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☆ Bond investors show confidence in Schwab after cost-cutting
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Matt Tracy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The company logo for Financial broker Charles Schwab is displayed at a location in the financial district in New York, U.S., March 20, 2023. The announcement led to a 5% fall in Schwab shares on Tuesday but did not hurt investor appetite for its new bonds. "The strong response shows bond investors, at least in the near term, have gotten over their worries about the credit fundamentals of top-tier regional banks after the banking crisis in March," said Richard Wolff, head of U.S. syndicate at Societe Generale (SOGN.PA). Schwab's bond trade also drew attention as new investment grade bond supply this month has so far been lower than expected. Counting Schwab's $2.35 billion in bonds, investment-grade bond volume sits at just $3.45 billion for the week and $67.1 billion so far in August, according to Informa Global Markets data.

Persons: Charles Schwab, Brendan McDermid, Schwab, Richard Wolff, Dan Krieter, Brian Mulberry, David Del Vecchio, Natalie Trevithick, Matt Tracy, Nupur Anand, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, Societe Generale, BMO Capital, Zacks Investment Management, Federal Home Loan Bank, Payden, Informa, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Los Angeles

☆ Meet Khan Academy's AI tutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Nadia Bidarian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

More than 8,000 teachers and students will test education nonprofit Khan Academy’s artificial intelligence tutor in the classroom this upcoming school year, toying with its interactive features and funneling feedback to Khan Academy if the AI botches an answer. A conversation between CNN's Nadia Bidarian and Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI chatbot tutor. Khan Lab School is a separate nonprofit founded by Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan. Khan Academy’s in-the-works AI learning course “AI 101 for Teachers,” created in partnership with Code.org, ETS and the International Society for Technology in Education, offers a path toward AI literacy among teachers. Imperfect, but improvingAn AI “tutor” like Khanmigo is not immune to the flubs all large language models face: so-called hallucinations.

Persons: —, Khanmigo, George Washington, Cleopatra, Martin Luther King Jr, CNN's Nadia Bidarian, Khan, Kristen DiCerbo, she’s, DiCerbo, “, Oz, ” DiCerbo, “ We’re, Albert Einstein, Einstein, Socrates, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, ”, Thomas Jefferson, Khanmigo’s Thomas Jefferson, GPT, Leo Lin, Sal Khan, they’ve, Khan Academy’s, ” Ernest Davis, Davis, it’s, ” Davis, Rama Ramakrishnan, ChatGPT, ” Ramakrishnan, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Khan Academy, Khan, American, Khan Lab, . New York City Public Schools, Seattle Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, EdWeek Research, Code.org, ETS, International Society for Technology, NYU, MIT Locations: Arizona, Independence, California, . New York, Education, United States

Edward Marrinan, macro credit strategy desk analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities America, added: "Credit risk at this point is mispriced." The move prompted a sell-off in equities and slight widening in corporate credit spreads. The average investment-grade bond spreads as of on Thursday were just a few basis points wider than the tightest levels touched this year in July and 16 basis points tighter from January. Junk-bond spreads are 98 basis points inside January levels. "With market consensus now expecting a soft landing, the credit markets are arguably underpricing default risk," BMO’s Krieter said.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Cindy Beaulieu, Edward Marrinan, Moody's, Daniel Krieter, Krieter, Marrinan, Manuel Hayes, Hayes, BMO’s Krieter, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Davide Barbuscia, Paritosh Bansal, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: NYSE, American Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, U.S . Federal Reserve, SMBC Nikko Securities America, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Investors, Reuters, BMO Capital Markets, London, Insight Investment, Informa, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S

A view shows the logo of Credit Suisse on a building near the Hallenstadion where Credit Suisse Annual General Meeting took place, two weeks after being bought by rival UBS in a government-brokered rescue, in Zurich, Switzerland, April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Pierre AlbouyNEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) - UBS Group (UBSG.S) is laying off employees from Credit Suisse's investment bank this week in New York, a source familiar with the situation said. Bloomberg reported about the closure of the Houston office late on Tuesday. The job cuts come after UBS closed a government-backed deal to buy Credit Suisse in June. Since the announcement of the deal, UBS has made clear it will reduce the risk of Credit Suisse's investment bank.

