* Steps must be taken to boost funding through equities and corporate debt in Europe, the Finnish presidency of the EU has observed in a document, which will be presented before EU finance ministers in Helsinki on Friday, according to Reuters.
* European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen proposed to retain Denmark's Margrethe Vestager as the competition commissioner as she presented her new 27-member executive team yesterday. Von der Leyen also nominated Vestager to oversee the EU's digital policies in addition to her current role.
* Libra Association, which was established to oversee Facebook Inc.'s planned cryptocurrency, said it will pursue a license as a payment system from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. The Financial Action Task Force, which sets global standards against money laundering, is closely watching developments surrounding Libra, Reuters reported, citing FATF President Xiangmin Liu. Separately, U.S. Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said Libra would have to meet the highest U.S. regulatory standards against money laundering and terrorism financing.
UK AND IRELAND
* The British pound, buffeted by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, has been trading like an emerging-market currency, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said, according to Bloomberg News. "Sterling volatility, as you would know, is at emerging-market levels and has decoupled from other advanced economy pairs for obvious reasons," Carney said during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York yesterday. Carney also said that major central banks have the "tools" to respond if the world economy is hit with another downturn, noting that the chances of a slowdown have increased around the globe, The Wall Street Journal said.
* Man Group Ltd. President Jonathan Sorrell is leaving the British asset manager to take on a new role outside the company.
* British reinsurer Rothesay Life PLC will raise at least £500 million in new equity capital from its backers as it looks to make headway in the bulk annuities market. In a trading update, it said its shareholders agreed to put in more funding to take advantage of "unprecedented opportunity" in the defined benefit buy-in and buy-out market.
* Barclays PLC cut several sales and trading jobs at its Tokyo unit last week as part of CEO Jes Staley's wider push to reduce workforce globally in light of the lower profits its markets division reported in the first half, Bloomberg News wrote.
* British asset manager Dalton Strategic Partnership LLP will close its Dalton Capital Japan office on Sept. 17, Bloomberg News reported. The Tokyo office will later be dissolved and its operations will be consolidated with the London operations.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Public prosecutors in Cologne, Germany, have searched the offices of Commerzbank AG as part of an investigation into a dividend-stripping practice called cum-ex trading, Reuters reported after German newspaper Handelsblatt. A spokesman for Commerzbank said the German lender was cooperating with authorities.
* Deutsche Bank AG
* Raiffeisen Bank International AG said CFO Martin Grüll will leave the lender in February 2020 after his mandate expires.
* Allianz Group is streamlining its asset management business in Austria by merging Allianz Investmentbank AG and Allianz Invest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH, Die Presse wrote. The move is expected to result in the loss of some 30 jobs by the end of 2020. Parts of Allianz Investmentbank will be transferred to Allianz Invest KAG, which will continue to exist. The group is looking for a strategic partner for its depository bank business, which is currently operated by the investment bank.
* Bank J. Safra Sarasin AG is set to appoint UBS Group AG executive Jürg Haller as its new chairman and member of the board of J. Safra Sarasin Holding. Haller will replace Ilan Hayim. Haller has been at UBS since 1984, most recently serving as executive vice chairman of global wealth management.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* Société Générale SA is conducting an internal review to explore ways to save €600 million annually in its operations in Paris, Bloomberg News wrote. The review reportedly started in June.
* Adrian Grace, CEO of Aegon NV's U.K. unit, will retire March 31, 2020. He will be succeeded by Mike Holliday-Williams, who will join Aegon UK on Oct. 1.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* The European Court of Justice's advocate general, Maciej Szpunar, could pave the way for a new round of lawsuits in Spain's banking system, stating yesterday that mortgages tied to the country's IRPH mortgage price index and marketed without sufficient transparency could be annulled, Expansión reported. Szpunar assured that the IRPH could not be excluded from the remit of the EU directive on unfair terms. A definitive judgment from the European Court of Justice is expected at the end of the year or start of 2020.
* Spanish consumer association Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios estimated that some €37 billion were charged in excess to bank customers with mortgages applying the IRPH price index, Expansión wrote.
ITALY AND GREECE
* Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a confidence vote in the country's Senate, giving his new coalition government the green light to take office after weeks of political crisis, Reuters and Bloomberg News reported.
* Moody's expects the new Italian coalition government comprised of the center-left PD party and the 5-Star Movement to provide some political stability and allow Italy to submit its 2020 budget on schedule, Reuters reported. Moody's made no changes to Italy's Baa3 long-term rating and its stable outlook.
