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[1/2] The HSBC headquarters is seen in the Canary Wharf financial district in east London February 15, 2015. The ripple effects of so many companies slashing office space has significantly impacted wider markets. 'GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE'HSBC for its part has one of the most aggressive targets to cut office space among major employers, with a commitment to axe around 40% globally. Canary Wharf Group, the Docklands commercial landlord, declined to comment. One of the Canary Wharf estate's newer developments, the YY building - a recently completed redevelopment of Thomson Reuters' former headquarters opposite Canary Wharf station - remains vacant, Bloomberg has reported.

Persons: Peter Nicholls, Tony Travers, Travers, Knight Frank, Weil, Gerardine Davies, HSBC's, Moody's, YY, Andrew Mawson, Iain Withers, Chiara Elisei, Sinead Cruise, Paul Sandle, Mark Potter Organizations: HSBC, REUTERS, Companies, London School of Economics, of, Perenna Capital Management, BT, UBS, City of London Corporation, Canary, Canary Wharf Group, Docklands, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, Workplace Associates, Employees, Thomson Locations: Canary, London, St Paul's Cathedral, of London, Real, Sweden, Aldgate, City, Swiss, Docklands, Canary Wharf

☆ Sharp slowdown in growth of bank lending for euro zone and Germany forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Lending to businesses and households in the 20-nation euro zone will expand 2.1% in 2023 and 1.7% in 2024, muted increases after a 14-year high of 5% in 2022, EY said in its lending forecast published Monday. The euro zone meanwhile dipped into recession earlier this year. "While the downturn is expected to be very shallow and short-lived, European markets continue to face high inflation and an unprecedented rise in interest rates. Mortgage lending is a particular area of weakness, with lending set to grow 1.4% in 2023, down from 4.9% in 2022. The ECB's latest lending survey, published in May, also found that lending growth to businesses and households slowed.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, EY, Sinead Cruise, Tom Sims, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: REUTERS, EY, Reuters, Central Bank, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Europe, Germany

The shares have been held in Russia by a different depositary bank. DRs are certificates issued by a bank representing shares in a foreign company traded on a local stock exchange. Swapping DRs for shares in the Russian company is a first step towards an effort to recover their money. Deutsche Bank is now allowing investors to swap DRs for shares as part of its plans to exit all Russia business, one source said. JPMorgan & Chase (JPM.N), Citigroup (C.N) and BNY Mellon (BK.N) act as depositary banks for most other Russian depositary receipt programs, according to Clearstream.

Persons: Mechel, underscoring, Irina Tsukerman, Grigory Marinichev, Morgan Lewis, BNY Mellon, Sinead Cruise, Alexander Marrow, Elisa Martinuzzi, Megan Davies, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Moscow LONDON, Deutsche Bank, Reuters, Deutsche, Aeroflot, LSR, Novolipetsk, The Central Bank of Russia, Depository, JPMorgan, Chase, Citigroup, BNY, Commission, Control, Foreign Investments, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia, Russian, Washington, London, Carolina, New York

☆ Russia back in investors' focus after weekend mutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Financial markets have often been volatile since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which caused ruptures in markets and through global finance as banks and investors rushed to unwind exposure. After Saturday's events, some investors said they were focused on the potential impact to safe-haven assets such as U.S. Treasuries and on commodities prices, as Russia is a major energy supplier. Goldberg said that despite the de-escalation, "investors may remain nervous about subsequent instability, and could remain cautious." “Markets typically do not respond well to events that are unfolding and are uncertain,” particularly relating to Putin and Russia, said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. Year-to-date the S&P 500 (.SPX) is up 13%, although it has lost steam in recent days with interest rates in focus.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Gennadiy Goldberg, Goldberg, Putin, Quincy Krosby, ” Krosby, Alastair Winter, Stocks, Jerome Powell, Rich Steinberg, Lananh Nguyen, Sinead Cruise, Megan Davies, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Financial, TD Securities, LPL, Global Investment, U.S, Federal, Colony Group, Thomson Locations: Russia, Russian, Moscow, Rostov, Ukraine, New York, Washington, Argyll Europe, Boca Raton , Florida

