S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.
Earnings & guidance
* France's Société Générale SA expects to book an exceptional charge of around €400 million in the fourth quarter as it reorganizes its French retail banking network. The French lender also plans to cut its branch network in France to 1,700 from 2,000, reduce its back-office centers to 14 from 20 and automate 80% of front-to-back processes by 2020.
* In Germany, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale reported a third-quarter consolidated loss attributable to owners of the company of €50 million, compared to a restated loss of €208 million a year ago. Meanwhile, HSH Nordbank AG reported a group net result attributable to the bank's shareholders of €166 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, up from €163 million in the same period in 2016.
* Spanish lender Banco Santander SA expects to book a goodwill impairment charge in the fourth quarter of about €600 million, net of taxes, of which €500 million is a result of its investment in Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. The impairment will not impact on the group's CET 1 ratios.
* Bank of Ireland Group Plc said its CET1 ratio will rise by around 50 basis points after it executed a credit risk transfer on around $1.7 billion of loan assets originated by its leveraged acquisition finance business.
* Activist shareholder TCI Fund Management Ltd. wants the London Stock Exchange Group Plc to proceed with a general meeting to unseat Chairman Donald Brydon. This was after CEO Xavier Rolet left the firm prematurely, at the board's request. David Warren has been named interim CEO, in addition to his CFO role.
* Julius Bär Gruppe AG's board of directors named Bernhard Hodler CEO, effective immediately, replacing Boris Collardi, who left the group to join Pictet & Cie Group SCA.
* Provident Financial Plc said interim Executive Chairman Malcolm Le May will lead its search for a new CEO, following the death of Executive Chairman Manjit Wolstenholme.
On the deal table
* Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA received a $2.2 billion binding offer from Bank of Nova Scotia for the Spanish banking group's 68.19% stake in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Chile SA. The Spanish lender also agreed to sell an 80% stake in a real estate joint venture to a unit of Cerberus Capital Management LP for about €4 billion.
* UK Asset Resolution Ltd. launched an asset sales process for Bradford & Bingley Plc and NRAM Ltd. in October, expected to be completed by the first half of the 2018-2019 financial year.
* Commerzbank AG unit mBank SA signed a conditional agreement to sell an organized part of its unit mFinance to Denmark-based Phoebe IVS for an expected maximum value of 520 million Polish zlotys, of which around 465 million zlotys will be booked over 15 years.
* Apollo Global Management LLC, buyout firm Socrates and a consortium comprising Cerberus and J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC are bidding for German lender HSH Nordbank, Reuters reported.
Operations & Strategy
* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc closed the bad bank created to run down noncore operations and debt amassed before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Times reported.
* Credit Suisse Group AG plans to distribute 50% of net income to shareholders through special dividends or share buybacks as part of its 2019-2020 objectives.
* Lloyds Banking Group Plc commissioned accountancy firm Deloitte to manage the planned sale of its remaining mortgage portfolio in Ireland, The Irish Times reported. The U.K.-based lender will also close 49 branches, resulting in 99 jobs being cut, BBC News reported.
* KBC Group NV announced a restructuring of KBC Securities NV to focus on investment banking in the Benelux region. The group will also merge KBC Securities Hungary with local unit K&H Bank Zrt.
* Slovenia proposed to assign an independent caretaker for Nova Ljubljanska banka d.d. in exchange for the European Commission's approval, before end-2017, to delay its privatization.
Regulation
* The European Central Bank is planning to postpone the implementation of its new guidelines on tackling European banks' bad loans, after the EU Council said it lacks the jurisdiction to implement them.
* Bank of England governor Mark Carney said some financial rules including a cap on banker bonuses could disappear after Brexit.
* The Central Bank of the Russian Federation revoked the banking license and professional securities market participant license of Moscow-based New Symbol Bank for violations including its involvement in dubious financial operations in 2016 and 2017.
* The Russian central bank officially assumed provisional administration of troubled lender Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank. The central bank also suspended the additional issue of shares by PAO Moscow Industrial Bank, citing a number of irregularities.
* The Bank of England's 2017 stress test revealed that none of the U.K.'s seven largest lenders needs to strengthen their capital base. Meanwhile, the BoE's Financial Policy Committee has announced plans to increase the countercyclical buffer rate to 1% from 0.5%.
* Portugal's finance minister Mario Centeno is said to be the favorite among the four candidates vying for the presidency of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers that is tasked with ensuring close coordination of economic policies, the Financial Times reported.
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
Barclays, RBS scrape through Bank of England stress test
Challenger banks find favor with investors despite UK housing market worries
Italian toxic loan market lifted by economy, investor interest
