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☆ UBS completes Credit Suisse takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —UBS has finalized its emergency takeover of fallen rival Credit Suisse, creating a giant Swiss bank with nearly $1.7 trillion in assets in the biggest banking tie-up since the 2008 global financial crisis. The government has said that allowing Credit Suisse (CS) — one of the world’s 30 most important banks — to fail would probably have triggered an international financial crisis. Swiss taxpayers are on the hook for up to 9 billion Swiss francs ($10 billion) of losses that UBS may incur from certain Credit Suisse assets, over and above losses of 5 billion francs ($5.5 billion) that UBS has agreed to bear itself. Investors have already sued the Swiss financial regulator over its decision to impose those losses on them, Reuters has reported. Credit Suisse bled customer deposits worth 67 billion francs ($74.3 billion) in the first three months of the year, adding to massive withdrawals at the end of last year.

Persons: FINMA, “ FINMA, “, Sergio Ermotti, Colm Kelleher, Ermotti, Kelleher, ” Organizations: London CNN, UBS, Credit Suisse, Swiss, Financial Times, CNN, Suisse, Reuters, Credit, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank Locations: Swiss, Switzerland, Silicon, United States

☆ The Fed's fight against inflation hasn't caused a recession in the US yet, but it could lead to a global downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Fed's battle against inflation could have economic consequences well beyond US borders, according to a new World Bank report. Markets believe it is likely the Fed will pause interest rate hikes at its policy meeting next week. The central bank has raised interest rates 10 times in a little over a year, though inflation still remains above the 2% target. Hawkish tightening by the Fed can spillover to EMDEs, which could lead to higher domestic interest rates and currency depreciation exacerbating inflation. These findings come amid the World Bank's projection that the global economy is in a "precarious state" as rising interest rates decelerate consumer spending and business investment.

Persons: — Organizations: Bank, Service, Committee, World Bank

☆ Biden, McCarthy reach final deal to prevent default, now must sell to Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"Good news," Biden declared Sunday evening at the White House. "The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation's history," he said. Biden told reporters at the White House upon his return from Delaware that he was confident the plan will make it to his desk. Top White House officials were briefing Democratic lawmakers and phoning some directly to try to shore up support. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he expected there will be Democratic support but he declined to provide a number.

It would see the IMF and other MDBs "cut the excessive macro-risk premia on developing countries with $100 billion per year of foreign exchange guarantees", for financing in more volatile domestic currencies rather than the dollar or euro. A report by the World Bank and other big multilateral lenders said they gave $51 billion in 2021 alongside $13 billion from private finance. Outlines of the proposals have been sent to the key groups preparing the discussions over the last couple of weeks. "This is a call to arms" the source said, referring to the document and its intention to galvanise more concrete action from the IMF and multilateral lenders. The proposals put forward in the April document, which also include redistributing other IMF money, are likely to form a key part of the negotiating position of developing countries at the next round of annual climate talks in Dubai later this year.

☆ Russia is seeking allies to shift trade away from the greenback and quicken the pace of de-dollarization, deputy prime minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia is seeking partners to quicken the pace of de-dollarization, Russia's deputy prime minister Alexey Overchuk said. The nation could create an independent financial system with Islamic countries. We are talking about processes of de-dollarization and the creation of an independent financial system," Overchuk said at an economic forum on Friday, per a report from Russian news agency Tass. Ties between Russia and Islamic countries also have a "positive future," Overchuk said, given Russia's alignment on issues like energy, food, and de-globalization. The shift away from the US dollar is already beginning to take place, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said, though experts have argued de-dollarization fears are largely overblown.

☆ Ahead of financing summit, France lobbies G7 over Africa debt, climate impact
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

France will host on June 22-23 the "Summit for a New Global Financial Pact", which will tackle reform of multilateral development banks (MDB), the debt crisis, financing for green technologies, the creation of new international taxes and financing instruments, and special drawing rights. "It's urgent for us to act and rethink collectively the international financing architecture," a French presidential official said, adding that Paris had lobbied its G7 partners ahead of next month's conference. "Today we have a network of development banks in the world which finance international solidarity and which find themselves limited in their capacity to act." "Africa is heavily indebted and we are paying the price of crises that have followed, including now the Ukraine crisis, so the G7 has a responsibility," one French official said. Wealthy nations have yet to come good on climate finance that they promised as part of a past pledge to mobilize $100 billion a year, a key stumbling block at global climate talks.

