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LATEST ARTICLES
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Tyler Dickson’s departure from Citi must rank as one of the most predictable moves in investment banking this year, even if where he has ended up is perhaps less obvious. Elsewhere, Citadel Securities is apparently set to make an offer that some of the Street might find difficult to refuse.
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Basel-endgame pushback has reduced the urgency for US banks to relieve capital, but investor appetite for significant risk transfer trades is spilling over to Europe.
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Donald Trump is now likely to win the US presidential election after a disastrous debate performance by incumbent Joe Biden. Trump 2.0 may bring complications as well as benefits for Wall Street.
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Derivatives structurers are thriving, but regulators aren’t convinced the biggest Wall Street banks have a firm grasp of their complex exposure.
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It is getting tougher for investors to execute block trades of more than €2 million in Europe’s fragmented equity markets. Matching buyers and sellers needs a return to negotiation and away from pure electronic trading.
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The absence of staking and the earlier approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have sucked much of the excitement out of the SEC’s surprising decision to greenlight spot Ethereum ETFs.
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For the US to come out in support of voluntary carbon markets even while arguing for their reform is an important step in the drive to seek better standards for what are vital – albeit flawed – mechanisms. But more guidelines on how to certify and trade offsets are no substitute for the real thing.
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John Mathews, head of UHNW Americas for UBS in New York, tells Euromoney why the US’s private banking model is so successful, why the Swiss firm is really in the life counselling business, and explains why it has targeted US ultra-high net worth clients.
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As securities markets shift to T+1, repo is already going intraday with DLR the first of what may be many digital trading platforms to offer JPM Coin for the cash leg.
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The prospect of interest rate cuts from the Fed in 2024 is disappearing. Japan and Korea are among those feeling the heat.
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Anything except a brief stay on as chairman would cast a baleful shadow over the chief executive’s successor at JPMorgan.
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Naz Vahid is to leave Citi after nearly four decades as one of the US bank’s most effective and innovative wealth managers.
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UOB’s acquisition of Citi’s consumer assets in four southeast Asia markets strengthens its status in one of the world’s fastest growing regions. The Singapore lender’s CEO Wee Ee Cheong talks to Euromoney about why this matters and what comes next.
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Exactly one year ago, San Francisco-based First Republic Bank was sold by regulators amid a US regional banking crisis. Citizens Financial Group, which had seen the sale as a chance to turbocharge its private banking ambitions, lost out to JPMorgan. But far from being the end of the story, that failed bid was just the beginning. Within weeks the bank had announced First Republic’s Susan deTray as the head of its new private bank, a unit that is now at the heart of a fast-growing wealth franchise.
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Recently rebranded and expanded, Wealth at Work is Citi’s most dynamic generator of wealth revenues. Its leader, Naz Vahid, sits down in New York with Euromoney to explain her vision for its future.
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The body responsible for settling about $6.5 trillion of global daily FX trades has decided against extending its deadlines to accommodate non-US participants who still want to use its next-day settlement service. But it expects the impact to be limited – far too limited to justify the complexity that a change would impose on its members.
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Direct lenders to risky borrowers take comfort from their seniority in the creditor hierarchy. But stressed borrowers could jeopardise this as they struggle to attract new funding.
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A private credit market growing so fast, away from the oversight of bank regulators, may be a new source of systemic risk. With smaller investors taking greater exposure to an asset class whose high returns and low losses look almost too good to be true, there could be trouble ahead.
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Junior bankers should relax about the threat to their jobs from AI and lean into opportunities to bluff their way to Wall Street glory.
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A move back up in rates is creating a PR battle among Wall Street banks. JPMorgan was punished for a cautious outlook, Goldman Sachs promoted strong fixed income trading results and Bank of America projected a Zen approach to rate moves.
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There almost certainly won’t be a Truss/Kwarteng-style meltdown in the US Treasury market – just persistent inflation, high rates, volatility and likely some form of monetary financing.
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The decision by the US SEC to drop mandatory Scope 3 reporting weakens global emissions reporting standards. However, many corporate issuers are already using Scope 3 performance targets on sustainability-linked transactions for non-regulatory reasons. Are the debt and equities markets leading companies onto ESG ground upon which regulators fear to tread?
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Asset managers and industry regulators face operational challenges around the tokenization of private assets.
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The Basel committee is shocked – shocked! – that some banks might be reporting inflated leverage ratios.
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The Fed chair has made a remarkable, virtually unconditional surrender to opponents of his plan for Basel III implementation in the US. The tactical withdrawal is embarrassing, but it makes strategic sense.
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Luring star bankers from rivals – like Citi’s appointment of JPMorgan veteran Viswas Raghavan – can bring hidden costs beyond the expense of replacing stock options for the lucky new hire.
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Leading commercial banks are focusing on their approach to relationship management to reassure corporate customers that they are being listened to.
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Chief executive Jane Fraser has been true to her promise of a marquee hire to run Citi’s banking division, with the appointment today of JPMorgan veteran Viswas Raghavan. He brings a wealth of both transactional and operational management experience, but the symbolism of his arrival may be just as important.
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Even after the rally on its latest restructuring plan, investors still value the UK bank at such a wide discount to book that management must consider radical action.
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Direct lenders commanded generous terms on leveraged buyout financing last year, but volumes were low and, now that they show signs of revival, the banks are competing once more.
