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☆ Evan Gershkovich declares his innocence in a Moscow court, but his detention is upheld.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Evan is wrongfully detained, and the charges of espionage against him are false,” the leaders of the Journal and Dow Jones, the paper’s publisher, said in a statement. The case represents one of Mr. Putin’s most dramatic attacks to date on freedom of the press. Mr. Putin’s spokesman has claimed that Mr. Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” and signaled that the Russian president personally approved of the arrest. Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Mr. Gershkovich’s legal team said that the court had rejected an offer from Dow Jones to post a 50 million ruble — $600,000 — bond on Mr. Gershkovich’s behalf. Tatiana Nozhkina, a lawyer for Mr. Gershkovich along with Ms. Korchagina, said he was not guilty and later, in response to written questions, added that the legal team would appeal his arrest by filing a complaint about the lower courts’ decisions.

☆ More US consumers are falling behind on payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Andrew KellyNEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - Consumers are starting to fall behind on their credit card and loan payments as the economy softens, according to executives at the biggest U.S. banks, although they said delinquency levels were still modest. Citigroup also made larger provisions for credit losses even as it brought in more revenue from clients' interest payments on credit cards. "We have tightened credit standards specifically as a result of the current market environment in cards, we continue to calibrate our credit underwriting based on what we're seeing based on macroeconomic trends," Mason said. "The consumer's in great shape in terms of credit quality by any historical standards. Some of JPMorgan's customers were starting to fall behind on payments, but delinquency levels were still modest, said Jeremy Barnum, finance chief at the largest U.S. lender.

State prosecutors, who had requested the court jail him for 25 years, had accused him of treason and of discrediting the Russian military after he criticised what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. In a CNN interview broadcast hours before he was arrested, Kara-Murza had alleged that Russia was being run by a "regime of murderers." He had also used speeches in the United States and across Europe to accuse Moscow of bombing civilian targets in Ukraine, a charge it has rejected. I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate," he had said. Kara-Murza's lawyers say that as a result, he suffers from a serious nerve disorder called polyneuropathy.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. When asked by the judge if he needed translation, Gershkovich said in Russian that he understood everything. The Kremlin has said Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught "red-handed". "He is reading a lot in prison - Russian literature in the original Russian," Nozhkina told Reuters, adding that he was reading Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece "War and Peace" about the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Asked about the prison food, Nozhkina said Gershkovich was being given porridge in the mornings and that the food was normal.

Wells Fargo fared less favorably, down 0.3%, and regional banks including Zions (ZION.O) and First Republic (FRC.N) fell. Net interest income, a measure of how much a bank earns from lending, surged 49% to $20.8 billion. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo set aside $1.21 billion in the quarter to cover for potential loan losses, compared to a release of $787 million a year earlier. "While most consumers remain resilient, we've seen some consumer financial health trends gradually weakening from a year ago," Mike Santomassimo, Wells Fargo finance chief, told analysts. More banking results are due over the coming week, including Bank of America (BAC.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) on Tuesday and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) on Wednesday.

April 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's (C.N) first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations as it earned more from borrowers paying higher interest on loans. Citi earned $1.86 per share in the first quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.67, according to Refinitiv data. The bank's investment in services to corporations resulted in 31% growth in revenues in treasury and trade solutions. INVESTMENT BANKING BACK? Mason expressed cautious optimism about a recovery in investment banking.

[1/2] The Citigroup Inc (Citi) logo is seen at the SIBOS banking and financial conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. First-quarter 2023 earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) beat Wall Street expectations on Friday as consumer and corporate spending held up in the face of rate rises, although all three saw signs of a slowdown and made provisions accordingly. Net interest income, a measure of how much a bank earns from lending, surged 49% to $20.8 billion. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo set aside $1.21 billion in the quarter to cover for potential loan losses, compared to a release of $787 million a year earlier. "While most consumers remain resilient, we've seen some consumer financial health trends gradually weakening from a year ago," Mike Santomassimo, Wells Fargo finance chief, told analysts.

April 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's (C.N) first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations on Friday as it earned more from borrowers paying higher interest on loans. While its net interest income rose 23% to $13.3 billion, Citi also set aside $241 million to cover potential loan losses, from $138 million a year earlier. Net income rose 7% to $4.6 billion, or $2.19 per share, in the three months to March 31 from $4.3 billion, or $2.02 per share, a year earlier. The banking sector was jolted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, which wiped out billions of dollars in market value. Analysts expect an economic slowdown to curb demand for loans and depress net interest margins (NIM) across the industry in the coming quarters.

Earnings per share for the six biggest U.S. banks are expected to be down about 10% from a year earlier, analyst estimates from Refinitiv I/B/E/S show. The bank is expected to report a 30% rise in EPS, buoyed by an almost 36% increase in net interest income, according the Refinitiv I/B/E/S estimates and Reuters calculations. "We expect a challenging earnings season for the banks," said David Chiaverini, banking analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note. He said bank managements will become more defensive, implementing liquidity measures that could lead to downward revisions for net interest income. Net interest income for the six biggest U.S. banks are expected to be up about 30% from a year earlier, according to analyst estimates from Refinitiv I/B/E/S.

