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☆ The worst of the rain to hit New Zealand's Auckland may have passed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Lucy Caymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Four people were killed in flash floods and landslides that hit Auckland beginning on Friday as rainfall, that authorities say has been exacerbated at least in part by climate change, drenched the city. A state of emergency remains in place in Auckland but has been lifted in the Northland region to the north of the city. A house collapsed down a cliff injuring three people in a beach settlement near Auckland on Wednesday. The national meteorological service said the heaviest rains had passed Auckland although downpours were hitting to the southeast, in the regions of Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. Summers in New Zealand usually bring some rain but the region is experiencing the La Nina weather system, which can bring much heavier rain to the upper North Island.

☆ UBS sounds cautious note for year ahead after booking quarterly profit rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Noele Illien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen at an office building in Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 25, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannZURICH, Jan 31 (Reuters) - UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) predicted an "uncertain" year ahead plagued by accelerating inflation and higher interest rates on Tuesday after the Swiss bank beat estimates in its latest quarter. In doing so, UBS cautioned that inflation, rising interest rates and war in Ukraine were clouding the future, dampening clients' mood. Full-year net profit reached $7.6 billion, compared with the consensus estimate of $7.3 billion. UBS said it attracted $23.3 billion in net new fee generating assets in wealth management, with strong performance in Switzerland.

☆ More heavy rain expected for New Zealand's flood-ravaged Auckland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Four people lost their lives in flash floods and landslides that hit Auckland over the last three days amid record downpours. Auckland has already received record levels of rain in the past four days and sodden ground and full rivers mean new rainfall brings increased risks. Beaches around the city of 1.6 million are off limits due to contaminated water, several main roads remain closed, and all Auckland schools will remain shut until Feb. 7. Kelleher said Auckland domestic airport was now running at full capacity and Auckland International Airport was operating at near capacity and hoped to return to normal operations soon. The insurance industry expects the costs associated with the flood to top the NZ$97 million spent following the 2021 floods on New Zealand’s West Coast.

☆ Australian insurers receive over 8,000 claims after New Zealand floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

As of Monday morning, Suncorp's Vero and AA Insurance brands have received about 3,000 claims, while IAG's AMI, State and New Zealand Insurance brands have obtained over 5,000 claims. Both the insurers expect the number of claims to rise further over the coming days, as the event continues to unfold and customers identify damages. IAG received 24,000 claims in the first three days of flooding in Sydney and across the New South Wales state last year. Local New Zealand insurers have yet to provide any details on claims received. ($1 = 1.5427 New Zealand dollars)($1 = 1.4085 Australian dollars)Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/4] People stand in front of the Blockchain Hub Davos 2023 at the Promenade road during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - In the snow and ice on the main drag in Davos, the impact of the crypto winter is plain for WEF attendees to see. Executives in Davos said they are now all about blockchain technology, proper controls and regulation, and the promise of disruption that it holds for financial services and beyond. Colm Kelleher, chairman of Swiss bank UBS (UBSG.S), told a WEF panel that blockchain technology will help reduce costs for banks. "We kind of dodged a bullet," Kelleher said, noting that the collapse in the value of crypto currencies had not caused systemic problems.

☆ Davos 2023: UBS head says regulators' 'eyes off the ball' on non-banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said traditional finance firms were "systemically safe" after years of increased regulation, but guardians of global financial markets had further to go to eradicate the risks posed by the non-banking sector. "Regulators have - with respect - taken their eyes off the ball in terms of the non-banking sector," the chairman of Switzerland's largest bank said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, referring to a category of loosely supervised finance firms. They're systemically safe, we can argue," he added. "We are looking for the regulatory framework that will allow us to accommodate that for our clients." Reporting by Stefania Spezzati and Sinead Cruise; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Morning Bid: Let it go
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Anshuman DagaThe land of rising yields is the No. 1 focus of investors on Monday, as Japan's central bank may again let its bond-market peg go higher. Global inflation data due this week could underscore investors' expectations that the worst of the global price squeeze is over. A final read of euro zone inflation for December, as well as readings from Britain, Canada and Japan are due. Core inflation in all four regions is mostly rising and above target but the worst may have passed.

