S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.
M&As
* Barclays PLC is said to be weighing potential merger options with rival banks including Standard Chartered PLC as part of contingency plans being assessed in response to pressure from activist investor Edward Bramson.
* VTB Bank (PJSC) agreed to sell 100% of VTB Insurance Ltd. to JSC Sogaz, in a deal that would create the largest insurer in Russia. The bank is also once again considering the purchase of Vozrozhdenie Bank.
* BAWAG PSK is conducting due diligence on potential acquisitions as it pursues M&A growth across German-speaking Europe. The Austrian bank is particularly focused on bolt-on acquisitions in Germany and Austria.
* Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB signed a purchase agreement to sell its wholly owned Luxembourg-based unit SEB Fund Services SA to FundRock Management Co. SA, subject to regulatory approvals.
* PAO Sberbank of Russia CEO Herman Gref reportedly said the bank is looking to reduce its operations in Europe. Gref's comment comes after Sberbank agreed to sell Turkish unit DenizBank AS to Dubai-based Emirates NBD Bank PJSC for a consideration of 14.6 billion lira.
* ING Groep NV's Polish unit ING Bank Slaski SA intends to buy local investment fund managers Union Investment TFI and NN Investment Partners TFI.
* Credito Valtellinese SpA announced that its board of directors and the extraordinary shareholders' meeting of 98.55%-owned unit Credito Siciliano SpA approved the latter's merger by incorporation into the Italian bank.
* BNP Paribas SA's Polish unit Bank BGZ BNP Paribas SA secured the approval of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority to acquire financially troubled credit and savings union SKOK Rafineria.
* The Portuguese government approved conditions for the sale of Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA's Spanish and South African units, according to Economia Online.
Other deals
* MKB Bank Zrt. CEO Adam Balog reportedly said the Hungarian lender is eyeing a sale of up to 30% stake in the Budapest Stock Exchange to meet the terms of an EU sanctioned bailout.
* Banca Popolare di Bari SCpA is planning to raise up to €350 million to strengthen its balance sheet. 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 one option.
* 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 reported.
Remuneration & Restructuring
* Switzerland-based Valiant Holding AG's shareholders approved to increase its dividend to CHF4.00 per share in respect of the full year 2017.
* During Lloyds Banking Group PLC's May 24 annual general meeting, 20.78% of its shareholders voted against a pay policy for its top executives.
* A senior source close to Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC told The Times that the bank is considering resuming dividend distributions on a scale that could match that of British peer Lloyds Banking Group PLC. The reopening comes a decade after being banned from dividend distributions.
* Bank of Georgia said that the scheme of arrangement entailing the demerger of BGEO Group PLC into banking business Bank of Georgia Group Plc and investment business Georgia Capital PLC has now become effective.
* JSC Kazkommertsbank's Russian unit Commercial Bank Moskommertsbank (JSC) completed its merger with JSC NBK-Bank, the Russian unit of JSC Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan. All rights and obligations of NBK-Bank were transferred to Moskommertsbank, which became the legal successor of the lender.
In other news
* The majority of shareholders voted to reject a motion to remove Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Paul Achleitner from the board, according to Financial Times. 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.
* Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank plans to cut the number of its full-time jobs to below 90,000 from more than 97,000 as it finalized a review of its equities sales and trading business. As part of the business' restructuring, the bank will reduce the headcount in the division by about 25%.
* Nationwide Building Society's year-over-year preliminary profit after tax for the year ended April 4 declined to £745 million from £757 million.
* Julius Bär Gruppe AG said its assets under management crossed the CHF400 billion mark for the first time and reached CHF401 billion at April-end, a year-to-date increase of CHF13 billion or 3%.
* The Russian central bank will inject another 18 billion rubles into Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank to support three of the bank's pension funds.
Regulatory actions
* The Central Bank of Cyprus will fine Cyprus Development Bank PCL €715,000 for non-compliance with certain provisions of money-laundering and terrorism-financing prevention laws. The central bank will reduce the fine by 15%, or €107,250, should Cyprus Development Bank pay within a specified time.
* The Central Bank of the Russian Federation canceled the license of Public Joint-Stock company commercial bank Accent and placed the lender into provisional administration until the appointment of a receiver or a liquidator.
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
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.
UPDATE: EC unveils plan for European 'safe bonds': The European Commission unveiled plans for safe bonds to protect the eurozone from another sovereign debt crisis. It also proposed measures to improve small and medium-sized enterprises' access to the market.
Spanish central bank urges lenders to tackle bad loans 'promptly': Spanish banks need to step up efforts to cut their stocks of problem loans in order to boost profits and give the economy a shot in the arm, according to the country's central bank.
First Saudi bank merger in years may boost RBS exit from the Kingdom: A merger between Saudi British Bank and Alawwal Bank will create the third-largest lender in Saudi Arabia and potentially make it easier for Royal Bank of Scotland Group to sell its stake in the combined company.