☆ Kim Jong Un digitally erased an actor he doesn't like from the re-run of a popular North Korean TV show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea has wiped all record of an out-of-favor actor from a popular TV show, per NK News. The actor was digitally replaced with another actor in the re-run of the series, per the outlet. Choe Ung Chol, an actor known for his good looks, has been digitally replaced with actor Pak Jong Taek in the show "The Taehongdang Party Secretary." The series was otherwise completely unchanged, per Prof. Tatiana Gabroussenko, a North Korea specialist writing for the outlet. Jang, once considered the most powerful person in North Korea beyond Kim himself, was denounced as "despicable human scum."

Paying more for deposits is an effective way for banks to keep customers loyal, analysts said. Smaller banks, which were most strained by the recent crisis, have been able to stem the exodus of deposits for now, according to weekly from the Federal Reserve. That said, the Fed’s data showed deposits at smaller banks were still down some $216 billion during the week ending March 22 from a December high. Meanwhile, large U.S. banks lost out on $96.2 billion in deposits in the week ending March 22, the Fed data showed. Deposits at large banks dropped some $519 billion from as high as $11.2 trillion in February last year.

☆ Crisis jolts Wall Street bankers already resigned to tough job market
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street bankers face an increasingly gloomy job market after last month’s banking crisis worsened an already bleak outlook for pay and staffing. One likely consequence of the turmoil is that banks tighten their lending standards, which could further hinder dealmaking - making the prospects for jobs and compensation on Wall Street more gloomy. Now, financial industry workers are fretting not only about pay, but job security. The Wall Street giant typically cuts about 5% of its lowest-performing staff as part of the process. While there are plenty of reasons to be glum, Wall Street workers are enjoying one silver lining after the pandemic: greater flexibility in structuring their workday.

☆ Russia's ultranationalists appear increasingly vulnerable after pro-war blogger's killing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The blast killed Tatarsky and injured at least 30 others, the authorities said, before detaining a woman on suspicion of involvement in what they described as a "high-profile murder." The death also sent shockwaves through Russia's pro-war commentariat which has burgeoned since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago. Tatarsky was one of Russia's more prominent and outspoken pro-war bloggers, with 572,000 followers on the popular messaging app Telegram. Unsettling ultranationalistsTatarsky's death is the second apparent assassination of a prominent Russian pro-war commentator on home soil. A leading Russian military blogger was killed on April 2, 2023 in an explosion in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, the interior ministry said.

☆ JPMorgan's Dimon says US banking crisis not over, sees long repercussions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. banking crisis is ongoing and will have effects for years to come, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday. "The market's odds of a recession have increased," Dimon wrote. "And while this is nothing like 2008, it is not clear when this current crisis will end. Even so, it is unclear whether the disruptions will slow the consumer spending that drives the U.S. economy, Dimon wrote. Any new regulations in response to the latest turmoil should be "thoughtful," including clearer rules for dealing with failed banks, Dimon wrote.

☆ JPMorgan's Dimon says US banking turmoil not over, sees long repercussions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

And the banking system is under renewed stress after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse's rescue by UBS last month. "The market's odds of a recession have increased," Dimon wrote. "And while this is nothing like 2008, it is not clear when this current crisis will end. Even so, it is unclear whether the disruptions will slow the consumer spending that drives the U.S. economy, Dimon wrote. Any new regulations in response to the latest turmoil should be "thoughtful," including clearer rules for dealing with failed banks, Dimon wrote.

Summary Russia accuses detained U.S. journalist of spyingSays he was trying to gather state/military secretsWall Street Journal denies the allegationsMove latest blow to dire Russia-U.S. tiesLONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Russia's FSB security service said on Thursday it had detained a reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying for Washington, the most serious public move against a foreign journalist since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal said in a statement it was "deeply concerned" for Gershkovich's safety and that it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter". TOUGH CENSORSHIP LAWS[1/5] Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich appears in an undated handout image taken in an unknown location. Other foreign journalists covering Russia expressed support for Gershkovich online, saying he was a professional reporter, not a spy. Gershkovich, who has covered Russia since 2017, previously worked at The Moscow Times newspaper and at Agence-France Presse news agency before joining the Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau in January last year.

Las Vegas, March 29 (Reuters) - Consumer and mid-sized banks are planning to monitor their internal processes more closely and hold more frequent discussions with regulators as the industry tries to move forward from weeks of turmoil, industry executives say. She spoke as senior executives from regional and mid-sized U.S. banks gathered alongside regulators for the association's annual conference this week. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said regulators were focused on maintaining stability of the financial system. In recent weeks, President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and industry executives have made public statements aimed at reassuring depositors. "The banking system is pretty sound," and large and regional banks are well-capitalized, Citigroup Inc (C.N) CEO Jane Fraser said last week.

