* Facebook Inc. has reiterated that Libra will not jeopardize central banks' control over money creation, Bloomberg News reported. David Marcus, the executive leading the social media giant's cryptocurrency project, said the mere existence of Libra does not create new value. Meanwhile, Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, said yesterday that policymakers cannot accept the emergence of parallel currencies like Libra and that Berlin would reject any such plans, Reuters wrote.
* The European Parliament voted to approve Christine Lagarde's candidacy as president of the ECB, which is headed by Mario Draghi. Subject to the European Council's approval due next month, she would take the helm at the ECB on Nov. 1, amid global trade volatility and Brexit uncertainty.
* The Association for Financial Markets in Europe
UK AND IRELAND
* U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to ramp up negotiations on a Brexit deal after failing to make a breakthrough at a Sept. 16 meeting, with the EU saying that it was still awaiting detailed proposals from Britain regarding the Irish backstop.
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney could be asked to stay in his role beyond January 2020 if the U.K. is unable to leave the EU as scheduled by the end of next month, sources told the Financial Times.
* The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority is investigating certain senior executives at Metro Bank PLC
* HSBC Holdings PLC has started a "strategic review" of HSBC France SA, Reuters reported, citing six French unions. The bank is weighing a potential sale of a chunk of the business or the entire unit. L'Agefi also covered this.
* Lloyd's of London's pretax profit in the first half hit £2.3 billion, up year over year from £600 million, on the back of its investment income for the period rising to £2.3 billion from the year-ago £200 million. The insurance market also named David Sansom chief risk officer, subject to regulatory approval. CEO John Neal said the findings of its marketwide culture survey and the actions it will take will be announced Sept. 24. Lloyd's has been under fire for alleged workplace misconduct amid claims of alcohol abuse and sexual harassment by employees.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Deutsche Bank AG
* Deutsche Bank has repurchased its own subordinated bonds for hundreds of million euros between 2014 and 2017 without the necessary approval of the supervisory authority, Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote. As a result, the ECB wants to take action against the lender which could face a substantial penalty equal to twice the profits or savings from the purchases.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* Banks and insurance companies will invest €5 billion over three years in promising French startups as part of a plan led by the French government, L'Agefi wrote. Natixis, Aviva PLC, Allianz Group, AXA SA and Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* Spain appears set to hold its fourth general election in four years after acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist Party failed to strike a deal with other political parties on forming a government following an inconclusive election in April, El País reported. BBC News and the Financial Times also covered this.
* CaixaBank SA
* Nearly 2,000 employees have already signed up to the latest redundancy round executed by Banco Santander SA, Europa Press wrote, citing trade union data. A total of 1,236 staff still need to take redundancy to achieve the 3,223 layoffs planned by the bank.
* Tougher new rules aimed at cracking down on the misselling of policies by insurance brokers in Portugal came into the force at the start of this year but regulators have admitted that they will not be met until the first quarter of 2020, Jornal de Negócios wrote.
* Fitch Ratings said a €225 million fine imposed on 14 Portuguese banks by the country's competition watchdog last week could hurt the results of some of the lenders but will not affect their capital ratios or credit ratings, Jornal Económico noted. Some of the banks, including state-run Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA, Millennium BCP
ITALY AND GREECE
* Delfin, the financial holding of Leonardo Del Vecchio, bought a 6.94% stake in Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA and could increase the stake further, subject to authorization from the Bank of Italy, all dailies including MF reported. Delfin also holds a 4.86% stake in Generali, whose biggest shareholder is Mediobanca. Reuters also covered this.
* A group of 100 investors in Banca Carige SpA
* Meanwhile, the FITD is assessing a plan B in case the Malacalaza family, the reference shareholder of Banca Carige, fails to approve the capital strengthening plan, Corriere della Sera wrote.
* Illimity signed an insurance partnership with AON and Helvetia while it also financed for €110 million the purchase by Cerberus of a €110 million unlikely-to-pay loan portfolio from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, MF wrote.
* Malta-based insurer DARAG Group Ltd.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Swedish lender Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)
* The board of Denmark-based Sydbank A/S
* Kobstaedernes Forsikring Gensidig
EASTERN EUROPE
* Turkey's banking regulator has instructed banks to write off loans worth 46 billion lira by the end of the year and also to set aside loss reserves, Reuters wrote. The move marks one of the most aggressive steps the country has taken to manage the currency crisis it faced last year.
* Promsvyaz Capital, owned by PAO Promsvyazbank's former co-owner Dmitry Ananiev, appealed a legal settlement between the bank and non-state pension funds NPF Budushchee and Safmar regarding 16.5 billion Russian ruble transactions carried out shortly before Promsvyazbank was bailed out by the Russian central bank, Vedomosti and news agency TASS reported. A court hearing on the matter will be held Nov. 14.
* Croatia's Supreme Court refused to review a case in which the Croatian Consumer Protection Association sued eight local banks, ruling that the lenders had breached the interests and rights of holders of loans pegged to the Swiss franc, N1 said on its website. A local association representing loan holders said the verdict opens the way for around 125,000 holders of Swiss franc-pegged loans to launch individual lawsuits against banks in courts.
* The Polish Financial Supervision Authority proposed to increase the other systemically important institution buffer held by Santander Bank Polska SA
* Polish financially troubled lender Idea Bank SA
* The Ukrainian Finance Ministry said it was not engaged in negotiations with JSC CB Privatbank's former owner Ihor Kolomoisky. The comments came after the Financial Times cited Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk as saying that the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wanted to reach a settlement with Kolomoisky over the 2016 nationalization of Privatbank.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: ADB confirms president resignation; investors eye new Chinese bank
Middle East & Africa: Israel's tight election; Moody's expects Islamic finance in Africa to grow
Latin America: Correction: SoftBank ups Banco Inter stake; Galicia creating new finance firm
North America: Tennessee banks in deal; CFTC approves Volcker 2.0; SEC fines 2 broker/dealers
Global Insurance: JLT exec departures; CopperPoint deal; Humberto could become major hurricane
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
South African banks are 'attractive investments' despite sovereign credit risks: The country has faced lagging growth, high unemployment and credit downgrades; yet its banking system has remained resilient with the "big four" managing to deliver earnings growth amid these challenging conditions.
Crime prevention is a key driver for digitization in trade finance: Banks want to go digital in trade finance because technology offers opportunities to stop financial crime, in addition to achieving greater efficiency, said Daniel Schmand, chair of the International Chamber of Commerce's banking commission.
Deza Mones, Arno Maierbrugger, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Stephanie Salti, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.
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