Western Europe

The country’s biggest firms are doing all they can to bolster their reputation, as the nation faces a human and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19.

Sell-side research is integrating alternative data to navigate the current coronavirus crisis. It’s the future for bank research, but it’s not an easy transition.

Veteran DCM banker Charlie Berman closes in on first product launch aimed at digitizing processes and workflows along the life of a bond.

Just when SSA bankers were getting used to a market supportive of deals again, Germany has surprised them with a change of approach.

The German leader joins local private banks in starting to steer clients towards third-party deposits platforms as the sector tries to pass on negative rates.

Green bond issuance slows in market turmoil, while social bonds offer means to finance Covid-19 responses.

Global cash managers are having to move fast and adapt solutions to support clients through the Covid-19 crisis.

The coronavirus Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the need to build better consumer financial resilience – bank efforts to support personal savings and debt reduction will have a greater impact than writing cheques.

Smaller asset managers and hedge funds that went into the cloud for trading may be better off than big banks that spent billions on proprietary server-based infrastructure.

Private equity buyers have never had so much cash to put to work; they are already looking to make new investments in companies that will survive the lockdowns.

For a sector reeling from money laundering scandals, it’s tempting to imagine that technology could be a low-cost way of solving such problems. AI could be a game changer for detecting low-level crime, but corporate-scale laundromats will remain tough to crack.

The transition from Libor must be delayed to avoid pressuring coronavirus-damaged markets.

Proof of the Swedish supervisor’s mettle raises questions about the Danish response to money laundering.

Banks came into the coronavirus pandemic much stronger than they went into the global financial crisis, but will the capital and liquidity buffers they have built be sufficient to see them through the most dramatic economic crash in history?

Most European residential mortgage-backed securities deals can absorb the hit from payment moratoria for now, but junior notes are at risk if the crisis persists.

The former UBS private banking chief leaves an impressive legacy across the wealth management industry.

Not only were corporate deals done last week, but they were done with most people being at home. This is the new normal for at least the next couple of months.

Central banks have told lenders to eat into their buffers, but intense debate remains over recognition of non-performing loans in the push for debt moratoria.

As the coronavirus Covid-19 crisis mounts, banks are finally being heard on negative rates, but that might not be a good thing.

The virtue of private capital is that it can withstand short-term volatility in valuations of assets held for the long term – and now is the time to prove that.

Debt forgiveness may stave off an immediate banking crisis in the country hardest hit so far, but the longer-term outlook is grave.

Bankers say state guarantees to support payment holidays could prevent loan defaults.

When a ‘major deal’ is more misnomer than mind-blowing.

On February 25, a rather sheepish announcement from the UK’s FCA revealed that, in response to a freedom of information request last November, it had inadvertently made underlying confidential information accessible on its website.

Freshly empowered European bank chairmen are making perplexing lurches as they search for new chief executives. A random CEO generator might help.

The cryptocurrency has surged in 2020, as investors worry that coronavirus-exposed equity and bond markets are set to crash.

What was Italy’s biggest bank is giving free rein to Intesa Sanpaolo in Italy, making CEO Carlo Messina’s crown even more secure.

Intesa Sanpaolo’s €4.9 billion raid on UBI Banca could inspire similar deals, but it’s an eminently Italian takeover, not least due to the role of Alberto Nagel’s Mediobanca.

Distressed buyers could face a labour of Hercules in establishing projected recoveries for Greece’s new NPL securitization scheme.

After turning French banking upside down, Compte Nickel is taking its tech-savvy approach to financial inclusion abroad. Insiders say its barebones account service will spread further and keep its dynamism under BNP Paribas ownership. But can a bank for outsiders with a physical network also be the fintech champion of Europe’s banking establishment?