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☆ UK equity funds saw record $10 bln outflows in 2022-Calastone
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies Equity funds shed 6.26 bln stg in 2022 -CalastoneRecord 1.17 billion stg of North American funds sold in 2022Signs of optimism returned in Q4 but UK funds shunnedGlobal ESG equity funds saw inflowsLONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Investors sold a record 8.38 billion pounds ($10 billion) worth of UK-focused equity funds last year, shunning Britain as the country braces for the worst recession among major economies, a global funds network said. Calastone said on Thursday that investment fund flows in 2022 were the weakest in at least eight years, with 6.29 billion pounds pulled from equity funds as the war in Ukraine helped to drive record inflation and interest rate hikes. Fleeing into cash and fund categories perceived to be lower-risk, investors also sold a record 1.17 billion of North American funds - the first year of outflows since 2016. Exits from European equity funds hit 2.65 billion pounds, while Asia-Pacific funds saw 1 billion pounds of withdrawals. Property funds, meanwhile, have been buffeted by outflows, partly because economic downturns snuff out demand for commercial property.

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - U.S. funds giant BlackRock (BLK.N) will defer third-quarter redemptions from its 3.5 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) BlackRock UK Property Fund, a source told Reuters, in the latest sign of strain in Britain's real estate market. BlackRock's UK property fund will defer withdrawals that were originally due to be paid at the end of December, a person familiar with the situation said, asking not to be named. As of November, funds overseeing around 17 billion pounds in UK real estate assets were restricting redemptions to prevent firesales. A spokesperson for Legal & General Investment Management said on Wednesday that its Managed Property Fund was no longer deferring redemptions. M&G, Columbia Threadneedle, Schroders and CBRE did not immediately confirm to Reuters whether redemption deferrals were still in place for their UK property funds.

While governments worldwide are grappling with high inflation and low growth, UK policymakers are still rebuilding fiscal and political credibility following the brief, chaotic premiership of Liz Truss. Worries about growth are leading some investors to limit their holdings of the pound and British debt. Reuters GraphicsForeign investors have traditionally been attracted by Britain's strong rule of law, stable governance and thriving financial and professional services sector. In the latest data, up to the second quarter of this year, FDI represented more than half the net outflow - a result of strong UK investment abroad but weak inward investment too. Stephen Welton, executive chairman of major growth capital investor BGF, said attracting foreign investment was like a global competitive sport - one that Britain had previously excelled at.

[1/2] BNP Paribas logo and stock graph are seen in this illustration taken, May 1, 2022. Investment banks typically use standardised job titles to mark career milestones, starting at analyst and culminating at managing director. "BNP Paribas is communicating corporate titles to employees in the London Branch that reflect their existing roles to standardise terminology across all business lines," a spokesperson told Reuters. A broker at BNP Paribas in London was awarded 2 million pounds ($2.45 million) in January, one of the biggest payouts in a UK equal pay suit. Deploying standardised job titles should make it easier for employees to understand where they rank on the bank's career ladder.

The global job cuts at the London-headquartered bank will fall across several business units and geographical locations and result in the loss of at least 200 positions, mostly with the title of Chief Operating Officer (COO), the sources said. HSBC, which used to position itself as the world's local bank, employs many COOs because country and business lines have their own separate COO, the sources said. The lender has been shrinking its sprawling global business for several years, downsizing in many regions and exiting some countries entirely as it tries to improve shareholder returns. The initiative, codenamed Project Banyan, follows HSBC's last major redundancy plan in 2020, which targeted up to 35,000 job cuts globally across all staffing levels. Three separate sources confirmed job cuts were underway, as HSBC joins a chorus of other western banks axing staff as a bleak global economic outlook weighs on business, consumer and investment banking revenues.

[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.

Any crunch for Britain's small businesses, which often lack the scale to pass on cost rises to customers as easily as bigger rivals, could deliver a new economic body blow. "How are we going to get out of this hole if it's not small businesses? "But there's no question that small businesses now have less capacity to increase their borrowing because you've got a slowing economy." Indeed small companies in Britain see their access to credit at its worst level since 2015, according to a quarterly survey by the FSB of 1,383 small business owners. Many small companies have also yet to repay state-backed loans extended to prop them up during COVID lockdowns, making their credit profiles increasingly unattractive.

Crypto markets have come under intense pressure this year, as rising interest rates prompt investors to ditch risky or speculative assets. In the case of FTX, U.S. residents can't trade on its global platform due to strict regulations for the crypto space in the United States. Ken Lo, co-founder at Hong Kong-based crypto exchange and custodian Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange, said counterparty risk, which comes from a lack of transparency and information disclosure, underscores the need for "clear regulatory framework and vision statement." In an interview with Reuters in July, Bankman-Fried said his company still had a "few billion" on hand to shore up struggling firms that could further destabilize the digital asset industry. Max Boonen, co-founder of digital asset liquidity provider B2C2, said FTX's problems have set the crypto space back by six months.

