FILE PHOTO: Swiss bank Credit Suisse logo seen at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland March 24, 2021. REUTERS / Arnd Wiegmann // Photo File / Photo File
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss chief financial regulator FINMA questioned Credit Suisse over the risks involved with now-bankrupt financial firm Greensill Capital “months” before the bank was forced to close $ 10 billion in funds such as for Greensill, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday.
Alongside formal discussions at a technical level between the bank and FINMA, chief supervisor Mark Branson privately discussed the risks with Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner and Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein who walked out during a meeting on an undetermined date, the newspaper reported, citing information in his possession. . obtained.
FINMA declined to comment. Credit Suisse also declined to comment.
Switzerland’s second largest bank has staggered from its exposure to the collapse first of Greensill Capital and then Archegos Capital Management within a month.
Credit Suisse’s asset management unit was forced last month to close $ 10 billion in supply chain financial funds invested in bonds issued by Greensill after the British company lost credit insurance coverage shortly before filing for bankruptcy. The bank has suspended the fund manager and replaced the head of its asset management unit.
The massive loss to US investment fund Archegos this month also prompted Credit Suisse to replace its head of investment and compliance and risk banking after saying it would book first-quarter expenses of $ 4.7 billion from its exposure to affected companies.
Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Edited by Rachel Armstrong and Susan Fenton
SYDNEY, April 9 (Reuters) – The Australian dollar stumbled on Friday, pulling on the New Zealand dollar as well, due to concerns about a slowdown in Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout following the imposition of age-related restrictions on the use of AstraZeneca injections.
The Australian dollar was last down 0.6% at $ 0.7607, nearly reversing its gains from Thursday and falling back from a two-week peak of $ 0.7675 after failing to hold above major chart resistance at $ 0.7668.
Australia has limited the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine – which is largely based on a vaccination program – because of the risk of blood clots. The policy change effectively undermined the government’s chances of inoculating the entire population that was not inoculated by October.
“Even if the vaccination program is slow, it will further complicate Australia’s launch schedule,” said Jeffrey Halley, Senior Market Analyst, Asia Pacific, OANDA.
“Delayed border reopening equals negative for Australia.”
For the week so far, the Aussie is still up 0.3%, the first gain since the week of March 12th.
The currency has been consolidating around $ 0.7650 in recent weeks after a brief advance to $ 0.80 earlier this year. Some analysts expect the price to hit that high again.
“We continue to expect the AUD to rise to $ 0.85 in the first half of 2022, supported by high commodity prices and by the momentum gathering in the global recovery, including across Europe,” currency strategist Westpac wrote in a note.
Westpac expects the currency to hit $ 0.82 by the end of this year.
“The main source of increased growth is an increase in our forecast for US growth in 2021,” added the analysts.
The New Zealand dollar fell 0.5% to $ 0.7025. The kiwi faces resistance at $ 0.7070 with the next major barrier at $ 0.7100.
For the week this has been largely unchanged, marking another week of disappointing performance.
Separately, the prospect of a rate hike in China weighed on the antipodean currency after data showed the country’s factory prices rose at the fastest annual rate since July 2018 in March.
China is the top trading partner for Australia and New Zealand.
“Overall, AUD and NZD, are facing a number of obstacles today,” said Halley of OANDA. (Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Illustration: Gel Jamlang Illustration: Gel Jamlang “Did the world need another travel guide, and do we need to write it down?” Laurie Woolever asks. The question arose in March 2017, as she and the late Anthony Bourdain envisioned a guidebook that would catalog the world seen through the penetrating eyes of the celebrity chef and CNN host. With its growing list of television and publishing contracts, its co-author wondered if the universe had reached “Bourdain peak”? No, she decided. “Maybe the world could use another travel guide, full of Tony’s sour mind and thoughtful observations and a few sneaky revelations of the mysterious outlines of his pounding heart. Woolever paints a vivid picture of the book’s brainstorming on a single day a year later, in March 2018, sitting in a cloud of smoke at Bourdain’s dining room table. He had designed his Manhattan apartment as a tribute to his favorite hotel suite at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. She emerged feeling like she had been in town in New York, before the indoor smoking ban. His head was filled with ideas for essays, like the one on the countries that had banned Bourdain – the most famous, Azerbaijan, from visiting the controversial Nagorno-Karabakh region. More from It’s that feeling of being in the room with Bourdain that makes World Travel: An Irreverent Guide (Ecco, April 20; $ 35) so enticing. As someone who had known him for many years, I saw the effect he had when he sat down in a restaurant: the place was going to come into the best embodiment of itself. His book of idiosyncratic tourist tips through cities in 43 countries