Banking

HSBC kicks off year with Hong Kong branches closed, vandalized

HSBC is being drawn into Hong Kong’s political turmoil with protesters attacking some of its branches and graffiti daubed on the famous pair of lions that guard its city-center headquarters.…

Read More Here

Money pumped into China’s economy in attempt to fight slowdown

China’s central bank has acted to pump more liquidity into the country’s economy in an attempt to prevent growth slowing in 2020. The People’s Bank of China is allowing commercial…

Read More Here

Next Bank of England governor looks to ease rules after Brexit

Andrew Bailey, named on Friday as the next governor of the Bank of England, has signaled a readiness to diverge from EU regulations after Brexit. Bailey will be one of…

Read More Here

HSBC Swiss unit to pay $192 million in US tax fine

The Swiss branch of HSBC's private bank has been fined almost CHF200 million by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for having helped American clients evade tax between 2000 and 2010.…

Read More Here

Switzerland grants 18 more countries access to bank details

The Swiss parliament has approved the automatic exchange of bank data with 18 additional countries from 2021. However, Turkey failed to make the cut. On Tuesday, the Senate followed the…

Read More Here

HSBC to bring in single overdraft rate of 40% for UK customers

HSBC is to bring in a single overdraft rate of 39.9% for UK customers from March 2020, as much as quadrupling the rate it charges some customers. However, the bank…

Read More Here

Italy’s UniCredit to axe 8,000 jobs

Italian bank UniCredit said Tuesday that it set to axe around 8,000 jobs and close around 500 branches in the next few years. The job losses will be concentrated in…

Read More Here

HSBC set to replace investment banking chief

HSBC is planning to replace the long-serving head of its investment bank ahead of a big restructuring that will result in large-scale job losses at the unit he has…

Read More Here

Danish prosecutor charges Danske Bank for overcharging customers

Danske Bank said on Thursday it has been preliminary charged by the Danish prosecutor for overcharging customers for an investment product. Denmark’s financial watchdog reported Danske Bank to the police…

Read More Here

ECB says that EU banks are lagging in executing Brexit plans

European Union banks have put in place all the plans for Brexit but execution is lagging as lenders await the outcome of negotiations between Britain and the EU, European Central…

Read More Here

Malta: Bank of Valletta appoints first ever foreign CEO

Ricky David Hunkin is to be appointed CEO of Bank of Valletta on January 1, succeeding Mario Mallia who is not seeking renewal of his term. The bank said that in his…

Read More Here

Jail terms for 13 bankers over Monte Paschi scandal

Thirteen former bankers from Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Nomura and Deutsche Bank were sentenced to jail on Friday after a case that shook Italy’s establishment and fomented the rise…

Read More Here

Euro zone corporate lending growth plunges in Sept

Bank lending to euro zone companies plunged last month, suggesting that the bloc’s economic slowdown is finally slowing lending after a period of surprising resilience, data from the European Central…

Read More Here

Bank of England unveils new £20 note

The new 20-pound note was unveiled at the Turner Contemporary Museum in Margate, Britain. The 20-pound note is Britain's most common, and most forged. Security features on the next £20…

Read More Here

HSBC to close down seven branches in Malta

HSBC announced on Thursday it would be closing seven branches in Malta and combine another two into a new Qormi flagship it will be open. It also said it would…

Read More Here

World’s largest banks lagging in sustainable finance

Despite pressure from activists, investors and governments, the majority of world’s 50 largest banks have not made sustainable finance commitments to respond to the risks of climate change and continue…

Read More Here

New Zealand announces plans to regulate conduct of banks, insurers

New Zealand announced that it plans to regulate the conduct of financial institutions with new measures including a ban on target-based sales incentives, following a review by regulators. The government…

Read More Here

UK banks sign up to U.N.-backed responsible banking code

Britain’s banks will implement U.N.-backed “responsible banking” principles being launched next week that will influence lending and company behaviour, British banking trade body UK Finance said. The principles seek to…

Read More Here

Thousands of jobs shed as global pressures on banking sector starts to leave its marks

Global investment banks are shedding tens of thousands of jobs as falling interest rates, weak trading volumes and the march of automation create a brutal summer for the sector. The…

Read More Here

ECB to test five Croatian banks

The European Central Bank said on Wednesday it would carry out a stress test of five Croatian banks, a preliminary step in Zagreb’s bid to join the euro zone. Zagrebačka…

Read More Here

Widespread and sophisticated cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges funding N Korea missile tests – Report

North Korea is paying for its continued missile tests with “widespread and increasingly sophisticated” cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a new report to the U.N. Security Council,…

Read More Here

US bank Capital One suffers massive data breach

Capital One, the US bank, said on Monday that it had suffered a massive data breach, reporting that an outside hacker obtained the personal data of more than 100m customers…

Read More Here

Industry’s banking concerns discussed in meeting between PM and GRTU

The Malta Chamber of SME’s (GRTU) stated that there is an unprecedented situation happening with regards to businesses and banking: clients find it difficult to understand how they can open a…

Read More Here

Malta: Bank of Valletta warns about suspicious false SMS messages asking for banking information

Bank of Valletta, in a company statement, said that is aware that the general public is receiving messages (SMSes) saying that suspicious activity has been noted on their Internet Banking…

Read More Here

Swedbank fires CEO and financial director of Estonian operations following money laundering allegations