☆ Aviva pledges regular investor payouts as premiums rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Carolyn Cohn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jefferies analysts have previously said they expect Aviva to make recurring 250 million pound ($289 million) pay-outs. Aviva has already returned 4.75 billion pounds to investors after raising 7.5 billion in a string of asset sales since Blanc became CEO in July 2020. Cevian in the past called on Aviva to return five billion pounds to shareholders by the end of 2022. Aviva reported a 10% rise in general insurance gross written premiums in the first nine months of the year to 7.2 billion pounds. The value of new business in its UK and Ireland life division rose 46% over the same period to 466 million pounds.

☆ Lender PCF to withdraw from UK market after rescue fails
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sinchita Mitra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares in PCF fell by around 62% to 0.4 pence in early trade following the news on Wednesday, six weeks after Castle Trust Capital withdrew its intention to make an offer for PCF. "This has been a very difficult strategic decision for the board to make given the consequences for the business, colleagues, customers, intermediaries and shareholders," Chief Executive of PCF Bank, Garry Stran, said in a statement. To cancel the AIM listing, it must consult investors. PCF, which has a market value just under 4 million pounds ($4.6 million), said it will continue to explore strategic transactions with interested third parties and it retained the support of Somers Limited, its biggest shareholder with a 73.24% stake. Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Sinead Cruise and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK's Lloyds Bank offers UK staff 2,000 pounds minimum pay rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds has offered UK staff a minimum 2,000 pounds ($2,242) pay rise, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, as lenders and employees across the sector begin annual pay talks that could see wage bills soar. Union Unite said it recommended members accept the "unprecedented offer", noting it directed higher awards to the lowest paid. The 2,000 pound uplift represented an average 10% pay rise for staff on lower grades, Unite said, with staff at higher grades getting a 4% increase. "The pay offer represents a win for the workforce," said Caren Evans, national officer for Unite. Lloyds was the first major British bank to offer staff an unscheduled pay boost to help them cope with the increased cost of living earlier this year.

☆ Britain to go it alone for now on reining in 'shadow banking'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Britain hopes the LDI crisis creates momentum for comprehensive global reform to improve data and liquidity in the sector. In Britain the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates UK-based managers of LDI funds, and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) regulates pension schemes. UK regulators face pushing ahead alone, for now, hoping global reforms eventually pressure others to follow suit. Most LDI funds are listed in European Union states like Luxembourg and Ireland, meaning structural changes would rely on the bloc. The Central Bank of Ireland said it has stepped up data collection, analysis and engagement with LDI funds.

☆ Britain's Metro Bank returned to profit in September, sees no customer stress
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Metro Bank said on Wednesday it returned to profit in September by keeping a tight rein on costs and has so far seen no sign of increased stress among its customers as Britain grapples with higher interest rates and an escalating cost of living crisis. The bank set aside a 10 million pound ($11.49 million) provision in case of losses on loans, and it expects its net interest margin to continue to increase through 2023 as interest rates climb. "There has been no deterioration in early warning indicators and no signs of stress or increased delinquency across the customer base," the bank said in third quarter trading update. ($1 = 0.8703 pounds)Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Charles Roe, director of mortgages for banking industry group UK Finance, told lawmakers that lenders were reintroducing mortgage products at lower prices. However, Ray Boulger, senior mortgage technical manager at broker John Charcol, said he was disappointed at the slow progress lenders were making. PRICE FALLS FORECASTAverage two-year and five-year fixed mortgage rates have fallen around 0.2 percentage points from their recent peak, but still remain above 6%, Moneyfacts data shows. "It was 2008 the last time mortgage rates were at 6%, there's a whole cadre of people who have never experienced this...and are very worried," said Joanna Elson, Chief Executive, The Money Advice Trust. The lender has started to reduce fixed mortgage rates for existing customers, while rates for new customers were under review, he added.

☆ Ithaca Energy breathes life into UK stock market as bookrunners eye $3.6 bln listing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Ithaca Energy's (IPO-IHEG.L) London listing will be priced at 250 to 310 pence, giving the North Sea oil and gas producer an implied market value of 2.5 billion to 3.1 billion pounds ($2.87 billion to $3.56 billion), bookrunners said on Wednesday. Ithaca, owned by Tel Aviv-listed Delek Group (DLEKG.TA), expects to be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK indices. The bookrunners said the listing is expected to have a free float of at least 10%, with the first day of trading on November 9. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley are joint global co-ordinators on the deal while HSBC (HSBA.L), Jefferies (JEF.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) are joint bookrunners, with ING (INGA.AS) acting as co-lead manager. ($1 = 0.8702 pounds)Reporting by Huw Jones and Sinead Cruise; editing by Jason Neely and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Chief Financial Officer of HSBC Georges Elhedery poses for a photo in this undated handout picture. It’s also surprised investors and raised questions about HSBC’s direction. Known at HSBC (HSBA.L) for his strategic vision more than for his accounting skills, Elhedery has climbed the ranks of HSBC’s investment bank since joining in 2005. "It was a surprise to us,” said Hugh Young, Asia chairman of Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of HSBC's top 25 shareholders. CEO Noel Quinn has done a good job but investors are impatient for faster progress, Young said.

