TOP NEWS IN GLOBAL FINANCIALS
* AIB Group PLC agreed to pay a fine of €96.7 million, bringing the Central Bank of Ireland's enforcement investigation into the tracker mortgages at AIB and unit EBS d.a.c. to a close. The fine is the largest ever levied by the central bank, RTÉ noted. The group said the financial impact of the fine will be an additional charge in its 2022 financial accounts as it previously made a provision of €70 million related to the overall tracker mortgage program.
* As the continuous rise in mortgage rates dampens housing demand, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is laying off hundreds of employees in its home-lending division and reassigning hundreds more to other divisions, Bloomberg News reported, citing a statement from a JPMorgan spokesperson. More than 1,000 U.S. workers will be impacted by the move, with about half moving to other divisions at the bank, sources told Bloomberg.
➤ British banks set to score from sharply rising rates as European peers lag
Soaring U.K. inflation has seen the Bank of England hike interest rates. As a result, Britain's major banks are forecast to see striking rises in net interest income.
➤ Bank stress tests likely to further cool shareholder payouts
Lenders may curb buybacks, with JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo having both said their stress capital buffers may go up.
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
* Binance.US, the American affiliate of crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., will start offering zero-fee trading for bitcoin, a move that is expected to up pressure to lower fees for other crypto exchanges such as Coinbase Global Inc., Bloomberg News reported, citing an interview with Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder. The exchange also reportedly plans to eliminate fees for more tokens in the future.
* The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking for data about credit card late fees and late payments to determine whether those fees are "reasonable and proportional." In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking published June 22, the agency is also seeking information about card issuers' revenue and expenses, the potential deterrent effect of late fees and the role of late fees in credit card companies' profitability.
Click here for more of the day's essential bank and financial services news in the U.S. and Canada.
LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
* Ricardo Salinas Pliego, head of Grupo Elektra, will no longer bid for Banco Nacional de México SA, Reuters reported.
* The Toronto Stock Exchange has approved Jamaica-based Sagicor Financial Co. Ltd.'s renewal of a plan to buy up to 9,134,417 common shares. The share purchase will run from June 24, 2021, until June 23 next year.
* Chile's central bank is updating regulations to allow clients to open savings accounts remotely. It will also set looser restrictions on interest and remove the limit of number of transfers, among other items. The changes will be up for public consultation for 60 days.
EUROPE
* As part of its new strategy, Crédit Agricole SA intends to cut emissions linked to its loans to the oil and gas sector by 30% by 2030 and to halve emissions linked to loans to the automotive sector. The France-based bank also aims to publish its "decarbonization pathways" for the steel, energy, power, commercial real estate and shipping sectors by 2022-end, and those for the agriculture, aviation and residential real estate sectors by 2023.
* Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA's new business plan through 2026 includes a €2.5 billion rights issue, a merger of some subsidiaries and roughly 4,000 job cuts. Italy's finance ministry, which owns a 64.23% stake in the bank, has agreed to participate in the cash call, for which a pre-underwriting agreement has already been executed. Additionally, the bank's chief commercial officer position will be divided into three COOs for retail, corporate and private, and large corporate and investment banking.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Europe.
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
* Bank Leumi Le-Israel BM is considering a share offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange of around 2 billion Israeli shekels. The share offering will depend on "suitable market conditions" and, if it goes ahead, will help support the bank's continued growth as it focuses on midmarket, mortgages and credit for businesses, it said.
* The Qatar Stock Exchange is considering allowing investors to engage in short selling and to lend and borrow securities as part of plans to bring in more investors and boost market liquidity, Bloomberg News reported, citing Mohsin Mujtaba, product and market development director at the QSE. The Qatari bourse is also working with London Stock Exchange Group PLC to offer investors derivatives as a hedging and leverage solution by the end of 2023.
* Saudi Arabia aims to increase its share of noncash transactions to 70% and to boost the number of financial technology companies operating in the country to 230 by 2025 under the finance ministry's FinTech Strategy Implementation Plan. Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said innovation brought by the fintech sector can contribute to raising the assets under management in sectors such as retail, transportation and healthcare to 50% by 2030.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Singapore's central bank granted in-principle approvals to three firms that deal in digital payment tokens. The companies are global cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, digital currency broker Genesis and digital assets solutions firm Sparrow, The Straits Times reported.
* Standard Chartered PLC's India business is looking to sell its $1.6 billion distressed loan portfolio comprising corporate debt to clean up its books, The Economic Times reported, citing two people aware of the development.
* Citibank Korea Inc., the South Korean unit of U.S.-based Citigroup Inc., reached an arrangement with KB Kookmin Bank and Toss Bank to transfer its unsecured personal loan portfolio of about 8 trillion won. The move is part of Citi's planned exit of its retail banking operations in the country, The Korea Herald reported.
Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Asia-Pacific.
Rhema Peñaflor and Ryan Sy contributed to this report.
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