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LATEST ARTICLES
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Private banking clients have begun exploring alternative asset allocation strategies in Brazil. Euromoney talks to the founders of a startup that is tapping into this demand with a strategy focused on special situations.
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China is having a shocker of a year. Growth has stalled, deflation is back and global firms are moving production elsewhere as they de-risk from China to boost supply-chain resiliency. FDI is down sharply and exports are sinking. Just as Brexit reshaped the UK’s relationship with the world, has Covid done the same for China?
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Credit growth is a key driver of stellar earnings from India’s banks as the country completes its recovery from Covid-19, but another driver is digital traction.
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Regulators forced banks to skip dividends during Covid, but let them make up payouts later on. They should now do the same for AT1s or risk that market failing.
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Beijing recently ordered its state banks, including ICBC and Bank of China, to plough $162 billion worth of fresh credit into the country’s troubled property sector. In doing so, they look not proactive but panicky. A negative hit on lenders’ profits is inevitable.
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China is stuck. It has spent three years trying to keep Covid at bay, but now irate citizens have spilled onto the streets, questioning the competency of president Xi Jinping, and calling for an end to restrictions – just as transmission rates spike.
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China’s property sector is in freefall and Covid lockdowns are throttling growth as bad loans pile up at the banks. As president Xi Jinping prepares for an unprecedented third term, a deluge of crises threatens to destroy the country's four-decade economic miracle.
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The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brutally exposed the fragility of global supply chains.
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HSBC’s interim result shows that banks are drawing a line under pandemic-related provisions, while simultaneously setting aside new ones for the disease’s economic cure. All banks must make this transition, but HSBC has other things to worry about besides: a campaign from China’s Ping An to split the bank in half.
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Xi Jinping wants a smooth path to his re-appointment as president in November. But his zero-Covid policy, slowing growth and bank runs in central China mean that path is looking increasingly bumpy.
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The top ranks of Philippine finance are shuffling after the election of Bongbong Marcos as president. Felipe Medalla takes the reins at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, where he faces a challenge in fostering economic recovery while keeping inflation from getting out of hand.
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Digitalizing and automating its FX risk management has notably improved a pharma's treasury function.
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Artificial intelligence has revolutionized cash-flow forecasting at educational services provider Pearson.
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BNP Paribas’s top private banker talks to Euromoney about his love of Brittany’s rough seas, the power of ESG, and digital’s ability to transform and improve every step of the client journey.
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As Covid fatalities rise fast, senior bankers are fleeing a city that, despite today's relaxation of some rules, is increasingly cut off from the world. Will Hong Kong ever be the same again?
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Covid has been a tough time for junior private bankers. Instead of learning on the job, most have been stuck at home. The best banks have mentor systems and training programmes, but nothing can replace real face time with seniors and building trust with clients over a glass of wine.
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A quiet battle is under way in private banking to hire trusted, super-talented and increasingly well-paid relationship managers. It is tricky and expensive, and it’s pushing salaries ever higher. As the power and prestige of wealth management grows, finding and keeping talent is one of the most important challenges that all banks face.
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Early in the Covid crisis, CACIB avoided the big equity derivatives losses its local rivals suffered. Chief executive Jacques Ripoll tells Euromoney how the bank plans to take advantage of the rise of sustainable finance, which plays to its long-standing expertise in infrastructure and energy.
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Nicolas Cailly, head of payments and cash management at Societe Generale, is responsible for growing the French bank’s cash-management franchise. He tells Euromoney why the bank’s new treasury offering is a step forward for TMS implementation.
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Brought in to help clean up Credit Suisse, the high-profile Portuguese banker has been forced to quit to preserve what is left of its reputation.
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Douglas Flint, former HSBC chair and current chairman of Abrdn, talks to Euromoney about climate change, his hope for the future and how he convinced CEO Stephen Bird to join the firm over fish and chips and a pint in an Edinburgh pub.
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Covid barely dented the strength of the banking system and most banks have been steadily releasing the provisions they took. Euromoney talks to the leaders of our 25 reviewed banks and others about the challenges they face as the world normalizes.
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At the end of each year, Euromoney takes a close look at the performance of 25 key institutions that we cover. Speaking to senior executives at these firms, we assess what went right and what didn’t, together with what might lie ahead. This year, we have also examined the views of those at the top on two important factors for 2022: their own and others’ asset quality, and the disruptive threat of China. Their observations are discussed in the two features below, followed by our reports for 2021 on the Euromoney 25.
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Rising inflation expectations matter to the banking industry. Santander CEO José Antonio Álvarez explains, however, that negative real rates will probably persist for the next five or 10 years because of Covid.
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A new index aggregates corporate profitability, asset values and debt service capacity, and shows worrying signs of stress even amid low default rates.
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Global supply-chain bottlenecks have profound implications for how and where companies will fund their operations in the future. As the lines of ships lengthen outside ports, there’s a macroeconomic cost for banks weighing on loan demand and perhaps asset quality. However, some trade and logistics financing businesses that were previously on the margins of banking are now seizing their moment.
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The tie up between Masraf Al Rayan and Al Khalij Commercial Bank could be the first of many as cost cutting and profitability top the banking agenda.
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The fiscal deterioration of Latin America’s former totem has more than just the pandemic behind it.
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Central banks have dominated financial markets through years of interest-rate repression that inflated bond and equity valuations. Suddenly inflation, running at highs not seen for decades, threatens all this. Do central banks have the credibility and capacity to cope with the monster from the 1970s that has returned with a vengeance?
