* The Chinese central bank and the China Banking Regulatory Commission have asked EU authorities to consider revising the minimum assets threshold of €30 billion for the proposed establishment of parent holding entities by non-EU banks.
UK AND IRELAND
* The European Commission has informed diplomats that British lenders will have restricted access to the EU single market post Brexit should the U.K. government refuse to soften its red lines in negotiations with the bloc, such as ending the free movement of workers, insiders told Bloomberg News. The Commission has reportedly completely ruled out granting British financial institutions full passporting rights that would have allowed them to freely offer their services in the single market.
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee yesterday that there would be tremendous benefits for the EU to come to an agreement with the U.K. on banking regulation post Brexit, adding that there was a "unique opportunity" to have a Brexit deal on financial services that centers on "equivalence of outcomes rather than textual equivalence of every rule," Bloomberg reported.
* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc executives said the bank has accepted the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's findings concerning shortcomings at the now-defunct Global Restructuring Group, and will not stand in the way of the publication of a report into the division, according to the Financial Times.
* DBRS said the costs stemming from Ireland's tracker mortgage scandal is weighing more on Permanent TSB Group Holdings Plc, Ulster Bank Ireland DAC and KBC Bank Ireland Plc compared to the bigger Bank of Ireland Group Plc and Allied Irish Banks Plc.
* Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he will nominate the country's central bank governor, Philip Lane, for the post of vice president at the ECB, according to Bloomberg.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Julius Bär Gruppe AG reported full-year 2017 net profit attributable to shareholders of the group of CHF704.8 million, up 13.8% from CHF619.4 million in the year-ago period. The Swiss private bank also agreed to acquire a 95% stake in Brazilian independent wealth management firm Reliance Group for an undisclosed amount.
* Switzerland, the U.S. and the Cayman Islands are the biggest contributors to financial secrecy, a key facilitator of financial crime, according to the Tax Justice Network's 2018 Financial Secrecy Index.
* AXA Konzern AG has sold its Pro bAV Pensionskasse AG pension fund to Frankfurter Lebensversicherung AG. The AXA unit said the sale, which included 260,000 contracts and investments totaling some €3 billion, was part of a realignment of its occupational pension business.
* Germany's Volksbanken and Raiffeisen banks are calling for tax relief and a reform of corporate taxation from the next federal government, Marija Kolak, president of the National Association of German Cooperative Banks, told Börsen-Zeitung.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* ING Groep NV
* Rabobank launched Rabo Frontier Ventures, a new investment fund that will manage €60 million and focus on startups in financial technology and agriculture, Het Financieele Dagblad reported.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* Banco Santander SA
* A group of bondholders has applied to join a criminal probe into Banco Popular Español SA, two of its former executives, board members and its auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers over claims of false financial reports, fraud against investors, market manipulation and potential insider trading.
* CaixaBank SA life insurance unit VidaCaixa SAU de Seguros y Reaseguros named Javier Valle director-general.
* Banco BPI SA reported net income of €10.2 million for full year 2017, down from pro forma €313.2 million earned a year ago, reflecting €389 million in one-off charges from job cuts in Portugal and the deconsolidation of Banco de Fomento Angola SA, among others.
ITALY AND GREECE
* An Italian cross-party parliamentary commission established to look into the collapse of 10 of Italy's banks in the past two years has failed to agree on joint findings, with parties drawing up their own differing conclusions, Reuters reported.
* Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's top shareholder, Compagnia di Sanpaolo, has agreed with the Italian Treasury to cut its 8.25% holding in the bank in two to three years to meet a legal obligation for banking foundations to reduce their exposure to the banking sector, according to Reuters. Compagnia di Sanpaolo had initially been expected to reduce its stake in April.
* Banca IFIS SpA agreed to acquire 70% of Italian pharmacy financing group Credifarma for about €10 million, MF said.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB reported fourth-quarter 2017 net profit of 3.18 billion Swedish kronor, down from 4.24 billion kronor in the year-ago period.
* The Danish Competition and Consumer Agency may stop Tryg A/S from acquiring fellow Danish insurer Alka Forsikrings AS due to concerns about weak competition in the local insurance market, experts told Inside Business.
* Storebrand ASA
EASTERN EUROPE
* PJSC Sovcombank
* Russian non-state pension fund Lukoil-Garant asked the Russian competition regulator to approve its merger with two other pension funds, Vedomosti said. The merger would result in the creation of the largest non-state pension fund in Russia.
* JSC JSCB International Financial Club approved a new development strategy, under which it receive a capital boost of 2.8 billion Russian rubles, Kommersant reported.
* PAO Sberbank of Russia's Switzerland-based unit is working on infrastructure for cryptocurrency trading, Vedomosti reported, citing Andrey Shemetov, head of global markets at Sberbank CIB.
* The Serbian central bank revoked the permission for AIK Banka a.d. Beograd to acquire a majority stake in Slovenia-based Gorenjska banka dd Kranj due to irregularities found in the Serbian lender's operations, Reuters reported, adding that the Slovenian central bank could take a similar step. Meanwhile, shareholders of Slovenian financial conglomerate Sava approved the sale of a 29% stake in Gorenjska to AIK Banka at a price of €298 per share, provided that the Serbian lender secures all necessary regulatory approvals for the transaction within 45 days.
* The Hungarian central bank yesterday decided to keep its base rate unchanged at 0.90%.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: China asks EU to reconsider bank supervision rules; S&P revises outlook on QBE
Middle East & Africa: UAE to keep currency peg; Amlak Finance COO resigns; Kenyan bank to cut jobs
Latin America: Banco Inter to IPO; Colombia cuts key rate; Banco del Bajío profit rises
North America: Thomson Reuters in deal talks with Blackstone; JPMorgan names co-presidents/COOs
North America Insurance: MetLife flags accounting issue, boosts reserves; cat bond issuance may hit $9B
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
How Russian criminals used FBME Bank in Cyprus to pay firms tied to Syrian sarin: A cache of confidential documents obtained by S&P Global Market Intelligence reveals a scheme that saw money linked to the infamous Russian fraud discovered by Sergei Magnitsky paid to companies with ties to Syria's sarin gas program.
European calls grow for systemic regulation of Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies: Policymakers from a number of European institutions have suggested that the time is ripe for some form of regulation of cryptocurrencies, but they and others in the financial sector are also keen to harvest the benefits of blockchain technology.
Leo Magno, Ed Meza, Meike Wijers, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Stephanie Salti, 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.
