April, 2018

• 11 April

  Meddle with European banks’ senior bonds at your peril

  

  European regulators are breaking something that didn’t need fixing. By pushing banks to issue senior non-preferred debt instead of traditional senior bonds, they risk inadvertently shutting many of the region’s neediest lenders out of the funding market. The securities are senior in name only — they can be turned into equity in the event of a catastrophe in the same ...

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• 11 April

  Europe’s planned digital tax is indeed a bad idea

  The European Commission’s proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed — but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common ...

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• 11 April

  Lessons on financial-market bubbles from the Bitcoin

  

  The recent Bitcoin bubble wasn’t the first, and it might not be the last. Once in 2011 and twice in 2013, the price soared and then crashed: And again: One more time: Each peak was bigger than the last. If you think there will be another, even bigger bubble somewhere down the line, then maybe any losses you took in ...

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• 11 April

  Tesco has a $5.7bn question hanging over its head

  

  Tesco Plc, Britan’s biggest grocer, has completed its 4 billion pound ($5.7 billion) purchase of cash-and-carry chain Booker Group Plc. But investors hoping for more super-savings from the retail deal have to wait a little bit longer. That’s not to sniff at the 28 percent increase in Tesco’s full-year operating profit before exceptional items, nor the almost 30 percent reduction ...

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• 11 April

  Why Zuckerberg is winning the Facebook hearings

  

  Mark Zuckerberg did just fine in his first turn in the Congressional hot seat. He was confident. He capably tackled many of the queries proposed last week by Bloomberg columnists. The 33-year-old billionaire appeared humble throughout much of the hearing, with only a few smug smiles. The best news for Facebook Inc. the company was that Zuckerberg ably deflected any ...

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• 11 April

  Doubts over US bank capital payouts may cloud earnings

  

  NEW YORK / Reuters Quirks in the new US tax code are sowing doubts over how much big banks can boost dividends and stock buybacks this year, threatening to take the shine off what are likely to be strong quarterly profits. Changes in how companies can measure and apply past losses to tax bills, coupled with more extreme scenarios in ...

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• 11 April

  Draghi nagged by unwelcome distraction from euro area’s east

  

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi is finding the euro area’s eastern flank to be an unwelcome distraction. The European Central Bank president is likely to find the Governing Council missing both its Latvian and Slovenian representatives this summer, with the former barred because of a bribery investigation and the latter opting to leave his job. The ECB is questioning Latvia’s restrictions on ...

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• 11 April

  China opens door to $450bn bank funding buffer

  

  Bloomberg A new type of bank bond is coming to China, albeit slowly. Chinese regulators in March released preliminary guidelines encouraging mainland banks to consider selling securities that can take in large losses in the event of a crisis. Bond watchers have taken that as a sign that total-loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) issuance may make its debut in China, following ...

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• 11 April

  Polish rate hikes seem distant as inflation goes wrong way

  

  Bloomberg Poland’s monetary tightening, already postponed for a second year, is no longer inevitable. Instead of a widely anticipated pickup in inflation, two months of below-forecast readings are a vindication of the central bank’s reluctance to tinker with borrowing costs in what’s already its longest-ever period of stable interest rates. The 10-member Monetary Policy Council will keep its benchmark at ...

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• 11 April

  Central bank heavyweights head back to euro govt debt

  

  LONDON / Reuters Major global central banks are ramping up purchases of euro zone government bonds, banking sources say, enticed by rising yields, a buoyant single currency and an uncertain outlook for US debt and the dollar. Data shows central banks bought significant chunks of debt issued by Belgium, France and state-backed German development bank KfW in bond syndications last ...

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