TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
* Italian lender UniCredit SpA will dispose of its entire stake in Turkey-based Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi AS. UniCredit will sell 18% of the Turkish bank's share capital to Koç Holding AŞ for €300 million and a further 2% stake on the market. The transaction will have an overall low to mid-single-digit positive impact on the Italian bank's consolidated common equity Tier 1 ratio and a negative consolidated profit and loss impact of approximately €1.6 billion for financial year 2021, mainly from the foreign-currency revaluation reserve related to the stake.
* Euronext NV said in its strategic plan for 2024 that it aims to clear cash and derivatives trading flows on its markets, a task for which it has relied on London Stock Exchange Group PLC unit LCH SA since 2003, after the acquisition of CC&G in April brought it in a position to do so. The Netherlands-based company aims to grow CC&G into Euronext Clearing to directly manage its clearing activities. CEO Stéphane Boujnah said the company will be open to a wide variety of acquisitions as a part of its strategic plan, Bloomberg News reported. Boujnah also told Les Echos that the company is keeping its 11% stake in LCH SA despite preparations to open its own clearing house for all the group in 2024 in Milan. LSE Group has an option to buy the stake when the partnership between LCH and Euronext comes to an end.
➤ Metro Bank could be 'deep value play' for Carlyle – Goodbody
U.K.-based Metro Bank confirmed that it was approached by funds affiliated with U.S. private equity firm The Carlyle Group regarding a potential takeover.
➤ Hungary's OTP Bank to establish ESG strategy by 2022
The lender wants environmental, social and governance considerations to be "business as usual" from 2025, Green Program Director Gergely Pókos said.
BANKING
* Greece-based Piraeus Bank SA agreed to sell 49% of its mezzanine notes and 2% of junior notes from the Sunrise II securitization to Intrum AB (publ) and Serengeti Asset Management LP, respectively. The implied valuation of the Sunrise II securitization corresponds to 47.4% of the portfolio gross book value, which stood at €2.7 billion as of Dec. 31, 2020.
* The U.K. government sold a 1% stake, worth roughly £400 million, in NatWest Group PLC in the past month and a half, Bloomberg News reported. The government now holds a 52.96% stake in the banking group.
* Credit Suisse Group AG signed an agreement to recommend France-based BNP Paribas SA to its prime services and derivatives clearing clients after it announced an exit from the business as part of its recent restructuring plan. Up to half of the Swiss banking group's prime assets may transfer to BNP Paribas, the Financial Times reported, citing a source.
* Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA CEO Guido Bastianini said the Italian lender will revise its multiyear plan to potentially cut legal and credit risks and to shed unprofitable operations, Reuters reported.
* Spain's Banco de Sabadell SA will issue perpetual securities for a nominal amount of €750 million, Expansión reported. The investment instruments may be converted into newly issued shares should the common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the entity or the consolidated group fall to less than 5.13%.
* Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo SpA plans to grow in Switzerland through acquisitions of small private banks, CEO Carlo Messina told Bloomberg TV, Reuters reported. The bank said private banking and asset management targets outside the country are of interest but the prices are currently too high to create value for shareholders.
* Germany's Sparkasse HagenHerdecke and Sparkasse Lüdenscheid are examining the possibility of a merger, Börsen Zeitung reported. Talks are at a preliminary stage.
* TCS Group Holding PLC, the parent company of Russia-based JSC Tinkoff Bank, plans to spend up to $200 million of its own funds to finance the first stage of its expansion in South East Asia, Reuters reported. Pavel Fedorov, who was just appointed co-CEO of the group alongside Oliver Hughes, said the company was eyeing the Philippines and one or two other markets in the region to launch operations.
* Swedish state mortgage lender SBAB Bank AB (publ) fired CEO Klas Danielsson with immediate effect, Affärsvärlden reported. The bank said new leadership was required to "take SBAB to the next level" amid an increasingly rapid change in the business environment. CFO Mikael Inglander has been appointed acting CEO.
* The October and November key rate hikes by the Polish central bank will have a positive impact of roughly 235 million zlotys on the group net interest income of Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SA, the lender said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* U.K.-based Monument said it has received a full banking license allowing it to take public deposits that are insured under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
* Poland-based mobile payment solutions provider mPay SA failed to secure the approval of the country's Financial Supervision Authority to acquire Dom Maklerski Banku BPS SA, the brokerage subsidiary of Bank Polskiej Spóldzielczosci SA, Parkiet reported.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* Poland's FSA reduced the foreign-currency mortgage buffer of Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski Spólka Akcyjna to 0.12 percentage point above the total capital requirement from 0.27 percentage point on the stand-alone level, news agency PAP reported.
* In a further twist in Austria's Commerzialbank scandal, it has emerged that Financial Market Authority employees allegedly did not forward a report by the Austrian National Bank based on tips from a whistleblower to the office of the public prosecutor for economic affairs and corruption, Die Presse wrote. An FMA employee and two department heads are being investigated on suspicion of abuse of office. They deny the charges and have said that they could not pass the report on because of banking secrecy regulations.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* France will extend its state guaranteed loan scheme to businesses affected by COVID-19 lockdowns and disruption from the end of December 2021 to the end of June 2022, Les Echos reported. So far, banks have issued 691,712 loans worth €141 billion under the scheme.
Sheryl Obejera, Daniel Stephens, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Praxilla Trabattoni, and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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