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☆ Canadian banks see earnings risk from commercial property loans, TD in focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Nivedita Balu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TORONTO, May 22 (Reuters) - Canadian banks are expected to report a rise in bad debt provisions and highlight risks from commercial property loans when they report earnings this week, with the country's No.2 bank TD (TD.TO) in focus after its acquisition of First Horizon (FHN.N) failed. Bay Street analysts have lowered their second quarter earnings expectations for Canadian banks, anticipating higher expenses and slowing loan growth as turmoil south of the border weighs on the broader banking sector. Still, investors view Canadian banks as safer bets than their U.S. counterparts due to their strong capital levels. BMO and Scotia Bank (BNS.TO) are due to report earnings on Wednesday, while TD, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) report on Thursday. Canadian bank stocks have largely underperformed TSX Canadian bank stocks have largely underperformed TSXEmpty offices in big cities have raised concerns among investors about banks' commercial property loan exposure, since about 10% of the lending portfolio of the Big-6 banks is tied to commercial real estate.

☆ Analysis: Australian banks' bid to shake mortgage reliance brings new risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"When there's a macroeconomic downturn, it's generally institutional and business lending exposures that are impacted first," he added. For decades, Australian housing finance has significantly outpaced business lending, making home loan margins the engine of profits. A more recent exodus from non-lending retail services like financial advice has further weighted banks' allocation of capital to residential property. The big four banks said in earnings updates this month that their net interest margins peaked in late 2022 and have since narrowed. To hedge against interest rates risks, the Big Four may now chase new services-based revenues from commercial clients in non-lending segments, added Garland.

Walmart de Mexico (Walmex) (WALMEX.MX) in April said it had bought Trafalgar, a payment app, to compete in a market dominated by Grupo Salinas' Baz, Oxxo's (FEMSAUBD.MX) Spin and MercadoPago of MercadoLibre (MELI.O). Executives at the Walmart unit expect the deal to "unlock Cashi's potential," starting with transfers, withdrawals and remittances while keeping open the option of loans and other financial services in the future. "We want to be the best financial services application in Mexico, and that requires constant investment," Marcelino Herrera, Walmex senior vice president of financial services, told Reuters. Walmart plans over $15 billion in capital expenditures for automation and alternate revenue streams in 2023, including its ad business, third-party marketplace, and deliveries. SYNERGIESWalmart has not defined fintech as a top investment priority but has poured money into it over the past year.

☆ Bank stress likely to lead to tighter lending, corporate defaults - BofA credit survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Bank stress will likely be limited to a small number of banks but lead to tighter lending conditions and a pick-up in corporate defaults, a Bank of America April credit investor survey released on Wednesday showed. The gap between high-yield bonds and government debt has tightened on 63% of days so far in 2023, an all-time record, signalling that credit markets are faring well in face of recent market turmoil, BofA said. The biggest share of respondents to its latest survey, some 36%, said they expected bank stress to remain confined to small banks with challenged business models, with the United States more vulnerable than Europe given different regulatory supervisions. However, over 20% said they believed that a credit crunch resulting from the bank stress would lead to a noticeable pick-up in corporate defaults. As banks may withdraw from lending to high-risk assets, credit investors did not believe that private credit markets would step in and replace it.

☆ Bank stress likely to lead to tighter lending, corporate defaults, Bank of America credit survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Global corporate defaults highest since the pandemic in 2020
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In a report Tuesday, credit rating agency Moody’s said 33 of the corporations it rates defaulted on their debts in the first quarter, the highest level since the last quarter of 2020 when 47 companies defaulted. Almost half, or 15 companies, defaulted last month — the highest monthly count since December 2020. In a sign of a tougher global environment for corporate borrowers, investors went sour on corporate bonds last year. Moody’s expects that a combination of higher borrowing costs and slowing global growth will push up defaults on speculative-grade corporate debt to 4.6% by the end of this year, up from 2.9% in March. By the end of the first quarter next year, the global default rate on this type of debt will likely rise to 4.9%, Moody’s said.

☆ Explainer: How resilient are Indian lenders amid a global banking turmoil?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Siddhi Nayak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

He does not foresee a direct impact of the global banking turmoil on Indian banks. HOW WELL CAPITALISED ARE INDIAN BANKS? Reuters GraphicsHOW ARE INDIAN BANKS' BOND PORTFOLIOS PERFORMING? Indian banks are not facing the same level of pressure on their bond portfolios as U.S banks because Indian interest rates have risen less. If Indian banks mark their held-to-maturity (HTM) investments to market, it would bring down their CET-1 capital by 12-25%, estimates Moody's Investors Service.

