.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda voiced confidence over prospects of higher wages and stressed the bank’s resolve to phase out stimulus if inflation durably hits its goal, despite data showing the economy has slipped into recession.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday released scenarios for its annual bank health checks that will assess how well 32 large lenders would fare under a severe economic shock, including a U.S. jobless rate of 10% and a collapse of real estate prices.
Australia’s QBE Insurance Group’s full-year profit more than doubled on Friday, helped by higher income from premiums, but missed analysts’ expectations, sending its shares on track for their worst session in three months.
