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☆ 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?

☆ UK pensions sector must move quickly as BoE deadline looms - regulator
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - UK pension fund trustees should step up engagement with investment managers to quantify funding gaps and risks prior to the end of the Bank of England's (BoE) emergency bond-buying scheme on Oct. 14, The Pensions Regulator said on Wednesday. The regulator has also encouraged schemes to consider appointing professional trustees and to discuss whether employers are able to provide cash to help plug any liquidity shortfall, it said in a guidance statement for pension fund trustees and advisers. The BoE has had to step in to stabilise markets. In a sign of the spillover of the stress to other asset classes, Columbia Threadneedle said late on Tuesday it had suspended a property fund aimed at retail investors. read more($1 = 0.9118 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sinead Cruise and Carolyn Cohn Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

While estimates of how much pension funds need to sell vary they are in the hundreds of billions of pounds, and it is not known how much funds have already raised in cash. Tuesday's BoE intervention was targeted at buying index-linked bonds, a far smaller market than gilts, dominated by pension funds and which suffered another significant selloff this week. He estimates pension funds could sell assets totalling around 300 billion pounds as they adjust hedging positions, although it is not clear how much they may have sold already. He estimated 100 billion pounds could come from gilts and the rest from assets such as global credit, global equities and asset-backed securities. "The bottom line is a lot of schemes need to rebalance their portfolios," he said.

☆ BoE quantitative tightening likely to be delayed until later this year -fund manager
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Bank of England should consider giving markets "some comfort" around its quantitative tightening timetable, and will likely push back the long-anticipated policy change until later this year, a portfolio manager at U.S.-based investment manager Federated Hermes said on Tuesday. Orla Garvey, senior fixed income portfolio manager at Federated Hermes, said the central bank's quantitative tightening (QT), which is set to start on Oct. 31, was likely to be delayed until later this year. QT is a monetary policy used to shrink central bank balance sheets. "There are a lot of risk events coming that could impact market stability in the next few weeks, with the OBR report scheduled at the end of the month, and multiple central bank meetings," Garvey, referring to the Office for Budget Responsibility report due Nov. 23, said in a statement supplied to Reuters. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sinead Cruise and Muvija M; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ BoE should extend bond buying to Oct 31 or "possibly beyond"-pensions trade body
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Bank of England should consider continuing an emergency bond-buying programme aimed at stabilising the market for UK government debt to October 31 "and possibly beyond", the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association said on Tuesday. "...many feel it should be extended to the next fiscal event on 31 October and possibly beyond, or if purchasing is ended, that additional measures should be put in place to manage market volatility". The BoE on Monday doubled the maximum size of the buybacks and on Tuesday expanded the programme to include inflation-linked gilts, a move welcomed by the PLSA. read more read more"We continue to encourage all pension funds and service providers to use this period to take further steps to rebalance portfolios and ensure necessary measures are in place to protect their strategies in uncertain times," the trade body said. ($1 = 0.9061 pounds)($1 = 0.9057 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Compounding the pain, providers of so-called liability-driven investment strategies (LDI) are demanding more cash to support new and older hedging positions. The cash buffers now required are about three times bigger than previously requested, according to four consultants advising pension schemes, as market players seek bigger cushions against more volatile moves in bonds. Estimates of how much pension funds need to sell range but are in the hundreds of billions of pounds, although it is not known how much in assets schemes have sold already. "We are definitely not there," he said, referring to whether funds were close to raising the required cash by selling assets. He estimated 100 billion pounds could come from gilts and the rest from assets such as global credit, global equities and asset-backed securities.

Banks are finding the home loan market stacked in their favour after years of low mortgage rates, but are also aware that bigger mortgage bills could spell trouble for cash-strapped customers. But the higher rates will hit borrowers hard. Mortgage payments as a proportion of gross household income were on average around 20% in June, according to BuiltPlace, a property market consultancy. They could rise to around 27% - the highest since the early 1990s - if mortgage rates were to rise to 6%, the consultancy said. The rise in mortgage rates will be a blow for millions of households' finances, Sue Anderson, head of media at debt charity StepChange said.