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One of the first edicts handed down by Citi’s wealth head is to tell all private bankers to track and record client calls. It has ruffled feathers at the US lender, but if it transforms the unit into the powerhouse CEO Jane Fraser wants it to be, then so be it.
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Corporates continue to exhibit worrying levels of complacency when it comes to the implications of rate rises for their bottom line.
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Former bank examiner Alessandro DiNello stresses resiliency of deposits as NYCB strives to build capital after higher provisions and ratings downgrades.
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Investors will be hoping that the fall in the value of Bitcoin since US regulators approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products is not a sign of things to come.
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After a dire couple of years, the hope had been that the only way was up for US regional bank M&A. But this week’s trauma at New York Community Bank has demonstrated some of the problems that can catch out the unwary as expansion takes them into new regulatory territory.
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Losses on commercial real-estate loans at US regional banks should surprise no one; risk at the heart of the US financial system thanks to weak regulation should shock us all.
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Management changes expand the responsibilities of Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, lead candidates to one day head JPMorgan, but there is another contender.
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The SEC wants us to be thinking about special purpose acquisition companies again.
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Wall Street bankers tempted to pick a fight with the Federal Reserve should take a lesson from the insider trading plea deal by investor Joe Lewis.
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Opposition to the proposed Basel III endgame for US banks is now so widespread that a climb down by the Federal Reserve is likely. Wall Street bankers like Jamie Dimon can stop crying wolf about increased capital requirements and think carefully about publicly threatening their regulators.
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While the world’s biggest markets are still preparing for T+1 settlement, talk is growing of the next step – but going any faster would mean a total reworking of how markets function.
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It is not hard to find short-term worries over global markets’ state of readiness for the US’s transition to one-day settlement in late May. But even if the UK, Europe and those Asian markets still using two-day settlement can adapt to the shift in the longer term, they will also face intense pressure to lessen their dislocation from the US cycle by copying its move. Many also fear the ultimate end-game of same-day or even instant settlement.
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Corporates are adopting a variety of approaches to mitigate the impact of uncertainty in foreign exchange markets caused by divergence in economic policy and performance.
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They already dominate the investment banking business in Europe, and now the leading US banks have their eyes on an even bigger prize. They see their vast investments in the digital technology transforming payments and transaction services and their retained global presences as the keys to winning even greater revenues from Europe’s midsize corporates.
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Regulators are making more mileage out of their settlement with Morgan Stanley than the outcome really deserves.
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Morgan Stanley has for years touted its expertise and adherence to confidentiality as reasons to choose it over rivals for equity block trades. But charges brought by regulators over leakages of confidential information by the bank’s former head of US equity syndicate and another employee now make its historic claims look embarrassing.
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Outside Switzerland, European banks largely escaped the banking turmoil last March. That hasn’t prevented supervisors using it as an excuse to ratchet up the pressure. Ahead of its 10th anniversary as a supervisor, is the ECB – as some bankers suggest – getting too intrusive?
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Siemens is anchor client for a new rules-based approach to banking.
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The annual Senate quizzing of US big bank chief executives threw up all the usual favourite partisan arguments, but little else. If this is oversight, it often lacks insight.
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The chief executive of Newton Investment Management is a forthright believer in the power of active investors to effect change at the companies they invest in, and thinks tinkering with market rules is unlikely to boost the appeal of London-listed equities.
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More and more bond trading is automated. As volatility now shifts from rates to credit that will provide a stern examination of new trade execution tools.
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Instead of boasting about the billions extracted from the crypto exchange, the US Departments of Justice and Treasury should have closed it down.
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Markets jump on the news that Javier Milei will be Argentina’s next president. A large devaluation is needed, but that leads to the risk of deposit flight.
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Big banks are scrutinized on environmental, social and governance matters today as never before and they must often walk a tightrope between competing interests. Citi is no exception.
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Exiting consumer banking in a range of markets around the world was one of Jane Fraser's first steps when she became Citi’s chief executive. The immensely complex task would need the safest of hands.
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Andy Sieg is back again from Merrill Lynch, and has big plans for Citi’s new global wealth franchise.
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The AFX marketplace provides a new venue for US regional and community banks to lend and borrow from each other overnight. It could be the foundation for a new credit-sensitive benchmark rate.
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Continuity is likely to be the theme as incoming leader inherits a well-performing franchise, but competition in wealth management and the markets businesses, as well as a still-lacklustre environment for investment banking, will be among Pick’s challenges.
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The controversy surrounding My Forex Funds has reinforced the view that tighter regulation of foreign-exchange proprietary trading firms is inevitable.
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It took five years for the invoice finance specialist Accelerated Payments to advance its first €1 billion, but just nine months for the next €500 million.
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More banks have announced partnerships with asset managers to place loans into private debt funds that offer investors better risk-adjusted returns than bank equity.
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Private foundations were once the preserve of a narrow group of the monied elite. Today, they are the fastest-growing source of private-sector philanthropy in the US and across the developed world.
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BlackRock joins Allfunds initiative to distribute new variants of private equity and credit funds to wealthy individuals.
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A Citi survey of family offices finds some unsurprising things to say about the worries of the wealthy – inflation, interest rates and geopolitics – but discovers a shocking lack of preparation for succession planning.
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The enormous re-listing of Arm Holdings is unrepresentative in many ways, but it still contains a valuable lesson for those coming down the pipe.
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Borrowers that financed cheaply in 2021 will soon hit a maturity wall. Many will struggle to refinance at higher cost. Some will default. Private credit managers – still magnets for institutional capital – are set to step in and bridge some of the financing gap left by the banks.
