TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
* UniCredit SpA has picked bad loan manager Prelios to manage its so-called unlikely-to-pay, or UTP, loans in its corporate segment and has worked with the debt servicing firm on the sale and securitization of a €2 billion UTP loan book mainly in the corporate and small business segment. Separately, the Italian bank struck a deal with a securitization vehicle managed by illimity Bank SpA over the disposal of a mixed nonperforming loans portfolio with a total gross claim value of approximately € 1.3 billion. The transaction will be reflected in second-quarter financial statements.
* U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. plans to expand in Europe and is in the process of registering in Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, Nana Murugesan, vice president of business development and international, told Bloomberg News in an interview. The company is already registered in the U.K., Ireland and Germany and recently made its first hire in Switzerland.
➤ Credit Suisse's revamp, market woes hamper wealth management growth plans
"Today, we're paying the price for some of the wrong choices over the last five years [but] we are re-setting the ship in the right direction," said Credit Suisse's wealth management chief, Francesco De Ferrari.
➤ Gold markets unmoved by prospect of G-7 sanctions on Russian exports
Gold prices have been relatively unaffected so far by a decision over the weekend by four Group of Seven nations to ban imports from Russia, the third-largest global gold producer.
➤ Spike in distressed debt signals greater default potential
Bankruptcy and restructuring professionals say they are hearing more from banks and businesses that are preparing for troubles ahead.
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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined UBS Financial Services Inc., a unit of UBS Group AG, roughly $25 million to settle fraud charges related to options trading strategy. The bank sold the so-called yield enhancement strategy to about 600 investors between February 2016 to 2017 without providing enough training and oversight, the regulator said. The Swiss bank is "pleased to have amicably resolved" the issue, it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
* Dutch lender ABN Amro Bank NV will combine its Bethmann Bank AG private banking unit in Germany with its local branch there at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The transaction, which will remove Bethmann Bank as a legal entity, is expected to lower administrative expenses.
* Banca Popolare di Sondrio SpA outlined a new business plan, under which the Italy-based lender aims to grow its annual net profit by 20% to €323 million by 2025 versus 2021. Over the period, the bank also aims to distribute up to €550 million in dividends. Its shares jumped as much as 4% after it announced the targets, according to Reuters.
* Prelios, doValue SpA, a consortium of Gardant SpA and AMCO - Asset Management Co. SpA, and Sweden-based Intrum AB (publ) presented offers to manage the nonperforming loan and UTP loan book of BPER Banca SpA, MF reported. The Italian bank aims to find a partner by the fall and seal an agreement by the end of the year.
* France's Crédit Mutuel Arkéa is to start shutting down Pumpkin, the electronic payments startup it acquired in 2017, Les Echos reported.
* Danske Bank A/S has to compensate more customers of its Irish business who wrongly overpaid on their mortgages, according to Finanswatch.dk. The Danish lender compensated 115 Irish customers several years ago and has long since sold off its Irish retail customer business, but in the past year has reportedly found more customers who require compensation.
* Banco Santander SA's Polish units Santander Bank Polska SA and Santander Consumer Bank SA expect a 767 million zloty hit to their second-quarter consolidated pretax profit from costs arising from legal risks related to their Swiss franc mortgage portfolios.
* VTB Bank (Europe) SE, the Germany-based European subsidiary of Russia's VTB Bank PJSC, is stable despite a 40% decline in customer deposits, Handelsblatt wrote, citing the unit's CEO, Frank Hellwig.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Deutsche Börse AG sees more opportunities for M&A but will be more "selective and judgmental" when considering deals, CEO Theodor Weimer said at the German exchange operator's investor day. "It's good to see that the evaluations are coming down, especially in those areas where we are particularly interested in," Weimer said of potential targets.
* Czech Republic-based PPF Group NV plans to exit its flagship consumer lending business in China and instead pour resources into acquisitions in Europe, Reuters reported, citing CEO Jiří Šmejc. The company is also seeking partnerships for its Home Credit consumer lending activities in Southeast Asia, Šmejc told reporters.
* Danish digital bank Lunar A/S failed to raise enough capital to finance its acquisition of Norway-based Instabank ASA and has informed the latter that it will not be able to reach a September deadline, Børsen reported. Norway's financial regulator requires Lunar to strengthen its financial position before approving the deal.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The European Council, the EU's political governing body, agreed on a partial position of a proposal to create a dedicated anti-money laundering authority. The council agreed to give the authority powers to directly supervise credit and financial institutions, including crypto-asset service providers, if they are deemed risky.
* Turkey's BDDK banking regulator met with representatives of the "Big Four" auditing firms to discuss the confusion over its order to limit lending in its lira currency to companies with more than $1 million of foreign-currency reserves, sources told Reuters. Some banks reportedly stopped new lira loans following the order while some asked customers to sign off on any fines in case violations were discovered. The regulator declined to comment to Reuters.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* U.K. customers lost more than £1.3 billion in frauds and scams in 2021, according to the latest fraud report of banking lobby group UK Finance. Authorized push payment fraud, in which clients unknowingly transfer money to criminal accounts, accounted for 583.2 million of the losses.
* The U.K. added 13 individuals and entities to its Russia sanctions list, including JSCB Moscow Industrial Bank and businessman Vladimir Potanin, who the Foreign Office said has acquired PJSC Rosbank and shares in JSC Tinkoff Bank since the invasion of Ukraine. Rosbank said in Russian on its Telegram account that it was monitoring the situation and advised clients to refrain from conducting transactions in British pounds through the bank.
* Seventy financial organizations from 12 countries have already joined the System for Transfer of Financial Messages, which serves as Russia's alternative to the Swift international financial messaging system, Reuters reported, citing Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
Deza Mones, Daniel Stephens, Meike Wijers, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Nelson Siqueira contributed to this report.
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