☆ What’s the next Silicon Valley Bank — and how can the US prevent more chaos?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Silicon Valley Bank failed in rapid, stunning fashion Friday. What took place Friday was an old-fashioned bank run: Customers yanked $42 billion from Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday, leaving the bank with $1 billion in negative cash balance, the company said in a regulatory filing. As of the end of last year, Silicon Valley Bank said it had $151.5 billion in uninsured deposits, $137.6 billion of which was held by American customers. Wall Street is also concerned the tech companies that kept their cash with Silicon Valley Bank could collapse. What a bailout might look likeCalls for a bailout have grown over the weekend from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.

☆ UK finance minister and Bank of England work to contain SVB fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Bank of England on Friday said it was seeking a court order to place SVB UK into an insolvency procedure. Advisory firm Rothschild & Co is exploring options for SVB UK as insolvency looms, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters. More than 250 UK tech firm chief executives signed a letter addressed to Jeremy Hunt, the British chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), calling for government intervention, a copy seen by Reuters shows. "The recent news about SVB going into insolvency represents an existential threat to the UK tech sector," the letter said. Sky News had reported earlier on Saturday that a British clearing bank, the Bank of London, was considering a rescue bid for the UK arm of SVB.

SummarySummary Companies Spain's new restructuring law faces looming testCelsa caught between creditors and shareholdersSuccessful outcome seen lifting Spain outlookLONDON/MADRID, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Spain's new restructuring law is just over four months old and already being tested as the economy slows, with companies and officials hopeful it will help cut high bankruptcy rates. Now, a restructuring plan for Celsa, Spain's largest private industrial group with debt worth roughly 2.8 billion euros ($3.04 billion), is going through the courts. LITMUS TESTA court-sanctioned restructuring plan in December for Spanish frozen food retailer Xeldist Congelados allowed it to receive fresh capital and save jobs in a first success for the new law. "The Celsa case shows that creditors can push for a restructuring plan and request the appointment of an expert to assist in the negotiations," said Juan Verdugo, partner at law firm Garrigues. Spain is playing catch up after the EU in 2019 told member states to improve restructuring toolkits.

☆ Hong Kong services to rebound as China reopens, but UBP says sector is coming from 'fragile situation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Hong Kong's service sector will be the part of economy that sees "the biggest rebound" as borders reopen, UBP told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Thursday. However, it warned that the sector is coming "from a very fragile situation," given its contraction in every quarter of 2022. "We can't exclude the possibility of further insolvencies or bankruptcies … even as things do look to improve in the months ahead," said Carlos Casanova, UBP's senior economist for Asia. The latest figures from the Hong Kong government also showed the city's economy contracted by 4.2% in its fourth quarter, the fourth-straight quarter of declines. "That contraction was much faster than we had anticipated, our forecast was -2.8%," Casanova added.

☆ Circle CEO sees more insolvencies in crypto in 2023; talks regulatory outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCircle CEO sees more insolvencies in crypto in 2023; talks regulatory outlookJeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, speaks to CNBC's Arjun Kharpal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

☆ New Year, new rally: Why bitcoin is up 26% this month after a tumultuous 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"The most important macro data investors are focussing on is the weak services PMI and the trending down of employment and wage data. 'Whales' buying BTCLarger purchasers of digital coins known as "whales" may be leading the latest rally in bitcoin, according to Kaiko. Several bitcoin miners have been flushed out by the drop in prices. Bitcoin miners, who use power-intensive machines to verify transactions and mint new tokens, have been squeezed by the slump in prices and rising energy costs. That's historically a good sign for bitcoin, according to Ayyar.

☆ FTX says it has $1 billion in cash, as new management team tries to track down funds to pay back creditors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

FTX has more than $1 billion in cash, the collapsed crypto exchange's new management said at a creditor hearing. Management is working to retrieve funds from bank accounts to repay creditors and resolve the company's position. The hearing was part of FTX's bankruptcy proceedings following its November implosion. FTX in a November court filing said it owed its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion. FTX fell in November following a jump in withdrawals and allegations of misuse of FTX customer funds.

☆ FTX's new CEO accused the collapsed crypto exchange of 'old school' embezzlement that was 'not sophisticated at all'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX's new CEO has accused the collapsed crypto exchange of "old school" embezzlement. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyFTX's new CEO has accused the crypto exchange of "old school" embezzlement in scathing congressional testimony. "This is really just old-fashioned embezzlement," Ray said. This is just plain old embezzlement. Old school, old school."

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.

☆ Authorities may reportedly bring Sam Bankman-Fried in for questioning as FTX Bahamas files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US and Bahamian authorities are in talks to potentially bring Sam Bankman-Fried to the US for questioning, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Bankman-Fried has been cooperating with Bahamian authorities, per the report. On Wednesday, the Bahamas branch of FTX filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy, days after FTX Group filed Chapter 11. Sources told Bloomberg that 30-year-old Bankman-Fried, who resigned from his position as FTX Group CEO when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, has so far been cooperating with Bahamian authorities. Meanwhile, the Bahamas branch of FTX filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York on Wednesday.

