April, 2016

• 13 April

  BOE to take onus for Sonia benchmark rate

    Bloomberg The Bank of England will take responsibility for a U.K. benchmark measure of overnight funding rates as officials seek to prevent a recurrence of the rigging scandals since the global financial crisis. The BOE will provide oversight and governance for the Sterling Overnight Index Average, or Sonia, from April 25, it said in a statement released Wednesday. The ...

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• 13 April

  Nomura, Barclays won’t be alone in cutting back equities: Gadfly

  

    Bloomberg The business of trading stocks has claimed another scalp this year. Nomura is shuttering its equities division in Europe, hot on the heels of Barclays’ pullback from Asian equities. The Japanese bank hadn’t cracked the top 10 list in Europe, and Barclays had failed to do the same in Asia. They won’t be the last to scale back ...

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• 13 April

  Tsipras seeks French help to get money from stalled bailout

  

  Bloomberg Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will seek help from French President Francois Hollande after talks between his government and its creditors failed — again — to produce the approval needed to release funds from his country’s third bailout. Tsipras will meet his French counterpart in the Elysee Palace with Greek officials still struggling to convince inspectors from the European Commission, ...

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• 13 April

  VW says top executives ready to accept ‘sharp cuts’ in bonuses

    Frankfurt / AFP Volkswagen announced on Wednesday that its top executives were willing to accept “sharp reductions” in their annual bonuses as the embattled carmaker struggles to stem the fallout from its massive engine-rigging scandal. “The supervisory and executive boards are in agreement that given the current situation, a signal should be sent regarding the issue of management board pay,” ...

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• 13 April

  France sticks to growth, public deficit forecasts

    Paris / AFP France said on Wednesday it was on track for modest growth this year at the same rate as earlier projections and also left its public deficit forecast untouched. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the eurozone’s second biggest economy is expected to be 1.5 percent in 2016 and the same next year, the finance ministry said. That’s ...

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• 13 April

  Poland returns with bonds as downgrade shock ebbs

    Bloomberg Poland has returned to the international debt market with a reopening of the 20-year euro-denominated bond it sold in January, days before a shock credit rating downgrade left investors nursing losses on Polish assets. The country is offering bonds maturing in January 2036 with guidance of about 130 basis points above midswaps, according to a person familiar with ...

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• 13 April

  Ruble set for best streak since January on oil meeting optimism

  

  Bloomberg Russia’s ruble advanced for a fourth day, the longest winning streak in almost three months, as investors turned their attention to a weekend meeting between oil producers that’s driving up the price of crude on speculation suppliers may freeze output. The currency strengthened 0.4 percent to 65.486 against the dollar in Moscow, bringing the gain over the past four ...

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• 13 April

  BP reaping rewards in Russia even after sanctions added to risks

  

    Bloomberg Two years ago, BP Plc said international sanctions against Russia could hurt its business there. Didn’t happen. Instead, London-based BP has found a haven in Russia, buttressed by a falling ruble, lower taxes and the lowest operating costs among the world’s biggest oil companies. BP earned 22 percent of adjusted pretax profit from its share in Moscow-based OAO ...

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• 13 April

  Agro traders see no respite from glut-fuelled bear market

  

    Bloomberg Some of the world’s top agricultural commodities traders say the era of slumping prices and low volatility isn’t over yet. Crop prices that slid in the past three years still aren’t low enough to encourage output cuts, Matt Jansen, the chief executive officer of trader Cofco Agri, said on Tuesday at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in ...

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• 13 April

  Schlumberger to pare Venezuela services over lack of payments

  

    Bloomberg Schlumberger Ltd. will reduce activity in Venezuela after the world’s largest oil services provider failed to collect enough payments from the national oil company. The reduction will take place this month in close coordination with all customers in Venezuela to continue servicing those with available cash flow, the Houston- and Paris-based contractor said in a statement Tuesday. Venezuela, ...

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