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Covid left Asia’s big markets closed to business travel, yet M&A is surging, with Australia and southeast Asia at the forefront of activity. China, where the focus is on local investments, is, however, bucking the trend.
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Businesses in the UK struggling under Covid-related debts are sitting on assets worth £1 trillion.
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A year on from being named financial adviser to Covax, a global alliance set up to deliver two billion pandemic vaccine doses to low-income countries, Citi bankers tell Euromoney about lessons learned, what has been achieved – and if Covax is a success or not.
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Andrew Cohen, executive chairman of JPMorgan Private Bank, talks to Euromoney about the war for talent, why diversity and inclusion have never mattered more, and what markets the private bank has in its sights.
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This year’s cash management survey sees banks looking beyond purely pandemic-related challenges to focus on sustainable finance and investment in technology.
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Hong Kong’s harsh quarantine rules could stay for another year – and possibly longer. So could China’s. Bankers aren’t happy, but they’ve learned to adapt.
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A new poll by the data-room technology provider finds that worries over the potential for post-deal value destruction because of climate change have added to a risk environment already heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Speakers at the IIF’s annual meetings play down worries over inflation, even as they recognise the short-term disruptions of the pandemic.
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Credit Suisse’s chief sustainability officer is no ESG ideologue. She is at heart a hard-nosed investment banker who sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to guide clients to a more sustainable future.
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Taking advantage of what could be a brief travel window, Euromoney recently ventured forth to road test the post-Covid business trip.
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Relief on dividends is not enough to propel the sector back to greatness.
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Appetite for emerging market risk is much lower in the wake of Covid-19 than it was after the global financial crisis. This is the result of a mix of technical and fundamental factors, but it is primarily driven by the spectre of the emerging markets’ Achilles heel: inflation.
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Covid-19-fuelled supply chain disruption is helping to funnel global real estate demand to residential, life sciences and logistics.
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The worst pandemic in a century, an event which has changed our whole way of life, appears to have dealt only a glancing blow to global banking. Good risk management certainly played a role; but, crucially, government support bailed out customers before they impacted bank balance sheets. Is there bad news to come when those policies go back to normal?
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Deutsche Bank’s restructuring has not been thrown off course by the pandemic, but upside surprises can hide risks. Discipline will be needed to avoid the temptations of the past.
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Social media celebrities and financial markets might seem like strange bedfellows, but there is nothing phony about the growth of retail FX trading.
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How much right does a bank have to instruct your behaviour when working from home? At Nomura in Japan, plenty, it seems – though the bank has only concern for your health at heart.
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As FX traders ponder how the recent increase in coronavirus cases might affect the global economy, it appears they are spending even more time trying to second guess central bank thinking.
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With investors already struggling to generate positive yields on most money market funds, managers are concerned that proposed legislative changes could render some funds unviable.
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The big six US banks are releasing the loan loss reserves they built up in the pandemic. Where might this end? The answer could be surprising.
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As Covid cases surge, the widespread hope that economic growth will contain defaults and banks will emerge unscathed looks optimistic.
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Despite concerns over recent regulatory changes, synthetic risk transfers remain a key driver for business lending in markets where private investment is underdeveloped.
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Temasek’s unusual positioning among sovereign wealth vehicles allowed it to get full exposure to the equity upswing. The results also tell us interesting things about developed versus emerging markets, deal making in a travel-free pandemic and making the best of a crisis.
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That distant sound is the warning bell as bond investors’ desperate search for yield leads them down ever-risker paths.
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The French lender’s wealth management university, introduced in 2017, is central to its ability to train private bankers to reach out and serve the high-net-worth clients the bank cannot afford to lose.
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This year’s FX survey reflects huge disruption and transition across the industry. Pandemic-driven technological advances saw traders tackle a surge in business while working remotely – supercharging change that will permanently alter the way the industry operates.
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Banks received a mostly clean bill of health from the Federal Reserve’s latest stress tests. After a catastrophe like Covid, does that mean the sector is now safe?
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We are at the peak of the hype cycle for central bank digital currencies, now being touted as one of the most fundamental innovations in the history of central banking. It is time for central banks and governments to be honest with unenthused populations. CBDC can’t deliver all the many promised improvements. As we come to design choices, there will be trade-offs. We might get improved payments but less credit. We could see greater financial inclusion but will lose privacy. Are the few benefits really worth the risk of disrupting the financial system?
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Uche Orji is approaching 10 years as head of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, a sophisticated institution segregated into three very different funds. Covid spurred a year of outstanding market returns, but now Orji’s focus is on domestic infrastructure before he steps down next year.
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Non-resident Indians are a powerful force in wealth management from New York to Singapore. But as the pandemic devastates the subcontinent, this vast diaspora is reassessing its priorities.
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Years of tough but successful IMF-led reforms have put Egypt in a great place to rebound strongly from Covid. Its future will be shaped by big infrastructure projects and by a plan to transform the nation into a powerhouse of green finance.
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Corporate insolvencies are poised to rise sharply once pandemic-related state support is removed. In the UK, companies must familiarize themselves with new insolvency regulations as the deadline for the removal of protections looms.
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The ongoing market and economic impact of Covid-19 is likely to trigger a more active approach from corporates to their cash strategies.
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Cashed-up as the crisis began, many sovereign funds took the opportunity to invest heavily through the coronavirus pandemic. But while some looked to international markets for contrarian positions, more looked to see what they could do at home.
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The country’s model of financing relentless consumption from dwindling oil revenues is under attack from all sides. Covid-related credit relief has hit the banks’ bottom lines and they are joining the call for diversification.
