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HONG KONG, May 10 (Reuters) - China will appoint Li Yunze as the head of a new financial regulator as part of a broader restructuring of its financial regulatory regime, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Li, 52, a banking veteran and currently vice governor of southwestern Sichuan province, will take the helm of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), the sources told Reuters. The NFRA is a new government body under the State Council tasked to supervise the multi-trillion dollar financial industry, excluding the securities sector. Li has a relatively low-profile in the sector compared to previous financial regulatory heads. In 2018, he was appointed as vice governor of Sichuan province.

☆ Forget the pension protests. France’s economy has momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

France’s economy grew 0.2% in the first quarter of this year, its national statistics agency said Friday, after stagnating in the previous quarter. Yet the long-running protests are unlikely to leave a lasting dent in France’s economy, according to Charlotte de Montpellier, a senior economist at Dutch bank ING. But its $2.8 trillion economy has held up comparatively well. Office buildings illuminated in the La Defense business district of Paris, France, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. ‘Momentum’ building for banksBritain’s exit from the European Union has also been a boon for France’s financial sector.

Americans' tax refunds could be worth $12.7 billion more if they were deposited into a 1-year CD earning 5.15% APY. Instead of using tax refunds on vacations, new cars or household appliances, Americans that receive tax refunds can turn them into extra cash. The total amount refunded to all Americans dropped by nearly $30 billion, from $267 billion to nearly $237 billion. CDs could grow America's tax refunds by $10.4 billion in a yearCDs Highest yield savings account Popular savings account 6 months $6 billion $5.7 billion $4.5 billion 1 year $12.7 billion $11.6 billion $9 billion 18 months $19 billion $17.7 billion $13.7 billion 2 years $25.6 billion $23.8 billion $18.4 billion 3 years $37 billion $36.6 billion $28.1 billion 4 years $47.1 billion $50.1 billion $38.2 billion 5 years $59.6 billion $64.2 billion $48.7 billionHow we got these numbersTo determine the potential growth of America's tax refunds, we assumed an initial deposit of $2,878, which is the size of the average tax refund as of April 7. We looked at typical rates at the best overall APYs available as well as the best rates at popular, well-known banks.

☆ Britain's Sainsbury's expects to beat market forecasts this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It said on Thursday underlying pretax profit was 690 million pounds ($861 million) in the year to March 4, at the top end of guidance but down from the 730 million pounds made in 2021-22. For the 2023-24 year Sainsbury's forecast profit between 640 and 700 million pounds, ahead of analysts' average forecast of 631 million pounds. Earlier this month, market leader Tesco (TSCO.L) reported a 6.3% fall in annual profit and forecast a flat outcome for 2023-24. Sainsbury's spent over 560 million pounds over the two years to March 2023, funded by cost savings, to keep a lid on prices, taking a hit to profit. Its 2022-23 statutory pretax profit fell to 327 million pounds from 854 million pounds, impacted by non-cash asset impairments.

☆ Maggie Smith Tries to Make the Divorce Memoir Beautiful
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Sarah Lyall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Ms. Smith understands the irony of her situation, of course: that the debacle at home provided material for the book, which in turn gave her new financial security to support herself. The material also gave her the impetus — and the audience — to write a second book. As one friend commented on Instagram when Ms. Smith announced plans to publish “Keep Moving”: “You took those lemons and made lemonade, and then you added MF vodka to it.”Yes, Ms. Smith says in “You Could Make This Place Beautiful” — but. I wrote.”At the church, audience members talked about the rawness and honesty of Ms. Smith’s work, how it feels as if she is speaking directly to them. The more people I send it off to the more chance there is that it will be misconstrued or judged.”

☆ Exploring the City of London’s existential dread: podcast
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Peter Thal Larsen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The global financial centre is suffering a spasm of anxiety about its status, while the government is pushing post-Brexit reforms. In this Exchange podcast William Wright, founder of the New Financial think tank, discusses the roots of the malaise and what can be done to fix it. Subscribe to Breakingviews’ podcasts, Viewsroom and The Exchange. Editing by Thomas Shum and Katrina HamlinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Ron DeSantis allies on Disney oversight board threaten company with taxes, rate hikes and affordable housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Steve Contorno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“It really is shameful what Disney tried to do,” board chairman Martin Garcia said. However, Disney in February reached agreements with the outgoing board that seemed to render the body powerless to control the entertainment giant. Garcia said that the agreements went unmentioned by a representative for Disney when the two sides met soon after DeSantis appointed the new board. “Our board truly wished to work with Disney,” Garcia said. The board plans to vote at its April 26 meeting to void the previous agreements reached with Disney.

☆ Apple's new financial product reinforces its ecosystem
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Apple 's (AAPL) latest banking offering — a savings account with a 4.15% annual percentage yield — bolsters the Club's own-it, don't-trade-it mantra. Apple's high-yield savings account is available Monday for users of its Goldman Sachs (GS)-backed credit card. The savings account is unlikely to have a material impact on Apple's profit-and-loss statement — but that's not its fundamental purpose. Like Apple's other financial services — including Apple Pay — the savings account is largely about boosting the long-term attractiveness of owning an iPhone, the crown jewel of its hardware lineup. As a result, investors are willing to pay up for services revenue, which in practice translates into a higher price-to-earnings multiple (P/E) on Apple's stock.

