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WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told bank CEOs on Thursday that more mergers may be necessary after a series of bank failures, CNN reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The Treasury readout did not mention bank mergers, but CNN quoted sources as saying that consolidation was discussed. Yellen told Reuters in an interview in Japan last week that pressures on U.S. regional bank earnings may lead to more concentration in the sector and regulators will likely be open to such mergers. But the report that she gave a similar message directly to bank CEOs, alongside news that talks over the U.S. debt ceiling were at an impasse, had a significant impact on markets on Friday. Two-year Treasury yields initially dropped by some 11 basis points on Friday after the report, while benchmark 10-year yields fell by about five basis points.

☆ Our conviction in Morgan Stanley remains solid, despite the CEO's planned departure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Jim on Friday matched Gorman's confidence in the future of Morgan Stanley, saying its stock looked very attractive at current levels. The day before Gorman took over as CEO, on Jan. 1, 2010, Morgan Stanley stock closed at $29.60 per share. Investors like steadiness, so they're willing to pay more for every dollar of wealth-and-asset-management revenue compared with investment banking and trading. Over time, this dynamic should allow Morgan Stanley to command a higher price-to-earnings ratio. James Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Beijing, China, on Thursday, May 30, 2019.

☆ Crypto firm Ripple buys Swiss startup as SEC crackdown forces companies to consider overseas moves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Oct. 19, 2021. "This is the largest deal we've seen in the last year," Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, told CNBC on a call Tuesday. Garlinghouse said last week that the firm will have spent $200 million in total defending itself against the SEC lawsuit. Numerous crypto industry insiders have been calling for a clear regulatory framework from the U.S. Congress to help give companies clarity over how they can operate in a way that's legally sound. WATCH: Ripple will have spent $200 million fighting SEC lawsuit, CEO says

A typical in-state four-year degree is around $100,000 on average, but there are ways to make it cheaper. Dual enrollment, in-state schools, and community college will all be cheaper than many expensive options. Experts have six tips for paying less in tuition, fees and other higher education expenses this year. Earn college credits in high schoolCollege consultant Chad Dorman of Leonard Andrew Consulting says that, in many cases, high school students can earn college credit via dual enrollment. This is especially true if community colleges in your area have reciprocity agreements with nearby four-year schools.

☆ Thailand opposition on course to crush military parties in election rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Thailand's opposition secured a stunning election win on Sunday after trouncing parties allied with the military, setting the stage for a flurry of deal-making over forming a government in a bid to end nearly a decade of conservative, army-backed rule. To rule, the opposition parties will need to strike deals and muster support from multiple camps, including members of a junta-appointed Senate that has sided with military parties and gets to vote on who becomes prime minister and form the next administration. Move Forward came top, followed closely by Pheu Thai, the preliminary results showed. He said he remained open to an alliance with Pheu Thai, but has set his sights set on being prime minister. "It is now clear the Move Forward Party has received the overwhelming support from the people around the country," he said on Twitter.

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy's firm courts GOP officials as he pushes businesses to stay out of politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Scott Olson | Getty ImagesRepublican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy built his White House bid around urging companies to stay out of politics. The messages show Ramaswamy's firm actively engaged with GOP state leaders who have defended the fossil fuel industry and criticized environmentally conscious investment standards. Ramaswamy on Thursday defended the firm's engagement with GOP officials, saying bigger firms BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have conducted similar practices with state officials across the country. Strive has become one of the more vocal opponents of ESG investing and has gained enough notoriety to challenge the likes of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil . Ron DeSantis, have often attacked ESG investing standards and corporations that support social causes — an increasingly common refrain within the GOP.

☆ Stocks are set for more volatility as the 'unlucky 13' months of strong job growth complicates the Fed's mission to cool the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A blowout jobs report and could make the Fed's job of tamping down inflation harder. The April US jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls grew by of 253,000 and a fall in the unemployment rate to 3.4%. Wages are key to the Fed's inflation outlook, and April brought a 0.5% rise in average hourly pay – the biggest monthly increase in a year. "This is a market that's really going to struggle. "It's too early to assess the likelihood of an additional Fed rate hike in mid-June, but this latest jobs report will push the excessively data-dependent Fed towards further tightening – a mistake in our view."

☆ Crypto has ‘lost its shine’ for institutional investors, says Northern Trust executive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Institutional investors lost interest in crypto after 2022 and even with this year's uptrend, their appetite for it hasn't come back yet, according to Northern Trust's head of digital assets and financial markets. "Just after March the crypto market went off a cliff… the client interest has definitely gone off the same cliff in terms of institutional interest in in cryptocurrencies," he said. The "evolution of the technology" is moving into a "better place" in terms of support from market participants, Chapman said. Specifically, Northern Trust partnered with Standard Chartered in 2020 to launch Zodia, a crypto custodian for institutional investors. But it's certainly lost its shine from the institutional perspective."

