Tag: banking

IMF warns of ongoing financial risks following banking turmoil

Washington, United States | AFP | Tuesday 4/4/2023  The recent banking turmoil in the United States and Europe could spread to crucial non-bank institutions like pension funds, further complicating central banks’ fight against high inflation, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. Banking risks “could intensify in coming months amid the continued tightening of monetary policy globally,” and spread to the interconnected non-bank sector, which now holds almost half of all global financial assets, IMF economists […]

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Troubled investment bank China Renaissance suspends share trading

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Investment bank China Renaissance suspended trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares on Monday, saying the disappearance of its chairman meant it was unable to publish its annual results. Bao Fan, the group’s billionaire chairman and executive director, went missing in February and was later revealed to be “cooperating” in an official investigation — sparking fears of a renewed crackdown on China’s finance sector. The bank, which specializes in the Chinese tech […]

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UBS shares sink after Credit Suisse buyout

Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Monday 3/20/2023 UBS share price plunged on Monday as a deal to take over its troubled Swiss rival Credit Suisse for $3.25 billion failed to calm stock market nerves. The buyout, in which Switzerland’s biggest bank will take over the second largest, was vital to prevent economic turmoil from spreading throughout the country and beyond, the Swiss government said Sunday. But investors remained on edge, with UBS shares falling as […]

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Four days that shook the US banking system

by Thomas URBAIN The US banking system has been gripped in recent days by a series of convulsions that has seen the collapse of three banks and authorities undertaking extraordinary measures to reassure depositors. It all began Wednesday night with a liquidation announcement from the small regional Silvergate Bank, a favorite among the cryptocurrency crowd. The California business was swept up in several crypto mishaps, particularly the implosion of exchange platform FTX, before facing a […]

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HSBC buys failed US bank SVB’s UK arm for £1

by Roland JACKSON The UK arm of failed US lender Silicon Valley Bank has been bought by HSBC for a nominal £1 ($1.2) in a rescue deal, the government and HSBC announced Monday. The sale, overseen by the Bank of England and the Treasury, comes after SVB collapsed Friday sparking panic in Britain over its key customers in the technology and life science sectors. “Silicon Valley Bank (UK) Ltd has today been sold to HSBC,” […]

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SVB’s demise a sign of worry, but limited contagion risk: analysts

New York, United States | AFP | by Juliette MICHEL The surprisingly rapid implosion of Silicon Valley Bank has markets jittery over a potential sign of widespread turmoil, but analysts see only a limited risk of financial contagion. SVB’s woes are the result of “idiosyncratic stresses and not one that we see as systemic that would affect the banking industry,” said CFRA Research’s Ken Leon, saying stricter US regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis […]

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US closes Silicon Valley Bank in biggest collapse since 2008

US regulators pulled the plug on Silicon Valley Bank on Friday in a spectacular move that sent global banking shares sputtering, as markets fretted over possible contagion from America’s biggest banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis. US authorities swooped in and seized the assets of SVB, a key lender to US startups since the 1980s, after a run on deposits made it no longer tenable for the medium-sized bank to stay afloat on its own. […]

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Global bank shares sink over US fears

Paris, France | AFP | by Laurent THOMET The world’s biggest banks took a stock market beating on Friday as trouble at a US regional lender sparked concerns over the wider sector. The four biggest US banks lost a whopping $52 billion in market value on Thursday after shares in SVB Financial, a major lender to the tech industry, sank by 60 percent. SVB Financial spooked the markets after announcing a stock offering and offloading […]

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Commerzbank profits jump before return to German stock elite

Frankfurt, Germany | AFP | Thursday 2/16/2023 Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank said Thursday its net profit tripled in 2022 as the bank prepares for reentry into the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s blue-chip DAX index. The group said it made a bottom-line profit of 1.44 billion euros ($1.54 billion) in 2022, up from 430 million euros the previous year. The result showed Commerzbank’s “turnaround is a success” after years of poor performance and restructuring efforts, CEO Manfred […]

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US agency orders Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 bn for shoddy banking practices

US officials announced Tuesday a $3.7 billion settlement with Wells Fargo over an array of “illegal activity” that burdened customers with wrongful home foreclosures and other problems. Wells Fargo will pay $2 billion to compensate customers and $1.7 billion in civil fines under a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settlement that the agency said pertained to some 16 million consumer accounts. Wells Fargo called the agreement an “important milestone” in the bank’s progress after a series […]

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HSBC bank sells Canadian ops for over US$10 bn

London, United Kingdom (AFP) HSBC has agreed to sell its Canadian division to Royal Bank of Canada for US$10.1 billion, the Asia-focused banking giant announced Tuesday. The large sale comes after UK-listed HSBC faced calls from biggest shareholder Ping An Insurance Group to cut costs and shift more resources to Asia. HSBC added in a statement that it would use the funds to invest in its core business and return cash to investors. “We decided […]

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‘Law and order returned’ Hong Kong’s US-sanctioned leader says at banking summit

by Jerome Taylor and Holmes Chan Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP)  — Hong Kong’s US-sanctioned leader insisted Wednesday that political stability and business confidence in the city has been restored following the crushing of democracy protests, as he opened a financial summit attended by global bankers including leading Wall Street executives. Hong Kong is hosting a week of high-profile events after years of political unrest and pandemic travel curbs tarnished the city’s business-friendly reputation, […]

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