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Beneath the Great Game geopolitics of US-Vietnam relations, there are some intriguing possibilities in the detail.
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Should we take Vivek Ramaswamy literally or seriously?
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Financial market practitioners might be forgiven for reflecting on a job well done now that the final Libor panel has ended its submissions. The journey has been immense, but the focus is turning to loose ends, including the argument that just won’t go away: is there a place for credit-sensitive rates in a post-Libor world?
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As other investment banks cut staff, HSBC has been hiring to build a leading bank in tech and healthcare.
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Banks and investors opposed to European Union derivatives clearing plans have made an astonishing charge: the EU is worse than the US in jealously guarding its own markets.
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A tactical retreat on crypto regulation might help SEC chair Gary Gensler to avoid being bogged down in a war of attrition for the rest of his term.
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With a new proposal for long-term debt issuance, US banking regulators have launched the next phase of their war against the lack of confidence that shook the industry in March 2023. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the approach is less about precision strikes and more about a carpet-bombing campaign.
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The manner of the campaign against chief executive David Solomon risks causing the lasting damage that his internal opponents presumably wish to avoid.
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The second-quarter earnings season saw more detail from US banks on how they are preparing for the worst in commercial real estate exposures. We look at how the data shapes up for the super-regional sector.
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Moody’s took a swing at US banks last night. The moves might have seemed indiscriminate, but it’s hard to argue with the conclusions. After the scares of March, the sector is far from out of the woods.
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The investment firm founded by securitization experts in 2015 has grown to an $8 billion portfolio of 60 companies without managing any third-party funds and still sees big potential returns, notably in football clubs, from applying the discipline of structured finance to operating businesses.
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Banks including NatWest and JPMorgan are struggling to put out reputational risk-management fires.
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Analysts are looking beyond China for clues as to where the main Asian currencies will go over the remainder of 2023 as they try to second-guess Japan’s monetary policy plans.
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All private banks are different: in how they project their brand, build business, serve clients and generate fees. But they all seem to have two things in common. They love lending to rich people with big art collections and chatting about ocean preservation.
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Good banks do not collapse in times of turmoil. But the best banks do more than that – they are so buttressed against stress that when it strikes, they not only emerge unscathed but can act decisively in support of the whole sector. JPMorgan was that bank in March 2023, able to play that role because of its consistently superior performance.
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The most striking thing about this year’s winner of the US best super-regional investment bank award is that PNC Financial Services Group prides itself on not really having an investment bank.
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Only the biggest and soundest of the US regional banks were able to come through the wreckage of March 2023 unbowed. None did so better than Citizens, a bank that was already consolidating two fine strategic moves at the start of the awards period and was able to consider another at its end. It wins the award for the country’s best super-regional bank.
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Moribund primary equity capital markets and a rising interest rate environment meant that investment banks were tested more than ever in the past 12 months as they sought to give clients the options they needed in spite of poor conditions.
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Jamie Dimon puts a limit on staff travel to one of JPMorgan’s more exotic branches.
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The two chief executives should be on the undercard for the Musk/Zuckerberg cage fight.
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Banks are not waiting for loans to stop performing before they sell them.
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Rising default rates will soon separate the smart private credit managers from the mediocre. This offers opportunity for the winners to scale up.
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Veteran banker Tom Montag is to join the board of Goldman Sachs in a bid to bolster support for embattled chief executive David Solomon. Weak second quarter earnings could make this task harder.
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Could trading of US sovereign credit default swaps trigger a global systemic meltdown? Probably not, but default swap shenanigans aren’t helping to calm jittery markets.
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Inflation is not beaten and rates may rise further. But high-grade bonds can still provide steady income and low risk, playing a new old role in investor portfolios.
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Leading firms join a new network of networks, but crypto natives see just another walled garden.
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Banks keep up on the record commentary on the rules.
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Fears were already growing about dangers lurking in US commercial real estate even before the wave of turmoil that has hit banks in the last two months. After the pandemic and a rush of rate hikes, there is little debate that the sector is at a turning point – the question is whether something worse is on the horizon.
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As the drumbeat of bad news from the US regional banks grows steadily louder, Euromoney talks to market veterans about the lessons that can be learned from the event that started it all: Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March.
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The US regional banking system has just sustained its third bank collapse this year. Following an initial sharp slump in reaction to the news, bank stocks have continued to fall as short sellers target perceived weakness. Can the sector stabilize as the impact of rate rises on many of these lenders’ business models becomes apparent?
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The big transaction banks are becoming increasingly active in the B2B marketplace as they seek to cash in on corporate digital transformation.
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US banks have seen $1.1 trillion in deposits flee the system over the past year. Much of this wound up in money-market funds that offer higher returns and the promise of safety and stability at a time of rising uncertainty. How dangerous is this for US lenders, and what can they do to convince flighty deposits to return to the banking system?
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The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has fuelled an abrupt end to venture-capital exuberance. There are vital implications for fintech and for the banking industry.
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JPMorgan has cleaned up in a deal that sees the regulators waive their own cap on 10% deposit ownership.
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JPMorgan’s AI model to interpret central bank messaging came out just as it emerged that Jerome Powell had been pranked into discussing policy with Russian provocateurs. Euromoney’s distinctly obvious heuristics model (D’Oh!) might be needed.
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Relative winners after a year of interest rate hikes include Bank of America and Citigroup. Losers are led by regional US banks, while alternative asset managers argue that higher rates present a historic opportunity.
