Banks

Capital Calls: HSBC, Delivery Hero

30 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: The global bank will pay a 57 mln pound penalty for misreporting depositor protection data; the Frankfurt-listed meal delivery company has sold a 4.5% stake in rival Deliveroo, at a loss.

JPMorgan is a rare palace that warrants intrigue

26 Jan 2024

Most whispers about CEO succession amount to idle gossip, but Jamie Dimon’s management shake-ups could lead to a world-changing decision. His swagger has helped expand the $4 trln bank’s clout in the financial system and it’s increasingly doubtful his replacement will sustain it.

Commerzbank stake sale would risk M&A impasse

25 Jan 2024

Berlin may consider offloading its 15% stake in the German lender. Deutsche Bank and UniCredit are obvious potential buyers, but higher rates have made a full-blown bank merger less appealing. A market disposal would present prospective suitors with a dilemma.

Take China’s easing signal with a pinch of caution

25 Jan 2024

Beijing is releasing $140 bln of liquidity at banks, trimming some lending rates, and talking up measures to boost the appeal of stocks. It is also pressing on rebalancing the world’s second largest economy. In a grand overhaul, short-term pain can only be managed to a point.

Capital Calls: Microsoft’s Russian hacker

22 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: The $3 trln tech firm disclosed that a nation-state hack accessed leaders’ email, saying it showed the need for potentially “disruptive” measures. It’s a worrying acknowledgement of the still-vague costs of geopolitical tensions for tech giants.

Private credit gets the slice-and-dice treatment

19 Jan 2024

Managers like Blackstone and Blue Owl are selling ‘collateralised loan obligations’ backed by privately issued debt. Such alchemy, common in traditional lending, helps lenders raise cheap funds. It also adds complexity, and makes private credit more dependent on flighty markets.

BoE can counter banks’ unfriendly rate fire

12 Jan 2024

UK lenders like HSBC think lower borrowing costs are coming and have slashed five-year mortgage payments below 4%. That makes it harder for the Bank of England to slay inflation and, in fact, may delay any cuts. Governor Andrew Bailey could ask the City to reward savers as well.

Bitcoin ETFs only entrench one frivolous use case

10 Jan 2024

The SEC finally greenlit BlackRock, Grayscale and other funds to track the crypto price, with trading due to start this week. It’ll be easier to make – and lose – money in the volatile digital asset, but it’s no closer to being a currency, store of value or network for new apps.

Wall Street brings gun to Basel knife-fight

10 Jan 2024

JPMorgan and peers have good reason to be livid over proposed US bank rules. Some planned changes would punish them unduly, clash with existing controls, and effectively hand business to foreign rivals. With logic on their side, the risk is that banks overplay their hand.

Citi shows China too big for Wall Street to snub

5 Jan 2024

The $100 bln US lender aims to launch an onshore investment bank this year, per Reuters, even as established Western rivals turn cautious. Citi’s move underscores a simple, timely fact: despite geopolitical, economic and data concerns, the People’s Republic is a must-play market.

Capital Calls: India’s bank payouts

3 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: A proposed overhaul of two-decade-old dividend rules for the country’s lenders adds a flourish to a successful bad loan cleanup. 

Convertibles will be 2024’s hot financial model

2 Jan 2024

Hybrid bonds, which fueled hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s rise, sputtered after a $370 bln Covid-era boom. Refinancing needs are revving them back up as interest-cost savings lure new issuers like Duke Energy. New features should tempt investors to ride off with them again.

Goldman’s partnership is too much of a good thing

28 Dec 2023

The arcane and elite 420-member group bolsters the bank’s cachet, but sometimes exerts power that’s out of sync with other shareholders. Boss David Solomon already answers to his board, clients and 45,000 other employees. He would do well to cut the inner circle down to size.

Mega-bank M&A goes from impossible to imaginable

28 Dec 2023

After 2008, CEOs saw investment-bank deals as risky while regulators saw them as dangerous. UBS will prove otherwise if it safely and profitably absorbs Credit Suisse. Imitators will not get the same sweet deal, but targets like SocGen and Barclays at least come cheap.

Capital Calls: Back from the USSR

20 Dec 2023

Concise views on global finance: Austrian bank Raiffeisen’s 1.5 bln euro plan to swap assets with sanctioned billionaire Oleg Deripaska is smarter than it looks.

Capital Calls: Cevian tries ‘relaxivism’ at UBS

19 Dec 2023

Concise views on global finance: The pushy European investor has bought shares worth around 1.2 bln euros in the Swiss bank, equivalent to a 1.3% stake. Yet it seems happy to sit back and let UBS management execute their strategy.

StanChart M&A theory will finally become reality

19 Dec 2023

For years, the bank run by Bill Winters was cheap but dysfunctional. Now, it’s producing significantly higher returns on tangible equity but the valuation remains low. If that persists in 2024, it will be hard for suitors like First Abu Dhabi Bank to resist launching a bid.

Capital Calls: MUFG Down Under

18 Dec 2023

Concise views on global finance: The Japanese finance group’s latest overseas pounce is a $740 mln agreed deal for Link Administration, an investor services firm with three years of failed takeovers behind it.

Banks’ hidden losses are surprise survivor of 2023

13 Dec 2023

The same paper deficits that helped fell Silicon Valley Bank in March still burden lenders worldwide. Bank of America alone sits on $130 bln; US banks nurse a record sum. Investors are now better at telling what’s scary from what’s not, but fuzzy accounting remains unhelpful.

Bank CEOs channel movie mobsters in Basel fight

7 Dec 2023

New capital rules are beset by inefficiencies and inconsistencies. Yet eight US bank chiefs appearing before the Senate delivered a more populist warning: water them down, or regular Americans will be impoverished. It’s disingenuous at best; counter-productive at worst.