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☆ Top Canada banks post fall in profits as deals drought offsets rate boost
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) -Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and National Bank of Canada, two of the biggest banks in the country, posted a drop in profits as their market-focused businesses took a hit from the central bank’s hawkish monetary tightening campaign. FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) logo is seen on Bay Street in the heart of the financial district in Toronto, January 22, 2015. To cushion the hit from markets, banks have turned to their lending business that got a boost from the central bank’s rate hikes. While National Bank posted an adjusted profit of C$2.08, below analysts’ expectation of C$2.24. RBC reported a modest drop in profit to C$3.88 billion, while National Bank’s earnings dropped 4% to C$738 million.

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Half of senior leaders in Britain's financial and professional services should come from a working class or intermediate social background by 2030, a government-backed taskforce recommended on Wednesday. The Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce, headed by the City of London Corporation, which administers the capital's historic financial district, was commissioned by the finance and business ministries. Around half of all employees in financial services and professional sectors like accounting and law are from non-professional backgrounds, and progress 25% slower than their middle and upper class peers, a report from the taskforce said. Employees from non-professional backgrounds are also likely to get paid up to 17,500 pounds ($20,977) less per year, with no link to job performance. The voluntary target of boosting this level to 50% of senior leaders by 2030 will be reviewed in 2025 to ensure it remains representative and achievable, the taskforce said.

REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 29 - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan. They also cheered a relaxation of regulations on developer fundraising that eases the smouldering property sector bust. A crackdown on demonstrations happened simultaneously, with Chinese authorities making inquiries into some protesters as police flooded the city's streets. Strikingly, hawkish Dutch central banker Klaus Knot also said forecasts of recession may be overdone and fears of "overtightening" policy were a "joke". His boss European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said euro zone inflation, which is expected to ease this month but remain above 10%, has not yet peaked, encouraging speculation of another swingeing 75 basis point interest rate rise next month.

[1/2] HSBC logo is seen on a branch bank in the financial district in New York, U.S., Aug. 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) has agreed to sell its business in Canada to Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) for $13.5 billion Canadian dollars ($10.04 billion) in cash. Chinese insurance company Ping An Insurance Group has been pushing HSBC to split off its Asian business to boost returns. "We decided to sell following a thorough review of the business, which assessed its relative market position within the Canadian market and its strategic fit within the HSBC portfolio," Chief Executive Noel Quinn said. Analysts had valued HSBC's Canada business in the range of C$8 billion to C$10 billion.

☆ UK Prime Minister Sunak vows to maintain military aid to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to promise on Monday to maintain or increase military aid to Ukraine next year, and to confront international competitors "not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism". British government support for Ukraine has remained unchanged, despite turmoil in recent months as Boris Johnson was succeeded as prime minister by Liz Truss and then Sunak. On Ukraine, Sunak indicated no change with the policy pursued by Johnson and Truss. We will maintain or increase our military aid next year. In September Britain said it was the second largest military donor to Ukraine after the United States, providing 2.3 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) of aid this year.

☆ New San Francisco clubhouse represents a milestone moment for executive women in tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Executive women platform Chief opened a new clubhouse in San Francisco this week. ‘Sense that this is a first'On the opposite coast, a counterpart executive clubhouse just opened in San Francisco and it holds great meaning beyond its four walls. Chief's San Francisco clubhouse includes a full-service bar. A month after the San Francisco Chief club's opening, women say they already see it as a milestone moment that represents more than just a new building. “It’s interesting coming full-circle and it feels long overdue.”Executive women platform Chief opened a new clubhouse in San Francisco this week.

☆ London Offices Will Get Cheaper Until They Go Green
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Things are getting tougher for owners of London office blocks, but that probably won’t end the trend of energy-efficient refurbishments. Despite healthy demand from tenants, office buildings owned by British Land, Landsec and Great Portland Estates —three of Britain’s largest real-estate investment trusts—lost around 3% of their estimated value over the six months through September, according to results posted last week. In London’s financial district, prices were down almost a 10th.