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Low interest rates, lockdown boredom and super-sophisticated trading apps have lured millions of Russian retail investors into the capital markets over the past year. But will they stay for the long term?
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Bob Diamond, chief executive officer of Atlas Merchant Capital and former CEO of Barclays, explains that while US banks are now well and truly safe, it is focused specialists and upstart technology companies that will drive innovation.
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Analysts are positive about sterling’s prospects over the next few months, figuring that monetary policy flexibility and attractive UK equity prices will outweigh any downward pressure from the European Union – whether trade or coronavirus-related.
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The EU will soon have to start funding a €750 billion recovery programme as rates rise and bond markets sell off. Short-dated EU-bills must carry more of the borrowing burden. That requires auctions and a new system of primary dealers.
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António Horta-Osório makes no apology for the unbridled optimism that has defined his 10 years running Lloyds Banking Group. Critics say he leaves it over-exposed to Brexit and dwindling interest margins. But, as he prepares to move to Switzerland to become chairman of Credit Suisse, Horta-Osório tells Euromoney that Lloyds’ greatest days could still be ahead of it.
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Bankers sign up to open letter decrying the government’s handling of the crisis.
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As economies return to something approaching normal, corporates will ramp up their focus on areas such as treasury digitalization and optimization – as well as demanding more support from their banks.
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The post-pandemic conditions could spur a record year for M&A, according to data-room provider Datasite. Distressed deals will come to the fore in the second half of the year – and some will be big.
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A $100 million World Bank bond arranged in early March by Citi crowded in funding from wealthy individuals as well as institutions for the first time. When it comes to impact investing, this is just the start.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted corporates to look afresh at automation and efficiency in their processes. Deutsche Bank sees a gap – even in currency-restricted markets.
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The ‘bad bank’ asset management company recently launched in the Philippines has not just been designed to make life easier for the banks, it could boost growth as well.
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A new study finds that Temasek and GIC were in almost two thirds of sovereign wealth deals in the year to September 2020.
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The RMB7 billion emergency loan handed out by the New Development Bank to China this week will be the last of its kind, the Shanghai multilateral’s CFO Leslie Maasdorp tells Euromoney.
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Accelerated technology adoption prompted by the coronavirus pandemic has enabled treasury teams to push ahead with digitalization programmes.
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OCBC, UOB and DBS are among the first lenders in Asia to report 2020 numbers. They’re in surprisingly good shape.
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Banque du Caire was on the cusp of completing a $500 million listing in London and Cairo last year when Covid hit. Its chairman Tarek Fayed meets Euromoney to talk about investing in people and digital – and why he still wants to complete a slimmed-down stock sale when conditions allow.
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The FTSE250 company launches an open pre-emptive share offer underwritten by a concert party of wealthy individuals to appease creditors in its pub securitization.
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Mid-market specialist DC Advisory has come a long way since its days as a unit of Close Brothers. UK chief executive Richard Madden reckons its acquisition by Daiwa and subsequent build-out of a more coherent international franchise has stood it in good stead.
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Unpredictable receivables together with difficulty accessing traditional sources of liquidity have forced treasury teams to explore all possible sources of working capital during the coronavirus crisis.
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Laos has twice postponed a bond that it badly needs to issue. A small country with few financing options, hit by Covid, downgraded and in debt to China – its problems are not unique.
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Strong fundamentals, generous Covid support and timely digital banking regulation mean that Hungary’s banks are in good shape for 2021.
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The bank's management is confident that pandemic losses will be contained.
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The Bank of England’s latest FX trading survey shows how sterling trading exploded in October amid the twin pressures of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.
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UBS’s wealth management team had another stellar year despite the Covid crisis – and once again the Swiss lender takes the top spot in Euromoney’s private banking survey.
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Once a branch line of the banking industry, private banking and wealth management is now a driver in its own right. It offers a powerful way to grow income, valuations and returns. But the pressure is on as banks need to scale up or sell out.
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The Spanish group’s rise to private banking prominence didn’t happen overnight. An internal merger helped, as did work integrating Europe and Latin America. The next step will be the biggest of all, as it begins a concerted push into the US.
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The bank’s full-year results for 2020 suggest bad-loan generation is manageable and that brighter times lay ahead – but we still do not know the whole story about borrowers under moratoria.
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Data provides quantification into central but opaque market trend; PayU plans to add credit services to clients’ customers at check-out.
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A primarily national approach to post-Covid bad debt has cut adrift states such as Greece and Portugal, making future banking crises more likely.
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Emerging markets have regained some of the buoyancy lost during the early months of the coronavirus crisis, but analyst opinions hint at the difficulty of identifying which EM currencies investors should favour.
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For years, trade finance and cross-border payments have looked ripe for disruption by distributed-ledger technologies. Asia provides some firm examples of breakthroughs, but – in the second of a two-part series – Euromoney asks whether trade finance will always be just that little bit too complicated for the blockchain?
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The bubbles in crypto and small-caps look obvious, but most markets are over-inflated and it is a fantasy that banks are immune to the risks.
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Less pain in the downturn means less gain in an upturn.
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Fourth-quarter numbers from Asia’s biggest trade finance banks suggest that business in the region has bounced back rapidly. Corporates have changed their approach to their manufacturing bases and supply chains, and have accelerated their use of technology. In the first of a two-part series, Euromoney finds there are lessons here for the rest of the world when the pandemic eventually eases.
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An abundance of low-cost finance and soaring stock market valuations are driving M&A towards record levels. But as M&A fever spreads, so riskier deals based on more dubious logic are appearing.