The two pilots, however, would allow extensive information sharing between banks on large-scale financial crime, expand public-private data sharing initiatives and set up a similar platform to Britain's national fraud database for serious economic crime. The pilots could be formally launched by October when Britain's economic crime and corporate transparency bill, currently on its way through parliament, is expected to become law. This legislation aims to protect regulated firms from confidentiality rules if they share information to tackle economic crime, giving them the leeway to ramp up data sharing. One financial crime investigations lawyer, who declined to be named because of client sensitivities, said that information-sharing needed appropriate safeguards. The NCA told Reuters it was discussing the data sharing pilot with a number of banks to try and identify "actionable intelligence".

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Banks, Simon Fell, Iain Withers, Kirstin Ridley, Sinead Cruise, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S, REUTERS, Lloyds, NatWest, Reuters, HSBC, Barclays, Crime Agency, UK Finance, Home Office, NCA, Thomson Locations: Russia, Britain, Ukraine

WHY HAVE UK MORTGAGE RATES SOARED? There are two main types of mortgage rate - variable and fixed. Fixed rate mortgages lock in a particular interest rate upfront, usually for a period of two to five years. Banks say they have to reflect these market moves to avoid pricing mortgages at a loss. Critics say banks could do much more, particularly as they have passed rate rises through to savers much more slowly than mortgage rates have risen.

Persons: BoE, Banks, Nicholas Mendes, John Charcol, Mendes, Jeremy Hunt, Hunt, Roger Gewolb, Sinead Cruise, Iain Withers, Catherine Evans Organizations: Soaring, Bank of, WHO, Finance, ASK, Labour, Fair Finance, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Britain, Bank of England, States

High debts, rising interest rates and a wilting economy has produced a toxic cocktail for Sweden's commercial property companies, with several cut to junk by rating agencies. Sweden and Germany are among the worst affected by a widening property slump on the continent, according to Eurostat. Swedish officials are worried that banks could compound property companies' troubled by cutting credit, triggering firesales that would further drag down the market. Financial markets minister Wykman said he had held discussions with banks, property companies and investors about the entire commercial property market. This week, analysts at JP Morgan said big banks in Sweden, which had 1 trillion Swedish crowns of property exposure, were 'ill-prepared' for losses.

Persons: Niklas Wykman, Wykman, Ilija Batljan, Batljan, JP Morgan, Finland's, SEBa.ST, Chiara Elisei, Sinead Cruise, John O'Donnell, Toby Chopra Organizations: Organisation for Economic Cooperation, Development, Financial, Reuters, Eurostat, OECD, Reuters Graphics, SBB, JP, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, FRANKFURT, Europe, Sweden, Germany, Stockholm, Swedish, Spain, Ireland, London

The housing market has totemic importance in Britain's consumption-driven economy and is closely linked to consumer confidence. The average mortgage rate on new two-year mortgage deals rose on Wednesday to 5.90%, according to property data provider Moneyfacts - the highest since December last year, in the aftermath of the mini-budget. "It takes a far lower mortgage rate to create the same amount of financial stress in terms of repayments as a double-digit mortgage rate did back in previous periods," Hudson said. Reuters GraphicsSTRESSThe question now is how mortgage market stress will feed through into the real economy. Jamie Lennox, director at broker Dimora Mortgages, said there was "no end in sight" for the trouble in the mortgage market.

