TOP NEWS IN GLOBAL FINANCIALS
* The U.S. imposed "full blocking sanctions" on Sberbank of Russia, the largest financial institution in Russia, and JSC Alfa-Bank, the country's biggest private bank, as part of sweeping new measures aimed at targeting "critical arteries" of the Russian economy. The U.K. also issued asset freezes against Sberbank and Credit Bank of Moscow PJSC and, in lockstep with the U.S., banned all new investments in Russia. Sberbank, Alfa-Bank and Credit Bank of Moscow said separately that the latest sanctions will not have an impact on the provision of their services to customers in Russia and will not affect their operations in the country.
For S&P Global Market Intelligence's tracker of Russia sanctions, click here.
* China issued a draft law on financial stability to counter systemic risks, including the setting up of a financial stability guarantee fund to boost the country's financial safety net. The People's Bank of China said the proposed fund will comprise money raised from financial institutions, financial infrastructure and other entities, as well as sources specified by the country's governing State Council.
➤ European bank stocks sink in Q1, as Russia-Ukraine war impact reverberates
Shares of Russia's two biggest lenders, Sberbank and VTB Bank, lost more than 50% of their value during the first quarter; those of major foreign banks with significant Russian exposure were also affected.
➤ Most of Asia's 20 largest banks record gains in Q1 market cap
The market cap of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group surged 19.86% quarter over quarter to $78.98 billion, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
READ MORE about the market reaction and industry impact of the evolving situation in Russia and Ukraine in our new Issue in Focus.
US & CANADA
* San Francisco-based payments company Bolt Financial Inc. is buying cryptocurrency firm Wyre Payments Inc. in a deal valued at about $1.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
* President Joe Biden is planning to nominate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's senior adviser, Jaime Lizárraga, and SEC lawyer Mark Uyeda to fill vacancies at the SEC, completing the agency's five-seat slate of commissioners should they get confirmed. Democratic Commissioner Allison Herren Lee announced last month that she will be stepping down from her post once her successor has been confirmed, while Republican Commissioner Elad Roisman announced his January 2022 departure from the regulator in December 2021.
Click here for more of the day's essential bank and financial services news in the U.S. and Canada.
LATIN AMERICA
* Banco Econômico SA will vote April 27 on a capital increase of up to 4 billion Brazilian reais amid its sale to Banco BTG, Valor Econômico reported.
* Banco do Brasil SA subsidiary BB Administradora de Consórcios SA is being investigated over alleged fraud, Valor Econômico reported. BB continues contributing to the investigations and is at the disposal of the authorities, according to the report.
EUROPE
* Aareal Bank AG has entered into an investment agreement with Atlantic BidCo GmbH, a group led by U.S. private equity funds Advent International Corp. and Centerbridge Partners LP, over the latter's planned revised takeover offer for the German bank. The agreement provides for a €33-per-share cash offer for Aareal, including a €1.60-per-share dividend announced by the real estate lender, with the minimum acceptance level set at 60%. Atlantic BidCo already secured backing from shareholders holding approximately 37% of Aareal's shares.
* Russia-based VTB Bank PJSC's VTB Capital unit in the U.K. has filed for administration as its operations have been "paralyzed" by sanctions, Bloomberg News reported, citing Daniel Bayfield, a lawyer acting on behalf of the company.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Europe.
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
* The Central Bank of Nigeria fined four banks more than 800 million naira for allegedly failing to comply with a February 2021 directive that blocks trading in cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg News reported. Access Holdings PLC, the country's largest lender by assets, said in its full-year 2021 financial report that the regulator fined it 500 million naira for failing to close some crypto accounts. Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC — a unit of South Africa's Standard Bank Group Ltd. — was fined 200 million naira over two accounts allegedly used for crypto dealings, while United Bank for Africa PLC and Fidelity Bank PLC were fined 100 million naira and 14.3 million naira, respectively, according to Bloomberg.
* Authorities in South Africa should engage more with the fintech sector before it can incorporate distributed ledger technology, or DLT, into the country's financial markets, Bloomberg News reported, citing a report by the South African Reserve Bank and the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group, which included JSE Ltd. and the country's top four banks: Standard Bank Group, Absa Group Ltd., FirstRand Bank Ltd. and Nedbank Group Ltd.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* India's Competition Commission is investigating the Trustees Association of India, of which the trustee units of State Bank of India, Axis Bank Ltd. and IDBI Bank Ltd. are founding members, over a suspected alliance to manipulate fees for assisting companies raising debt, Reuters reported, citing confidential documents. The Trustees Association is challenging the allegations in a Mumbai court, which will hear the matter April 7.
* China's Bank of Qingdao Co. Ltd. said in a bourse disclosure it received regulatory approval to increase its registered capital to 5.82 billion yuan from 4.51 billion yuan.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Asia-Pacific.
Rhema Peñaflor and Ryan Jeffrey Sy contributed to this report.
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