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What’s making the French so angry is a new retirement age that will still be one of the lowest in the industrialized world. Under a new law, pushed through parliament without a vote last week, the retirement age for most French workers will be raised from 62 to 64. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. Protesters in Bordeaux, western France, on March 23, 2023 Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesState pensions in France are also more generous than elsewhere. The French government has defended the retirement reform — which includes other changes — as necessary to keep the pension system funded.

☆ UK interest rates: Bank of England hikes by a quarter percentage point
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —[Breaking news] The Bank of England hiked interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point Thursday, extending its long-running fight against inflation, which rose unexpectedly in February. The central bank made its 11th consecutive rate hike, taking its benchmark rate to 4.25%, the highest since October 2008. ET]The Bank of England is expected to hike rates by a quarter of a percentage point Thursday following an unexpected jump in inflation. The US Federal Reserve hiked rates by a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday. Announcing its rate hike, Switzerland’s central bank said UBS’s weekend takeover of Credit Suisse had “put a halt” to the banking crisis.

☆ Credit Suisse rescue creates bank twice the size of Switzerland's economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

London CNN —The last-minute rescue of Credit Suisse may have prevented the current banking crisis from exploding, but it’s a raw deal for Switzerland. An aerial view of the headquarters of Credit Suisse, center, and UBS, left, at Paradeplatz in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday, 19 March, 2023. Credit Suisse is “part of Switzerland’s identity,” said Hans Gersbach, a professor of macroeconomics at ETH university in Zurich. “The Credit Suisse Swiss bank is a fine asset that we are very determined to keep,” Kelleher said Sunday. Integration is difficultAt $3.25 billion, UBS got Credit Suisse for 60% less than the bank was worth when markets closed two days prior.

London CNN —Consumer prices in the United Kingdom jumped by 10.4% in February compared with a year ago, as food inflation hit its highest level in more than 45 years and restaurants charged more for alcohol, official data showed Wednesday. Food inflation hit a new record high, with prices rising 18.2% through the year to February, up from 16.8% in January. The ONS said soaring food prices were partly caused by shortages of some salad and vegetable items, which led to rationing by supermarkets. Inflation had been falling since hitting a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, largely driven by the lower cost of motor fuels. Analysts say the surprise increase in prices makes it more likely the Bank of England will hike interest rates again when it meets Thursday.

☆ Credit Suisse went the way of Bear Stearns in 2008. But this crisis is different
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

A sign of Credit Suisse pictured behind a sign of UBS in Zurich on March 18, 2023. The Swiss government said Tuesday it had ordered Credit Suisse to temporarily suspend the payment of some bonuses, including share awards, to bank staff. Credit Suisse is the first “global systemically important” bank to be rescued since 2008. Yet despite its importance to the financial system, most analysts are not expecting Credit Suisse’s demise to mark the beginning of another global financial crisis. “It’s possible that a vicious circle develops, in which credit tightens, the real economy deteriorates, and default rates start to rise,” he said.

☆ European Central Bank faces ‘unenviable choice’ on interest rates due to banking woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —As recently as 24 hours ago, the European Central Bank (ECB) was widely expected to hike interest rates by half a percentage point Thursday in its fight against inflation. The lender has now agreed a $53 billion loan from Switzerland’s central bank saying it was a “decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity.”The move seems to have reassured investors for now, with European bank stocks rebounding Thursday. Although European banks are judged to be well-capitalized, analysts say the events of the past week could lead them to adopt a more cautious approach to lending. ET, “is a test of the conundrum facing central banks,” said Adam Hoyes, an economist at Capital Economics. The ECB and other central banks will be weighing inflationary pressures against the risk of adding further stress to markets.

☆ Premarket stocks: The forgotten rescue plan that could prevent another SVB-like collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Bank stocks rebounded significantly on Tuesday after logging record plunges Monday and the week prior. Those banks will coordinate to take Fed loans around the same time on the same day alongside smaller banks. ▸ US bank stocks rebounded on Tuesday, recovering some of their losses after the collapse of three banks tested markets on Monday. Regional bank stocks rallied: First Republic (FRC) Bank ended the day up 27% after a record drop on Monday. The question is whether bank stocks can hold on to their gains or if Tuesday was just a sector-wide dead cat bounce.

☆ Why the UK spring budget won't fix the economy's problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —The last time a British finance minister unveiled a “budget for growth,” UK financial markets crashed and mortgage rates shot up, threatening to tip an already weak economy into a deep recession. But he will deliver his budget against essentially the same gloomy backdrop: the UK economy is stuck in the doldrums. John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, estimates that Brexit had cost the UK economy 5.5% of GDP by June 2022. SVB could depress UK bank lendingAnother factor that could weigh on the UK economy in the near term: Silicon Valley Bank. “It is likely that UK financial conditions will remain tighter (or potentially significantly tighter) over coming months than they would have been without the US banking troubles,” Pickering said in a research note Monday.