Average two-year and five-year fixed rates hit 6.65% and 6.51% on Thursday, according to Moneyfacts, the highest since 2008. FALLING PRICESA drop in gilt yields following Rishi Sunak's victory in the Conservative Party leadership race could potentially feed through to lower mortgage rates. But the number of loans available for first-time buyers remains at less than half those on offer before the mini-budget, according to Moneyfacts. NEW FIXESAs well as first-time buyers, brokers are dealing with thousands of people whose fixed rate mortgages are due to expire in the coming months. Redmond, who has had an offer accepted in east London, said it felt as though every turn of political event only made the fixed interest rate higher.

Goldman Sachs analysts predict gross finance costs for the listed UK real estate firms it covers may rise by 75% over the next five years. UK REITs are using less leverage now than before the financial crisis. Leisure and retail property vacancy rates also remain above pre-pandemic levels, Local Data Company figures show, at 10.6% and 15.4% respectively. The stock market also signals growing investor caution around UK commercial property, with an index of 15 UK REITs down 44% so far in 2022 (.TRXFLDGBPREIC) compared with a 9.8% fall in the wider FTSE 350 (.FTLC) . UK REITs index vs 30-year gilt yield($1 = 0.8906 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterEditing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Liontrust reported net outflows of 1.6 billion pounds ($1.80 billion) in the July-September quarter, while Man Group posted net outflows of $500 million, compared with a $900 million consensus forecast. Quilter saw net inflows slow to 200 million pounds in the third quarter, compared with 1 billion pounds last year, while Rathbones' net inflows came in at 67 million pounds, following 1.43 billion pounds in outflows. Shares of Man Group dropped 5.3%, while Quilter shares shed 5%. Quilter's AUM at the quarter end was down by 1.8 billion pounds to 96.9 billion pounds. Rathbones' AUM fell to 57.9 billion pounds from 58.9 billion pounds at June-end, while Liontrust's slipped to 31.7 billion pounds over the same period.

Royal Bank of Scotland signs are seen at a branch of the bank, in London, Britain December 1, 2017. RBS agreed to settle Justice Department and FHFA investigations over its sales of residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The SEC did not pursue its own action against RBS in this instance. The petition Hong filed on Monday asks the Supreme Court to consider what constitutes an "action" within the SEC's whistleblower incentive program. "The better a whistleblower's information, the larger the sanctions, the larger the whistleblower award, and the greater the self-interested motivation for the SEC to take enforcement actions that it has conveniently placed outside of Dodd-Frank's reach," it added.

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - It started out simply enough: British pension schemes were looking for a way to match their assets to future pension payments. But the strategy gradually became riskier, according to interviews with pension scheme trustees, consultants, industry experts and asset managers. Globally, investors are worrying about other financial products predicated on low interest rates, now that rates are rising. Nearly two-thirds of Britain's defined benefit pension schemes use LDI funds, according to TPR. "When people talked about interest rates, all they obsessed about was interest rates falling," said David Fogarty, an independent trustee at professional pension scheme trustee provider Dalriada Trustees.

The watchdog's latest annual report said it had 72 open insider dealing cases as of 31 March 2022, compared to 71 the prior year. It had 88 open insider dealing cases as of March 2020, before the pandemic gripped Britain. Stamping out market abuse such as insider dealing – trading a company's publicly-quoted securities with access to confidential, market-moving information - is a key enforcement area for the FCA. The FCA said the insider dealing arrests and searches disclosed to Reuters related to suspect activity both before and after March 2020, when Britain first imposed COVID-19 lockdowns. The watchdog added they were unrelated to four insider dealing prosecutions it had commenced since March 2020.

JPMorgan & Chase (JPM.N), Citigroup, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and BNY Mellon act as depositary banks for most Russian depositary receipt programs, according to Clearstream. In statements to clients, some banks cited difficulties verifying there are enough shares to execute cancellations of depositary receipts. For example, BNY Mellon cited such a difficulty with Global Depositary Receipts in Russian gas company Novatek. While depositary receipts are under custody of global banks, the shares they represent are parked in Russia. Investors are meanwhile discussing ways online to meet the Russian requirements and how to pay fees to Russian banks.

☆ Explainer: How are life insurers coping in LDI storm?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Carolyn Cohn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The focus of a gilt market storm has been around pension schemes' use of liability-driven investments (LDI), many of which are highly leveraged. Life insurers also use LDI strategies in their provision of annuities, which pay a fixed income for life. HOW HAVE LIFE INSURERS PERFORMED? Life insurers were more likely to have hedged their positions with physical financial instruments, rather than with derivatives, analysts say. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR LIFE INSURERS?

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