Fixed income

Deutsche Bank welcomes the largest shareholder, Chinese HNA firm

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has become Deutsche Bank AG’s largest shareholder after increasing its stake in the German lender to almost 10%, according to a filing made by asset manager C-Quadrat and other entities. It took HNA’s stake to 9.92%, following an initial stake of 4.76%, which it had earlier secured through C-Quadrat.
The acquisition of a significant stake in a pillar of European finance is another example of China’s growing global influence. Last year, Chinese firms announced around $220 billion worth of deals for foreign companies, far more than any previous year. HNA’s increased stake in Deutsche Bank makes it the lender’s largest shareholder, ahead of members of Qatar’s royal family and U.S. money manager BlackRock, according to public filings.

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EFG completed BSI integration

EFG International completed the integration of Ticino’s private bank BSI, the bank it bought last year, according to a statement today.

With the transaction, BSI (Europe) was renamed into EFG Bank (Luxembourg). The company henceforth will use the EFG brand only. In Switzerland, almost all branches and offices have already been rebranded with the new logo. The rebranding of global locations will follow regional timelines.

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Swisscom Q1 beats estimation while revenues drop

Swisscom reports revenues of CHF 2.83 billion for the first quarter of this year, down by 1.9 percent compared with the same period in 2016. The revenue decrease is caused by strong pressure on prices and increasing market saturation. In Q1 Swisscom revenue from telecommunications services fell by CHF 37 million (-2.2%). Around 50 percent of this decrease in revenue was the result of a decline in subscribers in fixed-line telephony, while the other 50 percent was due to price reductions, including roaming, and a decline in corporate business.

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UBS faces political uncertainty with strong Q1 results

UBS delivered very strong first-quarter results with an adjusted profit before tax of CHF 1,934m, up 42% year on year. Adjusted operating income increased 8%, driven by the Investment Bank, Wealth Management Americas and Wealth Management, and the firm continued to make progress on its net cost reduction program. Despite facing a variety of market conditions and client activity levels, all business divisions and regions contributed to the improvement in performance. Reported pre-tax profit was up 73% year on year to CHF 1,690m. Net profit attributable to shareholders was CHF 1,269m, up 79% year on year, with diluted earnings per share of CHF 0.33. Group annualized adjusted1 return on tangible equity was 12.6%, or 17.4% excluding DTA.

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Switzerland: press freedom isn’t eroded by post-truth era

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) released its annual 2017 World Press Freedom Index which revealed Switzerland is still one of the world’s top ten countries.

The annual Index is produced by Reporters without Borders (RWB), a French-based, international non-profit organization. The Index underlined the Swiss government’s current debate over the mandate of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG-SSR) and the future of Billag, the licence paid by the public. A potential 2018 referendum could see the end of Billag and therefore the end of SRG-SSR, it said.

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Uber plans flying taxi service within 2020

Uber wants to launch a system of flying cars to move people around cities, with a goal of putting demonstration projects in place by 2020. "I hate that term (flying car), but we’ll have to live with it," the company’s chief product officer, Jeff Holden, said at the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas. The vision was published in a 99-page white paper last year.

The ride-sharing giant announced a series of partnerships to manufacture “vertical takeoff and landing” (VTOL) vehicles and put networks in place, a system dubbed Uber Elevate.

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Credit Suisse to raise CHF 4 bn capital

Credit Suisse has just reported first quarter earnings which show Switzerland’s second-largest bank beating expectations, helped by a strong performance across the board. The bank simultaneously announced its intention to pursue a 4 billion swiss franc ($4 billion) capital raise.
It said the first quarter had provided "further confirmation" that it was delivering "profitable and complaint growth" and had "generated positive momentum across our businesses".

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Alitalia: bankruptcy around the corner after workers referendum

Alitalia employees late Monday rejected a government-brokered package of job and wage cuts that was aimed at saving Italy’s flagship airline from bankruptcy, now the risk of bankruptcy looms for Italy’s flagship airline.

Alitalia said Tuesday that its board concluded that in light of the employees’ vote, it has decided to "begin procedures foreseen by law," a reference to extraordinary administration. The board could meet on Thursady to chart the next step. Such a scenario could result in shedding unprofitable routes, most likely predominantly domestic ones, to competitors, and selling off aircraft to help pay creditors.

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