Former President Donald J. Trump provided the first look at his post-presidency business dealings on Friday with a new personal financial disclosure. Though light on specifics, the documents filed with the Federal Election Commission revealed lower-than-expected values on his social media company, two additional hefty bank loans and a new income stream for former first lady Melania Trump. The former president filed his disclosure after requesting multiple extensions. The financial disclosure shows cumulative income from January 2021 to Dec. 15, 2022, as required by the Federal Election Commission, and the value of assets as of December 2022, according to a person familiar with the documents. Trump’s social media company takes a valuation hitThe disclosure valued the parent company of Truth Social, the former president’s social media platform and personal megaphone, at between $5 million and $25 million.

☆ Trump made a bundle of cash selling NFTs, financial filings show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Former President Donald Trump made at least six figures of income selling NFTs last year, his new financial disclosure showed Friday. NFTs, short for nonfungible tokens, are unique digital assets that have their ownership recorded on a digital ledger called a blockchain. Trump has made between $100,001 and $1 million in income from NFTs, according to his 2022 financial disclosure form published by the watchdog group CREW. But the series of 45,000 NFTs sold out in less than a day, according to the website that listed them. Trump also made more than $5 million in income from speaking engagements through a similarly named company called CIC Ventures LLC, the disclosure shows.

☆ US March CPI comes in on the cool side
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Year to date, the CPI increased 5.0%, the smallest 12-month gain since May 2021. "The data was a little bit better than what was expected, so that tells me that the bond market is saying that the probability of this next rate hike has decreased just a little bit." "The other number that's important is the PPI number that comes out this week. That will probably change a little bit today as people digest this data, maybe even within the next half an hour or so." It weakens the argument for a pause.”“Futures are going up based on the topline number, that’s what markets are focusing on.”“Inflation is cooling down.

The latter could slam global growth back to about 1% this year, effectively a recession on a per-capita GDP basis. 'PERILOUS' RISKSThe IMF's Global Financial Stability Report warned of a "perilous combination of vulnerabilities" in financial markets, saying that some participants had failed to adequately prepare for the impact of interest rate increases. Despite the warnings, the IMF's chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, said inflation is still the bigger problem and that price stability should take precedence over financial stability risks for central banks' monetary policy. Only in the event of a very severe financial crisis should those priorities be reversed, he said in a news conference. She added that the global financial system was also resilient due to reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis.

☆ IMF cuts GDP forecasts, says global economy heading for weakest growth since 1990
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ishara S. Kodikara | Afp | Getty ImagesThe International Monetary Fund on Tuesday released its weakest global growth expectations for the medium term in more than 30 years. The D.C.-based institution said that five years from now, global growth is expected to be around 3% — the lowest medium-term forecast in an IMF World Economic Outlook since 1990. "The world economy is not currently expected to return over the medium term to the rates of growth that prevailed before the pandemic," the Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook. IMFIn the short term, however, the IMF expects global growth of 2.8% this year and 3% in 2024, slightly below the fund's estimates published in January. Banking turmoilThe IMF said that its baseline forecast "assumes that the recent financial sector stresses are contained."

☆ IMF: Banking crisis boosts risks and dims outlook for world economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Uncertainty is high, and the balance of risks has shifted firmly to the downside so long as the financial sector remains unsettled,” the organization said in its latest report. Changing forecastsInvestors are looking for additional pockets of vulnerability in the financial sector. The “fog around the world economic outlook has thickened,” it said. Looking ahead to 2028, global growth is estimated at 3%, the lowest medium-term forecast since 1990. The body’s forecast for global growth this year is now closer to that from the World Bank.

Why a bank might close your bank accountA bank may decide to close your bank account if any of the following circumstances take place:Your account has been inactive for a long time. As a result, it will close your bank account and contact you to return any money deposited in your account. As a result, it will close your bank account and contact you to return any money deposited in your account. A bank may think your bank account has been hacked if it notices you're making big purchases and you haven't responded to bank notifications. You'll have to open a new bank account with your institution or bank somewhere else if you're unable to find an account that interests you.

☆ 'The first bank crisis of the Twitter generation': The pressure on banks is very different from 2008
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It is "unlikely" that European banks will undergo anything as serious as in 2008, according to economists. But a banking crisis today would look very different from 15 years ago thanks to social media, online banking, and huge shifts in regulation. This is "the first bank crisis of the Twitter generation," Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, told CNBC earlier this month, in reference to the collapse of Credit Suisse . watch nowRegulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 in what was the biggest U.S. bank collapse since the global financial crisis in 2008. Risk in the banking system today is significantly less than it has been at any time over the last 20 or 30 years.

