* U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged French President Emanuel Macron to help secure a Brexit deal, and stressed his determination that the U.K. will not stay in the EU beyond Oct. 31. Meanwhile, government documents suggest Johnson will seek to postpone Brexit if a deal is not reached by Oct. 19, according to media reports.
UK AND IRELAND
* HSBC Holdings PLC is undertaking new measures to cut costs, a move that could mean the end of up to 10,000 jobs across the British bank, insiders told the Financial Times.
* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. is expected to raise its £32 billion takeover offer for London Stock Exchange Group PLC this week, following discussions with some LSE shareholders, sources told The Times.
* A second trial against three former Barclays PLC bankers over the lender's controversial capital raising arrangements with Qatar during the 2008 financial crisis is scheduled to begin today, the Financial Times wrote. Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath faces charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, as well as substantive fraud offences, according to the report.
* The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov against his ex-wife Tatiana Akhmedova, who was being funded by troubled U.K. litigation finance firm Burford Capital Ltd., over divorce payments, according to The Times. Burford Capital, which funds court cases in return for a slice of any proceeds, supported Akhmedova's claim with about £15 million.
* U.S. private equity firm Vista Equity Partners LLC is considering selling as much as a 50% stake in London-based Finastra Group Holdings Ltd., insiders told Bloomberg News. A potential deal could value the British financial technology firm at more than $10 billion, including debt, the sources noted.
* Tesco Personal Finance PLC, or Tesco Bank, named John Kingman nonexecutive director, effective Nov. 1. Kingman is being lined up to replace Graham Pimlott as chairman of the British lender, following regulatory approval, Sky News reported, citing sources.
* U.K.-based banknote printer De La Rue PLC appointed Clive Vacher as CEO and executive director, effective immediately.
* Homeoptions, a not-for-profit organization that offers Irish banks an alternative to selling distressed family mortgages to vulture funds, has threatened to take out an injunction to block AIB Group PLC's planned sale of its €1 billion home loans after calling the process flawed, according to the Irish Independent.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* The EU is poised to remove Switzerland from a "grey" list of countries and jurisdictions it regards as tax havens during a meeting this week, Reuters reported, citing an EU document.
* Zurich's public prosecutor is probing Credit Suisse Group AG employees suspected of taking part in the spying of former wealth management boss Iqbal Khan, who left the lender to join rival UBS Group AG, Bloomberg News reported, citing Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
* Meanwhile SonntagsBlick reported that Credit Suisse is spending millions of francs to monitor its employees with the help of U.S. software company Palantir Technologies Inc. which deployed systems to scan all staff emails and other communication channels in order to identify potentially "dangerous" employees at an early stage.
* The number of German savings banks that are canceling premium savings contracts for retail clients is growing further, Handelsbatt wrote, noting that already more than 50 of the roughly 380 savings banks have terminated such contracts or have notified customers that they intend to do so.
* Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International AG confirmed it will shut down 44 out of 174 of its branches in Russia as a result of clients increasingly shifting to online banking, Die Presse reported.
* Swiss/Singaporean crypto bank Sygnum AG commenced operations as the world’s first licensed and regulated digital asset bank and now seeks to attract a three-digit number of institutional investors, family offices and banks as clients by the end of this year, Chairman Peter Wuffli told Handelszeitung.
* BAWAG PSK has reached an agreement with Austria’s consumer protection association over the implementation of a Supreme Court ruling on account changes, Die Presse wrote. The bank has forced thousands of customers into a more expensive checking account, but the affected can now demand a compensation payment and also switch back to their old account model.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* More ING Groep NV bankers besides CEO Ralph Hamers may be held personally responsible for the lender's lax anti-money laundering practices that triggered a record €775 million fine last year, Het Financieele Dagblad reported, citing Gabriel Meijer, the legal adviser of Dutch financial activist Pieter Lakeman and his foundation, SOBI. Last week, the Court of Appeal in The Hague opened the door to a possible criminal prosecution of the Dutch banking boss, after it said it would look into a complaint by Lakeman and SOBI, stating Hamers should have been prosecuted for his role in the scandal.
* Rabobank plans to establish a €5 billion fund in 2019 aimed at adding 15,000 Dutch rental homes over the next 10 years, Bloomberg News reported, citing a statement by the Dutch lender.
* French reinsurer Scor SE is transferring the U.S. property catastrophe business currently written in Zurich to its Chicago, New York and Miami bases, The Insurance Insider reported.
* Belgium's Belfius launched a new fund devoted to investing in energy efficiency and waste disposal companies, called Belfius Equities Climate, L'Echo noted.
