Financial Services

Barclays’ Brookfield schmuck insurance may flop

17 Apr 2025

The $53 bln bank will give the private-capital group 10% of its payments business in return for help growing it, and may sell Brookfield another 70% over time. It seems designed to avoid seller’s remorse. Investors may end up wishing for a simpler arrangement.

Banks can dodge a 2022-style hung debt disaster

17 Apr 2025

High-yield borrowing costs have spiked, raising memories of the $80 bln of loans and bonds that got stuck with lenders three years ago. Yet the leveraged buyout backlog is smaller now, and the credit market moves less violent. A mild headache is more likely than a nasty hangover.

Investors reward Goldman for being its true self

14 Apr 2025

Equity and bond traders cashed in on volatile markets in the first quarter, bringing in nearly 60% of the Wall Street firm’s revenue of $15 bln. CEO David Solomon has sought to emphasize more stable activities. But shareholders are warming to Goldman’s traditional strengths.

Jamie Dimon’s actions say even more than his words

11 Apr 2025

JPMorgan’s boss influenced US policy by speaking up about tariffs. His latest warnings are accompanied by $3.3 bln set aside for credit losses, 75% more than a year earlier. Based on the famously cautious mega-bank’s provisions in past downturns, the sum may yet be conservative.

Banks are dubious savior for US government debt

9 Apr 2025

The 10-year yield stayed high at 4.3% after a tariff pause. It adds urgency to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s quest to relax capital rules so that lenders can buy more bonds. The timing, with investors fleeing, flags the risk. SVB found that safe assets can cause problems.

Texas market bulls run into ferocious bear case

8 Apr 2025

Nasdaq and NYSE are galloping to Dallas, where a new BlackRock-backed exchange is riding a broader financial-hub charge. Big Apple bourses yeehaw over $6 trln of Lone Star market cap as Y’All Street tries to lasso nearby states too. For now, the campaign is more hat than cattle.

Market turmoil rewrites the lessons of investing

8 Apr 2025

From the crisis of 2008 to the pandemic to Trump’s tariffs, governments and central banks have influenced asset prices. In this episode of The Big View podcast Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS’s wealth management unit, talks about the stark message for investors.

Klarna tests the waters for a ‘normal’ IPO

3 Apr 2025

The buy-now-pay-later firm is pushing through a still-thin pipeline toward a listing. Despite a high-tech sheen, it’s less tied to the big themes of the moment than recent disappointing offerings. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate its prospects.

Goldman follows logical path to bad executive pay

1 Apr 2025

Proxy firms urged investors to vote against the $80 mln retention fillips for CEO David Solomon and deputy John Waldron. Increasingly formidable rivals would happily wreck succession plans and targeted rewards are awkward. It makes sense, until it ends in more money for the boss.

Larry Fink shows his momentum-trade stripes

31 Mar 2025

The BlackRock CEO’s latest missive details how the $12 trln fund manager goes with the flow. Stakeholder capitalism and climate are out; private markets and digital tokens are in. Febrile politics explain such shifts, but the shaky Panama ports deal exposes the extra volatility.

Basic rules of banking apply to Klarna too

27 Mar 2025

The buy now, pay later provider wants to be valued as a disruptor in its US IPO. But on conventional metrics, loan losses, which grew 40% to $495 mln last year, compare poorly with credit card users. There’s no sign Klarna and its peers have invented a better way to lend money.

How UBS can soften or swerve $25 bln capital blow

27 Mar 2025

Swiss lawmakers might whack the bank with demands for extra equity. Chair Colm Kelleher could dodge the punch by moving its head office, but that would be risky. Better for UBS to cushion the impact by shrinking the investment bank - or even offloading its US wealth unit.

ECB bank snub is good for Orcel, bad for M&A bulls

26 Mar 2025

The supervisor has queried Banco BPM’s use of the ‘Danish Compromise’ in its swoop on fund group Anima. That’s bad for the acquirer. But it’s good for UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, who wants to buy BPM – and for those who want M&A to be based on logic, not capital arbitrage.

Capital One’s deal disquiet puts rage in arbitrage

21 Mar 2025

Hedge funds bet heavily that a new administration would allow the credit card issuer’s $35 bln purchase of Discover. A plunge in the seller’s shares proves that Wall Street is struggling to heed what Republicans actually say about scrutinizing industry, threatening more blow-ups.

Citi bonuses provide helpful how-not-to guide

20 Mar 2025

The US mega-bank is doling out the last portion of three-year, $5 mln awards aimed at helping improve persistent risk and control lapses. The top brass fell short, slashing the final payout ratio to 68%. Even that is too much in a sign of how badly the plan was designed.

US banks set to capitalize on rare globalist pact

13 Mar 2025

Michelle Bowman should be a welcome pick as the Fed’s new sheriff to JPMorgan and its peers. She has advocated for aligning rules with Europe and beyond. It probably means a planned 9% capital hike on big lenders will vanish without upending the broader Basel Endgame framework.

Bank investors bet on car loan scandal airbags

13 Mar 2025

A court verdict on mis-sold motor loans could pave the way for large fines for lenders like Lloyds. Yet that would undermine chancellor Rachel Reeves’ growth agenda, and the regulator has ways to limit the damage. Current stock prices imply a dent rather than a pile-up.

Italy’s great Generali game enters fateful round

10 Mar 2025

Rival investors are battling for control of the $52 bln insurer. A hostile takeover of Mediobanca and a new law could shift the power balance. Rival lender UniCredit might also play a role. The risk is that Generali’s governance becomes even more complex, echoing its past.

Schroders makes first steps towards bigger shakeup

6 Mar 2025

The 6.5-bln-pound fund group pledged to cut costs and grow assets in areas like private equity. Bigger questions over its size, business mix and M&A will be left for another day. The plan at least means new CEO Richard Oldfield may be in a stronger position to confront them.

Abrdn finds its missing vowels but not value

4 Mar 2025

New CEO Jason Windsor is renaming the $4.2 bln fund group Aberdeen and pledging to boost profit. Both steps are welcome but come amidst tricky markets and growing competition from index funds. Small wonder he is getting little credit for yet another turnaround from shareholders.