Western Europe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HSBC launched its green deposit account in the first week of February with a deposit from a building materials company.

Margin pressures on buy-side clients such as asset managers have prompted increased interest in outsourced FX solutions, but firms must know exactly what they are paying for.

New CEO Thomas Gottstein will change neither the strategy nor the structure at Credit Suisse, but rather focus on growth in every division.

Christine Lagarde’s strategic review should usher in new targets and new tools at the European Central Bank, as the risks to growth rise and negative rates become counter-productive.

Geopolitical concerns are pushing corporates in Asia to work with European transaction banks.

The ouster of Tidjane Thiam has caused more shock outside Switzerland than within, where the insiders who needed him to fix Credit Suisse have been quite ruthless in expelling him now the job is done.

There were many things declared at Davos this year that would lead us to believe that sustainability is now embedded in every decision a bank or investment manager makes. Here are some great examples that show 2020 is starting on a positive track.

Across the UK, Legal & General has invested over £22 billion in affordable housing, homes for the homeless, clean energy, life sciences, creative industries, and technology and infrastructure. Is this the institutional-scale impact model we have been waiting for?

If the reversal rate is lower elsewhere, Italy and Germany can’t blame the ECB.

Banks have benefited from negative rates, but EBF president Jean Pierre Mustier says the downsides are increasing.

As the howls of anguish at negative interest rates reach a crescendo, central bankers and prominent economists are still convinced that Europe’s financial sector would be even worse off were base rates above zero. Banks are increasingly vocal in their opposition to the policy. Are they right to believe the systemic risks are growing? And could a move away from negative rates hurt banks more than if the ECB kept them?

Markets need more sophisticated measurement criteria to cope with the surge in demand for ESG integration.

Some organizations, drawn in by irresistible fees, can’t resist working with high-risk clients – but technology might offer a solution.

Dealmakers are optimistic about a pick-up in large deals and outbound M&A from Europe this year, but the need for regional consolidation is more urgent.

Banks must prove to the increasingly impatient regulators that they have got Libor transition under control, or face costly consequences down the line.

Cryptocurrencies have a specific use-case in countries where local currencies are in crisis, but elsewhere they remain a volatile speculative investment and will struggle to take off as a means of payment.

The traditional debt specialist is aiming to round out its growing European franchise with an equity capital markets advisory business.

Former PwC executive Robert Swaak is a 'safe pair of hands', but a money laundering investigation and negative rates heighten existential doubt at ABN Amro.

Lender lures China Merchants Bank’s head of private banking to oversee the Swiss bank’s onshore wealth management ops.

Welcome to the 2020s.