TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
* Spanish lender Banco Santander SA is among several Mexican and global banking players that could bid for the consumer, small business and middle market banking operations of Grupo Financiero Citibanamex SA de CV, a unit of U.S.-based Citigroup Inc., according to media reports. Citi could reportedly see a potential full-sale valuation of up to $15 billion for the Mexican assets.
* Stephen Hester is set to become chairman of Finland-based Nordea Bank Abp's board in October, succeeding Torbjörn Magnusson. Hester, who ended his executive career earlier in 2021, brings to the role extensive experience that includes a stint as CEO of U.K.-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, now NatWest Group PLC. Hester is expected to join the board as vice chair in March, while Magnusson will become vice chair from Oct. 1. The bank said incumbent Vice Chair Kari Jordan is not available for reelection.
➤ After topping $75B in 2021, bank M&A shows no signs of slowing down
Total U.S. bank deal value surged to $77.58 billion in 2021, a 15-year high, as banks teamed up in large, transformational mergers to offset growing operational pressures.
➤ Big US banks poised for guidance reset in Q4'21 reports after rates increase
Analysts expect that cash-heavy balance sheets will keep net interest margins under pressure in the 2021 fourth quarter, but that they might be bottoming out.
BANKING
* Switzerland-based Credit Suisse Group AG seeks to recover more money in connection with the liquidation of funds managed jointly with insolvent supply chain financier Greensill Capital (UK) Ltd. and has submitted five insurance claims totaling around $1.17 billion related to overdue payments by debtors, Handelsblatt wrote.
* Danish lender Nykredit Realkredit A/S raised its full-year 2021 earnings guidance, driven by continued positive business momentum, and now expects a pretax profit of about 10.7 billion kroner and business profit of about 10.3 billion kroner, compared to the previous pretax profit and business profit guidance of between 9.5 billion kroner and 10.0 billion kroner.
* Denmark-based Vestjysk Bank A/S also raised its earnings guidance and now expects overall profit including nonrecurring items after tax of 1.08 billion kroner, up from a range of about 950 million kroner to 1.05 billion kroner previously. The upgrade is a result of a persistently high level of business activity and nonrecurring tax income recognized as a deferred tax asset, the bank said.
* The debt collection problems of Danske Bank A/S appear to also have affected the bank's Swedish business, Finans reported. An initial study shows that issues that are similar to those already identified in Denmark and Finland are potentially present in Sweden, albeit on a much smaller scale.
* Italian lender Credito Emiliano SpA issued an inaugural €600 million green bond, targeted to institutional investors. The bond, which will mature Jan. 19, 2028, and pays an annual coupon of 1.125%, is callable after five years and has a spread of 105 basis points over the reference midswap rate. Moody's upgraded Credem's long- and short-term deposit ratings to Baa2/Prime-2 from Baa3/Prime-3 and long-term counterparty risk ratings to Baa1 from Baa2, considering the issuance.
* Moody's placed the ratings and assessments of 10 Kazakh lenders on review for possible downgrade. The ratings action reflects potentially greater political instability in the country than in the past and recent disruptions in banks' operations.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Natixis SA unit H2O Asset Management said its illiquid funds linked to the Dutch holding company Tennor lost between 25% and 44% in 2021, Les Echos reported. Investors, who are mainly French, are likely to lose money, and some analysts calculate the funds now are now worth €587 million, compared to €1.6 billion in the autumn of 2020.
* German private bank Joh. Berenberg Gossler & Co. KG is expanding its credit fund portfolio with another renewable energy debt fund with a target volume of €500 million, following three previous funds.
* ADVFN PLC started a strategic review of its options, including a sale of the company. The U.K.-based financial information provider said the currently tightly held and illiquid nature of its ordinary shares could hurt its chances of generating a correct market valuation for the business.
* Digital bank N26 has been called in to the French regulator ACPR to explain why it is shutting accounts in France after complaints about arbitrary action on its part from French clients, some of whom claim they have not been able to get hold of their money, Les Echos reported.
* The management team of Dutch asset manager Auréus Group has bought the majority of the company's shares from its Belgian owner, Het Financieele Dagblad reported.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The Bank of Italy will intensify supervision of banks active in salary-backed loans, MF reported.
* The U.K. Parliament's Treasury Select Committee said the Payment Systems Regulator would be willing to consider additional regulation to protect consumers and businesses from rising prices after NYSE-listed Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. increased cross-border interchange fees for debit and credit card transactions. The two card companies account for 99% of all card transactions in the country.
* Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements voted for François Villeroy de Galhau to become the new chair for a three-year term, succeeding Jens Weidmann. Villeroy de Galhau is the current governor of France's central bank.
* Former ECB board member Benoît Cœuré is to become the new head of France's competition authority for a five-year mandate after being approved by parliament, Le Monde reported.
* Moldova's central bank raised its key rate by 2 percentage points to 8.5% amid accelerating inflation and said it was ready to take further steps to ensure price stability.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The Russian ruble and stock indexes fell sharply yesterday amid growing political tensions between Russia and the West, with the drops also affecting Sberbank of Russia and VTB Bank PJSC stocks, Kommersant reported. Sberbank shares traded on the Moscow Exchange fell 6.63% according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, while VTB Bank shares dropped more than 7%.
* Potential U.S. sanctions against Russia could negatively affect foreign-exchange settlements and the issuance of Visa and Mastercard cards by Russian banks, but would have no influence over banking operations within the country, RBC wrote. Sberbank is not concerned about potential new sanctions and is ready for all scenarios, news agency Prime reported, citing CEO Herman Gref.
Sheryl Obejera, Arno Maierbrugger, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Nelson Siqueira contributed to this report.
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