Scheldt Capital

The Digest

There are two major themes in today’s links, so it made sense to group them accordingly.

First off, the ride isn’t getting any easier for banks. They are having to scramble to raise capital and are reluctantly coming to terms that there are many more lean years ahead.

“If the book value of a bank is higher than the share price, […] the book value is going to be diluted.” Banks’ share prices all factor in future capital raising — FT

In Spain, Santander and BBVA are using all possibilities, including asset disposals and innovative securities, to increase their core Tier 1 ratio. — FT

Meanwhile, in Japan Nomura is also looking at selling assets not directly related to its core business. — Reuters

And lastly, Deutsche Bank is looking at options for its global asset managment division. — Bloomberg

On top of all that, EU commissioner for the internal market Michel Barnier is to set up a group to study banking reform that could include far-reaching restructuring or ringfencing similar to what the UK’s Independent Commission on Banking recommended. — Reuters

Faced with this combined regulatory, market-driven and political (Occupy Wall Street?) onslaught, banks are slowly coming to terms with the new reality of changing business models and decreasing profitability. — Reuters

Secondly, market infrastructure providers everywhere have decided that the only salvation lies in size:

The Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges have agreed to merge in 2013, creating the world’s third largest exchange. Reuters

And Turkey’s government plans to merge the Istanbul Stock Exchange (cash equities) and TurkDex (derivatives). — FT

The Digest is a daily(-ish) overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

S&P seems to have some issues with its headline-writing process… — Bloomberg

Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom? Interesting visualisation from BBC — BBC

China Construction Bank, “following their customers”, looks to establish a presence in Brazil by acquiring a local bank — FT

The Digest is a daily(-ish) overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

The Chinese central bank plans to coax underground lending into the public realm, presumably to regulate it better… — Reuters

How not to make friends at the European Commission: S&P accidentally downgraded French credit rating on Thursday. — Reuters

UK retail banking upstart Metro Bank sees a slow start, casting doubts on the viability of other upstarts. I wonder how Banksimple will fare in the US with its more innovative business model. — FT

After MF Global’s very short stint as primary dealer, the Fed is considering tougher admission criteria. — FT

Normally banks diversify into financial advice, but in Belgium a financial adviser goes the other way, buying a retail bank. — De Tijd

Looking for opportunities: with most IPO’s cancelled and revenues drying up, investment banks turn to block trades to make up for the fall. — Reuters

In Wenzhou, buy a flat, get a BMW. According to the developer “it doesn’t mean sales are bad, just that we’re trying to attract customers.” Glad that’s clear. — FT

Exchange consolidation, Japan Ed.: Tokyo Stock Exchange (largest in cash equities) is considering a bid for the Osaka Stock Exchange (largest in derivatives). The value of the combined entity value would rival that of the London Stock Exchange. — Bloomberg

Profit up across the board, RoE over 20%, Brazil’s banks are in rude health, although non-performing loans are also on the rise. — FT

The Digest is a daily(-ish) overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

Adventures in CDS investing: after the Dexia split, what entity will end up being the contracts’ reference? — IFR

Are the side-effects of the Goldman Sachs halo a root cause of MF Global’s demise? — NYT Dealbook

HSBC CEO tentatively moves toward agreeing with regulator on restraining bankers’ pay, which seems sensible in the current climate. — FT

MF Global’s collapse forced the Australian regulator to close commodities markets for a day, since the broker represented 80% of the volume on the exchange. — FT

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

Credit Suisse cuts 1,500 more jobs, and intends to scale back its fixed income business. — Reuters

Sadly, MF Global bankers who lost their job yesterday may have trouble finding a new one in the current market — Bloomberg

Rabobank issues a Basel-III compliant “hybrid Tier 1 capital” bond, that “bails in” holders when certain capital ratio thresholds are breached — FT

CME Group’s “Stories of financial ingenuity and innovation” give a nice overview of the genesis of modern derivatives exchanges — CME

CNBC has an overview of the seven major players in high-frequency trading. These companies represent huge volume on the worlds’ exchanges — CNBC

A bit old, but this overview of the changes in the market infrastructure landscape from the WSJ is excellent — WSJ

Reuters has a profile of the LME’s CEO, touching upon difficulties in warehousing and building its own clearing house — Reuters

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

In an attempt to get them to square the circle, the EBA tells banks to increase capital ratios but not deleverage excessively — Reuters

The Dutch government has proposed legislation blocking bonus pay-outs at banks that have been bailed out — Reuters

Question of the day: would the latest Greek debt restructuring plan constitute an event of default or not? — IFR

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

BoE official wants a resolution regime for CCP’s, to guard against taxpayer bailouts — FT

Dexia Bank Belgium is looking for a new name, the current one triggers too many negative connotations — De Standaard

EU’s naked CDS ban: “if you can show correlation greater than zero then you can buy sovereign CDS” — IFR

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

Banks’ appetite to reduce capital requirements by buying credit protection from “regulatory capital relief” funds is soaring — FT

ABN AMRO has ambitions to become a global bank again, building on its strong performance in the home market — FT

KPMG’s new CEO is based in Asia and sees the future growth of the company there — FT

EU leaders tell banks to find €108bn in new capital, following EBA’s estimate of the shortfall — FT

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

IBM buys provider of high-speed and big data solutions to banks Platform — GigaOm

Africa is the new frontier for financial services — FT

EBA wants 9% capital ratio for EU banks, but banks may opt to shrink assets rather than raise capital to meet target — FT

Code and algorithms, rather than people, are becoming financial firms’ most valuable assets and they can be stolen — FT

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.

The Digest

The new head of the BIS promises tough scrutiny of Basel 3 implementations and repeats he will enforce leverage and liquidity ratios — FT

The timing of the above intervention was fortunate, since the FSB and BCBS released their study on the GDP impact of the Basel III capital requirements and conclude it is limited — BIS

The Chinese SWF that already owns stakes in the biggest Chinese banks is buying more shares to prop up confidence in them — Reuters

Unicredit’s Chief Economist makes the case that Italy is a safer credit and better investment than the UK… — FT

“They are selling what they can sell, and keeping what they cannot.” The new shape of Dexia — FT

The Digest is a (near-)daily overview of interesting stories in financial services technology and management.