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Treasurers have relied on traditional skills to navigate the circumstances they have faced over the past nine months. Changes forced by the pandemic will impact the way they, and their entire organizations, work in the future.
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One impact of the pandemic in Asia is that it is going to make for a radically different Chinese New Year.
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The coronavirus crisis has accelerated market trends: in FX it has made clients even more amenable to expanding their universe of liquidity providers to non-banks
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European bank shares have rallied even though the pain of loan losses still lies ahead. It is also not clear how they will repay emergency ECB funding
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If you want to see what a strong economic and financial recovery might look like in 2021, you’ll find it in Dubai.
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The broker-dealer posted stellar investment banking and markets numbers for 2020 – and reckons this is just the start.
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From Covid relief funds to the COP26 climate summit, sustainability is expected to dominate the global agenda this year as never before.
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After a good year in the banking industry for the many who are now looking forward to high bonuses, the threat of redundancy may seem remote. They should beware.
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A strong year means chief executive Bruce Van Saun is in the enviable position of having options.
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With investment in technology supporting its Crédit du Nord merger, the bank hopes that product partnerships and a lower cost-to-serve will make it stand out in French retail.
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Xinja wanted to be different, but Covid hit at the worst possible time – after it had launched a high-interest deposit business, but before it had offset that with lending.
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As government debt burdens keep rising to fight the virus, so do the chances of sudden sell-offs that could suck all markets into a vicious downward cycle.
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Euromoney’s annual review of 25 sector leaders took on a particular intensity in 2020 as banks faced up to the fallout from a year many would rather forget.
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UniCredit entered the Covid-19 crisis flush with capital. That money was earmarked for dividends and share buybacks. So far, it has gone on frontloading loan write-offs.
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The investment bank profited in markets and capital raising, as acquisitions set it up for the future
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A history of patient investment meant Royal Bank of Canada was well-placed to navigate a turbulent year.
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Macquarie’s cherished reputation for being able to adapt to changing circumstances has been put to the test like never before by Covid-19.
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It’s easier to reach your destination if you know where you’re going.
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A drastic management overhaul will please some, but chief executive Charles Scharf still has much to do – especially after Covid-19.
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The transformation plan appears to be working and as the investment bank regains market share, Deutsche looks better set for the coming consolidation.
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The past year has brought new challenges for Crédit Agricole’s partnerships in products and distribution. But the wave of bank M&A sweeping Europe is also an opportunity – as its Creval deal shows.
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FAB’s status as a national champion means it is even better positioned after Covid-19 to facilitate regional growth.
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Covid-19 has hit the Spanish lender particularly hard, but the pandemic could spur a longer-term strategic shift.
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International business bails out the domestic struggle for MUFG.
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Every bank has had to balance Covid and geopolitics in 2020, but few have had it harder than HSBC
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The US firm is changing in subtle ways that are proving to be productive.
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Its cautious approach means the bank underperforms in some areas, but its management prefers it that way.
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The worst is over, but bad loans are back on the agenda at China’s largest lender.
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Inclusivity takes a back seat to pandemic preparedness in a tough year, but it remains on the agenda for the Chinese bank.
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Every bank wants to rebrand as a tech player, but few are aiming as high as Sberbank.
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The ICG managed price and counterparty credit risk well, but regulators see control deficiencies across the bank that they demand be addressed.
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The investment bank has proven its value in a tough year, but revenue stability is the challenge ahead.
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DBS has suffered, but its model looks well placed in this environment.
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Itaú Unibanco continues to outperform its peers in Brazilian banking, but its traditional competitors aren’t the real problem.
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Khara takes charge of a bank with unique challenges.
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After a year when credit markets propped up the financial performance of continental Europe’s biggest bank, concern remains about its credit risks.
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Banner year for CIB helps pay for big provisions, while bank sticks to strategy of investing for growth.
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Despite Covid, it was a good year for UBS and its outgoing chief executive Sergio Ermotti. Now it’s time for his successor Ralph Hamers to show his hand.
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While credit costs have further to rise, McKinsey’s flagship banking survey says the biggest post-Covid challenge is moving away from interest income.
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Turkey has been the outlier in CEE this year for many reasons.
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Fintechs that help smaller banking organizations reap the digital benefits; the pandemic drives short-term results, but the strategy is defensive.
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The digital dividend dominated the cash management market in 2020. Corporates responded well to those banks that digitalized the services they needed to stay afloat in the choppy waters of a global pandemic.
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The volatility of 2020 has pushed listings of special purpose acquisition companies to record levels. But the gradual shedding of their fly-by-night reputation is also driving the surge.
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Trade deal brings together 15 Asian nations; banks jostle to benefit.
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The rand is back to pre-pandemic levels despite little confidence in the South African government’s ability to revitalize its economy.
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Post-2008 accounting standards set aside capital for tomorrow’s problem loans today. In doing so, they rely on the judgements of the banks themselves. However, after Covid-19, European banks cannot afford to provision for write-offs in the same way as their US counterparts.
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The bond market could be the answer to financing better preparedness for the next global pandemic.
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The large Japanese lender joins PNC in taking the loan underwriting and monitoring system developed by a new lender to UK SMEs and tested through Covid.
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Unbundling hits European research provision as providers grapple with transparency and valuation.
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Despite Covid, M&A can still be done at scale within countries, even in the stricken aviation sector – though it helps to have a powerful force such as Korea Development Bank behind the scenes.
