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☆ Europe's lenders sucked into global banks rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, March 8, 2023. The episode underscored the vulnerability of banks, many of which were propped up by taxpayers' cash following the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. Investors in SVB's stock had fretted over whether the capital raise would be sufficient given the deteriorating fortunes of many technology startups that the bank serves. But some startups have been advising their founders to pull out their money from SVB as a precautionary measure, the sources added. Writing By John O'Donnell; Additional reporting by Jo Mason; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Egypt central bank seeks advisor for United Bank sale -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, March 9 (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank has sent investment banks a request for proposals to pitch for an advisory role in the sale of United Bank of Egypt, which the central bank owns, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The search for advisors comes after talks with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to acquire United Bank failed after disagreement over its valuation. The government said it planned to sell stakes in 32 companies, but since then has placed stakes in other companies up for sale as well. The finance ministry said last month it was seeking to sell the 20% stake in AlexBank that it still owns. Analysts say a stake in the state-controlled House and Development Bank may also be up for sale.

☆ Banks pile into euro zone bond sales as rates shoot up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Yoruk Bahceli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Heavy central bank buying had kept borrowing costs and volatility low for years, so the key question now is who steps in as the ECB steps out. They were the top buyers in the European Union's debt sale this month, buying almost 50% of a seven-year bond and 35% of a 20-year bond. Banks also took 39% of an Italian 20-year debt sale in January, while fund managers took 25%. In a 16-year debt sale last year, banks bought 29%. Bank treasuries took 30% of a 30-year Belgian debt sale in February, versus 10% a year ago.

☆ India's Adani to hold fixed-income roadshow next week in Asia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - India's Adani Group will hold a fixed-income roadshow next week in Asia, according to a bank document seen by Reuters, as the beleaguered conglomerate tries to shore up investor confidence in the aftermath of a U.S. short-seller report. Adani group executives, including group Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh, will attend the roadshows in Singapore on Feb. 27, and Hong Kong on Feb. 28 and March 1, the document showed. Dollar bonds of Adani Group were largely trading lower on Friday. Bonds of Adani Ports (APSE.NS) maturing in February 2031 led the losses, while some notes of Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) were marginally higher. Barclays, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, ING, IMI-Intesa Sanpaolo, MUFG, Mizuho, SMBC Nikko and Standard Chartered Bank are the banks organising next week's roadshow, according to the document.

☆ Factbox: Four-day working week: some are seeing a win-win
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Whether they will have the longevity of France's landmark 35-hour working week bill, enshrined into law in 2000, remains to be seen. The country's telecom giant Telefonica separately offered its employees a four-day week - but in exchange for a 12% pay cut. ITALY - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo last year offered staff the option of a four-day working week on the same salary from this January, the first such move by a major Italian employer. Travel company Nordic Visitor, with offices in Iceland, Scotland and Sweden, reduced the working week to 35 hours from 40. Consumer goods giant Unilever has also experimented with a four-day working week for local staff.

☆ Intesa staff to test new digital business from March
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) has told staff they can sign up to test from March 1 the app for the new digital lender it is setting up with British fintech Thought Machine, an internal document showed. Intesa last year unveiled plans to invest 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in technology under its 2022-2025 strategy, of which 650 million is destined to create its new digital arm called Isybank. Intesa has struck a five year partnership with Thought Machine, founder and CEO Paul Taylor told Reuters, making the Italian bank one of the biggest customers of the UK firm. Thought Machine will provide Isybank with the cloud infrastructure to serve 4 million customers under 40 who Intesa intends to migrate to online and mobile banking services. The trial phase would subsequently be expanded to include a wider group beyond staff members, the document reviewed by Reuters said.

☆ Egypt court to rule soon in case over Intesa's local unit - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It did not mention AlexBank, though a sale of its remaining stake to Intesa is a possibility, one of the sources said. The sale was challenged in court by activist group, the Egyptian Centre for Transparency, local media reported. Egypt's constitutional court in mid-January ruled to uphold that law rejecting a challenge brought against it. A number of cases, including that centred around the sale of AlexBank, had been put on hold pending the decision on the law. Reporting by Patrick Werr in Cairo and Valentina Za in Milan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Adani looks to repay $500 mln bridge loan taken for cement deals-ET
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Feb 15 (Reuters) - India's embattled Adani Group is in talks with lenders to repay a $500 million bridge loan facility it had taken to buy controlling stakes in cement companies ACC Ltd (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements Ltd (ABUJ.NS) last year, the Economic Times daily reported on Wednesday. The group is looking to repay the bridge loan with cash this month, the report said, citing people aware of the matter, adding that the loan had a tenor of six months and was part of a larger $5.25 billion financing package. The loan was underwritten by Barclays (BARC.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L), ET reported. The financial consortium lending to Adani also includes DBS, MUFG, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa and Mizuho, the report said. Adani and the lenders did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

☆ Warburg Pincus moves closer to buying a stake in Chinese fund Zhong Ou
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) disclosed in its 2021 annual report that its board had approved the sale of a 23.3% stake in Zhong Ou to Warbug Pincus. The planned 23.3% stake sale to Warburg Pincus was confirmed on Monday by a source familiar with the transaction. The CSRC did not say how big a stake Warburg Pincus will buy in Zhong Ou, which has more than 350 billion yuan ($51.3 billion) of assets under management (AUM). In the regulatory feedback, the CSRC asked Warburg Pincus to explain how it would support Zhong Ou's development. The regulator also requested further proof from Warburg Pincus that it's a leading global player with good international reputation and performance.