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How on earth, in this environment, did the bank deliver one of its best-ever quarters in Asia?
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The recent spate of deposit flight that spread panic through the banking systems of the US and Europe opens a chance for non-bank lenders to seize more of the core businesses that banks want to retain. Central bank emergency measures may have prevented the crisis from spreading, but a new phase of disintermediation has begun.
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Disagreement over where US interest rates are going has split opinion on overall prospects for emerging market currencies.
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Rethinking liquidity regulation would be better than a regulatory backlash that imposes an even greater liquidity burden on banks. History offers some lessons on how that might be done.
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The last broker-dealer was always going to feel the pain of a continuing capital markets slowdown, but sales and trading has provided a useful fillip.
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Citi’s Wealth at Work, which delivers wealth services to white-collar professionals in sectors from law and asset management to private equity, is less than two years old. Its founder and global head Naz Vahid talks to Euromoney about the concept and where the division can go from here.
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The failure of venture capital’s favourite bank is bad news for a sector reliant on new injections of cheap capital to sustain loss-making growth.
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As well as higher capital requirements for regional US banks, the policy response to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse will likely include increasing the Deposit Insurance Fund, which bigger banks will have to pay for.
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Recent events call into question most of the core assumptions behind the rules designed to keep banks safe through a liquidity squeeze.
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Bankers have been at pains to stress how different the world is today from the dark days of 2008: higher capital; more liquidity; lower credit risk and all that. But while individual banks may be safer than they were, collectively they arguably now face a worse existential crisis. Societies face awkward questions about how they value the utility of the banking sector – and how they should pay for it.
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Short-term government bonds have re-emerged as a viable option for corporate treasurers seeking returns on their cash, but recent events in the US banking sector highlight the risks of long-dated exposures.
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Solar thermal technology could offer cheap carbon-free heat for manufacturers. But tech developers are stuck in a financing gap between venture capital and project finance that will be harder to fill after recent bank failures.
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Interest rate risk management has been complicated by the fall in yields after the US bailout of SVB’s depositors. Clients may feel that hedging chiefly benefits Wall Street dealers rather than themselves.
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It is not clear how the SVB collapse will change banking; but it is clear that the lack of supervision of smaller banks allowed systemic risk to spread worryingly fast.
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HSBC runs towards the storm as others are fleeing it.
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Patents are a high-profile demonstration of a bank’s commitment to innovation, but they are not the only option for those looking to encourage new ways of thinking.
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The notion that different businesses can produce healthy results by being under the same roof underpins Goldman Sachs’ diversification strategy. After failing to make that work at the first time of asking, its second attempt looks more derivative – but is perhaps likelier to succeed.
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Tokenization is spreading fast. Regulated finance is finally embracing blockchain technology just as most cryptocurrencies stand revealed as overleveraged Ponzi schemes. The institutional herd is moving, but can the blockchains they are shifting onto bear the load?
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Big transaction banks are responding to corporate customer demand for sustainability linked supplier-finance programmes by extending the geographical availability and range of the products they offer.
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For the past few years, Goldman Sachs has dangled the promise of something new – a diversification in its business mix that would give shareholders a reason to finally re-rate the stock. But while the firm still has the glint of Goldman on the surface, disappointing earnings are revealing something less valuable underneath. Can its second investor day now fix the legacy of the first?
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While no one is willing to bet the farm on anything other than dollar depreciation in 2023, mixed messages from the Fed, and economic and political uncertainty elsewhere mean the greenback could yet defy expectations.
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A report by a US short-seller hammered the stock of India’s Adani Group companies just as one of them tried to raise $2.5 billion in a follow-on. It was not just Adani under attack here, but Modi’s vision of corporate India.
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A decade ago, the bank opted to go long on more durable sources of income – notably wealth management. Its standout 2022 financials are a clear sign of the benefits of long-term planning.
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The billionaire Winklevoss twins and DCG CEO Barry Silbert have been squabbling over $900 million of frozen customer assets. The SEC has just banged their heads together.
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The regulated US bank lost 70% of its deposits in a few weeks. But while that run shows the risks of banking the crypto industry, the key lesson is how it is still standing.
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After years at zero, rapid Fed hikes last year led to sharp increases in NII and NIM. But it is not all good news.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission has lifted the lid on some eye-popping charges against the former CFO of a special purpose acquisition company.
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces the full wrath of US authorities, as rival agencies compete to make the most hyperbolic charges against the former crypto exchange head. Death by metaphor could be his provisional sentence.
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Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein may look like an equities odd couple. Leveraging Societe Generale’s derivatives franchise is key to the new joint venture, as is maintaining AllianceBernstein’s reputation for independence.
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State Street’s Chip Lowry, a board member and former chair of the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association, talks to Euromoney about his new role on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s market risk advisory committee.
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The chief executive of JPMorgan’s Onyx blockchain business explains why it has been a long slog, and where the interest lies today after the crypto collapse.
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Daniel Zelikow, chairman of JPMorgan Development Finance Institution’s governing board, on private-sector development finance, EM policy risk and funding bankable assets.
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Vocal members of the US political right are not happy, creating new laws that ban state investors from backing companies with an ESG agenda. Several fund managers have been quick to take up their cause.
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European banks have raced far ahead of their US peers on sustainability. But the continent is now facing an energy emergency, creating pressure from some corners to reverse investment declines in oil and gas. Can Europe’s banks remain frontrunners in sustainable finance in today’s fragile geopolitical environment?
