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New CFO at Aviva, Commerzbank; UniCredit sells €730M loans; BNP faces lawsuit

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New CFO at Aviva, Commerzbank; UniCredit sells €730M loans; BNP faces lawsuit

* The Bank for International Settlements rolled out a U.S. dollar-denominated green bond fund for central banks. The fund is expected to help central banks adopt "environmental sustainability objectives in the management of their reserves."

* Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP launched a European exchange-traded fund business and said it plans to introduce a range of ETFs over the next six months. The business' first such product is the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity UCITS, or undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities.

UK AND IRELAND

* U.K. insurer Aviva PLC appointed Jason Windsor CFO and an executive director. His appointment has received approval from the U.K. Prudential Regulation and Financial Conduct authorities.

* HSBC Holdings PLC will hire more than 600 staff for its Asia-Pacific wealth business by the end of 2022. The focus of the hiring will be in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. The group is likely to add more than 300 staff in its retail banking and wealth management division in 2019.

* Neil Woodford's Woodford Patient Capital Trust PLC is forced to write down the value of three more of its holdings, cutting the fund's net asset value by 3.1 pence a share, the Financial Times reported. According to a Reuters report, the administrator will cut the valuation owing to a challenging fundraising environment.

* U.K.-based Rothesay Life PLC agreed with telecom company telent to a bulk annuity insurance buyout of the £4.7 billion GEC 1972 Plan. The scheme has approximately 39,000 members consisting of 28,000 pensioners and 11,000 deferred pensioners. The buyout is expected to be completed before the end of 2022.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Germany-based Commerzbank AG appointed Bettina Orlopp CFO, replacing Stephan Engels by March 31, 2020. Orlopp is currently in charge of compliance, human resources, legal and group customer process and data management at the bank.

* Separately, Commerzbank yesterday set the price of an offer to acquire the remaining stake in Comdirect bank AG that it does not own yet at €11.44 per share, a premium of 25% on the Sept. 19 Xetra closing price. The bank also said that following the implementation phase of its new strategy, it will further reduce its return on equity to 4% from 6% amid a cost reduction target of €600 million to €5.5 billion by 2023. In the retail division, Commerzbank seeks to win more than one million new customers in Germany by 2023 but will close inactive customer accounts amounting to another one million, resulting in an active customer base of 11.1 million.

* David Herro — vice president of Harris Associates LP, one of Credit Suisse Group AG's largest shareholders, told The Market that he supported the bank's management, which allegedly hired private investigators for former wealth management head Iqbal Khan, saying that the bank had a responsibility to protect its assets, its clients and its shareholders. Therefore, assuming that no laws have been violated, he said he fully supports the measures of Credit Suisse's management and noted it would be "damaging to the bank to lose any member of the senior management over this issue."

* UBS Group AG wants a bigger share of the home mortgages business in Switzerland which is dominated by cantonal banks and announced the launch of a new digital platform offering mortgage brokerage for private property buyers starting from the first half of 2020, Finews wrote.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

* French bank BNP Paribas SA is facing a criminal complaint filed by human rights groups representing survivors of the Darfur genocide in Sudan who are alleging that the lender provided the country financial services that bolstered its regime, The Wall Street Journal reported .

* French financial regulator AMF decided to fine Natixis units Natixis Investment Managers and Natixis Asset Management Finance a combined €3 million, Les Echos reported.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

* Spanish banks Banco Santander SA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Banco de Sabadell SA, CaixaBank SA, Bankia SA, Bankinter SA and Liberbank SA have warned their investors of the risk to their businesses of a hard Brexit, Expansión wrote. The banks said such an exit by the U.K. from the EU would impact the British economy, which will also affect Spain as one of the countries with the strongest relationship and exposure to the U.K. in trade, tourism, housing and investment.

* Renta 4 Banco SA has acquired BNP Paribas Personal Investors, the French bank's investment business of intermediation, custody and investment funds, Expansión reported. The price of the operation will be fixed after regulatory approvals have been obtained and based on the number of clients transferred to Renta 4. BNP Paribas Personal Investors currently has 18,000 clients.

* Portugal's central bank said it will invest in green debts offered from the Bank for International Settlements and said the country is committed to global efforts against climate change, Jornal de Negócios wrote.

ITALY AND GREECE

* UniCredit SpA reached an agreement with a securitization vehicle managed by Illimity SpA over the sale of an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise nonperforming secured loans portfolio, consisting exposures with a total gross claim value of around €730 million.

