TOP NEWS
* U.K. lender NatWest Group PLC said it will combine all its wealth management businesses under the single leadership of Peter Flavel, CEO for private banking, City A.M. reported. The bank, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group, will integrate Switzerland-based Coutts & Co AG, Adam & Co., Holt's, Drummonds, PCAIS and now Premier Banking and Premier 24.
* Germany's second-largest lender Commerzbank AG told staff that it would permanently shutter 200 of the branches it had closed earlier in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic as it seeks to trim its branch network under its overhaul push, insiders told Bloomberg News. The original strategy envisaged cutting about a fifth of the bank's 1,000 branches by 2023-end.
➤ Hit by 40% revenue slump, commodity trade finance faces bank retreat, reshaping
"From these revenue figures you can see why, all of a sudden, so many banks [are starting] to review their strategies in this business," said Eric Li, research director at Coalition.
➤ Nonprofit borrowers struggle with Paycheck Protection Program uncertainty
Uncertainty around the criteria for a loan to be forgiven has many nonprofits worried their loans will not transform into grants, leaving them on the hook for principal and interest.
EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT
* German banking group Bayerische Landesbank AöR's first-half consolidated profit declined 65.6% year over year to €101 million from €295 million, with risk provisions in the credit business rising to €75 million from €10 million.
* Germany-based Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG reported first-half consolidated net profit of €107.0 million, down from the year-ago €175.8 million.
BANKING
* Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo SpA has launched a €1.5 billion synthetic securitization deal involving leasing financing for roughly 2,600 Italian companies, Il Sole 24 Ore said.
* U.K.-based bank Standard Chartered PLC is teaming up with Singapore's Trades Union Congress to open its second digital bank in Asia, insiders told Bloomberg. StanChart would reportedly own a majority stake in the new business.
* Aktia Pankki Oyj has started the process of merging with subsidiary Aktia Asset Management as part of the Finland-based bank's strategy to streamline functions and simplifying group structure, HBL reported.
* Sweden's Nordnet AB (publ) is close to a relisting on the Stockholm stock exchange, Dagens Industri reported. Nordnet owners Öhman Group and Nordic Capital want to take advantage of the strong stock market climate by relisting Nordnet, most likely in the fourth quarter, according to a source.
* Portuguese banks have been putting pressure on accountants to exaggerate the revenue crunch suffered by some companies during the coronavirus crisis as a way to increase access to a subsidized credit line, according to the head of the OCC accounting body, Jornal de Negócios reported. The OCC said it had received more than 90 complaints from accountants who reported such pressure from banks. Responding to the accusations, the APB banking industry association defended banks' actions and said "any isolated" misconduct by employees would be addressed.
* Claude-Alain Margelisch, former CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association, has been hired by Geneva-based private bank Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA as head of corporate affairs in the legal department, finews.ch wrote.
* Russia-based Moscovskiy Oblastnoi Bank initiated a procedure to merge with Commercial Bank Finance Business Bank LLC, the Russian central bank said.
* Poland's Bank Guarantee Fund, which oversees the operations of Idea Bank SA since May 2019, challenged in court the lender's decision to sell a 65% stake in factoring unit Idea Money to Idea Getin Leasing SA and JLC Foundation, owned by Idea's main shareholder, Leszek Czarnecki, the bank said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* French insurer Axa SA is in talks with Italy-based Assicurazioni Generali SpA over potentially selling its Greek business, which could be valued at €150 million, insiders told Bloomberg. The possible sale is said to be part of Axa's plan to shift its focus to property and casualty insurance.
* Pieter Veuger is leaving as CFO of Dutch lender Volksbank NV roughly five months after taking on the role, with the bank saying its supervisory board found that the "dynamics between the members of the board of directors does not provide an adequate basis for constructive cooperation."
* The European Commission has given the green light to the German insurer Allianz SE to acquire BASR, the new insurance company set up by Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA that brings together its assets and liabilities associated with the nonlife insurance business, Efe reported. The commission concluded that the proposed transaction does not create competition problems due to the limited overlap in the activities of both companies.
* Greece-based fintech Viva Wallet Holdings SA has hired Jefferies as an adviser on its plan to raise roughly €500 million for its digital banking expansion, insiders told Reuters. The company reportedly plans to become a so-called neobank without a loan book.
* British guarantor loans provider Amigo Holdings PLC said the performance trigger waiver period for its securitization facility has been extended further to Dec. 18 after the Aug. 14 deadline to the initial extension lapsed. The company also said the size of the facility has been lowered to £250 million from £300 million.
* PJSC Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS plans to extend by three hours trading on the foreign exchange and derivatives markets in the first quarter of 2021 by opening earlier in the morning. The Russian bourse operator said such a move would add more efficiency for clients and would be in line with international practices.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority asked do-it-yourself investment platforms to return cash to investors who withdrew funds from volatile stocks and shares amid the coronavirus crisis to protect them from paying higher fees and from losses in the event of a collapse, according to the Financial Times.
* The Serbian central bank held its key policy rate at 1.25% as the impact of previous easing measures kicked in, with inflation staying within the target band.
* Ireland is to transpose into law new regulations preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, imposing stricter rules for cryptocurrency-focused companies particularly on their know-your-customer systems, The Irish Times wrote.
MARKETS
Click here for a summary of indexes on the MI platform.
Quiz: Test your knowledge of the Market Intelligence platform to win an Amazon.com voucher
Sheryl Obejera, Arno Maierbrugger, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