☆ How a Texas farm girl went from intern to CEO of a logistics startup with $53 million in funding before the age of 40
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On the path from unpaid intern to CEO, Heather Salomon-Hoover wrote four resignation letters. And after nearly 18 years at the Texas delivery firm uShip, Salomon-Hoover officially became CEO Thursday. She's held 11 different positions at the company before CEO, including chief operating officer and interim CEO. That's a long way from uShip, which specializes in moving bulky, oddly shaped goods across town or across the country. I'm a first-time CEO, first-time board member, and for that I'm constantly looking to grow my mentorship base," she said.

☆ A New Breast Pumping Law Has Gone Into Effect. Here’s What It Means.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Alisha Haridasani Gupta | Catherine Pearson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, expanded protections for nursing mothers, officially known as the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, or PUMP Act, went into full effect, giving more workers the right to break time and a private space to pump. Building on a 2010 law, which compelled employers to provide breastfeeding accommodations, the PUMP Act was introduced in Congress in 2021. Support grew last summer amid the baby formula shortage and after the American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines that support breastfeeding for two years or more. “Part of the reason for that is that if you’re not emptying your breasts regularly, your milk supply goes down. And if your milk supply goes down, gradually, breastfeeding ceases.”

☆ Future-Proofing the Board of Directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +29 min

Governance structures and practices should position the board to provide objective judgment and active oversight supported by board leadership, which is separate from and independent of company management. The board should design governance structures and practices that support it in determining board priorities, agendas, and information needs. The board should create governance structures and practices that ensure that directors are competent, committed, and diverse and that board and committee composition align with the company’s changing needs. Developing and supporting a positive and ethical corporate culture (see Corporate and Board Culture below). Corporate and Board CultureA strong board and corporate culture is imperative for a company’s success.

REUTERS/Pierre AlbouyMILAN/LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Short-sellers who bet against European banks are set to lose a substantial amount of money in April after the sector bounced back from the shock downfall of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) in anticipation of strong quarterly earnings. The STOXX European banks share index (.SX7P) has risen as much as 18% from late March's lows. But a Bank of America survey showed fund managers cut bank exposure in April to the lowest since May 2020, as they piled into more recession-proof defensive sectors. Ortex estimates short interest on European banks is close to 1% of the free share float, an 11-month high. One area of concern is exposure to commercial real estate and investors will be alert to any sign of emerging stress as European lenders report earnings next week.

☆ The messy, high-stakes world of private equity's fossil-fuel dilemma
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Most major private-investment firms are working to cut down on emissions their portfolio companies send into the atmosphere. It's also set targets to get three-quarters of its majority-owned power-and-energy portfolio companies' emissions that they generate directly and indirectly covered by Paris-aligned climate goals by 2025. A growing number of private-equity firms' pension-fund limited partners are under pressure themselves to either invest around environmental, social, and governance matters or shun investing through those lenses altogether. Firms' plans with their upstream investments tend to draw the most attention because they're involved in drilling for new oil and gas. If you're a private-equity firm and you continue to make new upstream investments, I don't believe you have a Paris-aligned plan.

☆ Ballance retires from all forms of game
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 19 (Reuters) - Former England batter Gary Ballance announced his retirement from cricket on Wednesday, four months after leaving Yorkshire following the racism scandal involving Azeem Rafiq. Yorkshire released Ballance from his contract in December after the 33-year-old Zimbabwe-born player spent a year on the sidelines to deal with mental health issues. Ballance admitted in 2021 to using racist language against former team mate Rafiq, whose allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire rocked English cricket. Ballance signed a two-year deal to play for Zimbabwe last year. "After much thought, I have decided to retire from all forms of professional cricket with immediate effect," Ballance said in a statement released by the Professional Cricketers' Association.

☆ Snakes, rats and reptilian squatters: single family rental investors get a rude awakening as landlords
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Single-family-rental landlords are like most other homeowners, just at scale. Indeed, rising interest rates have drastically reduced access to capital for everyone, including single-family landlords who've borrowed heavily to finance their purchases. Here are a few stories of the wild world of institutional single-family-rental property management. An iguana stuck inside a Divvy Homes property in Florida. Single-family-rental landlords face the twin challenges of customer service and homeownership, often at the same time.

March 15 (Reuters) - Swiss regulators said Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) can access liquidity from the central bank if needed, racing to assuage fears around the lender after it led a rout in European bank shares on Wednesday. The U.S. Treasury is monitoring the situation around Credit Suisse and is in touch with global counterparts about it, a Treasury spokesperson said. They slid again as a crisis of confidence gripped Credit Suisse on Wednesday after its largest investor said it could not provide Credit Suisse with more financial assistance because of regulatory constraints. The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in front of an office building in Zurich, Switzerland October 26, 2022. Ralph Hamers, CEO of Credit Suisse rival UBS (UBSG.S) said market turmoil has steered more money its way.

Two supervisory sources told Reuters that the European Central Bank (ECB) had contacted banks on its watch to quiz them about their exposures to Credit Suisse. The Swiss National Bank declined to comment on Switzerland's second-largest bank, after its largest investor said it could not provide Credit Suisse with more financial assistance because of regulatory constraints. Credit Suisse had appealed to the Swiss National Bank and Swiss financial watchdog FINMA for a public show of support, the Financial Times reported. The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in front of an office building in Zurich, Switzerland October 26, 2022. Ralph Hamers, CEO of Credit Suisse rival UBS (UBSG.S) said market turmoil has steered more money its way.