☆ Uncertain that the new Bank of Japan governor will change anything, portfolio manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUncertain that the new Bank of Japan governor will change anything, portfolio manager saysLuca Castoldi, senior portfolio manager at the Reyl Intesa Sanpaolo Singapore, discusses the nomination of Bank of Japan's next governor.

☆ Saipem shares drop, group says cannot explain why
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Saipem (SPMI.MI) does not have any information explaining Monday's share movements, a spokesman for the Italian energy contractor said, after the stock closed down 5.7%. More than 10% of the share capital of the group was traded on the Milan stock exchange, according to Refinitiv data. In July a pool of lender bought Saipem's shares worth almost 600 million euros after a cash call fell short of the 2 billion euro target. BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit were the joint global coordinators of the Saipem issue. Reporting by Francesca Landini and Giancarlo Navach, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Gavin JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ECB fines Germany's Helaba for misrepresenting risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank said on Friday that it had fined German state-owned bank Helaba for "consciously" misrepresenting its exposure to turbulent financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic so it would need less capital. The fine highlights the ECB's increased scrutiny of the models that banks use for calculating risk, which has also had repercussions for Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Germany's Deutsche Bank. "When using its internal models to determine its risk-weighted assets for market risk (in 2020), the bank consciously decided to disregard the increased volatility," the ECB said. "The bank knowingly reported wrongly calculated figures to the ECB, therefore preventing the ECB from having a comprehensive view of its risk profile." Helaba said in a statement that it did not intend to breach its prudential obligations, but conceded that its "original assumption" was incorrect.

☆ Italian banks' lending to firms stagnates in December
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A monthly report on the balance sheets of domestic banks showed loans to non-financial companies were flat year-on-year in December compared with a 2.7% expansion the previous month. Extraordinary government support measures during the pandemic and the energy crisis fuelled strong growth in corporate bank lending, but the trend has weakened as support measures have been gradually unwound. Banks' corporate loans totalled 649.2 billion euros at the end of December, down from 666.3 billion euros a month earlier. Thursday's data also showed Italian residents' deposits with domestic banks fell to 2.71 trillion euros ($2.92 trillion) compared with 2.74 trillion euros the previous month. Gross unpaid loans declined to 30.15 billion euros at the end of December from 34.01 billion euros a month earlier.

☆ Intesa Sanpaolo says most operations restored after ION ransomware attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) said on Thursday that most of its affected cleard derivatives operations were back up and running, after a ransomware attack at financial data company ION impacted operations at the Italian bank. ION Markets UK's cleared derivatives section was hit with a ransomware attack on Jan. 31. The attack rippled across derivatives markets, gumming up trading and clearing in exchange-traded derivatives at some of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the world, including Intesa Sanpaolo. Intesa said the situation was improving on Thursday, as ION scrambled to get its clients back up and running. "We promptly adopted measures to avoid fully suspending activities related to the exchange-traded derivatives segment," a spokesman at the bank told Reuters.

☆ Gautam Adani’s woes were in banks' plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

MUMBAI, Feb 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Gautam Adani’s recent woes have vindicated persistent doubts in India about the tycoon’s rise. The Indian group dismisses those claims as a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”. By contrast, other big Indian groups like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (DBKGn.DE) and those carrying the Tata name are more popular with institutional investors. Fee-hungry international banks were much less picky. Deutsche, Barclays and StanChart pocketed $57 million of the $260 million of investment banking revenue generated by the Adani group since Dealogic records began.

CDP is seeking to finalise its bid after U.S. investment firm KKR (KKR.N) last week filed its own offer for the same Telecom Italia (TIM) asset. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters KKR's approach valued the venture at about 20 billion euros ($21.4 billion). Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni repeatedly said her government wants to secure public control of TIM's network. But there is no common ground yet within her administration on how to reach such a goal and it was no clear whether a CDP bid would receive the blessing of the Treasury. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti believes Rome has "multiple options" to put TIM's network under strategic government control, a separate source said, without elaborating.

☆ This fund manager says there's a 'value gap' in European markets. Here's how he's playing it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

There's a "value gap" in European markets, and that's creating a unique opportunity for investors to buy up top-notch financial and industrial names at a bargain, according to David Herro, chief investment officer of international equities at Harris Associates. European markets dropped sharply last year as war concerns mounted in Ukraine, energy prices surged, and the Chinese economy struggled. But even as share prices dropped, earnings continued improving, opening up what Herro calls a value gap. When it comes to international markets, Herro's got the credentials to support this type of declaration. "Just about every one of the major European financials is over capitalized, and distributing that money back to shareholders positions," Herro told CNBC.