☆ UK consumer morale edges higher, but still very low: GfK
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A person browses items for sale at the Petticoat Lane Market, with the City of London financial district seen in the distance, in London, Britain, October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - British consumer confidence ticked higher this month but remained close to record-low levels, with soaring inflation and the spectre of recession making a sustained improvement unlikely, market research firm GfK said on Friday. All five of GfK's gauges of household economic and financial confidence improved in November, but it said the big picture of a cost-of-living crisis and weak economy was unchanged. British inflation was 11.1% in October, a 41-year high. GfK conducted its poll of 2,000 people from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11.

☆ From Apollo to DZ Bank, funds snap up bargains in UK pension scramble
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Pension funds still need to raise cashCredit funds pick up bargains from pension fund salesSome credit funds already sitting on profitsLONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Credit funds at Blackstone, Apollo, DZ Bank and Astra Asset Management picked up bargains from UK pension funds during their scramble for cash, and some say pension schemes are still offloading assets as pressures persist. Hedge funds and private equity firms have taken advantage of the forced sales to snap up deals - including certain portions of collateralised loan obligations (CLOs), securities that pension funds invest in. The credit funds are already sitting on juicy profits on some of these trades. This is because these pension funds must match their portfolios to what they will owe retired members. Even though the markets have calmed, some pension funds are still dealing with the implications," said Mody.

☆ UK banks say consumer safeguard could backfire in cost of living crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Maja SmiejkowskaLONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Britain's banks are proactively helping customers hit by the cost of living crisis, but implementing a new "consumer duty" on time could exclude vulnerable consumers from help, banking industry body UK Finance said on Wednesday. UK Finance chief executive David Postings said portfolios of lenders have so far stood up to current economic stresses. It is more critical than ever that borrowers and savers are offered fair and competitive rates, Rathi added. UK Finance chair Bob Wigley said he anticipated that finance minister Jeremy Hunt's fiscal statement on Thursday would help restore Britain's "traditional reputation for sound management of public finances" after turmoil in UK bond markets in September. Banks hope Hunt will announce a cut in the tax surcharge on their profits.

REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File PhotoCommodity trade finance covers many types of loans, typically from banks, that facilitate global movement of goods from wheat to gasoline. Most trade finance loans are short-term, less than a year. Traders’ credit lines became strained last year when natural gas prices sky-rocketed in the fourth quarter. ‘DESIRE TO DIVERSIFY’Lending for commodity trade finance has become more diverse, with non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) stepping in. The underlying issue was the retreat of major banks from commodity financing after some 2020 defaults in the sector while Russian banks Sberbank and Gazprombank that were set to expand have now been shut out of Europe.

☆ Degrowth: A dangerous idea or the answer to the world's biggest problems?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“An innocent 2 or 3% per year, it’s an enormous amount of growth — cumulative growth, compound growth — over time,” said Giorgos Kallis, a top degrowth scholar based at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Action Press/ShutterstockThe UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently cited degrowth in a major report. Investment bank Jefferies said investors should consider what happens if degrowth gathers steam, noting “climate-anxious” younger generations have different consumer values. She’s criticized “fairy tales about non-existent technological solutions” and “eternal economic growth.” And she’s touched on another point degrowthers raise: Is our current system, which has produced rampant inequality, even working for us? Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who’s prioritized investing in climate innovations, admits that overhauling global energy systems is a Herculean task.

☆ FTX investor Sequoia removed its glowing 13,000-word profile of Sam Bankman-Fried and replaced it with somber note after its investment cratered to $0
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

VC firm Sequoia Capital removed a lengthy September profile of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried this week. The URL now shows Sequoia's note telling investors it's marking down its $214 million FTX investment to $0. The profile of Bankman-Fried recounted his first pitch to Sequoia during his Series B round. Sequoia linked to its letter about marking down its investment in FTX from around $214 million to $0. The now-removed Sequoia profile is still available to read on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