gives that sense of intimacy. Of course, it conjures up familiar, well-worn travel guides such as Let’s Go. It even includes ‘Arrival and travel’ tips for each location, information readily available on countless websites. Most restaurants, hotels, and weird tourist attractions won’t surprise anyone who has watched a Bourdain’s Parts Unknown or No Reservations series marathon or who knows the local food scenes in general. I will never hear Bourdain again. It’s wonderful to have him in your head when you walk into, say, Horumonyaki Dojo for all the grilled offal in Osaka, which he calls the city of excess and the true culinary heart of Japan. Or to conjure it up at Keens Steakhouse in Manhattan, when you slice into “a gigantic slice of rare roast beef, to accompany only, but only, creamed spinach and maybe hash browns.” Its ability to sell a place is direct and unique. In Barcelona’s venerable tapas bar Quimet & Quimet, where he recommends the anchovy and mussel sandwich, he notes: “If I lived across the street from this place, I would quit my job and stay here all day, until what everyone money was gone. BourdainPhotographer: Mike Pont / WireImageOn Jerusalem: “First of all, look around you. It’s like everyone says. It’s pretty. It’s awesome. It’s urban, sophisticated, trendy, like Southern California, but more beautiful. Then you see the young recruits on the streets and you start to get the idea. And when asked which is the greatest food city in the world, as he often is, he would reply, “I always say no one can say you are wrong if you say Hong Kong.” Yes, it has the attributes of a standard guide. But even the simple way the book dives into the alphabetical order of countries feels like an adventure, a delicious surprise as you turn the page from Vienna (Austria) to Bhutan Disclosure: Not only did I know Bourdain, I worshiped him. About ten years ago, he told me that before visiting a place, he liked to read fiction about it. For example, Under the Volcano before flying to Mexico, World Travel is not fiction and probably not a book that Bourdain himself would have consulted before exploring a place. But in an age when traveling abroad continues to feel like a fairy tale, flipping through a book of recommendations that may or may not be exceeded as you go through customs is still a bit like consuming a novel before a book. trip. It colors the surroundings of a place and lets you discover what’s there for yourself, guided by a knowing voice. Before he’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg terminal. LEARN MORE .
Today is World Health Day and considering how the way people perceive their own health and those around them have changed in recent years, especially after the Coronavirus pandemic has hit humanity, this day comes as an opportunity to spread as much awareness as possible about better health, healthier. lifestyle and draw attention to health-related problems around the world. It also comes as an opportunity for those who wish to move on to a healthier life. Well, why not start today!
In accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO), the theme of this year’s World Health Day is ‘Building a fairer and healthier world’.
Stating that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit all countries hard, the WHO said that our world is an unequal one where “some groups are struggling to make ends meet with little daily income … little or no access to a safe environment, clean water and air, food security and health services. “
WHO urges leaders around the world to “monitor health inequities, and to ensure that all people can access quality health services when and where they need them.”
And while people around the world are still struggling to understand how much life has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recently, UK-based price comparison website Money.co.uk has put out a world list. healthiest country 2021. Publications release this list every year and this time it has also been published on World Health Day.
Criteria
The publication states that their mortgage specialist ranks the healthiest countries and cities in the world according to “good food, good friends, and good transport links.” Apart from that, conditions such as air quality, pollution level, cost of living, life expectancy, etc. are also taken into account.
Below is a list of the 5 healthiest countries in the world.
1. Spain: According to the report, Spain is the healthiest country in the world. It mentions reasons such as their Mediterranean lifestyle, walking as a mode of transport, which helps reduce pollution-induced deaths, moderate cost of living, among other things why the country tops their list.
2. Portugal: As per reports, Portugal has the second place in the list of healthiest countries in the world. Their highly rated health care system is the reason why the country has achieved good rankings on several health indexes over the years, including this one.
3. Switzerland: Switzerland is home to one of the happiest populations. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Human Resources Report, Switzerland invests more in the health, education and talents of its people than any other country in the world.
4. Japan: Home to the oldest population in the world, Japan clearly has one of the highest life expectancies in the world! Other factors that put Japan in the top five are: their smaller portion sizes and protein-dense foods, their very fast transportation, walking as the preferred mode of transportation and the high cost of living which matches the price among others.
5. Iceland: A good health care system, a healthy diet, and clean water, among other things, such as low smoking rates, make Iceland one of the healthiest countries in the world to live in.
