Weekly Global News Wrap: JP Morgan CEO apologises for CPP joke; Leadership shake-up tests Mexico’s financial regulator
And China urges lenders to extend support to advanced manufacturers, other industries.
From Reuters:
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's surprise nominee as next chief of of the Bank of Mexico has cast doubt over the bank's rate-tightening cycle as it battles to keep high inflation in check.
Lopez Obrador, who has already placed three of Banxico's five board members, scrapped former Finance Minister Arturo Herrera's candidacy. Instead, he proposed a relatively unknown senior finance ministry official, Victoria Rodriguez, as the first woman to run the bank.
Some analysts said the move called into question Banxico's independence, despite Lopez Obrador's promises there would be no government meddling or interference in the bank's decisions.
From Reuters:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he regrets making a quip that his bank is likely to outlast China’s Communist Party.
Dimon's comments had risked jeopardizing JPMorgan's growth ambitions in China where it won regulatory approval in August to become the first full foreign owner of a securities brokerage in the country.
“I regret and should not have made that comment,” Dimon said in a statement issued by the bank. “I was trying to emphasize the strength and longevity of our company.”
China experts in the United States said his quick apology should ensure no serious damage was done.
From Reuters:
China's banking and insurance regulator is encouraging lenders to step up support extended to advanced manufacturers, self-reliant industries and supply chains.
"Banks should resolutely cast away from the wrong idea of deviation from their main business... and excessive business expansion," the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said in an online statement.