The drop in Credit Suisse shares led a 7% fall in the European banking index (.SX7P), while five-year credit default swaps (CDS) for the flagship Swiss bank hit a new record high, highlighting increasing investor concerns. We move from the problems of American banks to those of European banks, first of all Credit Suisse," said Carlo Franchini, head of institutional clients at Banca Ifigest in Milan. The Swiss National Bank declined to comment on Switzerland's second-largest bank, after its largest investor said it could not provide Credit Suisse with more financial assistance because of regulatory constrains. The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in front of an office building in Zurich, Switzerland October 26, 2022. Ralph Hamers, CEO of Credit Suisse rival UBS (UBSG.S) said it has benefited from market turmoil and seen money inflows.

March 15 (Reuters) - European bank stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, with embattled Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) tumbling to a new low, on renewed investor concerns about stresses within the sector triggered by Silicon Valley Bank's sudden collapse. A more than 20% drop in Credit Suisse shares led a 6% plus fall in the European banking index (.SX7P), while five-year credit default swaps (CDS) for the flagship Swiss bank hit a new record high, highlighting increasing investor concerns. We move from the problems of American banks to those of European banks, first of all Credit Suisse," said Carlo Franchini, head of institutional clients at Banca Ifigest in Milan. BlackRock (BLK.N) Chief Executive Laurence Fink warned on Wednesday that the U.S. regional banking sector remains at risk, and predicted further high inflation and rate increases. And in an attempt to avert a similar crisis down the line, the U.S. Federal Reserve is considering tougher rules and oversight for midsize banks similar in size to SVB.

Credit Suisse fell below 2 Swiss francs ($2.18) for the first time after Saudi National Bank said it could not go above 10% ownership due to a regulatory issue. Credit Suisse shares fell by as much as 23.8% and were last down 20.2%. An index of European bank stocks (.SX7P) fell in morning trading and was last down 6.1%, hitting its lowest since January 3. Fears of contagion after the collapse of tech-focused lender SVB (SIVB.O) and New York-based Signature Bank (SBNY.O) last week have weighed on European bank stocks. We move from the problems of American banks to those of European banks, first of all Credit Suisse," said Carlo Franchini, head of institutional clients at Banca Ifigest in Milan.

☆ Instant View: Banking stocks tank again as Credit Suisse woes rock market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FILE PHOTO: A Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a the roof of a branch in Geneva, Switzerland, November 3, 2022. European banks shares slid over 6%, European stocks were down more 3% and U.S. stock futures pointed to a weak start for Wall Street shares. MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: Credit Suisse share trading was halted after heavy losses, last down over 20%, ING Group, ABN AMRO were4 down over 6%. “But in general, the balance sheet is in a much better position, with the European banks all highly regulated. So, it is important that the European regulator make clear that the underlying systemic risk, not only for deposits, but in the overall European banking market, is rather low.”

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - The rapid unraveling of SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O) has blindsided the banking industry after years of stability. Investors and customers now face a nervous wait to see if SVB bank finds a buyer quickly. During the 2008 financial crisis, Washington Mutual found a buyer immediately. One area of particular focus could be larger regional banks, which saw some rule relief under the Trump administration. U.S. banking regulators said in October they were considering new requirements on large regional banks, including holding more long-term debt to weather losses.

☆ Premarket stocks: The return of the Reddit investor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

What’s happening: Retail investors are pouring a record $1.5 billion per day into the stock market, according to data from Vanda Research. Brunswick has conducted its annual survey on the digital habits of institutional investors for over a decade. This year, it polled 257 institutional investors across North America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Retail investors amass funds, and power: Retail investors now account for half of all wealth globally, according to a recent report by Bain & Company. Fed officials have expressed concern that a tight labor market could keep upward pressure on wages and, in turn, inflation.

☆ Adidas' new CEO came out swinging during his first press conference, calling out Nike's lack of innovation and defending the three stripes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Danni Santana | Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He stood up for Adidas' performance innovation pipeline while taking a shot at NikeAdidas is always compared to its larger rival Nike. But Gulden took issue with criticisms that Adidas is not innovating enough in its performance business. The Yeezy business is not coming backAdidas has not made a decision on what to do with its stockpile of Yeezys. Given Lorenzo's popularity, the underperformance of the Ivy Park line, and the end of Adidas' Yeezy business, Lorenzo could give the company a needed spark. Gulden took the stage Wednesday in front of a backdrop that featured Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali, two sports icons and former Adidas athletes.

☆ Nearly 60% of institutional investors said they have used Reddit for investment decisions, survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Brunswick Group survey found 58% of institutional investors have used Reddit for investment decisions. "Institutional investors look for ways to keep their pulse on the conversation among retail investors." The investment advisory firm surveyed 257 US and European institutional investors – professionals who trade for banks, hedge funds and pensions – and found that 58% have used Reddit. "Institutional investors look for ways to keep their pulse on the conversation among retail investors. What's more, institutional investors are likely to be retail investors in their personal lives and may find their retail research habits helpful in their professional roles," the report said.

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