☆ UBS has no desire to buy Credit Suisse, chairman tells newspaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, Jan 14 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) has no interest in buying fellow Swiss lender Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), the bank's Chairman Colm Kelleher said in a interview published on Saturday. "We have no desire to buy Credit Suisse," Kelleher told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung. "There are always scenarios, but none that are convincing," he said when asked if there were any situations where a UBS takeover of Credit Suisse made sense. The former chairmen of Credit Suisse and UBS supported a merger between the two banks, and held talks in the first half of 2020, Swiss media reported two years ago. The discussions eventually lapsed, the media reports said, and both Urs Rohner and Axel Weber have since left their roles at Credit Suisse and UBS respectively.

☆ Southwest's ex-CEO turned the airline into a 'cult' that couldn't recover from its 'meltdowns', says pilots' union official
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Southwest's former CEO created a "cult" focused on its headquarters, its pilots' union VP said. Captain Tom Nekouei said in an open letter that Gary Kelly's chickens had "come home to roost." Gary Kelly stepped down as CEO of Southwest Airlines in January 2022 but remains executive chairman. "Gary Kelly's only enduring legacy is that he destroyed Herb Kelleher's." A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said it had a "more than 51-year history of allowing – and encouraging – its employees to express their opinions in a respectful manner."

The union, which remains locked in heated contract negotiations with Southwest Airlines, published the letter Dec. 31. Kelly served as Southwest CEO from 2004 until last February, and replaced Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher as chairman in 2008. This is not an employees of Southwest Airlines problem. The union, Nekouei wrote, "has been beating this drum to management for nearly a decade pleading with them to spend the necessary capital to prevent the ultimate consequence someday." In an emailed statement responding to the union's letter, Southwest said that "it has a more than 51-year history of allowing — and encouraging — its Employees to express their opinions in a respectful manner."

☆ Who's afraid of Wells Fargo?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Wells Fargo reached a $3.7 billion deal with regulators over the bank’s “widespread mismanagement” that allegedly hit more than 16 million consumer accounts. KEY CONTEXTSadly, all of this echoes earlier reports about Wells Fargo’s practices that have emerged since 2016, when its fake-accounts scandal made national headlines, my colleague Matt Egan writes. Wells Fargo workers ended up creating millions of bank accounts for customers without their knowledge. Chopra described Wells Fargo as a “repeat offender” and a “corporate recidivist,” adding that Tuesday’s fine is just an initial step toward holding the bank accountable. The web of scandals at Wells Fargo is massive, and after six years of fallout, a lot of folks aren’t convinced the bank can save itself.

☆ Op-ed: FTX crash shows cryptocurrency market needs bank-like regulation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Rob Nichols | Dennis Kelleher | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Instead, many crypto-asset customers had accounts at nonbank crypto firms. This is very similar to what happened at nonbank financial firms during the 2008 financial crash and would have happened when the 2020 pandemic hit if the Fed had not acted so quickly. Finally, this principle doesn't mean that a company has to be a bank to offer financial products or services. Innovation in the financial sector is critical to maximizing benefits for consumers, and fair, properly and consistently regulated competition can drive this process forward. But consumers also expect that the rules that govern providers — whether bank or nonbank — protect them and financial stability.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell clears the decks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan. Intended or not, investors clearly read Wednesday's keynote speech by the Federal Reserve chair as a green light for a yearend relief rally in beaten down assets. On the face of it, Fed chief Jerome Powell merely confirmed what most had already assumed - that the Fed would downshift the size of its interest rate rises to half a point next month. The upshot is that markets have dragged their implied peak Fed rate next year back below 5% and continue to price up to half a point of cuts by the end of 2023. Core PCE inflation numbers are due later and another barrage of Fed speakers to hold Powell's take up to the light.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried took plenty of blame for FTX's downfall, but denied fraudulent behavior
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

And while I've got you here, it's time to start thinking about gifts with the holidays season in full swing. Do you know what's an informative, funny gift that has a long shelf life and, most important of all, is free? FTX Cryptocurrency exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at a hearing on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2022. But the main attraction at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday was Sam Bankman-Fried. And frankly conflict of interest risk," SBF said.

