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EC proposes 'safe bonds'; Deutsche Bank chair survives removal attempt

* The European Commission set out proposals for sovereign bond-backed securities, a new class of fixed-income instrument designed to open up the European debt market and contribute to the building of a banking union within the EU. The securities would repackage national debt from across the eurozone into a new security, providing so-called safe bonds that banks would be able to buy instead of purchasing sovereign debt in their own countries.

* The European Union may tighten anti-money laundering rules in response to alleged lapses at banks in two EU member states, three unnamed bloc officials told Reuters.

* Meanwhile, EU finance ministers are expected to finalize an agreement on new banking capital rules today, although the current political situation in Italy could delay the deal, three European officials told Reuters. The deal would give the Single Resolution Board a clearer mandate in setting banks' minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities.

* ECB policymakers cited the need to maintain "a steady hand" as they agreed that eurozone growth could further slowdown and uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook was on the rise, according to minutes of their April meeting.

* A further surge in data breach and other security failure insurance claims is likely after the EU's General Data Protection Regulations, or GDPR, take effect today, according to research by AIG Europe.

UK AND IRELAND

* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney suggested that the regulator could lower interest rates if Brexit talks produce a disorderly outcome.

* Lloyds Banking Group PLC shareholders vented their frustration during the bank's annual general meeting yesterday over issues including alleged fraud and mistreatment of small businesses, Reuters reported. Shareholders approved the bank's annual remuneration for 2017, but more than a fifth of the votes were cast against the measure.

* Aviva PLC, Axa, Allianz Group and RSA Insurance Group PLC are among the likely bidders for Ardonagh Group Ltd.'s general commercial managing general agent business in the U.K., The Insurance Insider reported.

* London-based Electra Private Equity said it is evaluating a potential sale of some or all of its assets as well as a sale of the entire company.

* MS Amlin PLC appointed Simon Smith as its COO, effective in July.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Paul Achleitner told shareholders that the supervisory board did not settle for its new CEO Christian Sewing as a second choice but chose him because he was the best candidate to replace John Cryan, despite media speculation suggesting otherwise. The vast majority of shareholders voted to reject a motion to remove Achleitner from the board, the Financial Times reported.

* Deutsche Bank mistakenly transferred €21 billion to Macquarie Group Ltd. as collateral for an over-the-counter derivatives trade in March 2014, an insider told Bloomberg News.

* BAWAG Group AG is doing due diligence on takeover opportunities as it pursues M&A growth across German-speaking Europe. The Austrian bank reported a year-over-year drop in first-quarter net profit to €86.5 million from €95.1 million.

* Uniqa Insurance Group AG reported first-quarter consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders of the group of €54.4 million, up from €29.1 million in the year-ago period.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

* BNP Paribas SA CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafé told shareholders the French lender "has no intention to carry out large-sized operations" as it was not possible, effectively ruling out a potential tie-up with Deutsche Bank, Reuters wrote.

* AG2R La Mondiale and Humanis finalized their merger in the employee savings and retirement sector, three years after announcing the deal, L'Agefi wrote. Humanis holds 55% of the new entity, while CNP Assurances SA holds 30% and AG2R La Mondiale the remaining 15%.

* ABN AMRO Group NV said it experienced several distributed denial of service attacks, leaving its online services running slowly or not running at all since early afternoon yesterday, the FT reported. The Dutch lender said it was hard to confirm how many of its clients were impacted by the cyberattack.

* Coöperatie Univé UA is set to cut its regional offices in the Netherlands to five or seven from 12 by 2020, Het Financieele Dagblad reported.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

* Banco Santander SA said its minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities was set at 24.35% of its risk-weighted assets as of 2016-end.

* The Portuguese government approved the sales conditions of Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA's units in Spain and South Africa, according to Economia Online.

ITALY AND GREECE

* Policy measures proposed by the Five Star Movement and League parties seeking to form a coalition government could cost Italian financial institutions a total of €12 billion, hitting 2018 profits by about 10%, according to a calculation from brokerage Equita published in MF.