Persons: Pierre Albouy, Tatiana Bautzer, Chris Reese, Diane Craft Organizations: Credit Suisse, UBS, REUTERS, Credit, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, New York, Houston

☆ US bank preferred capital issuance makes a tentative comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Shankar Ramakrishnan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

So-called preferred securities, which are one of the riskiest forms of debt but also have some characteristics of stocks, are popular among banks as a way to boost their capital for regulatory purposes. More than $160 billion of preferreds were issued in 2020 and 2021 each, when rates were low. Volume dropped last year to $70 billion as the U.S. Federal Reserve embarked on an interest rate hiking cycle. When Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) issued a new public preferred security earlier this month, investor demand far outweighed supply. The $1.725 billion deal received orders of over $6 billion, bringing total issuance for the year to $37 billion.

Persons: preferreds, Wells, ”, Daniel Botoff, Allie Quine, Cohen, Steers, Quine, WELLS, Wells Fargo, RBC's Botoff, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Paritosh Bansal, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S . Federal Reserve, Credit Suisse, UBS Group, Wells Fargo & Co, Treasury, RBC Capital Markets, Informa Global, Thomson Locations: U.S, preferreds, New York

☆ US commercial property delinquencies rise further in July -report
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Matt Tracy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The rise in the rate reflects continued stress in the U.S. commercial real estate sector as a post-pandemic environment had more people working from home or shopping online. Office loans made up roughly 35% of the newly special serviced and delinquent loans in July rated by KBRA at $898.4 million. So far in July, multiple office properties have been transferred to special servicing due to imminent monetary default. The total special servicing balance on multi-loan CMBS sharply increased $830.7 million to $14 billion, the largest rise since August 2020, the report said. KeyBank's subsidiary KeyBank Real Estate Capital handles commercial real estate lending and servicing.

Persons: Amr Alfiky, KBRA, Chris Gorman, KeyCorp, Matt Tracy, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, KBRA, Estate Capital, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S

In recent weeks, banks have stepped up efforts to prevent such losses, according to commercial real estate (CRE) analysts and industry data. The 23 largest U.S. banks held 20% of office and downtown retail CRE loans, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Small banks also have high exposure to CRE loans as a percentage of their assets. About $2.1 billion of office loans pooled in CMBS matured in May, almost double the total amount from January through April, for example. If borrowers agreed to loan extensions, some $10.8 billion of office loans maturing this year would be pushed to later years, Moody's said.

Persons: Shaishav Agarwal, Agarwal, Steve Jellinek, Moody's, Kevin Fagan, Fagan, ” Fagan, Eliasaf, ”, Banks, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Matt Tracy, Paritosh Bansal, Nick Zieminski Organizations: U.S, Deutsche Bank, U.S . Federal, Manhattan, Northwind, Thomson Locations: York

☆ US bond traders seek edge by adopting tech -report
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Matt Tracy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Traders have slowly adopted execution management systems (EMS) in their workflow to enhance their execution capabilities as the market evolves, wrote Audrey Blater, senior analyst at Greenwich, in a report released on Tuesday. The fixed-income market adoption of EMS is at "a tipping point" where some traders, while reluctant to use technology, "acknowledged a change of habit is imminently necessary," said Blater. The tech makeover of a market that sees billions of dollars of trades in a year though is still gradual. The study found that only 39% of some 41 senior fixed-income traders in US asset management firms, hedge funds and insurance companies, identified using an EMS. Some 34% of the 41 traders in the study looked to chat to execute trades, versus 27% that turned to technology as their top choice.

Persons: Audrey Blater, Matt Tracy, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Conor Humphries Organizations: Coalition, Traders, Thomson Locations: Coalition Greenwich, Greenwich