☆ UK asset managers urge company bosses to show restraint on pay hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"With the cost-of-living crisis hitting UK households, investors want to see companies show restraint on executive pay and bonuses, ensuring that executive pay packets are balanced against the experiences of their wider workforce, customers, and other stakeholders," Andrew Ninian, IA director for stewardship and corporate governance, said on Thursday. With UK inflation more than 10% at a 40-year high, the IA said pay increases in line with rising prices may not be appropriate. The retention and motivation of employees below the executive level will be key and board decisions could affect productivity of the whole workforce, the IA said. Companies should also spell out how executive bonuses will be linked to meeting their environment, social and governance targets in future years, the IA said. ($1 = 0.8740 pounds)Reporting by Huw Jones Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Some of NY Gov. Kathy Hochul's top donors privately sound alarm over GOP candidate Lee Zeldin surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Kathy Hochul's top donors are privately panicking about Republican challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin's recent surge in the polls ahead of Tuesday's midterms, according to people familiar with the matter. One Democratic advisor, who counts numerous Hochul donors as clients, said he's having "PTSD" as he sees Zeldin closing in on Hochul in the polls. Bragg has been criticized, often by GOP officials, for the uptick in crime in New York City. Zeldin said at the debate that his first initiative if he becomes governor is to remove Bragg from office. Hochul told Zeldin at the time "you can't throw out someone who is duly elected."

☆ Factbox: Corporate America lays off thousands as recession worries mount
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

DoorDash Inc (DASH.N):The food delivery firm, which enjoyed a growth surge during the pandemic, said it was reducing its corporate headcount by about 1,250 employees. Twitter Inc:The social media company laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover. Chime Financial Inc:The online banking firm has laid off 12% of its employees, or about 160 jobs, a spokesperson said. Coinbase Global (COIN.O):The cryptocurrency exchange said it planned to cut over 60 jobs, in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams. CNN:Warner Bros Discovery-owned (WBD.O) CNN's top boss Chris Licht informed employees in an all-staff memo that job cuts were underway.

☆ Bank of England set for biggest rate hike in 33 years, but economists expect dovish tilt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped the controversial tax cuts at the heart of predecessor Liz Truss' fiscal policy agenda, meaning fiscal and monetary policy are no longer pulling in opposite directions. Deutsche Bank also expects a split vote on Thursday in favor of a 75-basis-point hike, taking the key interest rate to 3%. Deutsche Bank now expects the Bank Rate to reach 4.5% by May next year, down from its previous projection of 4.75%, on account of retreating fiscal stimulus and a push toward fiscal consolidation. watch nowBank of England Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy Ben Broadbent said in a recent speech that GDP would take a "pretty material" hit from such aggressive policy tightening. The Bank's August growth forecasts, which already pointed to a five-quarter recession, were based on a much lower Bank Rate of around 3%.

☆ Turning City of London into the 'Wild West' would be self-defeating, says BoE's Woods
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Turning the City - London's financial district - into a "Wild West" to attract more business after Brexit would be self-defeating as maintaining financial stability is key to competitiveness, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Thursday. Woods said in a speech to be delivered to the annual City Dinner that financial stability is the single most important ingredient of competitiveness in the sector. "Any attempt to become a global financial centre by competitively de-regulating would be self-defeating by its nature: major international financial institutions want a safe harbour, not a Wild West." Woods has clashed with an insurance industry that wants him to go further in easing capital rules to help it invest in infrastructure. A "comprehensive" public consultation paper on introducing the final leg of global bank capital rules, known as Basel 3.1, will be published by the end of the year, he added.

"Policy stability is absolutely critical," Miles Celic, chief executive of finance lobby group TheCityUK told Reuters. Finance chiefs want Sunak to balance spending on infrastructure with easing immigration policy for skilled workers and investing in education, Celic added. Sunak confirmed on Tuesday that he was keeping Hunt as his finance minister, after he was appointed late in Truss' brief premiership to shore up confidence in Britain's finances - and tear up much of her planned tax-cutting agenda. Britain's 164 billion pound ($185 billion) financial industry was largely locked out of directly serving EU customers after Brexit. Any moves to extract more tax from banks are likely to be met with industry opposition.