☆ British clothing company Joules plans to call in administrators
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The board of British clothing company Joules (JOUL.L) plans to appoint administrators after failing to find a new investor, becoming the latest retailer to face collapse as shoppers tighten their belts. Joules tried to secure new financing last week after a mild autumn meant low sales of coats, Wellington boots and wooly jumpers but it said on Monday talks had failed and it intended to appoint administrators from Interpath Advisory. Last week, online furniture seller Made.com also appointed administrators, resulting in 400 job losses. Shares in Joules, which is listed on the AIM junior market, would be suspended and a further announcement would be made in due course. Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by James DaveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ High Energy Prices in Europe Push BASF to Cut Costs Permanently
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Georgi Kantchev | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN—German chemicals giant BASF SE said it would downsize permanently in Europe, kindling concerns that persistently high energy prices could lead to a deindustrialization of the continent. High natural-gas prices in Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have left few businesses untouched, leading to factory shutdowns and insolvencies from steel and aluminum to cars and toilet-paper makers. The chemical industry has been hit particularly hard as it uses gas to both generate power and as feedstock for products that make it into toothpaste, medicines and cars.

☆ 'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini warns the world economy is in danger - as he predicts an imminent US recession plus more pain for stocks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Economics professor Nouriel Roubini warned the global economy faces a stagflationary debt crisis. Roubini, known as "Dr Doom", predicted an imminent US recession and more pressure on stocks and bonds. Roubini, an economics professor at NYU Stern, is nicknamed "Dr. Doom" for his dire predictions. As a result, Roubini expects a full-blown domestic recession by the end of this year. He emphasized that private and public debt, as a share of global GDP, has soared from 200% in 1999 to 350% today.

☆ Energy Crisis Pushes German Industry to the Brink
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Tom Fairless | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

FRANKFURT—German businesses are growing concerned that without an energy price cap, a wave of insolvencies could wash over the country in coming weeks and disrupt the supply chains serving Germany’s largest industrial sectors. Starved of the abundant Russian energy that long fired the nation’s industrial engine, German businesses have already been curtailing production and halting investments. Business and consumer confidence is tumbling, approaching the lows reached during the 2008 global financial crisis. Germany’s government is now drawing up plans to cap the price of electricity and gas, officials said this week, acting in case a similar proposal by the European Union isn’t enacted swiftly.

REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File PhotoBERLIN, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The German government has opened discussions about providing urgent support for scores of regional state-owned energy providers which are struggling to cope with soaring gas prices, three sources familiar with the matter said. A spokesperson for Germany's economy ministry said it was in contact with the country's regional states concerning the municipal authorities, but declined to elaborate. There is a growing sense of urgency to provide support as energy bills for German households and industry become increasingly unaffordable. Liebing, who has previously warned about insolvencies in the sector, said the talks involved measures needed to shield municipal utilities from "acute" difficulties. "Should municipal authorities be at risk of collapse, many other services such as water, bin collection and public transport could fall apart," he said.

The annual energy price increase in Germany in August on average was 139%, latest producer price data showed this week. In a BDI survey of 593 businesses, more than a third said their existence was threatened by higher energy prices, up from 23% in February. Industry group VKU has also joined the chorus of concern, warning that local utilities faced insolvency due to high energy prices and possible defaults from their customers. read moreThe head of the German Chemicals Industry Association VCI on Tuesday said rising energy prices were a "huge alarm call" for Germany as a place to do business. He welcomed Buschmann's initiative to relax insolvency rules but added that suspending them outright again would be a "serious mistake".

☆ Mohamed El-Erian has warned the Fed's rate hikes may fail to squash inflation - but could tank the US economy and job market anyway
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mohamed El-Erian warned of slower global growth, stubborn inflation, and higher unemployment. The top economist pointed to signs of weaker demand and the likelihood of further Fed rate hikes. "Stagflation" describes a toxic combination of stagnant economic growth, elevated inflation, and rising joblessness. In El-Erian's view, the Fed's aggressive interest-rate hikes risk choking growth and driving up unemployment, while failing to temper price increases. Earlier in September, El-Erian warned that global growth has become more fragile thanks to Europe's energy crisis, China's continued lockdowns, and the US's high inflation and waning demand.

Tens of thousands of people are scrambling for homeowners insurance in Louisiana at the peak of hurricane season after recent storms drove their carriers out of business. Massive claims from those storms drove large national insurance companies to scale back their coverage and remaining companies to jack up rates. The strategy seemed to work: Rates eventually stabilized, although Louisiana remained one of the most expensive states for homeowners insurance. That pushed the small insurance companies to their financial limits and squeezed reinsurers, who raised their rates. The state insurer’s rolls, which totaled 34,500 in August 2020, ballooned to about 110,000 last week.

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