☆ Analysis: Forex derivatives nudged out into the open as regulations increase costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Laura Matthews | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationNEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - Foreign-exchange investors are moving more of their over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trades to lookalike products on exchanges to avoid higher costs due to recent global regulations, helping inject transparency into a multitrillion-dollar market that is largely hidden from the public eye. The gradual behavioral change in FX derivatives trading is being caused by increasing margin and collateral costs, said Joe Midmore, chief commercial officer at OpenGamma, a derivatives analytics firm. OTC derivatives are privately negotiated contracts while cleared derivatives, though bilaterally negotiated, are booked with a clearinghouse such as a listed exchange. "They will also incur the operational, legal and custody costs of setting up margin facilities as well as the capital costs of posting margin," Houston said. "There is inherently risk involved in lots of people transacting derivatives with each other," said Riddle.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ben Feuer, Joe Midmore, ”, Michael Riddle, Paul Houston, Houston, ForexClear, James Pearson, Tom Arnold, Joe Spiro, Peter Vassallo, Riddle, Laura Matthews, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Megan Davies, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Societe Generale, Banking Supervision, International Organization of Securities Commissions, CME, CME Group, FX, Reuters Graphics British, Financial, ForexClear, BNP, Management, Thomson Locations: Saudi, New York, Hazeltree

☆ Opinion: This TV mom changed everything
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Opinion Raakhee Mirchandani | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Raakhee Mirchandani Kim Lorraine PhotographyI never searched for either of us on TV. I’m grateful NHIE gave Indian moms — Brown moms, Desi moms, South Asian moms — the crown we deserve. (L to R) Poorna Jagannathan as Nalini Vishwakumar, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in episode 410 of "Never Have I Ever." But now, among the cohort of timeless TV mothers, there’s Devi’s mom — and let me tell you: Nalini, as realized by the inimitable Jagannathan, certainly has got it going on. (And anyone with a Brown mom knows the eyes; one look is all it takes.)

Persons: Kalpana Chawla, ”, Brady, Roseanne, Angela Bower, Clair Huxtable, Aunt Viv, Raakhee Mirchandani Kim Lorraine, Desi, Vishwakumar, Poorna Jagannathan, I’m, NHIE, — Brown, Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Jessica Brooks, —, Brown, there’s, Devi, Nalini, wasn’t, Will, Jamie Ryan, Niecy Nash, let’s, She’s, she’s Organizations: CNN, Netflix, Princeton, Twitter, Facebook

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW.PA) said late on Monday it will transfer its Westfield San Francisco shopping mall to lenders. The announcement followed Park Hotels & Resorts (PK.N) statement last week that it ceased making payments toward a $725 million mortgage linked to its Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels. Westfield's decision is the latest blow to San Francisco, the once-booming tech hub that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The potential for difficulties from commercial real estate to flow through to banks is also becoming a bigger worry for investors and regulators. Warren Wachsberger, CEO of Aecom Capital, a real estate investor, said mall owners like Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield are focusing on their best properties.

Persons: Thomas LaSalvia, Warren Wachsberger, we're, Wachsberger, Granth, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Matt Tracy, Sriraj Kalluvila, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Westfield San, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, downtown, Real Estate Economics, Aecom, Westfield, U.S, Flagship, Nordstrom, Banana Republic, Washington DC, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Westfield, Westfield San Francisco, downtown San Francisco, Bengaluru, New York, Washington

☆ ‘Never Have I Ever’ star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan jokes Mindy Kaling has ‘spoiled’ Hollywood for her
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was a high school student who had never acted professionally when in 2019, she responded to an open casting call from Mindy Kaling for a TV series about an Indian American teenager. That’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever comprehend: This was my first opportunity? I couldn’t ask for a better boss than Mindy Kaling. Mindy Kaling screwed me over. The first Tamil person I knew on TV was Mindy (Kaling) in “The Mindy Project.” That was probably the first South Asian person I saw on TV.

Persons: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Mindy Kaling, Ramakrishnan, Devi Vishwakumar, Priya Mangal, Lizzie Bennet, “, ”, Devi, She’s, Kulkarni, I’ve, hasn’t, That’s, Kamala, Harry Potter, Patil, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Yule, –, Hermione Granger, we’re, ” That’s, ” What’s, What’s Organizations: CNN, Netflix, “, South Locations: American, South Asian, Canada

☆ Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Is Done With School. On TV, Anyway.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Nancy Coleman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When we last saw Devi, she had about as much life as she could handle. She had just cashed in Ben’s handwritten coupon for “one free boink” — and, in doing so, traded in her long-detested V-Card. There are friendships and romantic prospects to balance, yes, but also admissions counselors to meet, universities to visit. Ramakrishnan, who grew up just outside Toronto, in Mississauga, Ontario, was once a normal teenager navigating high school herself, a first-generation daughter of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka. Like Devi, who is Indian American, she was raised in a multigenerational home — and still lives there with her family.

