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Deutsche, Barclays named in German tax fraud trial; Nordea CFO to depart

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Deutsche, Barclays named in German tax fraud trial; Nordea CFO to depart

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* Martin Shields, the banker at the center of a trial in Germany over so-called cum-ex trade deals, named more than half a dozen financial institutions he claims were involved in the tax refund fraud scheme, including Germany's Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, Britain's Barclays PLC and TP Icap PLC, and Sweden's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, Reuters and Bloomberg News reported. Shields, a former investment banker, said the scheme was done "on an industrial scale" involving a vast network of banks, investors and brokers that made multiple tax reclaims. Süddeutsche Zeitung also covered this.

* European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has expressed doubts over the U.K. clinching a Brexit deal with the EU, with the deadline for the country's exit from the bloc fast approaching and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson not having proposed a viable solution for the Irish backstop yet, the Financial Times wrote.

* Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party leader, Arlene Foster, said the U.K. can secure an exit deal with the EU if there is "flexibility on all sides," Reuters reported. DUP, whose support is crucial for Johnson's government, said that if all parties cooperated, solutions can be found that will not "erect new barriers to trade" within the U.K. while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the EU single market.

UK AND IRELAND

* U.K.-based insurance broker Charles Taylor PLC said it agreed to a £261 million deal to be acquired by Jewel Bidco Ltd., a firm backed by U.S.-based private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners LLC, Reuters wrote. Jewel Bidco offered to pay 315 pence per share in cash to take Charles Taylor private.

* British financial technology firm Revolut Ltd. named Joe Heneghan CEO of its Irish operations, replacing William Keane. Heneghan joins Revolut from Ulster Bank Ireland DAC, according to The Irish Times.

* Smith & Williamson Holdings Ltd. agreed to merge with U.K.-based investment and financial planning services provider Tilney Group Ltd. to create an entity with over £45 billion in AUM. The deal values the combined business at an enterprise value of roughly £1.8 billion.

* Just Group PLC named David Richardson group CEO, effective immediately.

* Banks have so far shifted some 1,000 roles from London to rival financial hubs such as Frankfurt, Germany, and Paris since the Brexit referendum, Bloomberg wrote, citing a report by Ernst & Young.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Deutsche Bank has pumped €50 million into Deposit Solutions GmbH for a 4.9% stake in the German fintech startup, bringing the latter's valuation to more than €1 billion and making it the second-largest fintech firm in the country by valuation after Berlin-based N26 GmbH, the Financial Times wrote.

* UBS Group AG's U.S.-based brokerage unit has to pay a $9 million penalty for "unfairly" poaching 100 of 330 U.S.-based relationship managers from Credit Suisse Group AG in 2015, an arbitration court in New York ruled after Credit Suisse lodged a complaint, Bloomberg wrote.

* UBS may charge more corporate clients for cash holdings in Switzerland if the central bank cuts rates tomorrow, Reuters wrote.

* Investors are considering a lawsuit against UBS over its role in a 2017 sale of a CHF150-million corporate bond for Greek fashion retailer Folli Follie Group that has since defaulted, arguing that the company made an inaccurate financial statement in the sales prospectus, Bloomberg noted.

* Ulrich Körner, most recently head of UBS' asset management business, has been named a potential successor to Urs Rohner as chairman of Credit Suisse, sources told finews.ch.

* Markus Faulhaber, CEO of Allianz Lebensversicherungs-AG, is retiring and will be succeeded by board member Andreas Wimmer, effective in January 2020, Handelsblatt reported.

* German food conglomerate Dr. Oetker GmbH is planning to sell Bankhaus Lampe KG, which belongs to the group, and is examining "all options" in talks with bank, financial institutions and other potential new partners, Platow-Brief reported.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

* Société Générale SA is strengthening its profit growth strategy in Eastern Europe, according to L’Agefi. Its unit in the Czech Republic, which is among the most profitable banks in the country, is the showcase example of the group's transformation in the region, SocGen Deputy CEO Philippe Heim was cited as saying.

* Société Générale's new head of French retail business, Marie-Christine Ducholet, will meet with unions tomorrow to present the group's new restructuring plan that could impact 20% of its retail banking employees in the country, Reuters wrote, citing business magazine Challenges.

* Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations will launch a €100 million investment program to help spur growth in high-tech small and medium-sized firms, Reuters wrote. In a joint statement, Euronext NV announced plans to form a new index, dubbed Euronext Tech Croissance, to increase the international profile of French startups.

* State Street Corp.'s French unit has lost its subsidiary status and has now become a branch of the German subsidiary State Street Bank International GmbH, according to Les Echos. The change has caused some concerns to the 200 workers of the company in France. State Street is involved in an important restructuring program worldwide.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

* Spain's Banco Santander SA will launch its digital bank Openbank in Germany and is expected to be fully operational by year-end. It will also launch Openbank in the Netherlands, Portugal, other European countries and the Americas.

ITALY AND GREECE

* Italy is expected to approve today an emergency decree that will allow it to use special powers to protect its interests in key financial infrastructures, such as the Milan stock exchange, Reuters reported. The move comes after Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. proposed to take over London Stock Exchange Group PLC, which controls Milan-based Borsa Italiana SpA.

* Banca Carige SpA shareholder Pop 12 will vote in favor of the capital strengthening plan due to a sense of responsibility but will not underwrite the capital increase, the vehicle's owner, businessman Raffaele Mincione, told Il Sole 24 Ore, adding that the presence of small shareholders will be a determining factor at the meeting.

* Italy's state-owned bad loan manager Amco, formerly SGA, is looking at other portfolios of bad loans while waiting for Banca Carige shareholders to approve a rescue plan that will see Amco rid the lender of €3.1 billion in bad debts, Reuters wrote, citing Amco CEO Marina Natale.

* Intesa Sanpaolo SpA aims to become the largest non-auto retail casualty insurance company by 2021, Nicola Maria Fioravanti, head of the firm's insurance division, told MF. Il Sole 24 Ore also covered this.

* Banca Popolare di Bari SCpA could announce a merger deal by the end of the year with one possible merger candidate being Banca Popolare Vesuviana SC, MF reported.

* Greece will offer state guarantees worth up to €9 billion to help its banks cut their stock of bad loans that weigh on their balance sheets, sources told Bloomberg.

* National Bank of Greece SA intends to sell four nonperforming loan portfolios before the end of 2019, sources told Reuters. One of the portfolios, dubbed Icon, includes €1.5 billion of collateralized loans to small businesses.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Christopher Rees will step down as group CFO and head of group finance and treasury of Finland-based Nordea Bank Abp in 2020. The departure announcement follows that of Deputy CEO and Group COO Torsten Hagen Jørgensen.

* Swedbank AB (publ) said acting CFO Niclas Olsson and group treasury head Tomas Hedberg will leave its group executive committee.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Generali's Czech units Česká pojišťovna a.s. and Generali Pojišťovna a.s. plan to merge by the end of 2019 to create the largest insurer in the country. The merged insurance company will operate as Generali Česká pojišťovna and will be headed by Roman Juráš.

* The Kazakh government could provide financial support of between 400 billion Kazakh tenge to 600 billion tenge to local banks following the upcoming asset quality review, Kapital.kz reported, citing Moody's analyst Vladlen Kuznetsov. The Kazakh central bank launched the asset quality review of the country's 14 lenders in August and plans to complete it November or December.

* JSC State Savings Bank of Ukraine said it received court documents needed to launch the recovery of $1.3 billion from the Russian state over losses incurred due to the annexation of Crimea by Moscow. The Ukrainian bank said at the end of 2018 it won arbitration proceedings against Russia and was taking all possible actions to actively pursue the execution of the ruling in jurisdictions across the world.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: US Fed cuts rates; DBS Bank eyes Thailand in AUM expansion plans

Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE cut rates; Banque Centrale Populaire H1 profit up

Latin America: Cofide mulls appeal over Minera IRL case; Banrisul cuts share count in offering

North America: FB Financial to acquire Ky.-based bank; JPMorgan leads race for Deutsche clients

Global Insurance: Lloyd's pretax profit surge; named storm trio; American Progressive fined

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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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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.