Persons: Hannah McKay, Liz Truss, We're, Neal Hudson, Hudson, Jamie Lennox, shivers, BoE, Philip Shaw, Lucy Raitano, Iain Withers, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: REUTERS, Bank of England, Investors, HSBC, Reuters, Financial, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, BoE's

☆ Vodafone and Three merger faces scrutiny from competition regulators
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The $19 billion tie-up will be scrutinised by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority, the antitrust regulator which made global headlines in April when it blocked Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard. The long-awaited mobile deal reduces the number of networks from four to three, challenging a tenet long held by regulators that four help to keep prices low in major markets. "The government's desire to make the UK a 5G powerhouse requires a lot of investment," he said. One London-based investment banker, who declined to be named, said he put the chance of the deal receiving the green light from regulators at 50%. A major telecoms investor said the deal could be approved, but only with strong remedies, and that could risk undermining its rationale.

Persons: CK Hutchison, Activision Blizzard, Hutchison, Paolo Pescatore, Peter Broadhurst, Moring, James Gray, Sarah Cardell, Robert Finnegan, Gray, Paul Sandle, Amy, Jo Crowley, Sinead Cruise, Kate Holton, Emelia Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, Hutchison, O2, Vodafone, CK, HK, Britain's Competition, Markets Authority, Ofcom, European Commission, Foresight, Hutchison's, UK plc, Victoria, Crowell, CMA, Reuters, National Security and Investment, Britain's, Tesco Mobile, Telefonica, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Britain, Europe, China, London, Germany

REUTERS/John Sibley/File PhotoLONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Odey Asset Management is in advanced talks to move funds and staff to other asset managers as it grapples with the fallout of sexual misconduct allegations against its founder Crispin Odey. A spokesperson for the hedge fund declined further comment on Thursday. Hedge funds such as OAM rely on leverage from prime brokerage service providers to make their market bets. Without a prime broker, a hedge fund which needs to borrow stocks cannot function. A spokesperson for OAM also declined to comment on whether the moves signalled that the hedge fund would close.

Persons: Crispin Odey, John Sibley, Odey, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, James Hanbury, Harriett Baldwin, Nell Mackenzie, Sinead Cruise, Dhara Ranasignhe, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, Odey, Management, Financial Times, Tortoise Media, Reuters, UBS, Authority, Asset Management, FCA, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Westminster, London, Britain

[1/2] Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle poses in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters on May 16, 2023. "For Vodafone this transaction is a game changer in our home market," Della Valle, a 29-year company veteran, told reporters. That is likely to take time, but Kester Mann, a director at CCS Insight, said the British announcement would give Della Valle a boost. "She has shown clear intent to make changes at Vodafone as she bids to turn the embattled company's performance around," he said. "Securing approval for a tie-up with (Hutchison's) Three would be a major boost to her early tenure."

Persons: Margherita Della Valle, Della Valle, CK Hutchison, Nick Read, Kester Mann, Kate Holton, Sinead Cruise, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Vodafone, Reuters, Handout, REUTERS, HK, CCS Insight, Thomson Locations: Britain, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Italy, British

ESG ratings providers must stop providing consulting services to investors, stop the sale of credit ratings and the development of benchmarks among other things, according to the EU's draft legislation published on Tuesday. "ESG ratings agencies that score companies on governance factors are completely unregulated so it's very difficult to compare ratings by different agencies. Agencies providing ESG ratings include S&P Global (SPGI.N), Moody's (MCO.N), MSCI (MSCI.N)> and Morningstar's (MORN.O) Sustainalytics. Britain has also outlined plans to regulate ESG ratings providers where the rating is used by anyone in the UK. In March, the finance ministry published a consultation on regulating ESG ratings providers, saying it saw a "clear benefit" from improving the transparency of methodologies as well as rating providers' governance and processes.

Persons: Mairead McGuinness, Markus Ferber, Ferber, Julia Payne, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Sinead Cruise, Mark Potter, Ed Osmond Organizations: European, European Securities and Markets Authority, Financial Services, P, Global, Morningstar, Conservative European, European Commission, Thomson Locations: EU, BRUSSELS, LONDON, Britain, Europe

Odey Asset Management "does not recognise the picture of the firm that has been painted" by the allegations, it told investors in a letter seen by Reuters. Within hours of the report being published, Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) began reviewing their prime broking ties with Odey Asset Management, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. "We are confident our service providers will continue to work with us," an Odey Asset Management letter said later. Industry experts consulted by Reuters said that did not necessarily indicate a major change in culture in the City, however. A London employment tribunal last month awarded a former Algebris employee over 32,000 pounds in a sex harassment claim against the asset management company.

