Some of the world’s largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG on Sunday to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
UBS will pay 3 billion Swiss francs ($4.4 billion Cdn) for 167-year-old Credit Suisse and assume up to $5.4 billion US ($7.4 billion Cdn) in losses in a deal backed by a massive Swiss guarantee and expected to close by the end of 2023.
Soon after the announcement late on Sunday, the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and other major central banks came out with statements to reassure markets that have been walloped by a banking crisis that started with the collapse of two regional U.S. banks earlier this month.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were each up 0.4 per cent, both giving back some earlier gains. New Zealand dipped at the open and Australian shares opened with a 0.5 per cent loss. The safe-haven dollar lost ground against Sterling and the euro but was up versus the yen.
Pressure on UBS helped seal Sunday’s deal.
Colm Kelleher, chairman of UBS’s board of directors, and Karin Keller-Sutter, federal councillor and chief of the federal department of finance, attend a news conference Sunday in Bern, Switzerland. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)
“It’s a historic day in Switzerland, and a day frankly, we hoped, would not come,” UBS Chair Colm Kelleher told analysts on a conference call. “I would like to make it clear that while we did not initiate discussions, we believe that this transaction is financially attractive for UBS shareholders,” Kelleher said.
UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said there were still many details to be worked through.
“I know that there must be still questions that we have not been able to answer,” he said. “And I understand that and I even want to apologize for it.”
In a global response not seen since the height of the pandemic, the Fed said it had joined with central banks in Canada, England, Japan, the EU and Switzerland in a coordinated action to enhance market liquidity. The ECB vowed to support euro zone banks with loans if needed, adding the Swiss rescue of Credit Suisse was “instrumental” for restoring calm.
Analyst looks at recent fears rippling through banking sector
The Swiss central bank’s decision on Wednesday to loan Credit Suisse 50 billion francs ($74 billion Cdn) to bolster confidence in the country’s financial system is ’emergency medicine,’ said U.S. market analyst Max Wolff.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen welcomed the announcement by the Swiss authorities. The Bank of England also praised the Swiss.
“The greater risk environment for financials leads to husbanding of capital and risk-taking, less and more conservative investing and lending, and inevitably, lower growth,” said Lloyd Blankfein, former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
“While some banks have been hung up by poorly managed, concentrated risk, the overall banking system is extremely well capitalized and substantially more tightly regulated than in prior challenging times.”
The Current19:15How Credit Suisse reached a crisis point
Two U.S. banks collapsed in less than a week, while in Europe, Credit Suisse teetered on the brink of failure before Switzerland’s central bank stepped in with a loan. Are there implications for Canada’s banking sector? Matt Galloway talks to Eric Reguly, European bureau chief for The Globe and Mail; and Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.
The Swiss banking marriage follows efforts in Europe and the United States to support the sector since the collapse of U.S. lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Some investors welcomed the weekend steps but took a cautious stance.
“Provided markets don’t sniff out other lingering problems, I’d think this should be pretty positive,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments.
Problems remain in the U.S. banking sector, where bank stocks remained under pressure despite a move by several large banks to deposit $30 billion ($41 million Cdn) into First Republic Bank, an institution rocked by the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank.
Major U.S. lenders deposit $30B to prevent First Republic Bank collapse
Some of America’s top lenders have deposited $30 billion at First Republic Bank to prevent another potential collapse of a U.S. bank. Juggernauts like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America were involved in the rescue package.
On Sunday, First Republic saw its credit ratings downgraded deeper into junk status by S&P Global, which said the deposit infusion may not solve its liquidity problems.
U.S. bank deposits have stabilized, with outflows slowing or stopping and in some cases reversing, a U.S. official said on Sunday, adding the problems of Credit Suisse are unrelated to recent deposit runs on U.S. banks and that U.S. banks have limited exposure to Credit Suisse.
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), meanwhile, is planning to relaunch the sale process for Silicon Valley Bank, with the regulator seeking a potential breakup of the lender, according to people familiar with the matter.
Decisive intervention
The intervention comes after two sources told Reuters earlier on Sunday that major banks in Europe were looking to the Fed and ECB to step in with stronger signals of support to stem contagion.
The euro, the pound and the Australian dollar all rose by around 0.4 per cent against the greenback, indicating a degree of risk appetite in markets.
“Bank stocks should rally on the news, but it is premature to signal all-clear,” said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer for Angeles Investments in California.
The Sunday Magazine18:31Political economist John Rapley on plummeting public faith in financial institutions
Fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank plunged the world’s financial sector into a tumultuous week of ups and downs, and the ripple effects continue, leading to worries of a looming banking crisis similar to the crash of 2008. Despite all the uncertainty, John Rapley, a Canadian political economist at the University of Cambridge, believes the global economy is not on the verge of chaos. The author of Twilight of the Money Gods: Economics as a Religion and How It All Went Wrong joins David Common to explain why stricter regulations on banks could help restore public confidence in the economy, and what Canada in particular needs to consider in the current climate.
UBS Chair Colm Kelleher said during a press conference that it will wind down Credit Suisse’s investment bank, which has thousands of employees worldwide. UBS said it expected annual cost savings of some $7 billion US ($9.6 billion Cdn) by 2027.
The Swiss central bank said Sunday’s deal includes 100 billion Swiss francs ($148 billion Cdn) in liquidity assistance for UBS and Credit Suisse.
Credit Suisse shareholders will receive 1 UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares held, equivalent to 0.76 Swiss francs per share for a total consideration of 3 billion francs, UBS said.
Credit Suisse shares had lost a quarter of their value last week. The bank was forced to tap $54 billion US ($74 billion Cdn) in central bank funding as it tries to recover from scandals that have undermined confidence.
Under the deal with UBS, some Credit Suisse bondholders are major losers. The Swiss regulator decided that Credit Suisse bonds with a notional value of $17 billion US ($25 billion Cdn) will be valued at zero, angering some of the holders of the debt who thought they would be better protected than shareholders in a rescue deal announced on Sunday.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
