* Many foreign banks with large operations in the U.S. have reduced their U.S.-held assets due to stricter capital requirements imposed by the national regulator, but this has not hurt their market-making capacity, the Bank for International Settlements said in its latest quarterly review.
UK AND IRELAND
* The British financial services sector will take "by far the biggest hit" and incur about a third of the extra red tape costs of when Britain leaves the EU, according to an assessment report by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman and law firm Clifford Chance. Brexit red tape is expected to cost about €37 billion for EU exporters and around €32 billion for U.K. exporters.
* The U.K. High Court approved Barclays Plc's plans to separate its retail banking operations from its riskier businesses under British ring-fencing regulations that will come into force in January 2019.
* U.K. peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle Ltd. has mandated Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Numis Securities to lead its London IPO that could value the company at well over £1.5 billion, insiders told Sky News.
* Former Clydesdale Bank Plc CEO David Thorburn resigned as a member of the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Committee.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Deutsche Bank AG set the price range for the planned IPO of 40 million shares in asset management division DWS at ?€30 to ?€36 apiece, valuing the unit at up to €7.2 billion. Japan-based Nippon Life Insurance Co. will take a 5% stake in DWS through the IPO.
* Deutsche Bank management is planning to lay off as many as 6,000 employees at its retail unit by 2022-end, insiders told Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, the bank's management has waived its bonuses for 2017, a spokeswoman told the newswire.
* HSH Nordbank AG CEO Stefan Ermisch told Der Spiegel that the bank could be listed "in a few years" as a result of its privatization process.
* Olaf Scholz of Germany's Social Democratic Party will become finance minister under the country's next coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The SPD and Merkel's conservative bloc are expected to sign their coalition agreement today.
* Japan's Sompo Holdings Inc. completed the sale of its 100% stake in Canopius AG to Jersey-based Fortuna Holdings Ltd., owned by a fund managed by a Centerbridge Partners LP affiliate.
* The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission had imposed a HK$119 million fine on UBS Group AG and suspended its unit UBS Securities Hong Kong Ltd. from sponsoring IPOs for 18 months amid investigations over its role in certain offerings listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
* UBS
* Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft's supervisory board said CEO Patrik Gisel continues to enjoy their trust amid a criminal investigation into alleged corporate fraud by former Raiffeisen head Pierin Vincenz, Tages-Anzeiger reported.
* Zurich Insurance Group AG will acquire 19 entities that provide travel assistance solutions in Latin America. The acquired operations will form the Latin American hub of Cover-More Group, the Swiss insurance group's specialist global travel insurance and assistance solutions business.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* The Luxembourg Commercial Court blocked steps to put ABLV Bank Luxembourg SA, a unit of embattled Latvian lender ABLV Bank AS, into administration and named external managers for a transition period until the bank finds new investors.
* A project reforming the governance of France's Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations has been launched, giving the existing parliamentary supervisory commission powers similar to that of a company supervisory board but handing prudential powers to the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution, according to Les Echos.
* A ruling by France's Conseil d'Etat gave Crédit Mutuel Arkéa SACC time to ensure its divorce from the rest of the Confédération Nationale du Crédit Mutuel, Les Echos reported.
* Virginie Morgon will succeed Patrick Sayer as CEO of French private equity firm Eurazeo SA, effective March 19.
* CBC Banque SA named Clemens Scholzen CEO, L'Echo reported.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* The Spanish government proposed Emma Navarro, general secretary of the Treasury, as vice president at the European Investment Bank, replacing Román Escolano, Spain's new economy minister, El Mundo wrote.
* Nuno Amado will succeed António Monteiro as chairman of Millennium BCP while Miguel Maya is expected to be the Portuguese bank's CEO, according to Economia Online.
* Novo Banco SA will close 30 branches in Portugal until April and plans to close a further 43 branches until year-end, Economia Online reported.
ITALY AND GREECE
* Italy's seven largest banks plan to reduce their stock of bad loans by a combined €84 billion between 2019 and 2021, Milano Finanza wrote, citing an analysis by consultancy Value Partners. Meanwhile, Bank of Italy data showed that net nonperforming loans fell to €59.3 billion in January from €64 billion in December 2017, while gross NPLs ticked down to €166.5 billion from €167.4 billion, Reuters reported.
* Banca Carige SpA CEO Paolo Fiorentino told La Stampa that the bank plans to sell €1.4 billion in unlikely-to-pay and nonperforming loans in 2018.
* Società Cattolica di Assicurazione -Società Cooperativa CEO Alberto Minali told Affari & Finanza that the insurer's board would propose at a shareholders meeting next month that institutional investors with stakes over a certain threshold, starting with its top investor Berkshire Hathaway Inc., be allowed board representation.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Several investors are calling for Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) to get rid of CEO Anders Bouvin as the Swedish bank has underperformed in the stock market under him, Dagens Industri reported.
EASTERN EUROPE
* PKO Bank Polski SA
* Polish stock exchange operator Gielda Papierów Wartosciowych w Warszawie SA did not make the shortlist of bidders for the purchase of a 71.7% stake in Tel - Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd., Rzeczpospolita wrote.
* Bank Pekao SA management is working on a plan to expand to the U.K. that could include a representative office in London and eventually a digital bank, the Financial Times reported.
* Idea Bank SA will strive to increase its return-on-equity ratio to over 10% by 2020, and boost its return-on-assets ratio above 1%, the lender said in its 2020 strategy.
* Pozavarovalnica Sava dd acquired a 92.94% stake in Serbian insurer
* The ruling party in Romania's Congress voted to adopt the euro in 2024. The country had previously planned to adopt the euro in 2014 but later delayed the plans to 2019.
* Moody's revised its outlook on Armenia to positive from stable and affirmed the country's B1 long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings.
* Belarusian lender OJSC Paritetbank is now the only contender for the acquisition of PAO Sberbank of Russia's Ukrainian unit PJSC Sberbank after Ukrainian businessman Valery Khoroshkovsky withdrew from the race, Kommersant reported. However, the potential purchase could face regulatory roadblocks as Viktor Sheiman, which represents the lender's main shareholder, the Belarusian state, is under strict EU and U.S. sanctions.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: UBS banned from HK IPO; Nippon Life to buy DWS stake; Sompo closes Canopius sale
Middle East & Africa: Emirates NBD eyes $2B capital hike; Tanzania saying no to bank rescues
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Aging population may cost German life insurers €6B in premium income by 2030: Demographic changes are affecting Germany's life insurance industry even more than the low interest rate environment, as the shrinking number of clients in key age groups will cost the sector billions in lost premium income, according to KPMG.
Creval shows Italian banks can raise capital despite political woes: The 83% subscription achieved by the mid-sized Italian lender is evidence that the country's banks can still attract investors even amid the heightened political uncertainty created by the recent elections, an analyst said.
Leo Magno, Arno Maierbrugger, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Sophie Davies and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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