News content

Franck Lacour is taking over HSBC’s equities business, with Hossein Zaimi leaving the bank. In Hong Kong, Selene Chong will take on new responsibilities in the equities business.

Bank of America has appointed Martina Slowey as head of equities for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Credit analysts hope that European banks will be able to report much stronger capital levels in the second quarter, amid early signs that risk-weighted asset (RWA) volumes could be lower than expected.

EU leaders ended a marathon 91 hour summit early on Tuesday morning, having agreed a new €1.82tr budget for the bloc, including a much anticipated — and highly contentious — €750bn recovery fund to help member states fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the fierce and protracted debate, market reaction to the news has been muted.

Booming markets revenues in the second quarter helped UBS post another strong set of results at its investment bank. But higher loan loss charges ate into group-level profits as the coronavirus crisis led to deterioration in the global economic outlook.

Private sector involvement in Covid-19 debt relief efforts seems set for a mire of unclear messaging and recriminations, after G20 figures published this weekend disappointed.

Analysts think Intesa Sanpaolo will succeed in winning over UBI Banca’s shareholders after sweetening the terms of its takeover bid. The merger deal is seen as an important test case for consolidation in the Italian banking sector.

Policymakers should think about whether there are impediments that prevent banks from using their capital buffers appropriately in times of stress, the Financial Stability Board said this week.

Derivatives stand to play a crucial role in the European Union’s green deal and transition to a low carbon economy, according to a study by the European Capital Markets Institute that was released on Thursday.

EU leaders meet this weekend to hash out the multi-annual financial framework — the €1tr plan guiding the bloc’s next seven years of spending. The budget contains the €750bn recovery fund, which will likely prove a contentious topic but, if approved, it could reshape the European economy and lead to big changes in its public sector bond market. Lewis McLellan reports.

Huge capital markets revenues helped US banks stack up more provisions against loan losses in the second quarter, as they prepare to weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. But analysts warn that firms will not be able to repeat this trick in the second half of 2020, with trading and underwriting returns likely to climb down from their peaks.

Investors have been given their first taste of how regulatory relief could bolster bank capital levels amid Covid-19, after Barclays told the market this week to expect a drastic improvement in its common equity tier one (CET1) ratio in the second quarter.