* Shares of Italian payment group Nexi SpA fell 3.24% yesterday after news that Robin Marshall, co-head of Bain's European private equity team, was stepping down from the board led to speculation that Bain and other fund shareholders could sell Nexi shares once a lock-up period ends in mid-October, Il Sole 24 Ore said. Bain, Advent International and Clessidra together own 60.1% of Nexi.

* Italy's Treasury has resumed discussions with the European Commission about the terms of its future exit from bailed out lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, MF said. The exit is expected to involve the separation of the bank's deteriorated and healthy assets, and the newspaper noted that the Treasury faces a challenge in structuring the deal in a way that respects state aid rules.

* Italy-based MoneyFarm SIM SpA raised £36 million in a funding round led by Poste Italiane SpA. Allianz Asset Management AG also contributed to the funding round.

* Banca IFIS SpA and Credito Fondiario SpA have decided to extend their exclusive negotiations on the creation of an alliance to purchase and manage problem loans past an Oct. 2 deadline,Il Sole 24 Ore said.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Danske Bank A/S CEO Chris Vogelzang, a former employee at ABN Amro Bank NV, in an emailed comment to Bloomberg News denied any knowledge of the matter related to an investigation into ABN Amro by the Dutch public prosecutor over money laundering.

* In an effort to protect bankers who blow whistle on money laundering, the Danish government is proposing new measures, Bloomberg News reported. The move followed the death of Aivar Rehe, the former head of Danske Bank's Estonian branch.

* Company founder Stig Arff will earn 270 million kroner from the sale of consumer credit bank Axo Finans to Corsair Capital, Dagens Næringsliv wrote. The American private equity group paid 500 million kroner for a majority shareholding in Oslo-based Axo.

* Tony Vepsäläinen, the deputy chairman of OP Financial Group's executive board, will retire from the Helsinki-based banking and financial services group at the end of 2019, Aamulehti reported. Vepsäläinen held a range of positions at OP, including group executive Chair and executive board member in charge of Operations.

EASTERN EUROPE

* PAO Moscow Industrial Bank launched a procedure to restructure via a merger with ZAO Volga -Oksky Commercial Bank, the Russian central bank said. The regulator, which bailed out the two lenders earlier in 2019, initially explored the possibility of selling Volga-Oksky to investors, but it did not receive any offers from potential buyers.

* The number of court cases launched against Polish banks by holders of Swiss franc mortgage loans jumped by around 40% year over year, but it is still small and constitutes 2.03% of the total number of CHF mortgage loans granted by local lenders, Parkiet reported, citing the Polish Bank Association.

* Meanwhile, Polish news agency PAP cited Poland's Monetary Policy Council member Grażyna Ancyparowicz as saying that the Polish banking sector is healthy and able to handle risks associated with the potentially unfavorable ruling of the European Court of Justice on Swiss franc-indexed mortgage loans. The top EU court is expected to announce the verdict on Oct. 3.

* PKO Bank Polski SA unit PKO Leasing SA launched a securitization deal, under which it will sell 2.5 billion Polish zlotys of asset-backed securities to a pool of international investors, including the European Investment Bank Group and Bank Handlowy. The funding and capital relief generated by the transaction will allow PKO Leasing to increase its leasing activities and support small and medium-sized businesses, the EIB said.

* North Macedonia-based Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje is considering the purchase of a stake in local lender Eurostandard Banka AD Skopje, SEENews wrote.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: China drafts rules on loan provisions; India to consider bailout framework

Middle East & Africa: Egypt cuts rates; QNB gets nod for Hong Kong branch; Capitec's expansion plans

Latin America: Chile's BCI to expand in US, Peru; IMF says Argentina 'may have to wait'

North America: Fintechs gaining personal loan market share; Goldman enters European ETF biz

Global Insurance: WellCare divestment; insurers optimistic; Metromile IPO; Lorenzo strengthens

NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Big banks squeeze out smaller rivals in UK's ultra-competitive mortgage market: As Sainsbury's Bank became the latest smaller bank to pull out of the mortgage market, regulatory changes have left the biggest players awash with cash and eager to claim their share.

Sterling short sellers hold their nerve as no-deal Brexit risk remains: Net short positions in the pound remain near the highest level since April 2017, according to the CFTC, as investors await a clearer sign that a no-deal Brexit is off the table.

Sheryl Obejera, Arno Maierbrugger, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Stephanie Salti, Sophie Davies and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.

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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.