TOP NEWS IN GLOBAL FINANCIALS
* Canada-based BMO Financial Group and its Chicago-based unit BMO Harris Bank NA agreed to acquire French banking group BNP Paribas SA's U.S. unit Bank of the West and its subsidiaries for $16.3 billion in cash, or $13.4 billion net of estimated $2.9 billion of excess capital at closing. The transaction, which is expected to close in 2022, will have a positive impact of approximately 170 basis points on BNP Paribas' common equity Tier 1 ratio.
* Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. will allow special purpose acquisition companies to list in Hong Kong from Jan. 1, 2022. The regulator lowered the minimum number of institutional professional investors required for a SPAC listing to 20 from 30.
* JPMorgan Chase & Co. unit J.P. Morgan Securities LLC agreed to pay a $125 million penalty to resolve the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's charges that it failed to maintain and preserve written communications. The regulator said it has commenced additional investigations of record preservation practices at financial firms as a result of the findings in the JPMorgan case. Separately, some JPMorgan units were ordered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to pay a $75 million civil monetary penalty for failing to maintain records under the CFTC's recordkeeping requirements.
➤ BPER-Carige deal would create Italy's 4th largest bank by assets
The transaction would increase BPER's customer base by 20% and build on its acquisition of more than 500 Unione di Banche Italiane branches in 2020.
➤ Latest China reserve ratio cut offers limited boost to loan growth, bank margins
The world's largest banking system by assets must hold at least 8.4% of cash as reserves from Dec. 15, down from 8.9% following the previous 50-basis-point cut in July.
US & CANADA
* JPMorgan Chase & Co. is allowing employees to work from home for the next two weeks amid the rising spread of the omicron variant, The Wall Street Journal reported.
* Alabama-based Avadian CU agreed to acquire in-state peer Citizens State Bank, CUToday reported. Upon completion of the deal, Avadian will have total assets of about $1.2 billion and 19 locations across Alabama.
Click here for more of the day's essential bank and financial services news in the U.S. and Canada.
LATIN AMERICA
* Gabriel Boric received 55.86% of the vote in Chile's presidential elections held on Dec. 19, with 99% of votes counted, Reuters reported. Rival candidate Jose Antonio Kast received 44.14% of the vote.
* Colombia's central bank hiked the benchmark rate to 3.0% from 2.50%, citing higher-than-expected annual inflation of 5.26% in October. The regulator said indicators point to "significant growth" for GDP in the fourth quarter and maintained its prediction of 9.8% for full year 2021.
* Banco Santander (Brasil) SA said CEO Sérgio Agapito Lires Rial stepped down and will be succeeded by Mario Roberto Opice Leão. The Brazilian lender's executive vice president, Juan Sebastián Moreno Blanco, also resigned from his role.
* Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA expects to raise capital of €2.5 billion in 2022 as part of its newly approved strategic plan that will run from 2022 to 2026. The lender also aims to achieve a pretax profit of about €700 million in 2024; a return on tangible equity of roughly 8.5% to 9% in 2024 and 11% in 2026; a common equity Tier 1 ratio of above 14% in 2024 and about 17.5% in 2026; and a cost of risk of about 50 basis points.
* British lender NatWest Group PLC and unit Ulster Bank Ireland Designated Activity Co. entered into a legally binding agreement with Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC unit Permanent TSB PLC over the sale of about €7.6 billion of gross performing loans as of June 30 and 25 branch locations. The agreement is a part of NatWest's phased withdrawal from Ireland. The transaction is expected to complete by the first quarter of 2023.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Europe.
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
* The United Arab Emirates' central bank will introduce enhanced framework to supervise banks' exposures to the real estate sector, effective Dec. 30. The new standards refine definitions, measurement and supervision of bank real estate financing.
* Nigeria-based FBN Holdings PLC appointed Alhaji Ahmad Abdullahi chairman and nonexecutive director, replacing Remi Babalola. Babalola left the lender amid a "contest by some significant shareholders for control," Premium Times reported, citing a spokesperson for the Central Bank of Nigeria, which approved the appointment.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australia's Afterpay Ltd. said it would cooperate with a probe conducted by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into buy-now, pay-later businesses, The Australian reported.
* Japan-based investment fund City Index Eleventh Co. Ltd. sold its entire stake in Shinsei Bank Ltd. to SBI Holdings Inc., Tokyo's The Nikkei reported, citing a filing submitted to the Ministry of Finance's Kanto Local Finance Bureau.
* The Korea Exchange approved 20 brokerages in South Korea to take part in carbon emissions trading from Dec. 20, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Asia-Pacific.
Pranav Nair and Ryan Jeffrey Sy contributed to this report.
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