Swedbank has ousted the chief executive and finance director of its Estonian operations as part of its internal investigation into extensive money laundering allegations against Sweden’s oldest bank in the…

Read More Here

Malta : ING to stop clearing US dollar transactions for BOV as of December

Bank of Valletta’s last correspondent bank for US dollars transactions is pulling the plug on its relationship with the Maltese bank come December. ING will stop clearing US dollar transactions…

Read More Here

New powers not enough to stem ‘dirty money’ flowing into EU banking system – EBA CEO

New powers given to Europe’s banking watchdog are not enough to stem the tide of dirty money sweeping through the bloc that has been revealed by recent scandals, the head…

Read More Here

EU reviewing past money-laundering cases at banks in the EU

The European Commission is reviewing past money-laundering cases at EU banks to assess what went wrong and decide possible tweaks to rules. Under the plan, the European Commission is assessing…

Read More Here

Facebook plans to launch its own cryptocurrency

Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, dubbed GlobalCoin, in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries. GlobalCoin would enable Facebook’s 2.4 billion monthly…

Read More Here

Warnings about money laundering by Danske Bank in Estonia were ignored

Russia's Central Bank sent warnings in 2007 and 2013 to Estonian and Danish financial supervisors over suspect transactions worth billion of dollars at the Estonian branch of Danske Bank but…

Read More Here

No probe into Swedbank over Browder complaint

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said on Monday it had decided against opening a probe into Swedbank in relation to a criminal complaint over money laundering allegations brought by…

Read More Here

Swedbank lambasted by Swedish Minister

Per Bolund, Sweden’s financial market minister, criticised Swedbank after the bank released a short and highly redacted report into a money laundering scandal. See full report here Bolund’s comments to…

Read More Here

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in merger talks

Germany's two biggest banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, are in formal talks about a merger the two rival companies confirmed. The announcement caps months of speculation that the two struggling…

Read More Here

Suspicious Russian network with link to Prince Charles exposed

In an exclusive report The Guardian revealed that a charity run by Prince Charles received donations from an offshore company that funneled vast amounts of money from Russia in a…

Read More Here

Greece tries to confront banking crisis

Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) takes an in-depth at the banking crisis afflicting Greece after eight exhausting years of financial crisis and the scandals that accompany it. Greek banks…

Read More Here

Deputy Head of Bulgarian Central Bank unexpectedly resigns

The Sofia Globe reported that the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) issued an announcement announcing that Dimitar Kostov, Bulgaria's deputy central bank governor in charge of banking supervision, will offer his…

Read More Here

Revolut reacts to ‘failings’ reports

Revolut through it's CEO Nikolay Storonsky has denied that any sanctioned transactions have taken place through the bank due to “failings” in its systems. Storonsky was reacting to a report…

Read More Here

Digital bank Revolut’s money laundering lapse exposed – The Telegraph

The Telegraph reports : "One of Britain's most promising technology startups has been accused of violating basic banking rules by failing to block thousands of potentially suspicious transactions on its platform. The Telegraph…

Read More Here

UK Banking report on ‘online banking shutdowns’ confirm frequent, regular outages

In the UK, customers suffered dozens of online banking shutdowns last year, according to new figures that reveal the scale of banks' IT problems for the first time. UK banks…

Read More Here

Estonia’s push to become a digital society left it vulnerable to dirty money – Banking Regulator warns

Estonia’s push to become a digital society has left it vulnerable to dirty money and sanction breaches, the country’s top banking regulator has warned. The Baltic state took center stage…

Read More Here

HSBC pulls out investment from Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems

HSBC has pulled out its investments in Israeli arms firm, Elbit Systems, after a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists. Sources within HSBC confirmed the move to Al Jazeera on Thursday, but…

Read More Here

MFSA appoints auditors to advise and monitor Satabank after shortcomings in anti-money laundering procedures found

The Times of Malta reports Auditors EY have been appointed by the MFSA to “advise and monitor” Satabank, after a joint inspection and audit by the MFSA and FIAU found shortcomings in the…

Read More Here

Danske Bank facing criminal investigation by US Federal Prosecutors

Financial Times reports that Danske Bank is facing a criminal investigation by US federal prosecutors into its €200bn money laundering scandal, raising the possibility of a large fine for Denmark’s biggest…

Read More Here

UK Labour finance spokesman expected to accuse bankers of profiting from speculation at the expense of ordinary people

London’s vast financial services industry must never again be the “master of the economy”, the opposition Labour finance spokesman will say on Saturday in a speech accusing bankers of profiting…

Read More Here

Malta News Evening Roundup – Friday 7th September 2018

Good evening, The news this afternoon has been dominated by the shocking discovery of an abandoned newborn child in Buġibba. This is a developing story. We also read about the…

Read More Here

The ‘ATM’ is 49 years old

On this day in history, in 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. ATMs went…

Read More Here

VISA system back to normal

In a company statement VISA said that it has resolved a technical issue which occurred yesterday in Europe and prevented some consumers from using Visa for payments. Early on Saturday,…

Read More Here

VISA’s payment network crashed across UK and parts of Europe

The Guardian reported that VISA’s payment network has crashed across the UK and Europe, sparking chaos as transactions are failing or being denied. The company confirmed that it is suffering an outage and…

Read More Here