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Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s star bankers say the firm could be about to renege on pay deals put in place last year to retain staff. The bank appears to have settled on a solution already used by Citi and Royal Bank of Scotland to pay some of its bonuses, writes David Rothnie.
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Hybrid tier one issuance has yet to make an appearance this year — and, thanks to the Basel Committee, it is unlikely to for months. But not only do banks have to worry about future-proofing new deals, they also have to work out what to do with $22bn of bonds callable in 2010.
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After the blizzard of new banking regulations proposed in 2009, we might soon have an idea of how much these initiatives will cost, and what the industry will look like when regulators have finished with it. Initial estimates show some surprising results.
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Investors swarmed over the first public Dutch RMBS since the start of the credit crisis, opening up another jurisdiction for securitisation. But the haste with which Arena 2009-1 was marketed raises questions about how thoroughly investors are examining new deals.
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Banks will soon have to build up buffers of capital during economic booms even though regulators are still lacking a plan on how the rules should be applied. Some recent proposals would make central banks micromanagers of the economy, a job for which they are ill-equipped.
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Contingent core capital is proving attractive to issuers because it’s the cheapest option to keep regulators happy, and attractive to investors because of its nevertheless healthy yield. But it won’t make the banks, or the system, any safer. Only a wholesale restructuring of the industry will do that.
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Lloyds set the terms for its creation of contingent capital through the exchange of subordinated bonds this week. Gary Jenkins, the analyst who never shows disrespect, says it’s an offer than can’t be refused.
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Bank restructuring work for governments has filled the coffers for Europe’s top FIG advisory businesses in 2009. With plenty more to come next year, David Rothnie looks at how the balance of power has shifted.
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Who needs national regulators when you’ve got Neelie Kroes? The European Commission’s state aid commissioner has imposed harsh conditions on government bailouts in recent weeks, breaking up some of Europe’s biggest banks. Her approach risks entrenching the role of governments in the institutions they have supported.