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It is the time of year when global banks publish their wealth reports. This year they make for compelling reading. Euromoney takes the best of these reports and examines the outlook for 2021.
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Selling its US bank to PNC fixes BBVA’s capital problem and allows it to consolidate in Spain. Arch-rival Santander’s similar troubles may be harder to solve.
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There is broad agreement that the ECB will not cut rates further, but the coronavirus pandemic is seen as the key factor governing the outlook for the euro.
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As the world cheered news of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in early November, important steps were being taken on equitable manufacture and distribution as well.
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Corporates borrowed their way through the crisis of 2020. What might happen next? Seven months after the first lockdowns began in Europe and the US, is coronavirus now priced into debt markets?
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One of the biggest capital markets stories this year has been the rise of social bonds.
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BNY Mellon and GTreasury link real-time liquidity management and investment of cash but regulators are scrutinizing money market funds.
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The payment industry’s ability to withstand the disruption caused by the coronavirus suggests that lessons learned from previous outbreaks have served the industry well.
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Japanese conglomerates have woken up to the need to divest non-core assets; international private equity houses have plenty of dry powder with which to buy them. This happy alignment appears to have survived Covid-19, unlike other forms of cross-border M&A.
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Remote working means that word of mouth is out and instant messenger is in.
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Private banking is a business based on personal relationships and trust – and it’s hard to truly connect with someone on Zoom. So long as the pandemic persists, this presents a substantial challenge to wealth managers, who can only grow their businesses by bonding with wealthy clients and winning new mandates.
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While the FX non-deliverable forward (NDF) market has demonstrated its resilience in the face of a spike in spreads during the early stages of coronavirus, there are concerns over its capacity to destabilize onshore markets in emerging economies.
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The coronavirus crisis may have stretched the resources of corporate treasury teams, but it has also reinforced – and enhanced – their status within their own organizations.
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As European bank consolidation finally gets under way, Euromoney looks at the financial firepower of the region’s top 20 players. Which banks are now best-placed to do the acquiring and which are at risk of being swallowed up? Mid-tier banks in southern Europe look especially vulnerable.
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The disruption caused by coronavirus has accelerated the move towards automated accounts payable processes as corporates seek an accurate and real-time view of their cash position.
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Solutions providers point to an upsurge in interest this year from regional banks looking to outsource some or all of their FX trading.
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What can we learn from the China Investment Corporation’s latest numbers, which cover the year prior to Covid?
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OCBC’s Virtual SME Campus has an expensive public face.
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As Gulf banks grapple with squeezed margins, low interest rates and over-banking, Egypt offers the opposite: high interest rates, low lending penetration and a largely unbanked population. It is no surprise that domestic and regional buyers are now circling.
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In stark contrast to previous periods of crisis, Brazil’s private-sector banks have been growing market share this year as the public banks have retrenched. This should translate to a busy deal pipeline as they look to refinance.
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Transaction banking revenues have declined in the first six months of 2020, following three years of growth. Attributing this fall exclusively to coronavirus and low interest rates would be a mistake – there are other important factors at play.
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A specialist calculation agent reckons now is an ideal time to break into a busy region for equity-linked deals.
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Private banks are having a good pandemic, streaming Covid-themed webinars to high net-worth clients. Now they’re competing with each other to hire the biggest names in US politics to explain to wealthy investors what Trump or Biden will do.
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The country is enjoying a record year in equity capital raising, built on rights issues by Reliance Industries and the country’s top banks. Behind the numbers, however, there are signs that the leaders will get stronger, while those behind may struggle.
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For the wealthy among us, it has mostly been a good pandemic.
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The Egyptian bank is to launch a digital bank as Covid-19 accelerates the government’s push for a cashless society.
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Is the party over for the annual meeting extravaganzas?
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As the second wave of the coronavirus hits, The Hut Group may win from new lockdowns after completing the biggest UK IPO in five years and largest ever for a tech company.
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Coronavirus has hit preparations for the end of Libor, but pandemic-induced rate stability could actually help the transition.
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Large banks have spent billions on IT to efficiently process standardized products, leaving an opening for local lenders that offer a banker to talk to.
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Buoyed by relatively healthy balance sheets, corporates have demonstrated a willingness to directly support the financial health of their supply chains since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Of all the shocks that have buffeted the world economy this year, one of the greatest is the unquestioned willingness of governments worldwide to implement emergency financial relief at scale through the banking system in response to Covid-19.
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The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency had already set itself ambitious goals even before Covid-19 hit the world. Its new head argues that the pandemic makes its mission all the more relevant.
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How can quantitative easing best alleviate the financial fallout from Covid-19? Unconventional monetary policies make investors in emerging markets uncomfortable – especially in Latin America. Little wonder that central banks are treading a cautious path.
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It seems odd that a good soldier like Mike Corbat should hand to one of his colleagues the tough task of leading Citi through the Covid battlefield.
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APFC chief executive Angela Rodell sees opportunity in the Covid market disruption.
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Different sovereign funds have approached Covid in different ways – drawdowns, contrarian investments, flights to safety and backstopping local raisings – but Ireland’s has perhaps been the most clearly defined.
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Covid-19 may be the moment sovereign wealth funds were made for: a shocking disruption to national economies that calls for a stable, patiently invested buffer. Funds have reacted in different ways, but they’re all bigger, shrewder and hopefully smarter than they were during the GFC.
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JPMorgan was not the only bank that came into the Covid crisis with a strong balance sheet, but, as in 2008, the bank has shown that its diverse business lines and fortress balance sheet are what distinguishes it from the pack.
