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’Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Santander agrees to buy $4.3bn auto loan portfolio from HSBC – statement.
- FSU offer for SDI extended to September 10 – statement.
- Aegon repays €500m of government support – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- HSBC confirms it’s in talks with Old Mutual on Nedbank majority stake — statement and statement.
- Petrofac posts first-half revenues of $2.13bn — statement.
UK banks, sucking on the blood of depositors
Here’s a brilliant report from Bruce Packard at Seymour Pierce on Thursday, which expands in great detail on the rather hypocritical trend of banks scorning unsecured lending while simultaneously fighting over customer deposits — the cheapest form of unsecured borrowing for them.
Smug bank is back
Well, here’s something to kick off a week of UK bank earnings — some nice forecast-beating numbers from HSBC.
The bank posted pre-tax profit of $11.1bn in the first half on Monday. That’s compared to analyst predictions of $9.1bn.
HSBC’s capital innovation
Bank regulators may have moved to crack down on hybrid capital, but the banks themselves seem to have other ideas.
Witness HSBC’s $3.4bn sale of perpetual bonds last week.
As Bloomberg reported:
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Prudential sales sales in Asia up 33 per cent in first five months of 2010 – statement.
- BP says containment cap system collated 10,500 barrels of oil from Gulf of Mexico leak – statement.
UK graduates <3 Goldman Sachs
Bad press and Jamie ‘Most Dangerous Man in America’ Dimon be damned. The UK’s graduating classes have spoken, and for those who see themselves as heirs to Gekko, Goldman Sachs is their would-be employer of choice.
The World’s Local (Small) Bank
That’s HSBC, in case you hadn’t guessed (or seen the advertising campaign).
In spite of being the largest non-Chinese domiciled bank in the world by market cap ($180bn), the World’s Local Bank only has double-digit market share in one place:
Fee bonanza
From Reuters:
PRUDENTIAL TO PAY UP TO $735m IN FEES FOR ITS $21BN RIGHTS ISSUE – SOURCES
And the underwriters are: Credit Suisse, HSBC and JP Morgan Cazenove.
According to Reuters that breaks down as a charge of 3 per cent,
HSBC hiccup
Four down, one to go.
The bank reporting season rolls on with annual results from HSBC.
And…
The trigger for that decline is a miss at the headline level, due to weak performance of HSBC’s insurance business – claims are much higher than expected at $12.5bn versus $6.9bn in 2008- and a loss on its own debt of $3.3bn.
Asia’s local currency bonds are looking pretty good
If you’re sitting in the eurozone, Asia’s local currency bond markets might look distant – and small. But this haven of relative tranquility is enjoying robust growth amid the turmoil roiling eurozone markets.
Korea’s NPS and the ‘overlap’ factor
One thing we know about the South Koreans — they have reversed course in recent years to become big spenders and poor savers. They have also become much bolder investors, after decades of adhering to a more cautious approach.
Shock, horror: ‘irresponsible’ pricing in China IPOs
Beijing’s regulators have injected a few more jitters into China’s nervy but always hyperactive stock markets – taking a swipe at “irresponsible” pricing of IPOs.
As the FT notes on Monday, the statement has fuelled speculation that Beijing could temporarily halt the new issue market in order to introduce fresh pricing rules.
Coco *pops* or not?
UK Banks were weaker across the board on Wednesday. What gives?
Here’s one suggestion from Evolution Securities’ Gary Jenkins:
FTSE 100 [fell 1.67% on Wednesday], not helped by further bank weakness led by a combination of factors,
China’s new New Deal
Keeping with Thursday’s China theme here on FT Alphaville, a mildy diverting report has just landed from HSBC.
It examines how the change in government investment policy will affect the construction,
[South Africa 2010] The Germans always win
The joys of the World Cup are plenty.
Those in England can beam with pride as Wags go shopping, chairs are thrown through restaurant windows, and much of the country’s media succumb to collective hysteria and mouth-foaming jingoism.
HSBC set to buy RBS Asian assets
HSBC is closing in on acquiring the remaining Asian retail and commercial assets being divested by UK lender RBS. The two sides have struck a deal for the assets in China, India and Malaysia, subject to regulatory approval in the three countries.
Dubai banks downgraded
Standard & Poor’s downgraded a clutch of major Dubai banks on Thursday citing their exposure to the troubled, state-owned Dubai World, and warned further demotions could come soon. Fitch Ratings also put four banks on review for a downgrade,
UK banks owed $5bn by Dubai World
UK banks have an aggregate exposure to Dubai World of about $5bn, confirming them as the biggest creditor group at the stricken emirate holding company. A week after Dubai World called for a debt standstill,
The shifting sands of UAE bank capital
Here’s some useful data from ratings agency Fitch – a breakdown of how the capital of banks in the United Arab Emirates is likely to be impacted by the Dubai World debt restructuring.
It’s basically an updated version of Fitch’s capital sensitivity test for UAE banks,
S&P raises fears over some banks
A study by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has raised questions over the financial strength of some of the biggest banks ahead of new rules that could require them to raise more funds. The analysis by S&P showed that HSBC is the world’s best capitalised bank,
UBS, Citi and other ‘below average’ banks
Standard & Poor’s freshly published comparison of global banks’ risk-adjusted capital (RAC) adequacy made for gripping reading on a chilly Monday morning in New York.
The report contains 22 pages of data,
Ex-HSBC HK executive pleads guilty
Former HSBC executive Chen Ching-hsiao pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted a $60,000 bribe from a client seeking credit facilities, reports Bloomberg. The former senior vice president at HSBC’S commercial- banking department said “yes” when asked if he was pleading guilty at the Hong Kong District Court on Friday. Chen faces up to two or three years in prison,