* Banca Popolare di Bari SCpA is planning to raise up to €350 million to strengthen its balance sheet, insiders told Bloomberg. The Italian lender is seeking a minimum of €250 million in fresh capital, although how it will raise the funds is yet to be decided, with a potential listing as an option. Il Sole 24 Ore reported that the bank denied that this possibility was being considered, as the bank is currently focusing on its transformation into a joint stock company.

* Crédit Agricole Cariparma SpA will reopen from May 28 to June 1 its offers for shares in Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini SpA, Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena SpA and Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato SpA, three small savings banks in which it now owns over 95%, MF wrote.

* EQT Partners AB's EQT VIII fund will acquire stakes in Italian online price comparison platform Facile.it from Oakley Capital Investments' Oakley Capital Private Equity II and other minority investors.

* The Greek government could raise the limit of cash withdrawn from back accounts per month by at least 74%, Reuters reported, citing Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Nordea Bank AB (publ) apologized for its action in June 2015 to distribute €500 bank notes to foreign exchange bureaus in Denmark, saying that it ran the risk of breaching money laundering rules by doing so, Berlingske Tidende wrote. An investigative program broadcast by TV2 claimed that Nordea had ignored official warnings from Danish regulators that €500 notes were routinely used for money laundering purposes, according to Dagens Industri.

* Ongoing investigations into money laundering at Danske Bank A/S' branch in Estonia are believed to have uncovered new instances of illegal accounts and additional money transfer transactions, Børsen reported. Estonian police now estimate that local bankers may have been involved in suspicious transfers of more than $13 billion in cash and securities from 2011 to 2016, Bloomberg wrote.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed former First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov head of Vnesheconombank and promised to recapitalize the state-owned development lender, Reuters reported.

* The recapitalization of PAO Promsvyazbank has been completed and the lender will be transferred to the Federal Treasury within two weeks, news agency Prime reported.

* PAO Sberbank of Russia CEO Herman Gref told Reuters that the Russian central bank's proposal to increase provisions on loans for mergers and acquisitions could damage the Russian economy and the banking sector.

* The Russian Direct Investment Fund will cooperate with the Russian central bank on creating a fund holding bad and noncore assets of bailed-out banks, Reuters reported.

* Ukrainian businessmen Oleksandr Yaroslavsky and Viktor Pinchuk, as well as a U.K. investment fund showed interest in acquiring Sberbank's Ukrainian unit Sberbank JSC, Kommersant reported.

* The Ukrainian central bank kept its key policy rate unchanged at 17%.

* MKB Bank Zrt. CEO Adam Balog told Bloomberg the Hungarian lender is planning to sell as much as a 30% stake in the Budapest Stock Exchange to meet the terms of an EU sanctioned bailout.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: Ex-PICC Group president sentenced to prison; Fidelity Life bids for ANZ unit

Middle East & Africa: Hapoalim, Leumi post Q1 profits; Kenya keeps rate cap; South Africa holds rate

Latin America: Accendo to complete Deutsche Bank México buyout in June; S&P downgrades Bolivia

North America: Morgan Stanley CEO targets $1 trillion in client assets; Coinbase buys Paradex

North America Insurance: Cyber claims soar as GDPR nears; reinsurance renewals to slump

NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Data Dispatch EMEA: Strong equities help global i-bank revenues hit 3-year Q1 high: The top 12 global investment banks booked their highest aggregate first-quarter revenues since 2015 on the back of a strong equities business, while fixed-income trading, deal advisory and debt origination were a drag, according to Coalition.

ESG more than just PR for European insurers, Moody's says: Large European insurers are taking environmental, social and governance matters seriously, a Moody's analyst said as the rating agency launched its first ESG survey.

Data Dispatch EMEA: Deutsche Bank job cuts 'unavoidable,' CEO says as share price tumbles: Deutsche Bank's decision to cut more than 7,000 jobs by 2019 was tough but necessary to ensure sustainable profits, CEO Christian Sewing told shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting.

EU to require asset managers to disclose environmental risks: The bloc's executive arm is proposing new rules, which will come into place in 2019, requiring asset managers to disclose how they are taking environmental risks into account when making investments on behalf of their clients.

Leo Magno, Ed Meza, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Stephanie Salti, Praxilla Trabattoni and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.

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