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It was not the only bank that came into the Covid crisis with a strong balance sheet, but, as in 2008, the bank has shown that its diverse businesses provide plentiful earnings to take big reserves, even while it keeps financing large corporates and small businesses alike. Deposits have flooded in, technology investments have proved their worth and it is winning more business from mid-cap clients inside and outside the US – and it coped with the temporary absence of a legendary chief executive.
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Whether on Covid-19, systemic racial inequality or climate change, Bank of America’s CEO has demonstrated how the financial industry can respond on every front – and why stakeholder capitalism is not only needed but works
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Thomas Gottstein looked uncertain when stepping up to succeed Tidjane Thiam in February, but his response to the pandemic, including a scheme with the government, central bank and other lenders to save Swiss SMEs, demonstrated why he was appointed. He is now reshaping the bank Thiam handed over to him.
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The new chief executive of HSBC had announced a big cost-cutting programme just before Covid hit. He was smart enough to pause it and encourage local staff around the world, even in locations where the redundancies were set to fall, to back their customers with quick loan decisions. Noel Quinn discusses the bank’s impressive response.
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Singapore’s state-owned investment company entered the pandemic in good shape. Covid-19 brought new challenges in which it has emerged as a double-barreled weapon against uncertainty. The fund’s chief investment strategist explains what makes Singapore’s intriguing sovereign wealth vehicle tick.
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Faced with an estimated $100 billion budget deficit but committed to a vast expenditure programme, Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan explains how he plans to balance the books.
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The lifeline that Berlin promised Germany’s businesses earlier this year was so large it made other corporate rescues in Europe look tame. In its determination to protect companies and jobs Berlin is stirring new debate, at home and abroad, about its growing role as an industrial decision maker and even shareholder. Can the country use its financial muscle to relaunch its own sputtering economic model?
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The markets have been very relaxed about emerging markets adopting quantitative easing – and that, in itself, could become a problem.
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Euromoney Country RiskThere is seemingly no easing of risk for the two countries, despite the anticipated third-quarter economic improvement.
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The results of the latest Bank of England foreign exchange turnover survey have again highlighted the vulnerability of sterling in stressed market conditions.
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UniCredit CEO Jean Pierre Mustier is among bankers pushing for easier corporate access to government equity, as state-backed loans have heightened firms’ indebtedness, and firms’ sales struggle to recover.
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Coronavirus could provide the ‘ultimate accelerator’ for privatizations and foreign involvement.
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The coronavirus pandemic is intensifying the case for domestic bank M&A in Africa, but cross-border deals will be challenging to execute.
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JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon indicated that trading revenues could fall by 50% from their current elevated levels, but the boom has already helped to offset Covid-related loan provisions.
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With approval from Brussels, Germany can roll out Mittelstand recapitalizations through a new €600 billion Wirtschaftsstabilisierungsfonds, or WSF – just in time for the country’s troubled but economically vital automotive sector.
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How one US health-insurance plan looked after itself and the providers its policyholders rely on when routine treatment demand started to dry up.
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A quick reaction to warning signs in Asia meant Atlantic Natural Foods was better positioned than some to deal with Covid-19 – but it still needed flexibility from its bank
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Bill Demchak, CEO of PNC Financial Services, has spent years building the firm into a formidable force; its exit from BlackRock now sees it on the cusp of a new era.
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The Covid-19 crisis will accelerate monetization in the Gulf and see Abu Dhabi companies take equity stakes in the emirate.
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The New Development Bank, born in Shanghai 2015 to help the five ‘Brics' countries, has had a good pandemic, disbursing $4 billion in emergency funding and printing a maiden US dollar bond. Its future plans: more capital, more members and a better credit rating.
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Hedging may look expensive for businesses that have seen their revenues cut heavily by Covid-19 prevention measures, but removing hedges for currencies to which they have limited exposure may prove even more so.
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Just like the global financial crisis, Australia is emerging from Covid-19 more strongly than the rest of the developed world. Investment banks here have never been busier, raising huge sums of equity from one of the world’s largest asset pools. In the first of a two-part series on Australian investment banking, we look at the work that came out of a global pandemic.
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Hedge funds have profited handsomely from the boom in equity capital markets, but retail buyers haven’t been completely excluded.
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Online trade finance provider Stenn has raised several hundred million dollars during the past month and reckons it is well placed to help close the funding gap for manufacturers in developing economies.
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If a sovereign wealth fund is a coat for a rainy day, then why is hardly anyone putting one on when it’s been pouring down since March?
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International diversification counts for little in a pandemic, so shares in Sweden’s Handelsbanken have done better than most other lenders in Europe – but its loan book faces a stern test.
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Mainland Chinese firms invested $72.2 billion in Africa between 2014 and 2018, much of it through the Belt and Road Initiative. Now that Covid-19 has struck, there is a growing sense of unease in Beijing over calls to write off debt to stressed African states.
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African governments and SOEs owe China more than $150 billion and Covid-19 is limiting their ability to repay. Will this usher in debt-trap diplomacy or are Chinese lenders playing a longer game?
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The European Central Bank's purchase of more than €35 billion of commercial paper since late March shows just how rocky the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis were for short-term funding.
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Capital markets volumes show how well the industry has adapted since the coronavirus crisis began, but as economies emerge from lockdown, bankers and clients need to look much further ahead.
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Banks have to prepare for crises; if investors won’t make companies do the same, should someone else?
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Capital markets bankers and their clients are finding that a lot can be done from home; as lockdowns ease, travel will matter more than offices.
