October, 2018

• 1 October

  Bankers, it’s time for ‘Brexit conversation’

  

  London’s ex-Lehman Brothers bankers who’ve been meeting up have found the conversation shifting quickly to Brexit – and whether their next reunion will be in Frankfurt, Paris or somewhere else. As the official March 2019 Brexit deadline looms, banks are in the last stages of preparing for a worst-case “no-deal.” A brutal loss of the City of London’s access to ...

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• 1 October

  Can Unilever afford to crush its Brexit rebels?

  

  Unilever boss Paul Polman has been conspicuously absent in the controversy over the consumer group’s plan to scrap its dual-headed structure. But the humiliation would be his if UK shareholders veto his plans to create a unified Dutch company. He should get ready to pay them a premium to buy their support. To recap: Unilever’s assets are divided between separate ...

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• 1 October

  US stocks jump with loonie, peso on revamped trade pact

  

  Bloomberg US stocks rose towards records and the dollar slipped with Treasuries after negotiators agreed to a new version of the Nafta trade pact. The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso gained. The S&P 500 Index climbed on the first day of the fourth quarter. General Electric Co. surged after replacing its chief executive, while Tesla Inc. rallied after Elon Musk ...

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• 1 October

  Canadian dollar hits 4-month high

  

  Bloomberg The Canadian dollar reached its strongest level in four months as the nation joined the US and Mexico in a trade deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. The loonie appreciated about 0.8 percent and touched as strong as C$1.2787 against the greenback, while Mexico’s peso rose for a fourth day. The new trade deal will be ...

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• 1 October

  A mega bank joins euro zone; it’s too big to fail

  

  Bloomberg On Monday, the number of banks deemed too big to fail in the euro zone will grow to eight from seven. The new arrival is Nordea Bank Abp, which is moving its headquarters to Helsinki from Stockholm. The bank, whose $670 billion in assets are more than twice Finland’s gross domestic product, has made clear its move was driven ...

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• 1 October

  Tesco cyber-attack leads to $21mn settlement in UK

  

  Bloomberg The UK financial regulator fined Tesco Plc’s banking arm $21 million for failures that allowed cyber attackers to steal funds. The 48-hour hack in November 2016 was “largely avoidable” and took place because the thieves took advantage of weaknesses in the design of the bank’s debit card, its financial-crime controls and its so-called Financial Crime Operations Team, netting the ...

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• 1 October

  Danske removes CEO with immediate effect

  

  Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S has removed its chief executive officer with immediate effect after his role in one of Europe’s worst money laundering scandals left a number of shareholders indignant at his continued presence. Thomas Borgen was stripped of his CEO title on Monday, after the board appointed insider Jesper Nielsen to take over the job until a permanent replacement ...

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• 1 October

  Mizuho seeks Google hopefuls in tech-race

  

  Bloomberg One of Japan’s biggest banks is throwing away the cookie cutter when it comes to hiring fresh graduates. Realising it was recruiting “exactly the same” types of people each year, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. now wants to hire more creative thinkers who can help it meet challenges such as the technological upheaval facing banks, said Shinya Uda, a human ...

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• 1 October

  Swiss private banks urged to partner in a ‘complex’ world

  

  Bloomberg Switzerland’s diminishing band of mid-sized private banks should consider teaming up with other firms to expand in Asia and tap into the business of managing the wealth of the region’s millionaires, according to the chairman of the Swiss banking association. Since the global financial crisis and the end of banking secrecy, smaller Swiss wealth managers have faced heightened competition ...

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• 1 October

  Ryanair lowers profit outlook on labour strife, high fuel cost

  

  Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc caught investors off guard by saying labour strife and higher fuel prices are taking a heavier toll on earnings, sending the stock down the most since 2016. The shares plunged on Monday after Europe’s biggest discount carrier said profit for the year through next March will be about 12 percent lower than it had forecast less ...

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