Persons: Crispin Odey, Odey, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, MS.N, Schroders, Evan Nierman, Megan Tobias Neely, Neely, retrained, Daniel Beunza, Davide Serra, Serra, Algebris, Yasmine Chinwala, Nell Mackenzie, Sinead Cruise, Naomi Rovnick, Dhara Ranasinghe, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Odey Asset Management, Financial Times, Tortoise Media, Reuters, Odey, Wall, JPMorgan, FT, Financial, Bayes Business, Labour Party, New, Thomson Locations: City, London, Britain, New York

☆ Aquis Exchange launches new 'dark to lit' service to low-profile traders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Aquis Exchange (AQX.L) said on Tuesday it had launched a new service across its British and European equity trading platforms to help customers who prefer to transact without alerting rivals to their activities access improved liquidity. The so-called 'dark to lit sweep' functionality, designed by Aquis' pan-European equities trading division, will harness low latency technology to find best possible prices for users across both order books, while keeping a low impact on the overall market, the company said. Members can choose for their order to be cancelled if no immediate opposing order is found on either book, or they can remain on the lit book until a buyer/seller matches with remainder of their order. Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Kirstin RidleyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Aquis, Sinead Cruise, Kirstin Ridley Organizations: Aquis, Thomson

☆ Analysis: Investment banking faultlines trigger European job shake-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Sinead Cruise | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Applications for financial services roles globally rose by 67% in the first quarter of 2023 against the same period last year, according to eFinancialCareers. Britain has already said it will scrap a cap on bank bonuses under plans to attract global financial sector talent. Worries about possible contagion triggered by the frailty of the U.S. regional banking system have also put some bank staff on a quest for more secure employment, sources say. Duncan Finlayson, managing director of the FinTech & Financial Services practice at Raines International, said some wanted meetings with chief financial officers to better understand the financial health of prospective employers. "Without a doubt some of the more established financial services platforms are under more heavy scrutiny," he said.

To revive its fortunes, the government late last year published its Edinburgh Reforms agenda comprising over 30 proposed changes to existing rules. "There are a variety of factors that keep somewhere attractive in terms of investment, listing and being an international finance centre." "We want the UK to be the world's most innovative and competitive global financial centre," the spokesperson added. CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONSSupporters of a more vibrant UK stock market are also increasing pressure on bankers managing IPO processes to challenge assumptions about London's poorer liquidity or post-IPO performance, relative to rival venues. Proposed changes to UK listings are encouraging, but may not be enough, said Steve Bates, BIA CEO.

Lenders wasted little time in charging more for loans when interest rates rapidly rose from an almost 15-year slumber around zero last year, but most have dragged their feet on boosting deposit rates paid to millions of their customers. Money market funds are proving popular among savers seeking bigger returns on their cash as high levels of inflation persist. Data from Refinitiv Lipper showed more than 34 billion euros ($37.6 billion) of net flows into European money market funds in March, the best-selling asset type that month. Fidelity International also reported an 8% year-on-year uplift in flows into money market funds on its investment platform between Jan. 1 and April 26. Some lawmakers have criticised banks for the mismatch between what they charge borrowers and the interest rates offered to savers.

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Interest rate rises helped British bank Lloyds (LLOY.L) beat first quarter profit forecasts on Wednesday, but early signs of stress among some borrowers pointed to tougher times ahead. Lloyds reported pretax profit of 2.3 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) for the first three months of 2023, above the 1.95 billion pounds average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank and up from 1.5 billion pounds the prior year. While earnings have exceeded expectations across the sector, Lloyds has echoed rivals in keeping full-year performance forecasts flat instead of upgrading them further as some analysts had anticipated. Lloyds is the last of Britain's 'Big Four' banks to post its quarterly results, after HSBC, NatWest and Barclays also reported profit jumps. But in common with others, Lloyds also reported deposit outflows of 2.2 billion pounds over the quarter as customers dipped into savings and moved money into alternative products.