☆ World Bank warns of 'lost decade' in global growth without bold policy shifts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But concerted efforts to boost investment in sustainable sectors, cut trade costs, leverage growth in services, and expand labor force participation could boost potential GDP growth by up to 0.7 percentage point to 2.9%, the report said. The average GDP growth rate is a sort of "speed limit" for the global economy, charting the maximum long-term rate at which it can grow without sparking excess inflation. Low investment will also slow growth in developing economies, with their average GDP growth dropping to 4% for the rest of the 2020s, from 5% in 2011-2021 and 6% from 2000-2010. To change the trajectory, policymakers should prioritize taming inflation, ensuring financial-sector stability and reducing debt, while promoting climate-friendly investments that could add 0.3 percentage point to annual potential growth. Expanding exports of digital services could result in big productivity gains, while raising labor force participation rates for women and others could raise global potential growth rates by as much as 0.2 percentage point a year by 2030.

☆ Recessions, bank failures, and stagnant stock returns - experts see a new, difficult era dawning for markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Wall Street experts see a new era ahead for markets, marked by a more difficult investing environment. Central bankers have already raised interest rates over 1,700% over the last year to quell high prices. Despite the volatility in bank stocks, Fed officials raised interest rates another 25 basis-points this week, bringing the effective Fed funds rate to 4.75-5%. That's the highest interest rates have been since 2007, and the impact of SVB's collapse is likely equivalent to another 50-75 basis points in rate hikes, Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi estimated, meaning real interest rates are even more restrictive. Some experts have argued that SVB's collapse was due to the bank's uniquely high exposure to bonds, which have been weighed down heavily by rising interest rates.

☆ Yellen chairs closed US Financial Stability Oversight Council meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will chair a closed meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council on Friday morning, according to daily media advisory for the department. The Treasury statement provided no further details about the subject of the FSOC meeting, which comes two weeks after regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O), whose failure kicked off a bank-run contagion crisis. The body of financial regulators, led by the Treasury and including the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies, meets regularly to discuss the state of U.S. financial stability risks and oversight initiatives. Those actions to invoke "systemic risk exceptions" were taken by Yellen, President Joe Biden, the FDIC, and the Fed, which supervised Silicon Valley and Signature. Responding to a Senate hearing question on risks in the non-bank financial sector, Yellen said on Wednesday that the oversight council was working on revised guidance that would restore the body's capacity to designate non-bank financial institutions as systemically important.

☆ It’s the Most Thankless Job in Banking. Silicon Valley Bank Didn’t Fill It for Months.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Ben Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

James Lam had just been hired by a new financial division of GE Capital when he walked into his boss’s office with a problem: He was ordering business cards and had no idea what to put on them. Since his position didn’t really exist, it also didn’t have a title, so he was given permission to invent one. He called himself a chief risk officer. Thirty years later, as he followed the spectacular implosion of Silicon Valley Bank, there were few people more qualified than Mr. Lam to ask two simple questions.

☆ Ford Projects $3 Billion Loss on EV Business for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Mike Colias | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ford Motor Co. expects to lose about $3 billion on its electric-vehicle business this year, a reminder of how far traditional auto makers have to go in turning their EV portfolios profitable. Ford disclosed the figure Thursday while outlining a new financial-reporting structure intended to give investors better insight into the performance of its three business units: Model e, its EV business; Ford Blue, the traditional part of the company that sells internal-combustion-engine vehicles; and Ford Pro, its sizable commercial-vehicle division.

☆ Banks Are Risky. Silicon Valley Bank’s Risk Officer Was AWOL.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Ben Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Ford Says It Will Lose $3 Billion on EVs This Year as It Touts Startup Mentality
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Mike Colias | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Stocks bounce, Ford EVs, Apple
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Marathon Oil (MRO) and Club holding Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) catch upgrades at Citi. Club holding Ford (F) unveiled its new financial reporting structure ahead of Thursday's teach-in event. Club holding Apple (AAPL) increasing its commitment to sports and content? Coty (COTY) added to Piper Sandler's top ideas in beauty after analysts performed a round of checks in stores in Chicago plus recent company updates. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Ford's EV business lost $2 billion in 2022, offset by big profits in fleet and legacy units
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The badge of a Ford Motor Co. E-Transit electric vehicle during a presentation in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 28, 2021. Ford Motor said Thursday its electric vehicle business lost $2.1 billion last year on an operating basis, a loss that was more than offset by $10 billion in operating profit between its internal combustion and fleet businesses. The Detroit automaker expects 2023 to unfold along similar lines, forecasting an adjusted loss of $3 billion for its EV unit, adjusted earnings of about $7 billion for its internal combustion unit, and adjusted earnings of roughly $6 billion for its fleet business. Those revised results show that while Ford Model e, the company's EV unit, lost $2.1 billion last year, Ford Blue and Ford Pro generated $6.8 billion and $3.2 billion of adjusted operating income, respectively. Those 2022 Model e losses more than doubled unit losses from 2021, as the company continues to ramp up EV production.

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