Volkswagen priced Porsche AG shares at the top end of the indicated range and raised 19.5 billion euros from the flotation to fund the group's electrification drive. Porsche AG stock was trading up 3% from the issue price of 82.50 euros at 1035 GMT. That lifted Porsche AG's valuation to 77.4 billion euros, close to the market capitalisation of Volkswagen as a whole, which is worth around 80.1 billion euros, and puts it ahead of rivals like Ferrari (RACE.MI). Shares in Volkswagen and holding firm Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE), which owns a blocking minority in Porsche AG, were down 4.6% and 8%, respectively, as investors switched across. Up to 113,875,000 preferred Porsche AG shares, carrying no voting rights, were sold in the initial public offering.

☆ M&G names former AXA Investment Managers head as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - M&G (MNG.L) named investment veteran Andrea Rossi as its new chief executive on Thursday, putting him at the helm of one of Britain's best known fund management companies. A former head of AXA Investment Managers, Rossi will replace John Foley, who led M&G's split from parent Prudential in 2019, and who announced in April his intention to retire. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterMost recently, Rossi served as senior adviser to Boston Consulting Group. The appointment has been approved by the Britain's financial regulators the PRA and FCA, M&G said. ($1 = 0.9282 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Andres Gonzalez, editing by Sinead Cruise and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ M&G appoints former head of AXA Investment Managers Andrea Rossi as new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - British investment manager M&G (MNG.L) said on Thursday that Andrea Rossi, a former head of AXA Investment Managers, will take over as Chief Executive Officer of the company. Rossi will replace John Foley, who led M&G's split from parent Prudential in 2019, and who announced in April his intention to retire. Most recently, Rossi served as senior adviser to Boston Consulting Group. The appointment has been approved by the PRA and FCA, M&G said. ($1 = 0.9282 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Andres Gonzalez, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - HSBC will undertake a review of whether to keep its global headquarters in London's Canary Wharf financial district, according to a memo sent to staff and seen by Reuters on Thursday. The bank said it had decided to undertake a review "of the best future location in London" ahead of its lease expiring at the 45-floor tower at 8 Canada Square in early 2027. The bank said the review would include the option of staying and renovating the tower, adding it would keep its global headquarters in London. HSBC has occupied 8 Canada Square - which is one of the tallest buildings in Canary Wharf and bears the bank's name - since 2002. It has been home to up to around 8,000 HSBC employees, some of whom refer to it as the 'Tower of Doom'.

A source at the Treasury said Kwarteng had no plans to resign or reverse any policies. DO THINGS DIFFERENTLYBritain's first Black Chancellor, Kwarteng is the son of Ghanaian immigrants. In Kwarteng, Truss picked a key ideological ally with whom she co-wrote a book that spells out a low tax, small state, deregulated vision of Britain. One other aspect that raised investor ire was Kwarteng's decision to release a fiscal plan without the accompanying scrutiny of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. Kwarteng will set out a medium term fiscal plan alongside OBR forecasts on the scale of government borrowing on Nov. 23.

And clearly, with the strong foundation we have, I see it as being as an opportunity for us." read moreM&G's assets under management and administration dropped 6% in the first half of 2022 to 349 billion pounds, the group reported in August, although it posted net inflows of cash from clients totaling 1.2 billion pounds over the same period. But shares have tumbled 28% since then, compared with a 10% fall in the broader FTSE 100 index. The appointment of Rossi, who will earn a base salary of 875,000 pounds plus incentives, has been approved by Britain's financial regulators the PRA and FCA, M&G said. Foley, who led M&G's split from parent Prudential in 2019, announced his intention to retire in April.

"Were dysfunction in this market to continue or worsen, there would be a material risk to UK financial stability," the BoE warned. One source at the Treasury said Kwarteng would not resign, and the government would not reverse its policy. A second person familiar with the situation said Truss still backed Kwarteng and they would announce further economic reforms soon. One source at the meeting said Kwarteng had asked the assembled finance bosses what they could do to calm markets. U.S. bond giant PIMCO said it would have less confidence in sterling than it did before last Friday's announcement.