ZURICH (Reuters) -Credit Suisse said on Tuesday it would take a hit 4.4 billion Swiss francs ($ 4.7 billion) from a deal with Archegos Capital Management, prompting it to overhaul the leadership of its investment bank and risk division.
FILE PHOTO: Swiss bank Credit Suisse logo seen at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland March 24, 2021. REUTERS / Arnd Wiegmann
The scandal-hit bank now expects to post a loss for the first quarter of around 900 million Swiss francs. The company also suspended plans to buy back its shares and cut its dividend by two-thirds.
Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, which has dumped more than $ 2 billion in shares to end its exposure to Archegos, said Chief Risk Officer Lara Warner and Brian Chin, head of the bank’s investment bank, resigned following the loss.
“The significant losses in our Prime Services business related to the failure of a US-based hedge fund are unacceptable,” said Credit Suisse Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein in a statement. “Serious lessons will be learned. Credit Suisse remains a formidable institution with a rich history. “
The downfall of Archegos is the second major scandal for Credit Suisse in just a month after the fall of Greensill Capital, with bank shares dropping a quarter since March 1. Credit Suisse has marketed funds that have financed the financial firm’s UK supply chain operations.
The bank board has launched an investigation into Archegos’ loss. It has also initiated an investigation into a $ 10 billion supply chain fund invested in bonds issued by Greensill. Bonuses for executive board members have been canceled and outgoing chairman Urs Rohner will forego 1.5 million Swiss francs.
Credit Suisse shares fell 1.5% in early trading.
The bank said Christian Meissner would be appointed head of the investment bank on May 1, while Joachim Oechslin, who was the bank’s chief risk officer until February 2019, would take on the role of head of risk again in the meantime. Thomas Grotzer will be the interim head of global compliance.
“At least – in our opinion – the personnel consequences have now been taken. The main damage, however, has been inflicted on shareholders, who have to settle for lower dividends and deferred share buybacks, “said Michael Kunz, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank.
“Given the bank’s vulnerability to risk … it doesn’t seem right for us to recommend betting on CS Group securities.”
Warner and Chin paid the price for a year for which Credit Suisse’s risk management protocols were under scrutiny. JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts estimate that the combined losses from the Archegos and Greensill scandals could add up to $ 7.5 billion.
Archegos, the private investment vehicle of former hedge fund manager Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, broke up late last month when debt-laden bets on media company shares unraveled. Credit Suisse and other banks, which act as brokers for Archegos, have to scramble to sell shares they hold as collateral and sell off trades.
Last month Credit Suisse said it was separating its asset management business from its wealth unit and bringing in former UBS executive Ulrich Koerner to lead the fund business.
“Obviously heads are spinning. After any kind of explosion there are always tighter controls, “said Jason Teh, chief investment officer at Vertium Asset Management in Sydney.
Credit Suisse has lost a lot of money and its share price will struggle to rally, Teh said.
“In the short term, despite everything being announced, (shares) will not go up because you still have to increase revenue. Basically, they lose their income and won’t get it back until they find another way to get it. “
The episodes also put pressure on Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein who has tried to remove Credit Suisse from a string of other bad headlines, including the spy scandal that toppled his predecessor Tidjane Thiam to a $ 450 million write-down on hedge fund investments.
HAS DECIDED TRADE
Hwang, the former manager of Tiger Asia, ran into trouble after the March 24 share sale by media company ViacomCBS Inc. Archegos was heavily exposed to ViacomCBS, sources said, and the stock decline sparked an alarm bell in its banks, which were demanding funds for more collateral.
When the company was unable to keep up with demand, the bank began selling collateral, including shares of Baidu Inc and the Tencent Music Entertainment Group, among others.
While some banks were able to release collateral early, Credit Suisse still had the remaining shares. On Monday, it offered 34 million shares of ViacomCBS for between $ 41 and 42.75; 14 million American retention receipts for Vipshop Holdings Ltd between $ 28.50 and $ 29.50; and 11 million shares of Farfetch Ltd, priced between $ 47.50 and $ 49.25 in a secondary offering, sources with knowledge of the situation said.
The shares are the remaining holdings related to Archegos that Credit Suisse will need to sell before calculating the loss, the source said.
ViacomCBS shares, which traded at a record $ 101.97 in March, closed down 3.9% at $ 42.90 in regular trading. Vipshop fell 1.19% to $ 29.78, while Farfetch’s stock fell nearly 6.1% to $ 49.69.
Reporting by Matt Scuffham in New York, Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and John Revill in Zurich; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Edited by Ira Iosebashvili and Edwina Gibbs
