TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
* Germany-based Deutsche Bank AG plans to cut between 400 and 450 jobs at one of its retail networks in Germany, with the cuts expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, insiders told Bloomberg News. Additional job cuts related to branch closures are set to start later in the year.
* U.K.-based RSA Insurance Group PLC's full-year 2020 after-tax profit fell to £364 million from £383 million in 2019. The group said "good progress" is being made in satisfying the various conditions related to closing the takeover bid for RSA by Intact Financial Corp. and Tryg A/S, with completion expected to take place during the second quarter.
➤ StanChart puts off profitability target as pandemic weighs on results
The British banking group pushed back its return on tangible equity target of 10% for 2021, saying it now expects to reach the goal in the "medium term."
➤ Axa XL CEO says company could cover Olympic cancellation from existing reserves
The company does not expect the Games, currently scheduled to start in Tokyo in July 2021, to be canceled.
➤ US Treasury yields surge, curve steepens as bond traders look past pandemic
Treasury yields have risen to levels not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the yield curve has steepened to a degree not seen in years, and equities are starting to take the hit.
EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT
* Austrian lender Erste Group Bank AG reported a fourth-quarter 2020 net result attributable to owners of the parent €146.0 million, down from the year-ago €247.2 million.
* Portuguese lender Millennium BCP's full-year 2020 net income fell 39.4% to €183.0 million from €302.0 million in 2019, mainly due to pandemic-driven impairments and provisions related to foreign exchange mortgage legal risk at its Polish subsidiary Bank Millennium SA.
* Spain's Kutxabank SA saw its full-year 2020 profit drop 48.8% year over year to €180.3 million, Expansión wrote.
* Co-operative Bank PLC posted a full-year 2020 consolidated after-tax loss of £95.7 million, narrowing from the year-ago £153.0 million. The British lender expects to return to profitability this year.
BANKING
* HSBC Holdings PLC lowered by between 10% and 20% the 2020 bonuses for its investment bankers in London amid the U.K.-based lender's wider cost-cutting plan, according to Financial News.
* U.K.-based Standard Chartered PLC cut by 29% CEO Bill Winters' total pay for 2020 to £3.8 million from £5.4 million in 2019, according to Bloomberg News.
* Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA said if no merger takes place in the short-to-medium term, it will proceed with a €2.5 billion capital strengthening plan, which is currently under assessment by the EU's Directorate-General for Competition. However, the Italian bank said significant uncertainties remain over the cash call plan and that it is continuing with efforts to curb business risk and reduce its legal risks.
* Nordea Bank Abp is preparing the groundwork for a new major share repurchase program, Helsingin Sanomat reported. The Finland-based bank's board is seeking authorization to purchase 675 million of its own shares in the next 12 months.
* Ulster Bank Ireland DAC wrote off almost all of its deferred tax assets stemming from the financial crisis, The Irish Times reported.
* Spanish banks CaixaBank SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Telefonica SA's biggest shareholders, are set to lose payments after the telecommunications company decided to cut its 2020 dividend, according to Bloomberg News. The banks are set to lose roughly €54.5 million of combined dividend income.
* On March 31, the general shareholders' meetings of Liberbank SA and Unicaja Banco SA will be held to resolve on the proposed merger of the two Spanish lenders, Expansión reported.
* Switzerland-based Credit Suisse Group AG appointed Floriana Scarlato chief compliance officer of unit Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG, effective March 1.
* Michael Kotzbauer, head of corporate clients at Commerzbank AG, told Handelsblatt in an interview that the German bank, as part of its strategic realignment, will reduce its engagement with corporations abroad and do more business with small and medium-sized companies in Germany.
* Norway's Financial Supervisory Authority has been imposing daily penalties on Danske Bank Norge since Sept. 15, 2020, for failing to comply with the country's anti-money-laundering laws and requirements, E24 reported. The bank has already paid a total of about 3 million kroner on the multiple nonfulfilment breaches during the period of September 2019 to January 2021.
* U.K.-based Atom Bank PLC will raise £40 million from its existing shareholders as it targets a potential IPO in financial year 2022-2023.
* Poland-based Bank Pekao SA hopes to improve its 2021 financial results thanks to the gradually falling cost of risk and the absence of further costs and provisions related to its Swiss franc mortgage portfolio, PAP reported.
* Russia-based Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank is looking to sell its 13.1% stake in Qiwi PLC and is waiting for the right moment to initiate the sale, TASS reported.
* The Russian central bank uncovered market manipulation transactions with the shares of large Russian companies, including Sberbank of Russia, Kommersant said. The transactions were carried out between March 2016 and August 2018.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Alberto Minali, former CEO of Italy's Società Cattolica di Assicurazione - SC and former director general of Assicurazioni Generali SpA, is readying the launch of a special purpose acquisition company for the insurance sector, MF reported.
* A special audit initiated by German financial regulator BaFin on financial services firm Grenke AG did not provide any evidence to support the allegation of systematic fraud or money laundering, according to an interim report by auditing firm Mazars. The report, however, criticized the way the accounting of Grenke's franchise companies is handled, as well as deficiencies in money-laundering prevention.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority made several appointments to its executive team, including naming Stephanie Cohen COO; Jessica Rusu chief data, information and intelligence officer; and Sarah Pritchard executive director for markets. The appointments — all women — means the regulator's executive committee is now dominated by women, aligning with its diversity ambitions, Reuters noted.
Erin Tanchico, Arno Maierbrugger, Meike Wijers, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Stéphanie Salti, Praxilla Trabattoni and Nelson Siqueira contributed to this report.
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