JOHANNESBURG, May 18 (Reuters) - Ghana is targeting $10.5 billion of external debt service relief from 2023-2026, the IMF said, giving an early indication of how large a hit investors might face in an impending debt overhaul. "Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that this translates to a 40%-50% haircut on external debt, if there is not further restructuring of domestic debt," Bojosi Morule, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said in emailed reaction to the DSA. Ghana's already strained finances buckled under the fallout of COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and it is now seeking to restructure $20 billion of its roughly $30 billion external debt, including about $13 billion of Eurobonds, under the Group of 20's Common Framework platform. Earlier this year it completed a domestic debt exchange. Other risks include Ghana not regaining market access to issue debt and the domestic debt exchange posing dangers to financial sector stability, the IMF said.

G7 leaders are gathering in Hiroshima on Friday with the invasion of Ukraine, now in its second year, high on the agenda. The U.S. has spearheaded tough sanctions on Russian companies, banks and individuals, and the coming announcement is designed to reaffirm world powers' resolve to support Ukraine and squeeze Moscow. "Our commitment to continue tightening the screws on Russia remains as strong as it was last year," the official said. The United States and its allies, including the European Union and Britain, have continued to ratchet up sanctions and export-control pressure on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Thousands of targets hit with sanctions by Washington so far have included Russian President Vladimir Putin, the financial sector and oligarchs.

☆ G7 leaders reckon with Ukraine, haunted by Hiroshima nuclear legacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 19 (Reuters) - Leaders of the world's advanced democracies start their Group of Seven (G7) summit on Friday in Hiroshima with a sombre remembrance of the costs of war as they grapple with the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow has said it is ready to use its nuclear arsenal to defend its "territorial integrity" if necessary. As part of the efforts, each of the G7 members will be unveiling new sanctions, according to the U.S. official. G7 finance leaders warned in Japan last weekend of mounting economic uncertainty, in a subdued end to a meeting overshadowed in part by concerns about the U.S. debt stalemate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to address the G7 leaders, though he may do so by video rather than in person.

☆ BeeHero: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Enter agtech startup BeeHero with a solution. Last December, BeeHero snared $42 million in a Series B round led by impact growth fund Covent Capital in Amsterdam. But BeeHero is not the only startup providing honeybee pollution services, a market estimated by the USDA at $320 million annually. Last year, Limor Farchy, who previously worked at two acquired Israeli tech startups, was recruited as CFO. The agtech startup supplies several top almond growers in California and expects to expand to other crops that rely on pollination.

☆ British investment minister visits Hong Kong, first official visit in 5 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, May 9 (Reuters) - Britain's Minister for Investment Dominic Johnson said he held a series of meetings with government officials and executives in Hong Kong on Monday, the first official visit from a senior British official to the city in five years. Johnson's visit comes after relations between Britain and Hong Kong have been increasingly strained since 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law in the former colony. Johnson said he was in Hong Kong to promote the United Kingdom as a leading destination for investment and trade. "Hong Kong is one of the world's leading international financial centres and we have shared interests from financial services to infrastructure to sustainability," he wrote on Twitter. He is due to leave Hong Kong on Tuesday.

☆ We've seen nothing but growth, says Dubai International Financial Center CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWe've seen nothing but growth, says Dubai International Financial Center CEOArif Amiri, CEO of the Dubai International Financial Center, says the region has much more to offer.

