Western Europe

Jes Staley gets to stay in his job, but his difficulties don't end with one investigation

Pimco and Anchorage subpoena the Spanish bank for information to support their case in the EU General Court and criminal proceedings in Madrid.

Investors keep powder dry for Greece and Cyprus; EBRD tempts global investors with co-investment.

Danone’s inks €2 billion ESG-tied credit facility; European firms dominate sustainable borrowing.

As direct lending funds continue their advance, certain banks are also making waves in mid-market lending.

The French group seems both destined for dominance and predisposed to failure.

The country’s banks are much more investable than they have been for over a decade – whether or not that makes them attractive enough to relist and attract foreign investors is another question.

After a bloodless revolution at the eurozone’s second biggest banking group, Philippe Brassac says he has engineered a return to Crédit Agricole’s origins, rooted in French regional banking. Now he is aiming to revive the group’s appetite for foreign expansion. Can Brassac prevent a repetition of his predecessors’ international errors and avoid falling victim to another coup?

Objective to increase transparency has largely failed but liquidity remains resilient, say senior traders.

February’s volatility has shown that the markets may not always be there for the financing that corporates want to do and that the borrowers may not always be there for the financing that the markets want to do. Financing could be about to change – a lot

The right political environment for strategic, cross-border M&A deals within Europe might finally be here. Investment bankers know they need to make the most of it – while it lasts

It has been the busiest first quarter ever for M&A announcements. Deal makers are becoming exuberant amid strong growth synchronized across the developed markets. But rising protectionism in the biggest M&A market of all could yet turn a banner year into one to forget. Should investment bankers fear the new Trump effect?

After a much-needed spike in volatility during the first quarter, FICC bankers reacted with cautious fist-bumps rather than fist-pumps. They hope it will continue, but how quickly this will translate into better revenues and profitability remains to be seen.

Redomicile quelled depositor fears, says CEO; economy boosts newly acquired Portuguese business.

A sale of NEX will generate close to a billion dollars for brokerage founder Spencer. Will it also bring him closer to the aristocratic title he craves?

If Michael Spencer manages to sell NEX at a price that places a high value on its core FX and electronic bond dealing platform, he will have pulled off an impressive slow-motion brokerage trade.

Global cooperation between regulators must be preserved after the UK leaves the European Union, says Kay Swinburne.

China’s interbank market trading platform and infrastructure provider has ramped up its technology partnership with NEX to capitalize on the ever-increasing appetite for algorithmic trading.

Lending surveys suggest small businesses are reluctant to borrow even though banks approve most of their credit applications: but the reality is very different.

Next month, all UK employers with more than 250 workers must disclose the gender pay gaps for both salary and bonus.

Forget your bikini-clad full moon party bitcoin events, because it doesn’t get any cooler than the annual Polar Bear Pitching in Oulu, Finland.

Barclays CEO has to deliver now he has the bank the way he says he wants it to be.

Family offices looking for yield need to be extra vigilant as the cycle turns.

When banks get around to reporting first-quarter 2018 results in April (the US banks) and May (the Europeans), it is already safe to say that their fixed income, currencies and commodities numbers will look particularly good.

An investment of around $10 billion in shares of a reinsurance firm does not seem like an obvious move for a technology conglomerate like SoftBank, but its founder Masayoshi Son relishes any opportunity to surprise the markets.

Outsiders struggling to make sense of the investing tactics of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son can take some comfort: his own directors often seem just as puzzled.

Big Society Capital hits £600 million; Portugal, Japan, Israel adopt model.

Have banks finally learned not to hold their customers in contempt?

After a year in the recovery ward, 2017 results show some banks are healing. The most serious illness, negative rates, is stubbornly resistant however. The danger remains that banks may not recover before another disease –financial or technological – strikes.

Most new challengers are attacking retail, but a few ingenious startups are moving into the more fragmented and poorly served small business market. It is here that concepts of open banking and banking as a platform may first become real.