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Elon Musk is full of praise for his bankers at Morgan Stanley. It’s a shame his $44 billion Twitter deal is set to cost the bank money rather than earning a tip for good service.
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The weakness of the pound and strength of the dollar has implications for companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
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UK pension fund hedges have failed the first real stress test in a new era of rising interest rates. Bankers are surprisingly relaxed about the implications for other threats to global systemic stability.
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David Solomon is having to field some scepticism as he changes Goldman Sachs’s approach to its loss-making consumer banking operation and restructures the firm. But nothing that has been developed is going to waste, and recognising that a business might sit better elsewhere is simply good sense.
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Regulators often rely on giving relief when market participants or products fall between different jurisdictions or certification is unavoidably delayed. But one US regulator is getting fed up with having to do the same thing over and over again, and is calling for rules to be fixed instead of being endlessly patched up.
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The curious case of the cows that didn’t exist.
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Kotak Investment Advisors, the special situations arm of Kotak Mahindra, could have $9 billion under management by early next year. It is led by Srini Sriniwasan, who has applied skills learned at Goldman Sachs to develop the business to where it is today.
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SEC chair Gary Gensler’s literally getting vibes that there’s something sus in the crypto wave.
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The things that attracted Lone Star to Bank of Cyprus are present in banks in Greece and elsewhere in peripheral Europe. If other private equity-like investors take an interest, domestic political blessing could be the key to success.
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Removing UK bonus caps and undermining the BoE could exacerbate a sterling crisis while entrenching US IB dominance.
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An extraordinary series of data protection failures at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business has seen the SEC fine the company $35 million.
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If you want to get ahead in investment banking it is time to hit the beach.
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Anti-ESG boycotts are unlikely to cross the Atlantic.
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Bank of Cyprus has its quirks – such as a sanctioned oligarch as a large shareholder – but it is far from the only European bank with good potential still shunned by mainstream investors.
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China’s decision to let US regulators audit its New York-listed corporates is a shock. It’s a U-turn, a climbdown and a sign, more than anything, of China’s enduring financial frailty.
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The $100 million line of credit from Dai holders to a Pennsylvania community bank to support commercial loans should have been a breakthrough, but further deals are on hold as the crypto purists fight back against the pragmatists seeking more exposure to real-world assets rather than digital ones.
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Bank shares have failed to close a valuation gap with fintech competitors despite the prospect of higher interest income from rate hikes. Will the Fed’s newly tough stance on inflation-busting finally give bank stocks some respect?
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A US climate bill filled with green credits will create business for banks and provide relief from the backlash against ESG products.
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West Virginia state treasurer Riley Moore has opened another front in a campaign by Republican officials in the US against banks that promote ESG policies.
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UN CFO Taskforce member Jill Klindt talks to Euromoney about ESG disclosure challenges for SMEs and the need for all firms to produce consistent, auditable data.
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Supposedly disappointing second-quarter earnings should have surprised no one and Morgan Stanley’s were quite good.
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China’s support for Russia is part of its strategy to reduce the world’s dependence on the greenback – might it work?
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For PNC Financial, the US’s inaugural best super-regional bank, 2021 was a landmark year in a decade-long national expansion under chief executive Bill Demchak.
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Bank of America is thriving. In its home market, it has led the way in retail banking with a distinctive preferred rewards programme that offers retail customers preferential rates across a full range of products from credit cards to mortgages.
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Goldman Sachs’s investment bank division excelled during the awards period thanks to a targeted focus on growth sectors such as healthcare, technology and financial sponsor business. This paid off handsomely on its home turf, where the bank dominated the Americas M&A league tables during the awards period, working on 582 deals with a total value of $1.6 trillion for a 30.72% market share. This is slightly ahead of the same period last year where it took 29.52% market share from 408 deals worth $1.15 trillion together.
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Truist Securities, the corporate and investment banking division of Truist Financial Corporation, wins Euromoney’s inaugural award for best super-regional investment bank in the US. The award reflects the key role it plays in the domestic financial system, providing critical funding and extending capital-raising services to large corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises.
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By hiring two private bankers from outside the industry to power its Asia family-office business, Citi offers further proof that its peers should take its ambitious regional wealth management plans seriously.
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Banks want to capitalize on the surge in green capex borrowing as corporates rush to decarbonize. Cost inflation has increased the risks involved but not the long-term benefit of carbon reduction.
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Markets are trading interest-rate expectations over actual rate decisions – proving the power of market sentiment.
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By making Valentin Valderrabano COO of Citi Global Wealth, the US bank demonstrates its willingness to think outside the box when promoting from within.
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Euromoney speaks to Benjamin Seal, vice-president of treasury at US-based Cenveo, about how accurate cash forecasting has helped to address the supply-chain challenges posed by the global pandemic.
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A new approach to crypto derivatives could signal big structural shifts for traditional financial derivatives away from intermediaries and central clearing.
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The US government’s case against Archegos Capital sets up a contest to guess which of the fund’s prime brokers was the most gullible at any given time. To keep the game interesting, the answer might not always be Credit Suisse.
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The first three months of the year have been tough for many investment banking business lines, but Europe’s banks are putting up a good fight against the might of the US firms.
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Rate increases in major economies away from the US, as central banks battle spiralling inflation, have weakened the momentum the dollar might otherwise have garnered from a hawkish Fed.