Persons: Devi, Ramakrishnan, Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher, “ Organizations: Indian, Disney, Netflix Locations: Toronto, Mississauga , Ontario, Sri Lanka, Indian American, Los Angeles

☆ ‘Never Have I Ever’ comes to an end. Its stars reflect on what made the show so special
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

For one, she wasn’t the only South Asian person there. For another, she and her fellow South Asian castmates Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Poorna Jagannathan were the leads of the show. “From that day forward, every day that I was on set until the last day we wrapped up season four, that realization hit me every single day,” Moorjani said in a Zoom call. And as the beloved show comes to an end, its stars are reflecting back on its legacy. That she is the lead of the show is in itself significant for South Asian representation.

Persons: Richa Moorjani, ”, Poorna Jagannathan, Devi, Kamala, ” Moorjani, Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher, she’s, ” Ramakrishnan, “, There’s Nirmala, Ranjita, Megan Suri, That’s, it’s, Jagannathan, ” “, subtler, Nalini, Mohan, ” Jagannathan, I’ve, you’re, “ It’s, Kaling’s Organizations: CNN, Netflix, Princeton, Variety Locations: United States, Devi, Indian, Hollywood, Sherman Oaks , California, American, India

Investment-grade rated companies issued $152 billion in May, making it the busiest May since 2020 when the pandemic crisis prompted record debt issuance volumes, according to data from Informa Global Markets. "I believe we have seen an acceleration of issuance into May," said Richard Wolff, head of US bond syndicate at SG CIB, saying this was a result of debt issuance being pulled forward. This debt issuance spree is on the back of strong demand for what were relatively higher yielding corporate bonds after Treasury yields rose in May from levels touched in late April. New investment-grade bonds in May received orders that were three to four times the offering size on average, according to IGM data. CHANGING TIDEThe debt binge, however, gave a broad hint that the largest companies in the world are not optimistic on borrowing conditions later in the year.

Persons: Richard Wolff, Wolff, Manuel Hayes, Jessica Lehmann, Blair Shwedo, Jiyann Daemi, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Matt Tracy, Laura Matthews, Megan Davies, Matthew Lewis Organizations: YORK, U.S, Investment, Informa Global, Junk, SG CIB, London, Insight Investment, Treasury, HSBC, U.S . Bank, IG, TD Securities, Thomson Locations: New York

Reflecting investor optimism about passage, the cost of insuring exposure to a U.S. debt default dropped on Tuesday, but some concerns remained because of the tight timeline and opposition from some lawmakers. Last week, credit rating agency Fitch placed its "AAA" rating of U.S. sovereign debt on watch for a possible downgrade, citing downside risks including political brinkmanship and a growing debt burden. In a previous debt ceiling crisis in 2011 rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. top 'AAA' rating by one notch a few days after a debt ceiling deal, citing political polarization and insufficient steps to right the nation's fiscal outlook. "Even if a U.S. default is averted, a ratings downgrade could still happen," Vishwanath Tirupattur, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, said in a research note on Sunday. Some also fear a debt ceiling resolution could only provide short-term relief to markets because the U.S. Treasury is expected to quickly refill its account with bond sales, sucking out hundreds of billions of dollars of cash from the market.

Persons: Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy, Fitch, Raymond James, Ed Mills, Alex Anderson, Vishwanath Tirupattur, Morgan Stanley, Spokespeople, Blair Shwedo, Davide Barbuscia, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Pete Schroeder, Megan Davies, David Gregorio Our Organizations: YORK, Democratic, Republican, U.S . Treasury Department, BMO Capital Markets, AAA, Moody's, U.S . Treasury, Thomson Locations: U.S

May 28 (Reuters) - Good news of a tentative deal for the U.S. debt ceiling impasse may quickly turn out to be bad news for financial markets. "That's where the debt ceiling matters." In that case, "the impact on broader financial markets would likely be relatively muted," Daniel Krieter, director of fixed income strategy, BMO Capital Markets, said in a report. Some bankers said they fear financial markets may not have accounted for the risk of a liquidity drain from banks' reserves. Bankers put it to hope that the debt ceiling impasse would be resolved without significant dislocation to markets, but warn that's a risky strategy.