☆ Dollar dominance isn't going anywhere. Here are 5 myths about de-dollarization.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The dollar's dominance isn't at risk, three currency experts told Insider. Vocal observers, like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have warned that the threat of de-dollarization is real, as countries like China take measures to supplant the dollar. They debunked five myths and misconceptions that are commonly touted by dollar doomsayers:1. The dollar is losing its stance as the top currency in global tradeThis claim also isn't supported by data. Though the percentage of dollar reserves has slipped, he estimates it would take around 24 years for global dollar reserves to drop another 12%.

☆ US, Turkey cooperate on terrorism-related sanctions -Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 2 (Reuters) - The United States worked together to impose terrorism-related sanctions on two individuals linked to funding two Syria-based groups already sanctioned by the United States and United Nations, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday. The actions target Omar Alsheak, a leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham group, and Kubilay Sari, who has received funds in Turkey from donors for Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, the department said in a statement. "As terrorist groups continue to seek access to the international financial system, collaboration with our partners increases our ability to more effectively disrupt these facilitation networks," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. The new designations follow joint U.S.-Turkish actions on Jan. 5 that target a key financial network of Islamic State, Treasury said. Reporting by Ismail ShakilOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's domestic stock investors, shut off from the international financial system, have helped send the Moscow Exchange to a 12-month high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's benchmark MOEX index is trading at levels not seen in over 12 months. The MOEX Russia Index has gained 24% so far this year after tanking 42% in 2022. The benchmark MOEX Russia Index on the Moscow Exchange hit a high of 2,646.18 on Thursday — its highest level since early April 2022. Despite the surge in the MOEX index, trading volumes in its equities market fell 41% from a year ago amid sanctions. The MOEX Index ended at 2,634.96 on Friday.

[1/5] Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva attend an international conference on the political crisis in Venezuela, at Palacio de San Carlos in Bogota, Colombia April 25, 2023. The meeting in Bogota, hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro with support from the United States, included Spain, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil and others. The meeting was meant to help Maduro and the opposition restart stalled talks in Mexico focused on free elections and the possible lifting of sanctions against the government. Attendees found common ground over the need for free elections and lifting of sanctions parallel to agreements between the two sides, he said. The Mexico talks, held briefly last year and in 2021, are supposed to provide a roadmap out of the long-running crisis.

☆ Opinion | The Violence in Sudan Is Partly Our Fault
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jacqueline Burns | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

My optimism was quickly tempered by those who assured me that none of the armed groups were actually interested in peace. Women, internally displaced persons and those who did not happen to be part of an armed rebel movement were almost entirely excluded. Instead, yet another peace agreement facilitated by a third party brought the armed rebel movements to the table and into the transitional government. Earlier this year, the various armed groups and civilian representatives once again met to finalize an agreement on the transition. This time, even though the negotiations included consultations with women and other previously marginalized groups, it was far too little, too late.

☆ IMF's Georgieva sees 'tangible progress' on debt issues, urges seeking help earlier
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that debtors and creditors made "tangible progress" on debt restructuring issues this week, but urged countries facing mounting debt problems to seek help earlier in the process. A new sovereign debt roundtable was helping to accelerate work on debt restructurings, Georgieva told a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. But countries nearing debt distress and their creditors should move forward on reprofiling debt levels before a full restructuring was needed, she said. Imagine a further tightening of financial conditions, that increases the burden on these countries," she added. Georgieva said the IMF would continue to work closely with the 20 African countries with heavy debt burdens to avoid getting to the point where restructurings were needed.

☆ Exclusive: To measure progress on sovereign debt, look to actual deals -World Bank's Malpass
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Speaking a day after the first meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable, Malpass told Reuters several other issues still needed to be resolved, including China's previous insistence that multilateral development banks also accept losses as part of debt restructuring deals. "Progress in debt restructurings will be measured by actual countries that achieve a restructuring. Reuters reported Beijing was poised to drop its demand that multilateral development banks share in debt restructuring losses, partly in exchange for the IMF and World Bank providing earlier access to their debt sustainability analyses for countries receiving debt treatments. China had also raised concerns about how to deal with domestic debt restructuring and how to treat project loans and projects with dedicated revenues, he said. Private sector creditors who also participated in Wednesday's meeting had indicated that they would want to participate in debt restructuring deals as part of their fiduciary responsibility, Malpass said, calling that a positive development.