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Credit intelligence specialist OakNorth is working with a consortium of US banks to assess physical and transition climate risk in loan portfolios. The motivation for the banks is clear: self-preservation in the face of growing climate-related disruption.
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Credit Suisse is making heavy work of meeting its obligations under a 2017 RMBS settlement with the US Department of Justice. If it wants to make real progress, it will have to bite the bullet soon.
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Aggregate investment banking and markets revenues fell 12% at the big five US investment banks in the first quarter of 2022. Their chief executives were confident that dealflow will return, but were also united in their uncertainty over how central bank responses to inflation will play out in markets.
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While Amundi’s new ECM desk seeks the best investor roles from lead banks, Bernstein Research sees the chance for a new kind of ECM business.
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Global capital markets deal volumes have fallen not just from their pandemic highs but also from the start of 2019. Undaunted, bankers remain upbeat about prospects. While aggregate activity is down, the detailed picture is certainly more nuanced.
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When a group of leading banks were unable to source the roubles needed to deliver in settlement of FX swaps, compression trades saved the day. The episode serves to highlight how fragile very large, complex and interconnected financial markets have become.
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Sovereign wealth funds, other investors and banks will soon have to use cryptocurrencies to buy equity in companies building the decentralized web.
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Explore Euromoney’s infographic on activity by special purpose acquisition companies over the last two years.
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Higher yields and better protections compared with public bonds draw buyers to private placements even as investors cut duration and credit spreads widen.
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The last big Wall Street broker-dealer has had a spectacular run in the last 20 years. It now wants to build ‘the best world-class global investment bank’.
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Jane Fraser can front Citi’s investor day with good news about consumer divestments in Asia. It is hard to see a Russia sale now, though.
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Wyoming is wild, rugged and libertarian. It is now also America’s leading crypto state, home to thriving digital asset banks like Avanti, run by Wall Street veteran Caitlin Long. Can these young firms now get much-prized master accounts with the Federal Reserve?
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Energy price volatility driven by war in Ukraine could deliver a windfall to banks such as Goldman Sachs that retain scale in commodity trading. Profits from dealing can also be made without triggering ESG or sanctions-related pain.
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The spectre of 2003’s global research settlement is looming over the world of equity block trades.
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The rates sell-off is making it more expensive for high-yield and high-grade borrowers to access the bond markets. Maturities on offer are shortening, and it could be about to get much worse.
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JPMorgan is named the world’s best wealth manager in Euromoney’s latest private banking and wealth management survey. It is testament to the US bank’s global strength in serving the wealthiest families, along with its drive to constantly transform itself and boost diversity as it hires the most talented relationship managers in core markets.
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Citi’s global head of private banking Ida Liu sits down with Euromoney to discuss her journey to the top of the industry, the value of wellbeing and the importance of eliminating friction from client engagement.
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Facebook never recovered from the regulatory hostility that first greeted Libra. It is now selling what is left of Diem while building the very metaverses that might make its stablecoin useful.
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A stellar period for the independent investment bank, including its largest-ever acquisition, has set the scene for a strong future, according to CEO Scott Beiser. Its relentless focus on the mid-cap arena and its naturally hedged balance of businesses have created a firm that has quietly become one of the biggest advisory names in the world.
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Falls in bond and equity prices that followed the Fed’s hawkish pivot may just be the start, with the key test still to come in new issue markets.
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Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are muscling in on the booming market for private share trading – and potentially disrupting existing technology platforms.
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The former CFTC chair who first authorized bitcoin futures sees regulatory complexities ahead for crypto, blockchain and DeFi companies.
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Analysts are keeping a close eye on regional as well as US monetary policy as they attempt to plot a course for the currencies of the countries that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
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Big numbers don’t always tell a story, but January saw one pop up in three different places. How they connect is intriguing.
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Having closed its onshore private wealth businesses in Brazil and Mexico, the US firm had a standout year in its Latin American private bank in 2021.
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Equity capital markets and advisory revenues were the standout numbers at Jefferies in 2021, and the firm says its pipeline remains strong.
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The decision to sell Citibanamex ends the ‘Mexican exception’.
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The acquisition of Bank of the West by Bank of Montreal is complementary and affordable, argues BMO’s chief executive Darryl White.
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Bond markets must quickly adapt to a likely much earlier and faster reduction of central bank balance sheets.
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A spat among directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has led to the resignation of its chair and thrown the prospects for domestic bank M&A into murky waters.
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In the face of fierce regulatory pressure in Washington and Beijing, it is hard to see many, or any, Chinese firms going public in New York next year.
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Asset managers are following the well-trodden route of bankers in shifting from finance to politics.
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Chief executive Brian Moynihan will be hoping that a management reshuffle has set the bank on track to finally make good on the promise of its sprawling reach.
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Consent orders provide a perfect excuse to shareholders for spending on the better risk management and controls that Citi’s businesses need.
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After setting ambitious targets in its 2020 investor day, Goldman Sachs has been making good on its promises across all areas of the firm.
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The bank hopes to profit from the normalization it expected in 2021, if borrowing picks up and rates rise in 2022.
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More than five years after succumbing to one of the biggest consumer abuse scandals in history, Wells Fargo still faces significant regulatory challenges.
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The firm’s old businesses shone in 2021, but what was once the ballast to stabilize their volatile earnings is now the growth story.
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The transition of most of the global financial markets away from Libor and the adoption of risk-free rates is finally upon us. As the clock counts down to the demise of Libor for all new contracts, the focus is firmly on where the sticking points remain: the ‘tough legacy contracts’ and the US dollar loan market.
