Bernard Arnault knows you don’t get trophy assets at bargain prices. His luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE will probably have to pay top dollar to win over shareholders in Tiffany & Co. after making a $14.5 billion proposal to buy the US jeweleler. If a deal happens, LVMH investors will need to put faith in Arnault’s ...
Read More »HSBC needs more than cosmetic cuts
HSBC Holdings Plc will need more than a nip and a tuck if it’s to ease Chairman Mark Tucker’s envy of his JPMorgan Chase & Co. counterpart Jamie Dimon. Tucker told managers recently that more than 30% of HSBC’s capital was generating returns of less than 1% and singled out the American bank as a template to emulate. At roughly ...
Read More »Fed break from rate cuts may get cool reception
Heading into the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision this week, the consensus is that the central bank will cut its lending benchmark for the third time in as many meetings. But, unlike the past two, there’s belief that Chair Jerome Powell will strongly suggest a timeout on monetary easing this time around. Perhaps the strongest case for this conviction is the ...
Read More »WeWork’s saviour doesn’t have such deep pockets
SoftBank Group Corp.’s $9.5 billion bailout has rescued WeWork from the threat of bankruptcy. But make no mistake: The unicorn’s free-spending days are over. Its saviour is far from a bottomless pit of money. While WeWork had an eye-watering $22bn of debt at the end of June plus $47bn of looming lease-payment obligations, its rescuer, Softbank, isn’t in such great ...
Read More »Shifting demographics led to lower gold purchases
The world’s most important gold market isn’t what it used to be. Just a decade ago, India’s hunger for gold jewellery and bullion meant it accounted for about a quarter of global demand. Consumption has since fallen by about 24%. Carat and Stick Part of this is a reaction to short-term pricing factors. Buyers tend to stay away when the ...
Read More »JPMorgan weighs shifting jobs out of New York area
Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co’s new Manhattan headquarters is meant to be an ode to the both company and the city — a monumental glass-and-steel tower that says the nation’s largest bank grew up here. But New York may be losing its luster. Despite more than two centuries of history in a city synonymous with the global financial industry, JPMorgan ...
Read More »HSBC warns of job cuts, writedowns
Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc embarked on its biggest overhaul in years after profit missed estimates, warning that it will pare back underperforming operations in the face of slowing economic growth and geopolitical uncertainty. The bank, which makes almost 90% of its profit in Asia and employs 240,000 people, walked away from a key profitability target and said write-offs are likely ...
Read More »Nordea’s wealth managers shielded from deep job cuts
Bloomberg As regular bankers at Nordea Bank Abp brace for yet another round of cuts, those lucky enough to be working in wealth management face a very different future. The head of Nordea’s wealth unit, Snorre Storset, says a plan to cut jobs across the organisation won’t affect portfolio managers in his unit. Storset, who oversees $350 billion in assets ...
Read More »Private bankers chasing uber-rich in surprise wealth hotspot
Bloomberg Its economy is contracting and the nation’s largest lenders are a mess. And yet, banks from BNP Paribas SA to JPMorgan Chase & Co are scrambling to win business from Germany’s ultra-wealthy. Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Rothschild & Co are also among those planning to beef up in Europe’s largest economy. Several tout the country’s ...
Read More »Bankers cheer end of Brazil pension saga
Bloomberg Brazil’s top banking executives were unanimous in cheering the approval of a long-delayed pension overhaul — and quick to line up what they think should be the government’s next priority. With the top item on their wish list now crossed off after years of debates, bankers from Itau Unibanco Holding to Banco BTG Pactual are now championing reforms to ...
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