"The mortgage crisis is going to be bigger than energy now," said Richard Murphy, professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University, warning of a drop in house prices that could leave many with debt greater than the value of their home. This comes on top of a cost of living crisis driven by rising food and energy prices which is already biting many hard. CALL FOR CALMBeyond the immediate squeeze this will have on consumers' ability to spend, rising borrowing costs also have the potential to send the years-long house market rally into reverse: HSBC analysts predict house price falls of 7.5% into next year. Some top mortgage lenders are calling for calm, stressing they are still signing mortgage deals and that the pullback in lending among smaller rivals is in no way indicative of a broader, exodus of lenders from the mortgage market. Chris Huddleston, chief executive of international brokerage company FXD Capital, said he expected the mortgage market to remain in limbo in coming weeks as investors watch currency markets and how the Bank of England reacts.

☆ Explainer: Why are Britain's pension schemes dumping gilts?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WHAT ARE DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION SCHEMES? Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes pay pensioners a fixed annual amount, often a proportion of the final salary they earned as employees. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe pension schemes invest typically more than half of their assets in bonds, in order to pay pension liabilities decades into the future. To avoid being exposed to market volatility, the schemes typically hedge their positions through gilt derivatives managed by so-called liability-driven investment (LDI) funds. LDI funds also sold index-linked gilts to shore up the cash in their funds.

Standard Chartered (STAN.L), a competitor of HSBC in emerging markets, said earlier this year it would end all direct coal financing for clients by 2032. The Global Coal Exit List, which tracks finance firms' ties to the coal sector, said HSBC's fund arm exposure was $3.4 billion at end-November. HSBC said it will have engaged with all listed companies in its actively managed portfolios with more than 10% of revenues from thermal coal by next year. HSBC said in its 2021 annual report that the bank's thermal coal loan exposure was $1 billion, or 0.2% of its total wholesale loan book. When it comes to holding the boards of companies with significant thermal coal exposure to account, HSBC said its fund arm would vote against the election of board chairs at companies planning to expand production and use of thermal coal.

Ben Stansall/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain is moving ahead with plans for a sweeping overhaul of its public registry of companies in a bid to transform it into an active gatekeeper of corporate information and crack down harder on "dirty money", a government source said. Companies House is Britain's public registry of companies, their directors, significant shareholders who control the business and their financial filings. Anti-corruption groups have long called for reforms to the registry to improve transparency and tackle corruption through shell firms. At the moment, companies can be owned by nominees and many do not file full financial statements. ($1 = 0.8825 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterWriting by Kirstin Ridley, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The logo of Barclays bank is seen on glass lamps outside of a branch of the bank in the City of London financial district in London September 4, 2017. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleLONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Investment banks are likely to be hit by a dip in trading revenue next year and will be counting on a bounce back in advisory fees to support their finances, Barclays' CEO C.S. A trading surge has helped investment banks report robust results this year and helped to offset a dire year for fees on company flotations and M&A deals amid global market turbulence. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"Trading revenue pools will probably shrink a bit and investment banking revenue pools will probably rise. And so the declining trading revenue pools seasonally adjusted is more likely to happen in the second half of next year."

☆ Santander hires law firm to investigate bankers' strip club visit
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Jesús Aguado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterMADRID, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Spanish bank Santander (SAN.MC) hired a law firm to investigate a whistleblower report saying a group of bankers visited a strip club after a day of company meetings and pressured younger colleagues to join them, a source close to the matter said. Santander responded by hiring U.S. law firm Gibson Dunn to conduct an internal investigation over the summer, Reuters' source said. The law firm interviewed several people involved in the night out and concluded there had not been explicit pressure exerted on junior staff members, the source added. The Financial Times reported that no one has been dismissed as yet, but one manager has been disciplined. A Gibson Dunn representative was not immediately available for comment and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority said it is unable to comment on individual cases.

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