☆ Credit Suisse finds ‘material weakness’ in its financial reporting, scraps exec bonuses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —Credit Suisse on Tuesday acknowledged “material weakness” in its financial reporting as it scrapped bonuses for top executives in the wake of its worst annual performance since the global financial crisis. The board concluded that “this material weakness could result in misstatements of account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual financial statements of Credit Suisse,” it added. Credit Suisse said it was urgently developing a “remediation plan” to strengthen controls. Credit Suisse’s stock was down 3.7% in morning trade. The bank’s share price fell to a new record low Monday, as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank scared investors and pummeled European banking stocks.

☆ Why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and what it could mean
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —Silicon Valley Bank collapsed with astounding speed on Friday. A Brinks armored truck sits parked in front of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1983, Silicon Valley Bank was, just before collapsing, America’s 16th largest commercial bank. Like many other banks, SVB ploughed billions into US government bonds during the era of near-zero interest rates. By Friday morning, trading in SVB shares was halted and it had abandoned efforts to raise capital or find a buyer.

☆ London fears for its future as companies defect to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —London is used to punching well above its weight in global financial markets. And 70% of global secondary bond market trading happens in the city, according to the London Stock Exchange. Beyond the jobs they create and the tax they generate, financial markets also channel capital into companies to fund future growth. In other words, to safeguard its future, London needs to reinvigorate its stock markets. Those “unicorns” should be listing in London “at an earlier stage,” Haynes argues, “rather than growing through private equity and being sold off to Nasdaq.”Hoggett of the London Stock Exchange puts it this way: “London needs to be young, scrappy and hungry.”

☆ Credit Suisse delays annual report after ‘late call’ from the SEC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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Air France said about 20% of short-haul flights would be canceled, but long-haul services would be maintained. The reforms will gradually increase the age at which most French citizens can draw a state pension to 64, from 62. A record 1.3 million people took part in demonstrations on January 19, which brought the country to a standstill and shuttered the Eiffel Tower to visitors. The government has said the pension legislation is necessary to tackle a funding deficit, but the reforms have angered workers at a time when living costs are rising. The legislation is currently before French lawmakers, with a vote on the final version of the text expected later this month.

☆ Toblerone forced to replace iconic Matterhorn on packaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The peak-shaped treat made with honey and almond nougat will also lose the iconic Matterhorn mountain from its packaging after Mondelez (MDLZ), which makes Toblerone, decided to shift some manufacturing to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. “For legal reasons, the changes we’re making to our manufacturing mean we need to adjust our packaging to comply with Swissness legislation. We have removed our Swissness claim from the front of the Toblerone pack and changed our description ‘of Switzerland’ to ‘established in’,” a Mondelez spokesperson told CNN. Mondelez’s new packaging includes “a distinctive new Toblerone typeface and logo” and the signature of Theodor Tobler, the spokesperson added. Tobler created the chocolate bar in 1908 together with his cousin Emil Baumann, according to the Mondelez website.

☆ UK house prices post sharpest fall since 2012
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —UK house prices last month saw their biggest annual decline since November 2012, in the latest indication of the lasting pain that former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s ill-fated “mini” budget inflicted on Britain’s property market. The average price of a house fell 1.1% to £257,406 ($310,000) in February compared with a year earlier, taking UK house price growth into negative territory for the first time since June 2020, lender Nationwide said Wednesday. House prices have now declined for six months in a row and are 3.7% below their August 2022 peak, according to Nationwide’s index based on purchases involving a mortgage. “The economy has largely moved on from the mini budget, but the hangover for the UK housing market is more prolonged. Mortgage rates have started to fall but recent stronger-than-expected UK economic data could lead the Bank of England to keep interest rates higher for longer, causing the downward drift in mortgage rates to “stall,” he told CNN.

☆ Brexit slammed the UK economy. The Northern Ireland deal gives it hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It delivers “long-lasting solutions” that will work for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland, she added. It also allows the UK government to determine sales tax rates for businesses in Northern Ireland and gives the Northern Ireland government emergency powers to oppose new EU rules on some goods. A boost to BritainBeyond its importance to Northern Ireland, the deal eases the uncertainty Brexit created for Britain. The new Northern Ireland deal opens the door to closer UK-EU cooperation on financial services, energy, immigration and scientific research, according to experts. “You need to address the Protocol before you do anything else,” said Anna Jerzewska, the founder of international trade consultancy Trade & Borders.

Washington/London CNN —The European Commission has banned TikTok from official devices because of concerns about cybersecurity, a move sharply criticized by the company in its latest run-in with Western governments over how it handles user data. Commission staff have until March 15 to delete the short-form video app, owned by China’s ByteDance, from work devices and any personal devices that use Commission apps and services. Based in Brussels, the European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union, responsible for proposing and enforcing legislation and implementing the EU budget. “This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” the Commission said in a statement Thursday. Previously, TikTok has disclosed to European users that China-based employees may access EU users’ data.

☆ BBC won’t be ‘put off’ covering India by tax raids and censorship
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —The BBC says it will not be “put off” from reporting in India after the government prevented a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from airing in the country and raided the broadcaster’s offices. Indian tax authorities spent three days searching BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai last week. We won’t be put off from that task”Davie added that the BBC “does not have an agenda.”Indian authorities have accused the BBC of tax evasion. Modi was accused of not doing enough to stop the violence, which killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. — Swati Gupta and Manveena Suri in New Delhi, Olesya Dmitracova and Martin Goillandeau in London, and Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong contributed reporting.