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OTC Markets shows that both medium-size domestic companies and large overseas ones can be publicly quoted in the US without exchange listings.
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Chief executive of commercial banking Doug Petno says advanced payments technology rather than lending is the key to winning mid-market clients.
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A new venture capital investment firm targeting private technology companies is deploying a multi-directional strategy that it hopes will make money from start-ups that are overvalued as well those on the rise.
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The Japanese currency continues to slide as traders anticipate interest-rate movement in the US, but even the Fed's hawkish tilt does not guarantee that this direction of travel will be sustained.
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Bank of America’s global and Asia-Pacific heads of receivables tell Euromoney how their artificial intelligence-powered intelligent receivables service has slashed client-matching error rates.
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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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Intense competition for assets means that risk is being mispriced.
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JPMorgan Chase can be a winner in global digital retail banking according to Sanoke Viswanathan, the bank’s head of international consumer growth. With European expansion starting in the UK under the Chase brand and growth in Latin America through a stake in Brazil’s C6, Viswanathan insists his firm is in this for the long haul.
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A lawyer with a specialism in helping Chinese companies to float in the US is among the cast of characters working on Donald Trump’s Spac.
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Citi hopes to gain an edge in the highly competitive – and lucrative – securities services market by teaming up with data cloud company Snowflake to improve information flows across transactions.
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Analysts press chief executive Jane Fraser on why returning capital to shareholders isn’t a higher priority given the returns gap to peers and Citi’s low stock price.
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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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JPMorgan’s chief executive packs just as much of a punch online as in person.
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The only way banks can fully embrace the blockchain technology now transforming finance is by dealing in cryptos.
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Global investors shrug off Evergrande’s woes and welcome a new link to China’s onshore bond market.
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Derivatives could turbocharge environmental, social and governance markets, with a related boost to bank revenues. However, they could also make it harder to monitor exposure.
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President Joe Biden’s next round of regulatory nominations might make this year’s surge of regional bank M&A short lived.
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Adewale Ogunleye was rich and already retired from American Football when he learned what a basis point was. He’s now head of a new UBS wealth segment called Athletes & Entertainers that helps sports icons and singers plan their financial future.
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Neobanks are targeting less wealthy people in both developed and developing markets – a constituency that has traditionally been neglected by incumbent banks because of legacy costs. But it’s an increasingly political issue and where does this leave people who still need access to cash and branches?
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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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Kevin Sneader’s next move has been widely discussed since it became clear he would serve only one term as global managing partner at McKinsey. Now that he has turned up at Goldman, it seems a logical move.
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The US bank has launched the next generation of its global virtual account management solution to clients in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands.
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The latest strategic move by Citizens aims to help it meet its goal of servicing bigger clients with more products.
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Barclays wants to be compared with the big five US investment banks. So let’s do that.
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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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There’s a clear role model for US-Japan tie-ups in New York investment banking. Can the new partnership between Jefferies and SMBC follow it?
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In a market of more than 5,000 banks, competition in the US is fierce. But among the clutch of sizeable regional banks, one firm has seen a remarkable transition since its IPO in 2014, under the steady leadership of chief executive Bruce Van Saun. Citizens wins the award for the US’s best bank.
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The period of this year’s Euromoney Awards for Excellence, covering almost exactly the complete market cycle of the pandemic, exposed the need for an investment bank franchise to be unusually adaptable if it was to serve clients over that period.
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Beijing made clear this week that it is determined to stop its firms from selling shares in New York. A simultaneous crackdown on ride-hailing firm Didi also offers a timely reminder to global investors that China is no longer committed to market reforms but to ideology and sovereignty in the Xi Jinping era.
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New platforms that underwrite and process invoices due from large creditworthy payers may encourage bank and institutional financing for small and medium-sized enterprises.
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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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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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What worries the wealthy most? It is a question that provides answers the rest of us would be wise to heed.
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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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Buying robo-adviser Nutmeg is a bold and telling first step for the US bank’s new digital banking venture in the UK.
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With the acquisition of 80 east coast branches and a slug of online deposits, Citizens has added even more firepower to its national expansion ambitions.
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The US Federal Reserve has been clear that its policy of quantitative easing will only change when the data on unemployment and inflation changes. Meanwhile pressure from this policy is building in the banking sector, as well as the treasury and repo markets. As bank chief executives prepare to make their case to the Senate banking committee, is it time for Fed chair Jerome Powell to think again?
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The asset cap imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 has forced the bank to operate as efficiently as it can. Jon Weiss, CEO of corporate and investment banking, tells Euromoney that risk management remains his priority.
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Most speakers at Isda’s annual meeting avoided mentioning the Archegos Capital Management blow-up. IOSCO head Ashley Alder didn’t get the memo.
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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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The implosion of Archegos has ripped away the veneer of conservatism and safety that the family office has long enjoyed. It has also emphasized the lack of clarity about what the industry is and its lack of oversight.
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2020 was a breakout year for China’s financial and capital markets. The next 12 months could be just as busy, as regulators rush to approve a host of licences lodged by global financial institutions.
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US hedge funds have cleared the way for more activist-style investing in European financial institutions. Now some home-grown activist funds are targeting banks too. They will need to adapt their tactics, but underperforming bank chief executives have another reason to be worried.
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European football is hardly a model of sustainability at the best of times, but JPMorgan is to be commended for its noble attempt to make it even worse.
