TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
* Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA bumped up its buyout offer for unit Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS, or Garanti BBVA, to 15 Turkish lira per share from 12.20 lira per share. Assuming all Garanti BBVA shareholders accept the improved offer, the overall price would be 31.60 billion lira, or roughly €1.99 billion. The offer period has also been extended until May 18. The Spanish bank said its fully loaded common equity Tier 1 ratio will drop by a maximum of 34 basis points due to the improved price.
* Credit Suisse Group AG is preparing another reshuffle of its management roster in the wake of a tumultuous year of losses and scandals, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Among those whose roles are reportedly at risk are CFO David Mathers and General Counsel Romeo Cerutti. The Switzerland-based bank regularly discusses succession planning, but the board has not yet taken any decision, a spokesperson told the Journal.
* Meanwhile, Norway's sovereign wealth fund said it will vote against discharging Credit Suisse Group's board and senior management from accountability over the 2020 fiscal year. Norges Bank Investment Management, which owns a nearly 1.3% stake in the Swiss bank, will also vote in favor of a proposal for a special audit into the bank's supply chain finance-related losses and the "Swiss leaks" affair.
➤ Geopolitics could pause anticipated uptick in European PE carve-outs
Question marks around supply chain security and pricing are likely to halt deals.
READ MORE about the market reaction and industry impact of the evolving situation in Russia and Ukraine in our new Issue in Focus.
BANKING
* The EU is looking at potentially removing Sberbank of Russia from the Swift financial messaging system under its next package of sanctions against Russia, which could be proposed as soon as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the bloc's trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis.
* The Dutch central bank activated the local deposit guarantee scheme for Amsterdam Trade Bank NV, a unit of sanctions-hit Russian lender JSC Alfa-Bank. On its website, the bank confirmed that it had been declared bankrupt as international sanctions against its parent have led to operational challenges, according to Reuters.
* The U.K. temporarily allowed Russia-based Gazprombank JSC to accept payments for gas used in the EU until May-end, Bloomberg News reported, citing a Treasury document. The bank is under sanction by Britain but not the bloc, according to the report.
* British challenger banks should strengthen their assessment of financial crime risks, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. A review conducted by the regulator last year identified weaknesses in customer due diligence and found that some companies had underdeveloped customer risk assessment frameworks, while others had none at all.
* Shareholder adviser ISS urged Standard Chartered PLC's investors to reject the bank's remuneration report and policy after a £46.5 million fine in December 2021 for regulatory reporting failures, the Financial Times reported. ISS said it considers the U.K.-based group's pay for performance policy as high and the amount of the bonus cut for executives over the fine as insufficient. StanChart's annual shareholders' meeting is scheduled May 4.
* Proxy adviser Glass Lewis has again recommended that Commerzbank AG shareholders vote against the German lender's proposed remuneration package, citing concerns about the "reliance of the incentive scheme on a backward-looking performance period with no forward-looking targets," Handelsblatt wrote.
* Banca Popolare di Sondrio SpA intends to continue with organic growth but is prepared to evaluate eventual M&A opportunities, CEO Mario Alberto Pedranzini told Il Sole 24 Ore, adding that the Italian lender is working to identify ways to further develop its bancassurance partnership with Unipol Gruppo SpA, its largest shareholder with a roughly 9.5% stake.
* The management of Spain-based Ibercaja Banco SA has ruled out an IPO this spring and is instead aiming for June. The bank already postponed its IPO back in February due to the volatility in international markets, Expansión reported.
* TCS Group Holding PLC founder Oleg Tinkov is negotiating the sale of a 35% stake in the Cyprus-based group, which controls Russian lender JSC Tinkoff Bank, in order to minimize the risk of sanctions for the company, Kommersant reported. The stake could be sold for $300 million, significantly below its market value, the newspaper noted.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Finland-based asset managers Evli PLC and EAB Group Oyj are exploring a potential merger that would form a combined entity with approximately €20 billion of client assets under management. The potential deal, expected to be completed in the second half, would see EAB shareholders receiving newly issued series B shares in Evli equal to 10% of the total current issued and outstanding shares in Evli, plus a cash consideration of up to €3 million.
* British financial technology company OakNorth Bank PLC will "probably" launch an IPO in London in the future, CEO Rishi Khosla told The Mail on Sunday. At present, the number of listed tech growth firms in the British capital is still "pretty limited," said Khosla.
* Estonia-based AS LHV Group will invest €1 million in a convertible bond by Modular Technologies OÜ. The investment will be converted into shares during Modular's next funding round.
* Ireland-based banking technology company Fenergo Ltd. bought Netherlands-based fraud transaction monitor Sentinels, The Irish Times reported. Although undisclosed, the price tag was reportedly an eight-figure sum.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* Turkey's central bank updated some reserve requirements for banks to support financial stability and encourage "liraization." Banks with a loan growth rate above 20% in the first five months will be subject to a requirement equivalent to 20% of the difference between their outstanding loans as of March-end and 2021-end.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* American Express Co. suspended its FXIP wire transfer service from carrying out transactions in Ukraine amid Russia's ongoing invasion and the resulting sanctions, a spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, AmEx's card business continues to be functional. The U.S. credit card company already suspended operations in Russia and Belarus in March.
Deza Mones, 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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