* Natixis won a €32 million court order in London against a broker Marex Spectron, in a case revolving around false certificates issued for storing nickel in Asia, Les Echos reported.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* DBRS raised Portugal's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings to BBB (high), with a stable trend on the ratings.
* A €6 billion urban development project promoted by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA has finally been given the green light after 20 years in the pipeline. The "Madrid Nuevo Norte" refurbishment and development project will involve some 3 million square meters in the north of Spain's capital city. BBVA has a 75% stake in the company behind the project, Nuevo Desarrollo Norte, Europa Press reports.
ITALY AND GREECE
* Greece's Eurobank Ergasias SA is facing difficulties in off-loading an 80% stake in loan recovery business Financial Planning Services to U.S. asset manager Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC, or Pimco, insiders told Reuters. Both parties failed to reach an agreement over the valuation of the business before the Sept. 30 deadline, however, Eurobank is still eager to complete the sale and is continuing discussions with Pimco, according to the sources.
* Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Alessandra Perrrazelli said further consolidation is needed in Italy's banking sector, where profitability is too low to deliver returns sought by investors, reported Il Messaggero.
* Vatican officials are investigating five officials, including one who manages the Vatican’s anti-money laundering unit, over suspicious luxury property transactions in London and Paris, Les Echos reported.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Ten Norwegian local banks have decided to leave the Eika banking alliance, Dagens Næringsliv reported. The ten banks have protested against the high cost levels in the alliance, and said that Eika has not done enough to comply with their needs. They plan to establish their own banking alliance.
* The head of the Danish State Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime, Morten Jakobsen, is under investigation for possible breach of confidentiality, Finans reported, citing several independent sources. Jakobsen was recently put on indefinite leave, without any reason being given. The sources said that he broke confidentiality in connection with the money laundering investigation against Danske Bank A/S.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Poland's government and financial regulators are ready to cooperate with local lenders to help them deal with the potential consequences of the recent European Court of Justice ruling on Swiss franc mortgage loans, Parkiet reported, citing Finance Minister Jerzy Kwieciński. The newspaper also cited DM Citi Handlowy analyst Andrzej Powierża as saying that potential costs for Polish lenders stemming from the ECJ ruling could exceed 50 billion Polish zlotys.
* Millennium BCP estimates that losses from its Polish subsidiary Bank Millennium SA could amount to €1.6 billion, as the bank has been dramatically affected by the conversion of Swiss franc housing loans to zlotys, Jornal de Negócios reported.
* Meanwhile, Raiffeisen Bank International, whose legal dispute with Swiss franc mortgage holders was analyzed in the ECJ ruling, said that "a meaningful assessment" of the ruling's economic impact on foreign currency loans in Poland is not possible at the moment and it remains to be seen how the verdict will be applied by Polish courts on a case-by-case basis.
* A court in Russia froze the local assets of Baring Vostok Capital Partners Ltd. founder Michael Calvey and several of his business partners suspected of embezzling 2.5 billion Russian rubles from Public Stock Co. Orient Express Bank, Vedomosti reported. Calvey, who was detained in February and is currently under house arrest, has been denying the embezzlement charges, saying they are related to a corporate dispute over control of Orient Express.
* Moody's upgraded the Czech Republic's long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Aa3 from A1 and revised the outlook to stable from positive.
* Banca Transilvania SA agreed to acquire pension fund administrator Certinvest Pensii through its two units BT Asset Management SAI and BT Investments, SEENews reported. The deal is subject to approval by Romania's Financial Supervisory Authority. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
* Kazakhstan-based financial group Kaspi.kz, which controls JSC Kaspi Bank, has decided to delay its proposed IPO plan due to unfavorable and uncertain market conditions, mainly in the technology sector.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: HKEX to up LSE offer; Yes Bank in talks with tech firms
Middle East & Africa: EU to drop UAE from blacklist; Uganda licenses 2 new banks; S&P acts on Morocco
Latin America: BTG probed over Brazil key rate leaks; Caixa, Banco do Brasil vs. Odebrecht
North America: PayPal falters on Libra; October rate cut; Vanguard tests direct currency trades
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
EU banks to lag U.S. peers if market fragmentation persists, says Moody's: Cyclical factors are not the only barrier to profit growth at EU banks as the bloc's fragmented markets "hamper cost-efficiency and restrict revenue sources," analysts from the ratings agency said.
UniCredit CEO: Regulators must measure impact of new rules on European banks: With European banks suffering under the weight of new capital regulations, regulators need to get together and review what impact a whole host of new regulation is having on the sector.
Ben Meggeson, Arno Maierbrugger, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Praxilla Trabattoni and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline 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.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