☆ AI boom could expose investors’ natural stupidity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Felix Martin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Indeed, enthusiasm about AI has become the one ray of light piercing the stock market gloom created by the record-breaking rise in U.S. interest rates. It’s a good moment for investors to be especially alert to the tendency of natural stupidity to drive stock market valuations to unrealistic – and therefore ultimately unprofitable – extremes. However, the most important lessons of behavioural economics relate to a more fundamental question: Will the new generation of AI do what it promises? Behavioural economics offers some cautionary tales for such attempts to apply AI in the wild. For example, stock market returns can be affected by a small number of rare but extreme movements in share prices.

☆ Analysis: Overexposed US regional banks could sell commercial property loans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Matt Tracy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Still, previously unreported data from New York-based real estate data provider Trepp, shared with Reuters, show many regional banks' holdings exceed thresholds stipulated by regulators. While big banks have recently warned about CRE exposure, the new Trepp data underscores how acute and widespread the problem is across the banking sector. The regulatory guidance requires that banks exceeding these thresholds "should employ heightened risk management practices," including potential sales of specific loans. Meanwhile, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB.N) and Flagstar Bank [RIC:RIC:FBCANK.UL] were among the top five banks listed by Trepp that exceeded the CRE loan threshold. In Tuesday congressional testimony, FDIC chair Martin Gruenberg warned CRE loan portfolios "face challenges" should market conditions persist.

Launched in February 2022, the FTX Future Fund was part of the FTX Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire which fell apart last year, in what U.S. prosecutors called an "epic" fraud. Representatives for FTX also declined to comment and declined to say whether the FTX Foundation is included in the bankruptcy proceedings. The FTX Future Fund supported research into topics that "improve humanity's long-term prospects" and was funded primarily by Bankman-Fried, according to a profile of its activities published on Twitter. FTX's statement did not reference the FTX Future Fund specifically. One FTX Future Fund beneficiary in the U.S., who asked not to be named, said they received a grant of more than $150,000.

By offloading some of the risk on their loans, the banks can significantly reduce how much capital they need to set aside to cover potential losses, according to law firm Clifford Chance. A bank can normally transfer risks of losses equivalent to around 7% to 12% of a loan portfolio, two market sources said. With synthetic structures, a bank transfers the risk via credit derivatives or guarantees but keeps holding the underlying exposures. The IFC sold BNP a $50 million guarantee on $1 billion of loans to emerging markets, they said, without disclosing terms. While Europe has been at the forefront for risk transfers, the stock of loans covered by SRTs is small relative to European banks' balance sheets.

A source with knowledge of the matter said that Swiss regulators are encouraging UBS and Credit Suisse to merge, but that both banks do not want to do so. Credit Suisse shares jumped 9% in after-market trading following the FT report. Credit Suisse and UBS declined to comment on the report. "Credit Suisse is a very special case," said Frédérique Carrier, head of investment strategy at RBC Wealth Management. The supervisors were told deposits were stable across the euro zone and exposure to Credit Suisse was immaterial, a source familiar with the meeting's content told Reuters.

☆ Exclusive: Some Credit Suisse counterparties curb dealings as bank heads into scenario meetings -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Shankar Ramakrishnan Stefania Spezzati Sumeet Chatterjee | Shankar Ramakrishnan | Stefania Spezzati | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Credit Suisse declined to comment. Credit Suisse intends to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion) from the Swiss National Bank in what it called "decisive action" to boost its liquidity on Thursday. The five people with direct knowledge of the bank's trading counterparties requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Credit Suisse has said that it is a strong, global bank. Among possible scenarios, analysts, bankers and investors speculate that Credit Suisse could sell or wind down some of its existing businesses with a break-up potentially on the cards.

☆ Exclusive: Some Credit Suisse counterparties put curbs on new dealings involving lender -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Shankar Ramakrishnan Stefania Spezzati Sumeet Chatterjee | Shankar Ramakrishnan | Stefania Spezzati | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] The logo of Societe Generale bank is pictured on an office building in Nantes, France, March 16, 2023. Credit Suisse declined to comment. These five people with direct knowledge of the matter requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Societe Generale has maintained existing counterparty positions with Credit Suisse, which it had cut back in recent weeks, but it is not increasing them, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Another global bank has reduced its unsecured exposure to Credit Suisse, which includes all lending with no collateral, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

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