* Gross bad loans at the Italian banks fell to €88.2 billion in July from €127 billion a year earlier, according to Bank of Italy data cited by Il Sole 24 Ore. Loans to the private sector rose an annual 0.8% in July after increasing 0.4% in June, with loans to households rising 2.5% and those to nonfinancial firms decreasing 0.4% after a 0.7% fall in June.
* CheBanca! SpA sold nonperforming mortgages with a nominal value of €136.8 million to D.E. Shaw, cutting its NPL ratio to 2% from 4%, MF said.
* Unipol Banca SpA General Manager Stefano Rossetti could join the board of BPER Banca SpA following a deal to merge that could close in November, MF said.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Nordea Bank Abp Deputy CEO and Group COO Torsten Hagen Jørgensen is leaving the lender amid a governance team reshuffle. Under the revamp, the Finland-based banking group will remove the combined group COO and deputy CEO roles and evaluate new responsibilities for the COO, which will be announced some other time.
* The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said Swedbank AB (publ) may have tried to hide an internal report on money laundering from financial regulator Finansinspektionen, Dagens Industri reported. The report, which purportedly deals with Swedbank's exposure to the money laundering scandal surrounding Danske Bank's Estonian branch, is said to be missing from a list of documents reported to the regulator by Swedbank.
* Swedbank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB are at risk of having to pay fines of between 4 billion Swedish kronor and 5 billion kronor if they are found guilty of money laundering by financial regulator Finansinspektionen, Realtid reported. The banks could be fined as much as 10 % of their turnover. The result of the investigation is expected in February.
* Norway's financial supervisory authority has recommended to lenders that they tighten mortgage lending to households by allowing customers to borrow only up to 4.5 times a household's gross annual income as opposed to 5 times previously, Reuters wrote. The regulator also suggested that lenders should make exceptions to the rules in only 5% of the cases.
* Aktia Pankki Oyj is planning on closing several branches and to cut as many as 110 positions, Hufvudstadsbladet reported. The Finnish bank said it has made changes to its strategy, and that the physical branches are becoming less relevant.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Turkey will likely restructure approximately $10 billion in bank debt of the country's electricity production and distribution sector, Reuters reported, citing Turkey's banking association. The total debt stands at around $47 billion.
* Bank Millennium SA, the Polish subsidiary of Portugal-based Millennium BCP, received the green light from Poland's banking authority to conclude its acquisition of Euro Bank SA, Jornal de Negócios reported. With the transaction, Bank Millennium will become the seventh-largest bank in Poland.
* Poland is in advanced negotiations with Slovakia to acquire the Bratislava Stock Exchange, Reuters reported, citing Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. The outcome of the discussions is still awaited.
* Serbian Finance Minister Siniša Mali said the government has received four nonbinding bids for Komercijalna banka a.d. Beograd, which is being privatized, SeeNews reported. It came after Serbia agreed to buy the 34.58% stake held in Komercijalna by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and IFC Capitalization Fund, raising its stake in the lender to 83.23%.
* The Russian central bank suggested broadening of its powers over retail lending regulation, Vedomosti reported.
* Prominvestbank, the Ukrainian affiliate of the Russian Vnesheconombank, will be reauctioned Sept. 20 with a starting price of 399.1 million hryvnia, indicating a 25% price reduction from the last time, according to Kommersant.
* The Russian investment management company Alfa Capital is finalizing the acquisition of Kapital Asset Management JSC and three interval funds for 3 billion rubles, Banki.ru wrote.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: China scraps cap for overseas investors; ASIC appeals Westpac ruling
Middle East & Africa: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank exits India; Zimbabwe forms monetary policy committee
Latin America: Banco Pan, Banrisul launch share offerings
North America: Wells Fargo, Citi feel the pinch of low rates; 2 New York credit unions to merge
Global Insurance: Commercial insurance prices; Root's valuation; Fidelity-Stewart deal off
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Cyber insurance-linked securities will come 'sooner than later': Aon Securities CEO Paul Schultz said the evolution of cyber ILS will mirror that of property catastrophe bonds. "We'll find a place ... where there is a client need and not enough supply of capacity, and we'll use that to learn and to grow."
Deutsche restructuring was never about giving up US business, CFO says: The idea that the revamp was based on a geographic strategic decisions "always missed the mark," CFO James von Moltke said, and the U.S. business will remain "critical" for the group.
Sheryl Obejera, Ed Meza, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Praxilla Trabattoni and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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