☆ Sovereign debtors, creditors agree on steps to jumpstart debt restructurings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Global creditors, debtor nations and international financial institutions on Wednesday agreed to improve data sharing, set clearer timetables and take other steps aimed at jumpstarting debt restructuring processes. Reuters reported Beijing was poised to drop its demand that multilateral development banks share in debt restructuring losses, partly in exchange for the IMF and World Bank providing earlier access to their debt sustainability analyses for countries receiving debt treatments. The statement said the debt roundtable participants agreed on the importance to urgently improve information sharing on macroeconomic projections and debt sustainability assessments in debt treatment cases. "This work will also help in clarifying potential timetables to accelerate debt restructurings," the statement said. It said the IMF, World Bank and the G20 presidency will continue to work closely together and with other partners to further support the international response to current debt challenges.

☆ Sovereign debtors, creditors agree steps to jumpstart debt restructurings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Global creditors, debtor nations and international financial institutions on Wednesday agreed to improve data-sharing, set clearer timetables and take other steps aimed at jumpstarting debt restructuring processes. "The discussion focused on the actions that can be taken now to accelerate debt restructuring processes and make them more efficient, including under the G20 Common Framework," the statement said. Participants agreed on the importance to urgently improve information sharing on macroeconomic projections and debt sustainability assessments in debt treatment cases, the statement said. "This work will also help in clarifying potential timetables to accelerate debt restructurings," the statement said. It said the IMF, World Bank and the G20 Presidency will continue to work closely together and with other partners to further support the international response to current debt challenges.

☆ Yellen urges continued 'significant, predictable and timely' aid for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday called for continued significant aid to Ukraine as it battles against Russia's invasion, and lauded Ukrainian authorities for their focus on good governance and anticorruption. We welcome the efforts by our allies and partners to provide significant, predictable, and timely assistance, and urge all of us to continue doing so," Yellen said. Your commitment to making sure that international assistance is being used responsibly is essential," Yellen said. She said the United States had plans to provide additional aid through September — all as grants — and to support Ukraine's energy security and early recovery efforts, but gave no details. Yellen said a recent $15.6 billion lending program agreed by the IMF would anchor international support "in a sound macroeconomic framework and catalyze further reforms essential to Ukraine’s recovery."

☆ How to avoid the next crisis? Banks may have to hold more cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Regulators must learn “important lessons” from this year’s banking turmoil, the world’s top financial watchdog has said. Requiring banks to hold more cash to pay out depositors may be one of them. External shocks that have roiled global markets in recent years include the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In other words, banks could be told to hold more assets that can be easily converted into cash to pay back creditors in times of crisis. In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said it would guarantee all deposits held within Silicon Valley Bank, including those above $250,000 per person.

☆ Kyiv denies Wagner Bakhmut claim, Russia says forces advancing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The claim by Russian entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner mercenary group had seized more than 80% of Bakhmut was untrue, it said. And Russian forces, it said, had struck Ukrainian army reserves trying to break through. Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, dismissed Prigozhin's latest 80% claim in a comment to Reuters. Analyst Konrad Muzyka, director of the Rochan military consultancy in Poland, said his calculations bore out the Russian claim of 80%. Russian forces, it said, had tried unsuccessfully to move on two villages to the northwest.

☆ World Bank chief says Western European countries need to help fund Ukraine reconstruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - The World Bank is ready to do its part in rebuilding Ukraine after the devastation of Russia's invasion, but international financial institutions cannot shoulder the sums involved alone and Western European countries will have to chip in, World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday. Malpass, speaking at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, noted that the World Bank had played a big role in rebuilding Europe's steel industry after World War Two and could play a similar role in Ukraine. The number, calculated by the World Bank, United Nations, European Commission and Ukraine, was up sharply from an estimate of $349 billion released last September. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday repeated Washington's commitment to support Ukraine for as long as needed. Washington has also allocated some money for immediate short-term reconstruction needs, including rebuilding its electricity grid.

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