NatWest said the reduction in its deposits, however, mainly reflected the axing of its underperforming Irish arm Ulster and higher customer tax bills. Deposits across its consumer, business and private bank nonetheless fell 11.1 billion pounds. NatWest, meanwhile, reported pretax profit that leapt 49% to 1.8 billion pounds ($2.24 billion), above an average of analyst forecasts of 1.6 billion pounds. Rising interest rates boosted NatWest's income by 29% to 3.9 billion pounds, but analysts said this narrowly missed expectations and they had hoped for an upgraded outlook. ($1 = 0.8028 pounds)Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by Sinead Cruise and Lawrence WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ European commercial real estate investment slumps to 11-year low in Q1 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - European commercial real estate investment fell to its lowest in 11 years in the first quarter of 2023, MSCI Real Assets said on Thursday, as investors spooked by higher interest rates and the economic outlook put acquisition plans on ice. The number of offices sold - Europe's largest real estate sector - fell to its lowest on record, while the volume of transactions slumped to a 13-year low of 10.8 billion euros ($11.94 billion). The UK kept its top spot as Europe's largest commercial real estate market, but Paris overtook London to become the region's most active investment destination, with the three largest European property deals of the first quarter all taking place in the French capital. ($1 = 0.9048 euros)Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Barclays reported better than expected first-quarter profit on Thursday after a strong performance from its credit card business offset pressure on other business lines. The British bank's pretax profit of 2.6 billion pounds ($3.25 billion) beat analyst forecasts for a repeat of the previous year's 2.2 billion pounds. Income at the lender's consumer, cards and payments division rose 47% to 1.3 billion pounds thanks to rising credit card balances driven partly by its acquisition of a portfolio from retailer Gap last year. While higher credit card spending boosted Barclays' finances, there were signs this could have a sting in the tail. Fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) was a bright spot, with income rising 9% to 1.8 billion pounds.

☆ Allegations against former Barclays CEO Staley 'very serious' - CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Lawrence White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Allegations made against British bank Barclays' former CEO Jes Staley regarding his ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are "very serious", the lender's current CEO C.S. Venkat said the allegations were being adjudicated in New York, which he said was the "right and proper place". Both seek money damages and neither lawsuit names Staley as a defendant. In U.S. filings this week, Staley accused JPMorgan of using him as a "public relations shield" and said the allegations lacked legal or factual basis. A former investor in the bank last week said the lender should have made more checks over the matter.

Bischoff died on Tuesday of natural causes, a close relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Wednesday. A former chairman of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), Citigroup (C.N) and more recently JP Morgan Securities (JPM.N), Bischoff had also been CEO of Schroders (SDR.L). Robert Swannell, former chairman of Marks & Spencer, who worked with Bischoff for 33 years at Schroders and later Citi, said he would profoundly mourn his friend and colleague. The deal was hailed as a huge success for Bischoff's leadership team, having started with a business worth just a fraction of the 1.3 billion pounds price Citi later paid. He returned to JP Morgan as chairman of JP Morgan Securities the same year.

German specialised property lenders such as Aareal Bank (ARLG.DE), Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBBG.DE) and Berlin Hyp, have a bigger concentration of real estate exposure, analysts added. Blackstone (BX.N) recently blocked withdrawals from its $70 billion real estate income trust after facing a flurry of redemption requests. Open-ended real estate funds in Britain have also battled to meet strong demand for redemptions. In Europe, CRE exposure for smaller banks, more at risk of deposit flight, is estimated at under 30% of all loans, Capital Economics said. "On the other, real estate owners themselves are going to face quite material increase in costs."

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