trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/ywkhr0EcpbgPMg6UrnamGw2 content esgSubNav
In This List

LendInvest delays IPO; Deutsche's India expansion; Bank of Cyprus sees H1 profit

Podcast

Street Talk Episode 87

Blog

A New Dawn for European Bank M&A Top 5 Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US banks' loan growth; record share buybacks; utility M&A outlook

Blog

Banking Essentials Newsletter 2021: December Edition


LendInvest delays IPO; Deutsche's India expansion; Bank of Cyprus sees H1 profit

* European Commission officials are considering revising the eurozone's budgetary rules to soften debt reduction requirements for struggling economies and make them easier to enforce, the Financial Times reported, citing an internal EU document. Brussels reportedly intends to modify the rules within the first 12 months of the new commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen, who takes over from Jean-Claude Juncker in November.

* The German central bank is leading a review of central banks' efforts to support sustainable investments and analyze the potential economic consequences of climate change that could impact on the global financial system, Bloomberg News reported. The Bundesbank is working with its peers to draft a handbook that sets out the role of monetary authorities in promoting the greening of financial markets and is expected to publish it in October.

UK AND IRELAND

* U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was slightly more hopeful about the prospects of agreeing on a new Brexit deal with the EU but warned that any breakthrough in negotiations may not come until the Oct. 31 deadline when Britain officially leaves the bloc, the FT reported.

* Meanwhile, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote in The Independent that his party is prepared to consider all options to prevent a no-deal Brexit and called on other opposition parties to establish a good working arrangement to block Johnson's plans.

* U.K. online mortgage marketplace LendInvest Ltd. decided to delay a potential IPO planned for later this year and will instead raise private capital from large institutional investors, a source told Financial News. The company, which has yet to decide on the amount it aims to raise privately, is reportedly looking to use the money to fund its expansion into the mainstream mortgage market.

* British financial consultancy firm Lane Clark & Peacock LLP is understood to be one of the bidders for audit firm KPMG's pensions advisory division, sources told Sky News. A number of trade and financial firms are also interested in the unit, which reportedly has a price tag of roughly £200 million.

* Bank of Ireland Group Plc and KBC Group NV unit KBC Bank Ireland PLC said they do not intend to contest investigations by the Irish ombudsman over tracker mortgage complaints that fall outside a legal six-year time limit, The Irish Independent reported.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Deutsche Bank AG's Indian unit is set to appoint roughly 140 employees and strengthen its retail banking and wealth management operations, following a €470 million capital injection earlier this year, Bloomberg reported.

* Allianz Group unit Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd. will refund over 15,000 customers who were mis-sold certain consumer credit insurance products for more than A$8 million, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

* The German unit of Sweden's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, SEB AG, is expanding its business and is setting up a corporate finance team in Frankfurt, Börsen-Zeitung wrote.

* The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority issued banking and securities dealers' licenses to Zug-based SEBA Crypto AG and Zurich-based Sygnum AG, both of which offer services related to cryptocurrencies and digital assets like bitcoin. The regulator also published guidelines on how it applies Swiss anti-money laundering regulations to financial service providers in the area of blockchain technology.

* Patrik Läser, global head trust management and global head life insurance at Credit Suisse Group AG, has been appointed CEO of Liechtenstein-based Bank Alpinum AG, effective Sept. 16, succeeding interim CEO Jürgen Bewernick, who will leave the bank, Finews wrote.

* Anglo Austrian AAB Bank AG, the successor of Meinl Bank AG, agreed to pay €36 million to settle claims of about 4,000 investors of former subsidiary Meinl European Land Ltd. which was accused of violations of reporting obligations and incorrect advice, Der Standard wrote. Die Presse also has a report.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

* Steven Clausing, COO of Dutch online bank BinckBank NV, will step down from the company's board Sept. 1.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

* Banco Santander SA will be closing 700 branches between September and October, according to Expansión. The planned closures, announced under a collective dismissal plan adopted last June, will total 1,150 branches by December-end and will affect over 3,200 employees.

* The business of nonperforming loans is growing in Portugal, but the sector still lacks regulations, Jornal de Negócios wrote. Debt recovery companies have around €21 billion in AUM, up 52% from the previous year.

ITALY AND GREECE

* Italy's ruling 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party looked closer to reaching a deal on forming a new government after the latter dropped a veto on Giuseppe Conte serving a second term as prime minister, Reuters reported.

* Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras told lawmakers that he will submit legislation to lift the remaining capital controls in Greece, effective Sept. 1, as the country's economic recovery continues following multiple international bailouts since 2010.

* Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC reported first half profit attributable to owners of the company of €97.4 million, compared to a loss of €54.0 million in the same period in 2018. The Cypriot lender noted the completion of the sale of its €2.7 billion nonperforming loans portfolio, dubbed Project Helix, had a positive impact of roughly 140 basis points on its common equity Tier 1 ratio and total capital ratio.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Swedbank AB (publ) Chairman Göran Persson criticized calls to impose additional tax on Swedish banks, Dagens Industri wrote. In a TV interview, the former Swedish prime minister said a recession might happen, but that interest rates will continue to stay low, thus putting the margins of many banks under pressure.

* Jesper Berg, head of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, said the regulator's board will decide in the late summer months whether to report Danske Bank A/S to local police for overcharging retail clients, Bloomberg wrote. The overcharging case, which led to the dismissal of Danske's former interim CEO, Jesper Nielsen, has impacted customers that invested in its Flexinvest Fri product.

* Danish pension funds JØP and DIP, which are in the process of merging, will exclude from their investment portfolios seven companies that base their business models on oil derived from oil sands, according to FinansWatch.

EASTERN EUROPE

* The Hungarian central bank is expected to maintain its overnight deposit rate at negative 0.05%, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. The regulator is also expected to leave its unconventional policy setup unchanged ahead of a scheduled review in September.

* Czech building savings bank Českomoravská stavební spořitelna as plans to reduce its workforce by up to a fifth and could merge with sister unit Hypoteční banka as following recent ownership changes, a source told E15.

* The Russian central bank tweaked its methodology for calculating debt burden of borrowers for unsecured consumer loans longer than five years to prevent local lenders from bypassing new rules that will be introduced from Oct. 1, RBC reported. Under the new rules, banks will have to calculate debt burden of borrowers when issuing unsecured consumer loans, with the new indicator to influence the size of capital add-ons that they are required to hold on such loans.

* The shares of BNP Paribas SA's Polish unit BNP Paribas Bank Polska SA could be included in Poland's mWIG40 index after the Polish stock exchange operator Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie SA completes its revision in September, news agency PAP wrote. MWIG40 tracks 40 medium-sized companies included in GPW's main list.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: Japan megabanks MOUs; Orix bank sale talks; India central bank surplus transfer

Middle East & Africa: Nigeria sets bad-loan limit for banks; South Africa's JSE in 224.5M rand deal

Latin America: BancoEstado's Q2 profit soars 84.6%; BTG targeted in Lava Jato probe

North America: Verisk in deal; CFPB blasted over payday rule; Maine Harvest FCU gets charter

Global Insurance: Lufax exit plan; RBS, Santander hit over payment protection; Allianz Brazil buy

Deza Mones, Arno Maierbrugger, Meike Wijers, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, 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. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.

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.