Unicredito revenues gather pace 15 Mar 2005 While Italy s economy stagnates, the best of breed bank is taking market share. Loans are up almost 11% this year. Rival Intesa may have done a great job on its restructuring. But it could be hard pushed to deliver anything like Unicredito s growth.
Banks and hedge funds in a close embrace 11 Mar 2005 Hedge funds account for an eighth of bank revenues, according to a CSFB study. The share of profits is probably much higher. Does this matter? Not unless banks take too many risks financial and regulatory to keep things cosy.
M&A bankers focus on hedge funds 9 Mar 2005 The incursion of hedge funds into LBOs is forcing investment banks to rethink the way they cover the industry. Hedge funds aren't just lucrative clients. They may also be easier to work with than private equity firms that traditionally dominate LBOs.
Premiere debut doesn’t signal German IPO revival 9 Mar 2005 The German payTV company s offering was 12 times subscribed and its shares rose sharply in their first hours of trading. But the offering was heavily reliant on foreigners and retail investors. Core German investors played a relatively small role.
Capital One in $5.4bn buyout of Hibernia 7 Mar 2005 The deal s primary aim is to give Capital One, a credit card issuer, access to lowcost funds provided by Hibernia s depositors. In buying a bank, the acquirer may be preempting the sort of funding problems that made Household fall prey to HSBC.
Fazio keeps bank merger veto and life mandate 3 Mar 2005 The governor of Italy s central bank has certainly scored a coup. Only a year ago, the government was waging a war against him. Italy has missed a chance to reform Fazio s unusual role. This is also bad news for foreign banks trying to buy their Italian rivals.
Landesbanken divide credit ratings agencies 1 Mar 2005 Moody s gives a lot more weight than S&P to the implicit state support Germany s regional banks will receive after losing their guarantees. For now investors seem to be following Moody s approach. But they should watch out.
JP Morgan exits private equity 1 Mar 2005 The decision was inevitable given that JPM was increasingly seen as a rival by the very private equity houses that paid its fees. These conflicts may also have held back JP Morgan Partners returns. Hiving off the business neatly solves both issues.
Santander pushes Abbey’s bottom out further 25 Feb 2005 When the Spanish bank bid for the struggling UK lender last summer, Abbey s falling revenues were supposed to be bottoming out. But now Santander is looking at 2006 as the year of revenue growth. Small wonder it s decided to accelerate Abbey s costcutting programme.
Egg shares sink 9% on jump in bad debts 23 Feb 2005 The problem is the UK bank's unsecured personal loan book. Egg is promising to address this by tightening lending criteria. Egg s owner, Prudential, failed to sell it last year. This setback further dampens the prospects of a sale at a decent price.
Bankers resent regulatory arbitrage 21 Feb 2005 They say they are overregulated full stop. But what really gets them is the relative deterioration in their position. They have lost out to lightlyregulated private equity and hedge funds. Regulators should think about how best to close the gap.
Credit Suisse pleases with SFr6bn buyback 17 Feb 2005 The Swiss bank can comfortably afford this. It already has surplus capital. And the buyback has a lengthy twoyear timetable. But the harder and more important job is to improve operational performance in investment bank CSFB, whose Q4 results were mixed.
Citigroup five-point plan comes at a price 16 Feb 2005 The giant bank's answer to recent scandals is to impose a new culture that puts Citi's reputation above that of its individual units. But the plan could prove costly, both in terms of management time and potential lost revenues.
Sacyr throws in towel in fight with BBVA 16 Feb 2005 Giving up its attack on Spain s second biggest bank after it didn t get political support is good news for Spanish corporate governance. Not that Sacyr has come away emptyhanded. The construction group has pocketed a E150m capital gain from its raid.
Fazio hits back at EU critics 14 Feb 2005 Italy s central bank chief argues his banking system is more open than that of other European countries. But there is a big difference between investment and control. Italy has much to gain from allowing foreign banks into its domestic market.
Wasserstein should do more than cut pay 14 Feb 2005 Lazard s boss has cut pay to prettify its figures ahead of its IPO. But there s another problem: low productivity. Unless Lazard wrings more from bankers, it will struggle to compete with the best. But that s not easy.
Barclays settles CDO spat with Germany’s HSH 14 Feb 2005 HSH was seeking damages relating to a bundle of these esoteric credit instruments purchased from Barclays in 2000. Settling was sensible. HSH bought the CDOs when the market was immature and everyone was making rosy assumptions about its future.
Barclays unfairly hit by market quibbling 10 Feb 2005 Pretax profits rose 20%. But the market is disappointed because it was partly due to falling provisions. Moreover, costs are still rising. That's harsh. Lower provisions imply good credit quality. And cost growth, particularly in its investment bank, should reap future rewards.
EU steps up the pressure on Italian banks 9 Feb 2005 The European Commission is putting pressure on the Bank of Italy to drop its resistance to foreign takeovers of domestic banks. About time too. The fragmented Italian market is overdue consolidation. Foreign banks should be allowed to lead the way.
UBS cheery on investment banking outlook 8 Feb 2005 The Swiss bank's record Q4 result shows it's still reaping the rewards of investments made in the bear market when rivals were cutting back. That means UBS can enjoy the benefits of continued buoyancy in the markets without having to throw its cheque book around to hire new staff.