March 28 (Reuters) - The recent failures of mid-size U.S. lenders show the need for more robust risk management at banks and fintechs, along with improved regulation, the head of the top consumer financial watchdog agency said on Tuesday. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra told a gathering of retail bankers in Las Vegas that regulators were looking at liquidity, interest-rate risk management, capital frameworks, resolution planning and stress testing. "It will be good for the industry to have some honest conversations with itself about what is the way for the regulatory framework to not create this type of risk," Chopra said. As head of the CFPB, Chopra also sits on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took over failed Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month. He also serves on the Financial Stability Oversight Council, created in the wake of the 2008 crash.

LAS VEGAS, March 28 (Reuters) - Mid-sized U.S. lenders are getting creative as they try to hang onto customer deposits after two bank failures rattled consumers and spurred a $119 billion exodus from small institutions in recent weeks. Industry executives discussed strategies to bolster trust in their institutions at an annual meeting of the Consumer Bankers Association conference on Monday in Las Vegas. Paying higher rates on deposits is the most common way to make them stick, executives said. Despite the recent flight in deposits to large banks, one banker at a mid-sized bank said they were confident the lender could survive the recent exodus. Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Nupur Anand in Las Vegas; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, the second and third largest closures in the nation's history. Authorities then took unprecedented action to backstop the collapsed companies' deposits and introduced new measures to shore up confidence. The ups and downs may have helped banks' trading desks as choppy markets fueled client activity. While billions of dollars of those deposits landed at the biggest banks, some analysts said the influx was unlikely to provide a major boost to their earnings. Investors are becoming increasingly focused on the rising cost of funding for banks, which could weigh on earnings, analysts at Piper Sandler wrote in a note last week.

☆ Rwanda is releasing dissident Paul Rusesabagina from prison, the government says. The hero whose story inspired 'Hotel Rwanda' saved over 1,000 people from being massacred in the 1990s.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rwanda announced Friday that it is commuting the 25-year sentence of dissident Paul Rusesabagina. Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the Hollywood movie "Hotel Rwanda," saved over 1,000 people from being killed during the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana at an event in West Hollywood in 2005. The Hotel des Mille Collines, known as "Hotel Rwanda," where Rusesabagina sheltered Tutsis. Paul Rusesabagina (left) and actor Don Cheadle (right) at a 2005 press conference for "Hotel Rwanda."

Stepan, 28, who has increasingly driven Chinese cars when using carsharing services, is among those that need convincing. If you want my honest opinion, the difference (with Chinese cars) is massive," he told Reuters at Moscow's Favorit Motors dealership. When buying his new Chinese car, Alexander, 74, looked for one which encompassed Swedish technology. While Chinese cars are increasingly filling the gap, the lack of reputation remains an issue, said auto industry expert Sergey Aslanyan. Chinese brands' market share reached 37.15% in January-February, up from 9.48% a year earlier, Autostat and PPK data showed.

Morgan Stanley analyst Manan Gosalia, in a report earlier this week, set a target price of $54 for First Republic shares in a best-case scenario. "I have not considered or discussed anything having to do with blanket insurance or guarantees of deposits," she said. The Morgan Stanley report considered that a potential extension of FDIC insurance could bring a majority of First Republic's customers back. Even if it clinches a cash infusion, the lender will probably need to take losses on securities in its so-called held-to-maturity portfolio, the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. In the worst-case scenario, First Republic's shares would sink to just $1, Morgan Stanley analysts estimated.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying that the management of Silicon Valley Bank "failed badly," but that the bank's collapse did not indicate wider weaknesses in the banking system. "These are not weaknesses that are running broadly through the banking system," he said, adding that the takeover of Credit Suisse seemed to have been a positive outcome. The Federal Open Market Committee policy statement also said the U.S. banking system is "sound and resilient." The much-anticipated rate cut by the Fed, which had delivered eight previous rate hikes in the past year, sought to balance the risk of rampant inflation with the threat of instability in the banking system. The banking sector has been in turmoil after California regulators on March 10 closed Silicon Valley Bank in the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley analyst Manan Gosalia, in a report earlier this week, set a target price of $54 for First Republic shares in a best-case scenario. That hope was reduced on Wednesday, after Yellen told a hearing of the U.S. Senate's Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services that the government "is not considering insuring all uninsured bank deposits." The Morgan Stanley report considered that a potential extension of FDIC insurance could bring a majority of First Republic's customers back. Even if it clinches a cash infusion, the lender will probably need to take losses on securities in its so-called held to maturity portfolio, the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. In the worst-case scenario, First Republic's shares would sink to just $1, Morgan Stanley analysts estimated.

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