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Virtual meetings have afforded women greater visibility during the Covid-19 crisis, but little to nothing has happened. Will things finally start to change in the financial sector?
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Covid-19 has refocused attention on the urgent need to address long-term structural healthcare issues in Africa. Investors are now looking to put money to work in healthcare and banks are seeing an uptick in demand for project financing.
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For wealthy clients, the Covid-19 crisis has afforded an opportunity to test the asset-allocation advice and lending capabilities of their wealth managers
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Will it be back to business as usual as soon as lockdown restrictions are lifted?
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If the people won’t come to the office post-lockdown, maybe the office must come to the people.
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Companies never want to sell equity at rock bottom prices, but bank lenders will often only relax covenants and hold off seizing assets if new capital comes in below them. Enter private equity managers with dry powder, snapping up big preferred stock deals to help cash-strapped issuers bolster their capital structures.
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Having raised liquidity in March, Latin American companies are now trying to assess the best way forward. Will they need new debt, fresh equity, or will the economy return sufficiently for them to simply repay?
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Appetite for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies is growing as investors find comfort in their new structure. Market participants expect more to come this year along thematic lines, with the first ESG Spac launched in May.
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There is a plausible recovery scenario that would enable Latin America to exit the crisis on a better path than it was on before.
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Collapse in Brazilian equities places a question mark over recent growth in retail investment.
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Fears that the Covid-19 virus might live on banknotes and coins has focused public attention on once esoteric experiments with central bank digital currency. The virus has also exposed the slow pace of emergency government support payments through the conventional banking system, so what once sounded futuristic may be coming soon. CBDC just got real.
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After a slow start, the processing of CBILS loans has picked up. Now finally accredited, the specialist SME lender says much more needs to be done.
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Central bank intervention has delayed the deluge of insolvency that Covid-19 lockdowns will cause, but it can only plug the dike for so long. Lenders face the grim prospect of deciding who to save and who to let go.
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The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority may struggle to show anything explicitly wrong in the awarding of recent equity mandates.
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Supply chain disruption will create new challenges for transaction bankers and may lead to long-term changes in global trade patterns.
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UK banks’ returns on equity will still be below pre-virus levels in 2025, while CET1 ratios across Europe could fall to 8%.
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Foreign capital is flooding into Chinese bonds, but investors would be wise to scrutinize the myriad ways by which issuers can wriggle out of meeting their obligations. China’s bond markets are vibrant and attractive, but – all too often – unruly.
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A shift away from cash due to the Covid-19 lockdowns should be a godsend for firms such as Revolut, N26, Monzo and Starling. But venture capital funds were already getting fed up with neobanks’ growth-first strategies before the coronavirus caused a slump in core payments revenues. Those with weaker equity backing may struggle to survive.
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No developed market in the world has blue-chip banks paying higher dividends than those in Australia. It’s implausible to continue doing so during the coronavirus crisis – but banks fear a backlash from the income-loving retirees and retail folk who make up half their investor base.
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Everyone is hungry for data to help navigate the coronavirus crisis, but thorny questions remain about consent and privacy.
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Lessors and bondholders had little choice but to keep Norwegian Air alive, but bigger losses will come as the industry gets used to its new normal.
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Banks have been trying to rebuild trust since the global financial crisis. They have touted corporate responsibility and stakeholder capitalism as core tenets of their businesses. Covid-19 and the subsequent economic crisis will be a big test of their commitment.
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For European banks, the tensions between communities, supervisors and shareholders needs careful navigation.
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During the coronavirus crisis, Euromoney’s mission is to get the key figures in finance to tell us what it means for their firms and for the industry. We’ll run some of the key things they tell us each month.
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The bank reports record profits, loan growth and no advance provisioning while Bradesco and Itaú focus on risks ahead.
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Bank of America has seen mandates increase in the last month as digital solutions become increasingly important to overcome isolation and social-distancing rules.
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Financial technology is not being employed to its best effect, while the coronavirus financial relief effort is struggling. Banks need to innovate and work with fintechs if they are to ensure that the most vulnerable do not get left behind.
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From the World Bank to the African Development Bank, multilaterals are pooling cash and human resources to combat the impact of Covid-19 on members. They’re doing a good job with what they have, but, in a capital-constrained world, should they be mobilizing more?
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Co-founder Sergey Khotimskiy says the coronavirus crisis could help Russia’s private-sector banks fight back against state dominance.
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Private creditors and the Paris Club have agreed to collaborate on a debt standstill for low-income countries, but the process must be handled with care to avoid being more punitive than helpful.
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Debt relief will free up essential funds but could be more punitive than helpful.
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Accounting standards that make banks provision upfront for all expected loan losses are encouraging exactly what regulators don’t want to happen at this stage of the coronavirus crisis.
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Trade bodies, such as the Association of Independent Music, are taking it upon themselves to help the most affected in their industry during the coronavirus lockdown, turning to fintech solutions to do so.
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Negotiations are already under way between new lenders playing the loan-to-own strategy against stressed portfolio companies in rival managers’ private equity funds.
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Profit pressure is a threat to every bank, says Qatar Islamic Bank’s group CEO Bassel Gamal, discussing how Qatar’s robust and well-capitalized banking sector is navigating the twin shocks of lower oil prices and coronavirus.
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Former investment bank head Tim ‘Danger’ Throsby sadly isn’t at the firm to see the team he built deliver in a crisis.
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Liquidity data from CLS has revealed unusual trading activity around the 4pm London fix – but it has more to do with corporate inertia than market manipulation.
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Machine learning powers new software that can help companies chase down overdue invoices and failed payments without driving customers away.
