Banking & Finance
Friday, 24 May 2013 17:42
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MOSCOW: Russia's finance ministry said on Friday it had hired the US banking major J.P. Morgan as a consultant for helping improve its image with the world's three main ratings agencies.The announcement came days after Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak announced that one of the ratings giants was about to review its grade for Russia's credit.Storchak never spelled out whether this review intended to raise or lower Russia's investment outlook.But the markets are concerned that the revision will be made to the downside owing to rapidly slowing economic growth and inflation that has outpaced expectations.Any downgrade would make Russian foreign borrowing more expensive and put a further strain on a budget that is expected to reach a deficit this year.Russia today has similar investment-grade ratings with Standard and Poor's (BBB) as well as Moody's (Baa1 and Fitch (BBB).But Moscow has set itself the goal of securing the highest ratings possible ...
PARIS: French prosecutors began questioning IMF chief Christine Lagarde for a second day Friday to decide if she should be charged over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon during her time as finance minister.Lagarde was grilled for 12 hours on Thursday over her 2007 handling of a row that resulted in 400 million euros ($515 million) being paid to controversial business figure Bernard Tapie.Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013 ...
TOKYO: The Bank of Japan unleashed a torrent of liquidity Thursday to quell government bond yields amid concern that higher long-term interest rates could squeeze mortgage payers and crimp spending.The central bank announced a two trillion yen ($19 billion) fund-supplying operation after the yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond hit 1.0 percent, its highest level in over a year.The BoJ is active in supplying finance to banks and other potential buyers in the ...
NAIROBI: Kenya's central bank sought to mop up 13 billion shillings ($154.3 million) from the market on Wednesday through repurchase agreements (repos) and term auction deposits.The bank has regularly soaked up liquidity since last year to support the shilling by making it slightly more expensive to fund long dollar positions.Copyright Reuters, 2013 ...
LONDON: Lloyds Banking Group said on Wednesday that it would be able to meet new capital requirements without having to issue new equity or contingent capital, after Britain's financial regulator updated the bank on its position.Lloyds said it was confident in its capital position and re-affirmed previous targets for its core tier 1 ratio."Our strong capital position enables the group to actively support growth and lending in the UK economy as well as delivering sustainable ...
DUBAI: Etisalat's Nigeria affilate has signed a $1.2 billion loan with 13 Nigerian banks, the United Arab Emirates' No.1 telecom operator said on Tuesday.The medium-term facility will be used to refinance an existing $650 million loan and bolster Etisalat Nigeria's network, Etisalat said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse.Etisalat owns a 40 percent stake in its Nigeria affiliate, which is formally known as Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Ltd (EMTS).EMTS will acccount for 3.7 ...
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