☆ London is handing out free meals for all primary school children
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —London’s mayor has announced an emergency program to provide free meals for all children attending state primary schools in the capital, adding to a string of fresh evidence that Brits are struggling to afford necessities. “The cost-of-living crisis means families and children across our city are in desperate need of additional support,” Sadiq Khan, who himself received free school meals as a child, said in a statement Monday. A quarter of all London pupils, including those in high school, already qualify for free school meals according to national criteria largely based on household income, according to official data. This number tallies with an estimate by the Child Poverty Action Group that about 210,000 children living in poverty in London don’t qualify for free school meals because the eligibility criteria are “so restrictive.”Children eat lunch at St Mary's RC Primary School in Battersea, south London, on November 29, 2022. Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images/FILEThere was further evidence Monday that more and more Brits are struggling to afford food and electricity as inflation, which is near its highest level in four decades, erodes wages and welfare payments.

☆ Nestlé says food prices will rise further this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Food, including ice cream, will see significant price increases in 2023, CEO Alan Jope said on the same call. Unilever said price increases caused sales volumes to decline by 2.1% in 2022. Heineken, meanwhile, said it expected to sell less beer in Europe this year because of “steep” price increases related to energy costs. At the time, Tesco (TSCDF) described the company’s price increases as “unjustifiable.” Once the products were restored, prices were unchanged on Heinz’s most popular lines. Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesTesco has also “fallen out with other suppliers” over price increases, its chairman John Allen recently told the BBC.

☆ Cleveland Clinic to open its third London facility as Brits flock to private health care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —US group Cleveland Clinic will open its third London facility this autumn as demand for private health care booms in the United Kingdom — sparked in large part by long wait times to access treatment on the National Health Service (NHS). “We are excited to be expanding our London footprint with a third location, in the heart of the City of London,” said Tommaso Falcone, interim CEO of Cleveland Clinic London. Cleveland Clinic is one of several major private health care providers expanding rapidly in the United Kingdom to keep up with demand from a much broader swathe of the population than ever before. Also building new UK facilities this year are HCA Healthcare — another American group — and private hospital group Spire Healthcare. NHS wait timesThe demand is being fueled by long wait times to access care on the NHS.

☆ Barclays shares plunge 10% as profit falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Shares of Barclays tumbled nearly 10% Wednesday after the British bank reported a sharp drop in profit, driven by increased provisions for bad debts and huge fines for wrongly sold securities in the United States. Barclays (BCS) reported a net profit of £5.97 billion ($7.2 billion) for 2022, a 15% decline on the previous year. Meanwhile fee income at Barclays International, which houses its investment bank, slid 22% to £5.2 billion ($6.3 billion). Investors may also have been disappointed by the announcement of a £500 million ($600.7 million) share buyback, adding to pressure on the stock. Barclays said total share buybacks amounted to £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in 2022.

☆ UK strikes hit a 30-year high as inflation erodes pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Many public sector workers have been offered raises of 4% or 5% for the current financial year, far lower than the 10.5% annual inflation rate in December. Real pay fallsThe UK government has so far refused to grant public sector workers higher pay awards, arguing that doing so risks making the inflation problem worse. For public sector workers, the decline in real pay will have been worse as, without adjusting for inflation, their wages grew a lot less compared with private sector earnings. The ONS said private sector pay growth was at its strongest outside the height of the coronavirus pandemic. “However, median anticipated public sector pay rise expectations of 2% lag those in the private sector at 5%, with the gap providing the context for ongoing discontent and strikes among key public sector workers,” the CIPD said.

☆ Cheaper hotels, shorter trips: Trivago CEO on how inflation is reshaping travel
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

But as inflation has jumped, many tourists are hunting for ways to keep costs down, from opting for shorter trips to steering clear of higher-end hotels. “You have real wage contractions in quite a lot of markets,” Axel Hefer, CEO of search platform Trivago, told CNN. Meanwhile, domestic travel remains strong in countries like the United Kingdom, which has seen big swings in the pound in recent months. “People still do want to travel and do travel, but they’re still trying to compensate for the increase in prices,” Hefer said. For now, bookings for air travel still lag pre-pandemic levels.

☆ Credit Suisse posts biggest loss since 2008
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Credit Suisse (CS) has reported its biggest annual loss since the financial crisis in 2008, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing the scandal-plagued Swiss bank as it attempts a turnaround. The lender on Thursday posted a loss of 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.5 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2022, extending a losing streak that started in 2021 and taking its full-year loss to 7.3 billion Swiss francs ($7.9 billion). In 2008, Credit Suisse made a loss of 8.2 billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion). Customers withdrew 111 billion Swiss francs ($121 billion) in the final three months of 2022, when the bank was hit by social media speculation that it was on the brink of collapse. For example, the collapse of US hedge fund Archegos Capital Management, a client of Credit Suisse, in 2021 cost the bank $5.5 billion.

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