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Revolvers could be the debt Achilles heel of cash-strapped corporates.
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The coronavirus crisis has hit Europe so hard and so suddenly that banks have to radically rethink their normal approaches to dealing with a crisis.
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Peru’s laudable coronavirus emergency measures won’t prevent its banks from taking a substantial hit – so what does that mean for less-well-run economies?
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After brief illnesses, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman were back on form in this month’s earnings calls.
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Four months after the start of the coronavirus outbreak, financial assistance from the World Bank’s pandemic bonds is about to find its way to poor countries to help them fight Covid-19.
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Banks need to play their part in rescues without putting all the burden on shareholder funds, says Santander’s group executive chairman.
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Central bank corporate credit support is helping to cut debt costs for borrowers such as Netflix. A government put option won’t cure all the problems looming in the credit markets, however.
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Bank balance sheets are ballooning and regulators are just fine with that.
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It’s hard to blame anyone for looking for bright spots in these difficult times.
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Economies and banking sectors in emerging Europe have gone into the coronavirus crisis in good shape. But will they be able to navigate the political fallout from the expected downturn?
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Some parts of US investment bank earnings in the first quarter of the year looked more like boom than bust as record trading and debt issuance helped offset weakness elsewhere. Now the banks are building reserves to prepare for coming out of lockdown
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The ADB has tripled the size of its Covid-19 fund to $20 billion in an effort to inject new life into regional trade networks.
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The momentum for environmental finance had been growing, but Covid-19 has forced a pause. Can environmental finance help economies to ‘build back better’? And how can that movement boost environmental finance?
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UK banks have faced a torrent of criticism for slow delivery of the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, but the real problem is that the UK is providing loans that need to be repaid. Grants offered by governments such as Germany look better designed.
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Fast-track financing, infrastructure support and equity investment opportunities: first vice-president Jürgen Rigterink details the development bank’s Covid-19 crisis response – and delivers a warning to banks in its region.
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Bernhard Spalt talks to Euromoney about banks’ responsibility to lend, the risk of a ‘blame game’ and the prospects for a return to business as usual in emerging Europe.
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With consumers and businesses demanding instant access to Covid-19 support financing, the RBI chief executive warns of a backlash against banks.
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The AIIB has spent five years laying down foundations; the next five will define it. This leanest and newest of the multilaterals is responding rapidly to the coronavirus challenge. The lessons it learns now will help boost and broaden its role.
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The president of the Inter-American Development Bank tells Euromoney how the bank is reacting to the Covid-19 virus and why he thinks the lasting legacy could be a positive one.
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When corporates needed access to credit as the Covid-19 crisis ravaged Brazil’s markets, the big banks baulked or raised their costs dramatically. Is this the price of such a consolidated market, one that also provides much-needed stability in times of turmoil?
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Entering a potential credit crisis, when they are still battling an old one, leaves Italy’s banks exposed. That means strong government backing is more important than ever.
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French banks are handing out more state-guaranteed loans than other country in Europe, but they have more to worry about than small businesses in France.
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The biggest challenge in German banking has suddenly gone from job cuts to handing out state-guaranteed loans as quickly as possible.
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The United Nations Special Envoy for financing the 2030 Agenda tells Euromoney how the Sustainable Development Goals can help us ‘build back better’.
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Piyush Gupta, head of Singapore’s DBS Bank, tells Euromoney that scrapping dividends now is a mistake, discusses the mental stress of working from home, and says a multi-year recovery will hit banks hard and lead to mergers and job losses.
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Citi’s chief executive for Kenya and east Africa tells Euromoney how Kenya’s banks have come together to buy ventilators; how Covid-19 will accelerate the adoption of digital banking; and why the removal of the interest rate cap is more important than ever for Kenya’s SMEs.
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Shanghai’s new Nasdaq-style bourse has done more IPOs and raised more capital than any Chinese exchange – including Hong Kong – during the Covid-19 crisis. Questions remain, but so far the Star Market has been a resounding success.
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EIB looks to help the most vulnerable and to encourage banks to take on more risk as it unveils a €5.2 billion package for non-EU countries.
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Even banks with resilient technology must think differently about how to make their systems fit for the years after the coronavirus panic fades.
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Central banks in emerging Europe have started buying local government bonds in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Has quantitative easing arrived in the region? And, if so, will it work?
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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.
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Risk that high leverage in global corporates could spark 'new global financial crisis'.
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Plugging gaps in fractured supply chains is central to maintaining trade and food security.
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Global and even regional growth will take a back seat as states call on banks to finance economic rebuilding after lockdowns.
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The World Bank’s pandemic bond has failed to pay out to poor countries at its first opportunity, a predictable result of designing a structure dependent on the ability of those countries to report coronavirus cases.
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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.
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Veteran DCM banker Charlie Berman closes in on first product launch aimed at digitizing processes and workflows along the life of a bond.
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Euromoney’s survey shows the pandemic crisis is having both predictable and unexpected effects on economic, political and structural indicators as the world faces the biggest investor shock in living memory.
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The FX market has quickly adapted to the changes imposed by global Covid-19 response measures. The challenge for the banks will be to manage the next phase of the lockdown when clients will expect them to do more than just keep the lights on.
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In 2008, China unveiled a huge stimulus package that staved off recession. Its uneasy ‘halfway-stimulus’ approach to the Covid-19 crisis is a tacit admission that Beijing just cannot afford to turn on the taps again.
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Digital solutions embraced as corporates get used to remote working and as banks adjust to the new normal.