Category: bank

BOJ Kuroda Highlights Inflation as Risk to Japan’s Economy

TOKYO—Rising prices of daily necessities could hurt household sentiment, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday, suggesting that mounting inflationary pressure is emerging as a risk to the country’s fragile economy. Japan’s core consumer inflation rose 2.1 percent year-on-year in April, exceeding the central bank’s 2 percent target for the first time in…


Russian Central Bank Plays Down Role of Dollar and Euro at Home and Globally

Russia’s central bank said on Tuesday that the role of the dollar and the euro as global currencies would decline as central banks rethink their strategies after the West froze Russian reserves, suggesting it could consider imposing negative rates for dollar and euro deposits. Unprecedented Western sanctions have frozen around half of Russia’s gold and…


Hundreds of Chinese Depositors Assaulted by Plainclothes for Protesting Their Frozen Accounts

Hundreds of bank customers in central China were beaten and dispersed by plainclothes police, in the presence of uniformed officers, for protesting the freezing of their accounts in a regional bank that hadn’t provided a credible explanation for disallowing them to access their funds. On May 23, a group of protesters rallied in front of…


Russia Will Start a Pilot Project for ‘Digital’ Ruble From April: Central Bank

Russia will start a pilot project using its “digital” ruble with real customers and real transactions from April 2023, its central bank said on Wednesday, adding that the project would run ahead of the initial schedule. With Western sanctions cutting off Russia from large parts of the global financial system, Moscow is looking for alternative…


Israel Arrests Palestinian Attackers Who Killed Guard

JERUSALEM—The Israeli military on Saturday said it has arrested a pair of Palestinian assailants who allegedly shot and killed a security guard at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, in what the Israeli military described as an attack by “terrorists.” The detention followed a manhunt that was launched shortly after the…


New EU Sanctions on Russia to Target Sberbank, Commission Head Tells Paper

The European Union’s forthcoming sanctions on Russia will target banks, in particular, Sberbank, as well as oil, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, told a German newspaper. Bild am Sonntag, in an interview published on Sunday, asked her to name the key points of a planned sixth round of sanctions. “We…


Russian Central Bank Suspends Monthly Foreign Trade Data for First Time Since 1997

The Russian central bank said on Monday it had temporarily suspended publishing data on foreign trade on a monthly basis in the first such suspension since 1997. The central bank was due to release a foreign trade balance for January-February on Monday, as initially planned, according to its data release schedule. The central bank did…


Russia’s Central Bank Says It Will Stop Buying Gold at a Fixed Price

Russia’s central bank said on Thursday that due to a “significant change in market conditions” it would buy gold from commercial banks at a negotiated price from April 8. On March 25, the bank had said it would buy gold at a fixed price of 5,000 rubles a gram until June 30. Since that announcement,…


A ‘Recession Shock’ Is Coming, BofA Warns

LONDON—The macro-economic picture is deteriorating fast and could push the U.S. economy into recession as the Federal Reserve tightens its monetary policy to tame surging inflation, BofA strategists warned in a weekly research note. “‘Inflation shock’ worsening, ‘rates shock’ just beginning, ‘recession shock’ coming”, BofA chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett wrote in a note to…


Sanctioned Russian Bank VTB Pays Bond Coupons in Roubles

Sanctioned Russian lender VTB has made coupon payments in roubles to holders of its domestic subordinated bonds denominated in dollars and euros, the National Settlement Depository said on Tuesday. Russia’s ability to continue servicing debt in foreign currencies is in focus as the government, which has so far avoided a default, faces issues paying holders…