☆ ION starts to bring clients back online after ransomware attack - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - ION, the financial trading services group hit by a ransomware attack last week, started to bring clients back on to its cleared derivatives platform overnight, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Among the many ION clients whose operations were likely to have been affected by the attack and ensuing disruption were ABN Amro Clearing (ABNd.AS) and Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), Italy's biggest bank, according to messages to clients from both banks that were seen by Reuters last week. The hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach at ION said last week a ransom had been paid, declining to say how much it was, or offer any evidence that the money had been handed over. ION declined to comment on whether the ransom had been paid. Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Amanda CooperOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Intesa slashes assets to boost capital as profit tops forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) slashed its assets in the fourth quarter to boost its capital buffers in the face of regulatory hits, raising doubts over future profits despite exceeding expectations in the latest period. Moving to offset adverse regulatory changes kicking in from January, Intesa reduced its total assets by 47 billion euros ($51 billion) in the quarter, boosting its core capital ratio to 13.5% from 12.4% at the end of September. Intesa said it would proceed with a second 1.7 billion euro share buyback it had put on hold due to recession risks. It also said it would pay another 1.7 billion euros in cash dividends from 2022 profits, after an interim dividend payout of 1.4 billion. With earnings boosted like peers by rising interest rates, Intesa posted a fourth quarter profit of 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion), well above an 873 million euro estimate in an analysts' poll compiled by Reuters.

☆ Hackers who breached ION say ransom paid; company declines comment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Raphael Satter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The hackers who claimed responsibility for the disruptive breach at financial data firm ION say a ransom has been paid, although they declined to say how much it was or offer any evidence that the money had been handed over. Britain's National Cyber Security Agency (NCSC), part of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping intelligence agency, told Reuters it had no comment. ABN told clients on Wednesday that due to "technical disruption" from ION, some applications were unavailable and were expected to remain so for a "number of days." ION was removed from Lockbit's extortion website, where victim companies are named and shamed in a bid to force a payout. As of late Friday, Lockbit's extortion website alone counted 54 victims who were being shaken down, including a television station in California, a school in Brooklyn and a city in Michigan.

☆ BNP Paribas Italy names ex-Intesa banker Lattuada as CIB deputy head
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas Italy (BNPP.PA) said on Thursday it had named Marco Lattuada as deputy head of its corporate and institutional banking division in the country, reporting to CIB Italy Executive Chairman Vittorio Ogliengo. Lattuada was the former global head of investment banking and structured finance at Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), in whose CIB division he had previously headed the telecoms, media and technology sectors. Prior to that he was senior director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch global investment banking and vice president at Bank of America CIB. Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Francesca LandiniOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ION Group, the financial data firm's parent company, said in a statement on its website that the attack began on Tuesday. "The incident is contained to a specific environment, all the affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing," ION Group said, declining requests for further comment. ABN told clients on Wednesday that due to "technical disruption" from ION, some applications were unavailable and were expected to remain so for a "number of days". It added that its staff had to process trades directly with the exchange. Intesa Sanpaolo told clients that its brokerage and clearing operations on exchange-traded derivatives had been "severely hampered" by IT problems at ION and that it was not able to handle orders.

☆ Euro-banks have done their time in valuation jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Major euro zone and UK banks are trading at a 40% discount to the region’s wider benchmark index, using price to forward earnings multiples tracked by Refinitiv. The subsequent euro zone crisis in 2012 prompted a wave of bad debt that weighed down earnings. More recently, though, euro zone lenders have been facing up to their past sins, and offloading non-performing loans. There’s no evidence of a bank lending splurge, despite years of rock-bottom interest rates. Between November 2012 and November 2022, euro zone banks’ total lending to households and companies grew at an annual clip of under 2%, a fraction of its pre-2008 pace.

European stocks have vastly outperformed their U.S. peers. The euro STOXX (.STOXXE) benchmark has beaten its U.S. peer, the S&P 500 (.SPX), by over 18 percentage points since September. "It's a very big move in European gas prices and that has dramatically improved the outlook. "Lower gas prices are surely a positive, but their rapid fall also tell us that they can rise just as fast should things go wrong. A closely watched index of European corporate credit (.MERER00) has seen its yield fall nearly 50 basis points this year.

☆ Wall Street is excited about Chinese tech — and loves one mega-cap stock in particular
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A growing number of positive analyst calls has reinforced optimism in the sector, with recent share price gains reflecting renewed interest. How is Wall Street playing the resurgence in Chinese tech? Morgan Stanley too, has named Alibaba its "top pick" in the Chinese tech sector — for the first time in three years. Cohen is reported to have told Alibaba executives that he thought the company could reach double-digit sales growth and nearly 20% free cashflow growth over the coming five years. He said he would "not be surprised" to see Alibaba's share price rise to $140 to $150 — a "significant amount of upside" from current levels.

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