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Banks are refining their sustainable cash-management offerings, seeking to align their corporate sustainability strategies to financing and treasury actions.
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The US investment bank sidesteps an avoidable reputational own goal as a planned football European Super League collapses.
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As US Spac deals start to slow after an extraordinary first quarter, any new growth must come from outside the US
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The Israeli fintech grew fast through the pandemic turmoil. As it prepares a full launch in the US, it will be listed on Nasdaq, but not through an IPO.
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Buying a 10% stake in China Merchants Bank’s wealth management arm for $415 million gives JPMorgan greater access to China’s vast private wealth market. It is a deal that benefits both parties, and underscores JPMorgan’s quiet but concerted success story in Asia’s largest economy.
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Siebert Williams Shank is a top-10 lead manager for municipal issuers. Chief executive Suzanne Shank explains how a merger and building capabilities in commercial paper, share buybacks, corporate bonds, ECM and Spacs show the firm’s determination to keep growing.
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Non-fungible tokens are the inevitable end-product of the current everything bubble.
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The former head of Credit Suisse has a network of wealthy investors to provide patient capital to a target and a vision for growth from his time at Prudential.
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Black-owned broker-dealers have largely been excluded from the mainstream of corporate debt and equity capital raising. The bulge-bracket banks are now working to correct this, inviting firms owned and staffed by racial minorities, women and veterans to lead their own deals and showcase their capabilities to corporate clients.
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The data-cloud company has laid down an intriguing marker for its peers
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Deliveroo’s pending stock sale gives London a much-needed financial boost, but the global IPO market is becoming a straight fight between China and the US.
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Citi’s new CEO Jane Fraser set out her vision statement this week. It was solid stuff, but Euromoney suggests some bolder moves for the US bank in Asia, including a secondary local listing, and the creation of a new position of co-CEO, to be installed in a region vital to the bank’s future.
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The February sell-off in US treasuries was short-lived, but it highlights the dangers in long-dated bonds.
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Heads of research are seeing increased demand from clients for FX market intelligence, as a focus on reflation has created a complex investment environment in which investors are grappling with the question of when reflation becomes inflation.
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Citadel founder Ken Griffin may have felt more annoyed than threatened by his day testifying to Congress about volatility in GameStop and other stocks popular with retail investors, but scrutiny of market making and clearing is set to increase.
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The link between share ownership and voting rights has been weakening for a long time. With dual-class share structures more popular than ever, is the struggle to resist their rise now over?
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IPO volumes for special purpose acquisition companies have been extraordinary since the start of 2020, but looking at them through the lens of future M&A is when they start to look most shocking.
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If bankers and investors thought they were having a hard time navigating the never-ending flow of Spacs, they should spare a thought for the regulators.
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The dinosaurs of the banking world have recognised the threat from crypto. While there is no simple choice yet for fast and cheap cross-border payments, near instant domestic payments are the new reality.
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More companies are preparing to accept payment in crypto as the number of customers with digital wallets swells. But a confusing proliferation of payment methods means that innovation has made collecting payments harder, not easier.
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The Churchill Capital deal for electric vehicle maker Lucid was long rumoured. The share price fall when it was confirmed raises questions for regulators.
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Just when you thought the Spac market couldn’t get any hotter, news emerges that it is now backed by its very own rap artist.
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The Australian financial services company has announced a profit guidance upgrade prompted by a win from its commodities business thanks to the crisis in Texas. It’s a bad look, but it illustrates both a complex and flawed market, and a bank with a great eye for a niche.
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Investors modelling prices from data across fragmented and illiquid bond markets find that cloud computing brings speed, while AI offers precision.
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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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Defining the boundaries of accuracy is crucial to useable financial forecasts. Experts are, nevertheless, reluctant to advocate omitting data that has previously proved of no value.
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Crypto enthusiasts have hailed the electric car company’s announcement it will accept payment in bitcoin as a ringing endorsement – but not everyone is convinced.
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Mobilization of angry hordes is easy: those wishing to keep order are already being left behind.
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Anchor investors usually come into a Spac through a pre-merger Pipe deal. But the latest Europe-focused vehicle has brought them in from the very start.
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When Robinhood stopped retail investors from buying more GameStop shares in their battle with the hedge fund short-sellers, it put itself squarely in their sights.
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The wild markets of March 2020 revealed the capacity for severe dysfunction in what should be the soundest market of all – US treasury bonds. Can any market be expected to cope with such conditions without extraordinary help?
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When the panic of March 2020 hit, did corporate debt fare better than Treasuries?
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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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Goldman’s chief executive David Solomon isn’t impressed by Spac deals from Credit Suisse and Citigroup.
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The US president’s prompt action in rejoining the Paris Agreement has given encouragement to environmentalists at home and abroad. What should be next on his green hit list?
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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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SoFi had plenty of options, so its choice of a Spac validates that structure for listing and raising capital. Can it now challenge the biggest US banks?
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Gary Gensler could start his tenure running the Securities and Exchange Commission with a dramatic flourish by taking steps to burst the bubble in special purpose acquisition companies.
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More Asian entrepreneurs are going to New York to raise money for Spac listings. Should Singapore’s SGX seek to intercept these listings?
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The latest move by an asset class that just can’t keep out of the news is less surprising than it might appear.
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In creating a single wealth management platform, called Citi Global Wealth, the US bank is recognizing its shortcomings and planning for the future.
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It’s a new year, but Spacs are still facing the same old debates – with a few new twists.