Hsbc

LONDON/HONG KONG: One of Noel Quinn's first jobs as chief executive of HSBC will be to review the radical revamp he unveiled last month as interim boss, a senior source at the bank said. Quinn's decisive move to slash costs proved instrumental in securing him the top spot at Europe’s largest lender but those plans, including the axing of 35,000 jobs and shuttering of underperforming businesses, may prove difficult to implement while the world grapples with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. "You can't fire a trader in Europe over the phone when he is either working from home or taking care of a sick family member," a second HSBC source said. HSBC will review the social, economic and political impact of the virus, the first source said, adding that the bank could still decide to proceed with its existing plans. A spokesman for HSBC declined to comment. The coronavirus was largely concentrated in China when HSBC, which makes the bulk of its profits in Asia, announced … [Read more...] about HSBC CEO Quinn faces strategy rethink as coronavirus bites: Source

WELLINGTON: New Zealand's Commerce Commission said on Wednesday that it has issued a warning to HSBC Holdings Plc over its failure to comply with the information disclosure requirements. HSBC self-reported the matter to the Commission following a routine audit of its business in New Zealand. HSBC identified six occasions between 2014 and 2018 when it failed to disclose an interest rate increase to borrowers, the commission said in a statement. The failures affected 225 loans and 180 borrowers. The bank provided compensation to affected borrowers totaling about NZUS$7,000 (US$4,447), it said. (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) … [Read more...] about NZ Commerce Commission issues warning to HSBC over compliance failure

LONDON: Britain's big four banks amassed more than 200 billion pounds (US$277.52 billion) of new deposits last year as customers reined in spending through pandemic lockdowns, far outstripping extra lending to struggling businesses and households. Full-year earnings reported by HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest last month revealed the extent to which lenders' finances have been upended by the crisis. The banks now face a glut in savings, a Reuters analysis of the banks' results show, as domestic customers of the four lenders deposited 221 billion pounds of extra cash. By contrast, despite banks doling out billions of pounds of state-guaranteed finance to companies since the pandemic hit, their net lending growth in the UK overall was 53.4 billion pounds - a quarter of the growth in deposits. The more limited lending growth can be explained by a fall in appetite for some lending, particularly consumer credit, where separate Bank of England data has shown Britons paid back … [Read more...] about UK banks face savings glut on road to pandemic recovery

LONDON: Britain's top banks said on Tuesday (Mar 31) they would suspend dividend payments after pressure from the regulator, saving their capital as a buffer against expected losses from the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and the British arm of Spain's Santander all halted payouts. The lenders had been due to pay out over eight billion pounds (US$9.93 billion) between them in 2019 dividends, with HSBC the biggest payer at US$4.2 billion. The move came in response to a request from the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), which also asked banks and insurers not to pay senior staff bonuses this year. The lenders said they would not pay interim dividends for 2020 and scrapped planned 2019 payouts, but held off announcing changes to their executive pay policies. The PRA said banks entered the epidemic, which has put Britain into lockdown, with strong capital positions, enough to withstand … [Read more...] about UK banks halt dividends as coronavirus slowdown looms

SINGAPORE: It has been a month quite unlike any other. What began as faraway rumblings in the city of Wuhan has turned into a battle on Singapore's frontlines. Beginning as an unknown, the disease took on many names before officially being  dubbed COVID-19. To fight the battle, hand sanitiser and soap turned into the weapons of choice for Singaporeans. An acronym became a buzzword. And as the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level turned from Yellow to Orange, the queues snaked at supermarkets as some people rushed to prepare for a worst-case scenario. Thirty days, 86 cases, 47 people recovered, five in critical condition. The numbers change daily, but the effort to contain the threat remains constant as Singaporeans across sectors and industries work double-time. Singapore is “leaving no stone unturned” in the COVID-19 outbreak, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Feb 18. "We are very … [Read more...] about One month of COVID-19: Concern, containment and collective effort