Swiss financial regulator FINMA on Monday said it was seeking to identify any potential contagion risks for the country's banks and insurers following the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Reuters reported. Shares in Swiss banks slumped along with others in the sector globally after moves by U.S. authorities to guarantee deposits of the two lenders failed to reassure investors.
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Silicon Valley Bank’s British subsidiary will be acquired by the banking giant HSBC, the Bank of England announced on Monday as it emphasized the stability of the nation’s banking system, the New York Times reported. “This action has been taken to stabilize SVBUK, ensuring the continuity of banking services, minimizing disruption to the U.K. technology sector and supporting confidence in the financial system,” the central bank said in a statement, referring to the American bank’s British subsidiary. “The wider U.K.
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British government bonds on Monday were on track for their biggest one-day price gain since the day the Bank of England launched quantitative easing in March 2009, excluding wild market moves last year during the premiership of Liz Truss, Reuters reported. Part of a huge rally in global government bond markets following the collapse of U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank, the 10-year gilt yield was down 33 basis points on the day as of 1413 GMT.
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Italy's Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti is closely watching market developments following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the ministry said on Monday, adding that the European Union should act quickly to shore up banks if needed, Reuters reported. "We appreciate the timeliness with which the U.S. authorities intervened and trust that, if necessary, European authorities will intervene with the same timeliness, assessing the implications for the conduct of monetary policy and financial stability," the economy ministry said in a statement.
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As the UK buckles under the strain of anemic growth, strikes, fraying infrastructure and record hospital waiting lists, Jason James thinks back to another economic crisis that dominated an earlier part of his banking career: Japan’s infamous “lost decade,” Bloomberg News reported. James, 58, spent the 1990s working for HSBC Securities in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi financial district. It was a period that suffered a 60% slump in stocks and a collapse in land values that led to zombie banks and an economy overwhelmed by bankruptcies and bad debt.
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Germany's last major department store chain aims to close two-fifths of its branches, months after it filed for insolvency protection for the second time in less than three years, the company's employee council said Monday, the Associated Press reported. The long-troubled Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof plans to shut 52 of its current 129 stores, the council said. It added that the move would cost more than 5,000 jobs, German news agency dpa reported.
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The Bank of England said it would place Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. subsidiary into insolvency procedure following the collapse of its parent in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. In a statement late Friday, the BOE said Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. arm will stop making payments or accepting deposits. “The Bank of England, absent any meaningful further information, intends to apply to the court to place Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd. into a bank insolvency procedure,” it said. Silicon Valley Bank’s branch in the U.K.
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Startups are facing a moment of reckoning in the current economic climate, and today one of the more promising in the world of fintech has cracked under the pressure. Railsr, the London, U.K. embedded finance startup formerly known as Railsbank and once worth nearly $1 billion, announced today that it has been acquired by a shareholder consortium; and as part of the deal, it’s going into administration so that it can continue as a going concern as it restructures, TechCrunch.com reported.
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The French economy is set to grow around 0.1% in the first quarter of 2023 after expanding 0.1% in the fourth quarter 2022, the central bank said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Bank of France said companies polled in its monthly business sentiment survey reported activity in February was stronger than in January in the industrial sector and in services and was broadly stable in construction. For March, companies expected a further improvement in services and the industrial sector but a slight decline in construction, the central bank said.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is planning to reform pension tax rules in his budget next week in a bid to cut the number of doctors quitting the National Health Service, Bloomberg reported. Hunt is preparing to alter the design of a system that means that doctors face higher tax bills when their pension pots grow beyond certain limits. The chancellor is concerned that the rules are fueling drop-outs from the NHS, with senior doctors retiring earlier or reducing their workloads to avoid the charges.