☆ UBS not seeking to benefit from crisis at Credit Suisse- chair
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ZURICH, Nov 30 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) is not actively benefiting from the crisis at rival Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher told a Financial Times banking conference. He also said rich clients at UBS, the world's biggest wealth manager, were holding more cash than at any time since the financial crisis of 2008. Reporting by Noele Illien and Oliver Hirt, Editing by Michael ShieldsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FTX crash shares eerie similarities with Bernie Madoff, ex-regulator Sheila Bair says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Sheila Bair, a top regulator during the 2008 financial crisis, told CNN there are eerie similarities between the dramatic rise and fall of Bankman-Fried and FTX and that of infamous Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff. Bair notes that 30-year-old Bankman-Fried, like Madoff, proved adept at using his pedigree and connections to seduce sophisticated investors and regulators into missing “red flags” hiding in plain sight. Up until the bankruptcy filing, FTX even had an application pending with federal regulators to clear derivatives, The Wall Street Journal reported. FTX’s bankruptcy filing indicates it had liabilities of $10 billion to $50 billion at the time of the filing. — If you are an FTX customer and want to discuss how you have been impacted by the bankruptcy, please reach out to Matt.Egan@CNN.com

☆ Why Hong Kong’s Makeover Will Founder
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Nathaniel Taplin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hong Kong, newly reopened to the world, is still plastered with posters celebrating the 25th anniversary of the territory’s handover to China: “A New Era. Opportunity.” The first of those aims has been achieved, at very high cost. The outlook for the other two, particularly the last, remains poor. The city recently held a week of events—including a bankers summit drawing in the likes of Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and UBS Group Chairman Colm Kelleher . The events were designed to celebrate the end of its self-imposed isolation and repair reputational damage from years of heavy-handed Covid-19 policies and the government’s decision to crush the political opposition following the antigovernment protests of 2019.

☆ Morning Bid: Downbeat on the downshift
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan. The recent burst of stock market optimism around the world still seems to be on shaky ground. Despite expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will signal a much-vaunted 'downshift' in its rate rise campaign from next month - following a fourth straight 75 basis point rise on Wednesday - the incoming economic numbers won't play ball. The other slightly peculiar source of global market optimism this week has been unverified speculation over the past 48 hours that China will ease its draconian zero COVID rules in March. In Europe, markets awaited the Bank of England's latest interest rate decision on Thursday - with the bank's biggest rate rise in 33 years forecast.

☆ ‘The worst is behind us’: Hong Kong kicks off its finance summit with top global bankers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN Business —Hong Kong leader John Lee sought to drum up confidence in the city’s future as a global financial hub on Wednesday, as he welcomed some of Wall Street’s top executives to its biggest international event in years. “We were, we are and we will remain one of the world’s leading financial centers,” Lee vowed. China’s latest five-year plan includes goals to reinforce the city’s role as an international trade, financial, shipping and aviation center, Lee said. “The worst is behind us.”Solomon, Gorman and Kelleher, who took to the stage for a panel shortly after Lee’s remarks, did not comment directly on the city’s reopening. Mainland China, however, still has a mandate in place for most inbound travelers to self-isolate for at least seven days, under its stringent “zero-Covid policy.”

[1/4] James Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive of Morgan Stanley, speaks during the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong, China November 2, 2022. "It’s a painful transition, but not an unexpected transition," said Gorman, also the bank's chairman, at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit. It was Hong Kong's biggest corporate event since it shut its borders in 2020 and introduced restrictions to combat COVID-19. Inflation and "very quick" monetary tightening after over a decade of relatively accommodative policies are making the world more volatile and uncertain, said Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon (GS.N). If central banks find a way to tame inflation meaningfully and in a balanced way, it will "increase the chance of a soft landing" for their economies, Solomon said.

☆ Family offices have become a $6 trillion powerhouse in investing—and deal-making
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-11 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Family offices now manage more than $6 trillion in wealth, according to some estimates, surpassing the estimated $4 trillion managed by hedge funds. Many billionaire hedge fund managers, seeking lighter regulation or freedom from benchmarks and outside investor demands, are also converting to family offices. Singapore recently created a Family Office Development Team to lead and coordinate initiatives that will attract more family offices. The Wealth Management Institute has launched the Global-Asia Family Office Circle in Singapore to attract more family offices. Even family offices that serve more than one family often receive an exemption from the SEC to keep their filings confidential.

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