☆ China equity selloff not on fundamentals, creates opportunity - JPM
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A men wearing a mask walk at the Shanghai Stock Exchange building at the Pudong financial district in Shanghai, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Aly SongOct 24 (Reuters) - Monday's selloff in Chinese equities does not correspond with fundamentals and creates an opportunity for investors, analysts at JPMorgan said on Monday. "We believe this is a good opportunity to add given an expected growth recovery, gradual COVID reopening, and monetary and fiscal stimulus," wrote the bank's analysts in a strategy note, adding that growth data in China was a positive surprise over the weekend. Hong Kong stocks (.HSI) fell 6.4% on Monday while a Shanghai index (.SSEC) dropped 2% after Xi Jinping's newly unveiled leadership team heightened fears that economic growth will be sacrificed for ideology-driven policies. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Rodrigo CamposOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China Q3 GDP growth rebounds at faster pace but risks loom
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

People walk by office towers in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai, China October 17, 2022. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's second-biggest economy rose 3.9% in the July-September quarter year-on-year, official data showed on Monday, above the 3.4% pace forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts, and quickening from the 0.4% pace in the second quarter. A Reuters poll forecast China's growth to slow to 3.2% in 2022, far below the official target of around 5.5%, marking one of the worst performances in almost half a century. On a quarterly basis, GDP rose 3.9% in the third quarter, versus a forecast 3.5% gain and a 2.6% decline in the previous quarter. But retail sales remained weak, rising 2.5%, worse than expectations for 3.3% rise and 5.4% growth in August.

☆ Burned-out young people in Hong Kong are escaping to a peaceful island
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Craftsman Jesse Yu, 32, crosses on a ferry to Victoria Harbour, with the financial district seen in the background, in Hong Kong, China September 23, 2022. Newcomers drawn by an idyllic lifestyle and low rents in one of the world's priciest property...moreCraftsman Jesse Yu, 32, crosses on a ferry to Victoria Harbour, with the financial district seen in the background, in Hong Kong, China September 23, 2022. Newcomers drawn by an idyllic lifestyle and low rents in one of the world's priciest property markets are rejuvenating Peng Chau, reversing an exodus in the 1970s as fortunes waned in the area, once home to Hong Kong's biggest matchstick factory. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuClose

☆ Inflation drives global firms eastward in Europe in search of cost savings
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Michael Kahn | Anna Koper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

PRAGUE/WARSAW (Reuters) - Central European companies that provide remote, lower-cost business services for multinationals are ramping up their expansion plans as high inflation drives global firms to push more work to the region to cut costs and bolster margins. “If we started out here as an experiment, the experiment is working.”INFLATION ATTRACTS NEW INVESTORSThe business services sector has grown from almost nothing 25 years ago to an industry employing nearly 800,000 workers across Central and Eastern Europe, an increasingly important engine for local economies. At Comdata, whose 1,500 workers in the Czech Republic and Hungary operate telephone service lines, rising inflation and costs from Western companies have kept business humming. “As more and more companies try to cut and to lower the labour costs they will be moving the services from western Europe,” Nedelnik told Reuters. “I see during the last two or three months the tenders are rapidly growing for German, French, Spanish and English-speaking roles.

☆ Eight out of 10 Britons disapprove of Liz Truss-led government - poll
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

People cross Waterloo Bridge during the evening rush-hour with skyscrapers of the City of London financial district seen behind in London, Britain, October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleLONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Eight out of 10 people in Britain now disapprove of the government, a YouGov poll showed on Tuesday, as the country deals with an economic crisis inflamed by new Prime Minister Liz Truss's now-abandoned attempts at radical tax cutting reforms. The poll found that 77% Britons disapproved of the Conservative-led government, the highest in 11 years of YouGov tracking, the company said. YouGov polled 1,772 people for the Oct. 17 update of its regular series on government approval ratings, which was published on Tuesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Muvija M; editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

People exit Bank underground station in the City of London financial district during rush hour in London, Britain, October 3, 2022. Investors on Tuesday were pricing in a 66% chance the BoE will raise its benchmark Bank Rate by a full percentage point on Nov. 3, its next scheduled monetary policy announcement, down from a near-certainty before the sweeping fiscal U-turns. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterInvestors have also pared back their bets on the peak for Bank Rate which they now see at 5.25%, up from a current 2.25% but down from almost 6% predicted earlier this month. But the outlook for the British economy has changed so markedly that the picture looks different for the BoE. "I expect the Bank of England will be responding only to the inflation picture," Punhani said.

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