February 23, 2012, 5:14 AM EST
By Fabio Benedetti-Valentini
(Updates with CEO comment from third paragraph.)
Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Credit Agricole SA, France’s third- largest bank, reported a greater-than-estimated loss in the fourth quarter after setting aside money at its Greek consumer- banking network and writing down investments.
The shares dropped after the net loss widened to 3.07 billion euros ($4.07 billion) from a deficit of 328 million euros a year earlier. That missed analysts’ estimates for a 2.7 billion-euro loss.
In 2012, “the main worry is the need for economic growth to get restarted,” Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Chifflet said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The company, which holds the largest lending book in France, plans “to keep financing” the economy, he said.
Credit Agricole scrapped its 2011 dividend in December and said it can’t confirm 2014 targets because of “the lack of visibility on the economic and financial climate.” The bank, along with BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA, is cutting investment-banking jobs to reduce costs after Europe’s debt crisis curbed trading revenue, U.S. money-market funds reduced short-term lending to French lenders and regulators imposed stricter capital rules.
Credit Agricole fell as much as 21 cents, or 4.2 percent, to 4.80 euros and was at 4.88 euros at 9:02 a.m. in Paris trading. That pares the gain this year to 12 percent. BNP Paribas, France’s biggest bank, has risen 18 percent this year, while Societe Generale, the No. 2 lender, has advanced 32 percent.
Greek Writedowns
European financial stocks rebounded in the first seven weeks of the year after the European Central Bank provided 489 billion euros to lenders through a three-year refinancing operation in December.
BNP Paribas and Societe Generale both said last week that they wrote down their Greek sovereign-debt holdings by 75 percent. BNP Paribas reported a 51 percent drop in fourth- quarter earnings on Feb. 15, while Societe Generale said the next day that profit in the period declined 89 percent.
Credit Agricole said in a statement that it booked about 2.6 billion euros in writedowns on investments including its stake in Spain’s Bankinter SA and Banco Espirito Santo SA of Portugal in the quarter. The company also had 220 million euros in fourth-quarter markdowns on its Greek sovereign-debt holdings, bringing its average writedown level to 74 percent.
Emporiki Losses
While Credit Agricole’s sovereign-debt provisions for Greece are smaller than those of BNP Paribas, it had a 5.5 billion-euro net refinancing exposure to the country at the end of December through its consumer-banking network Emporiki Bank of Greece SA. The Athens-based unit had a 352 million-euro fourth-quarter loss as provisions for risky loans increased. The French lender spent about 2.2 billion euros in 2006 to amass a controlling stake in the division.
Credit Agricole can’t commit to any target for Emporiki to stop the losses, Chifflet said.
“It would be quite audacious to say that it is in 2013, 2014,” he said. “We’ll try to do it as fast as possible, but without saying when because it depends a lot on the return to growth in Greece.”
Chifflet, 62, plans to reduce “by a maximum” Credit Agricole’s exposure to refinancing Emporiki and expects Portugal to escape the contagion after Greece received a second rescue this week.
Investment-Banking Deficit
Greece sealed a 130 billion-euro bailout package by agreeing on Feb. 21 to austerity measures while reducing its bond principal by 53.5 percent as investors swap into new securities with longer maturities and lower coupons.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos repeated yesterday that a formal invitation for the bond exchange will be made by Feb. 24. Real losses from the swap may be more than 70 percent, analysts have said.
Credit Agricole’s corporate- and investment-banking unit had a fourth-quarter loss of 1.2 billion euros compared with a 263 million-euro profit a year earlier, hurt by a one-time 1.05 billion-euro capital-markets goodwill writedown and higher losses from subprime-era assets the lender is winding down, according to Bloomberg calculations from bank data.
The corporate- and investment-banking division also booked 336 million euros in one-time costs as it closes businesses and cuts jobs.
Credit Agricole’s corporate and investment bank will close operations in 21 countries, remaining active in 32, while ending its equity-derivatives business, the firm said Dec. 14.
The bank is shedding about 1,750 positions at the corporate and investment bank, including 550 in France, it said in December. The company is also eliminating 600 consumer-finance jobs.
Asset Reductions
Credit Agricole is cutting fewer assets than its two larger French rivals as the lender is also less vulnerable to the dearth of U.S. short-term dollar funding that hit European banks last summer, analysts have said. The asset-reduction plans don’t include the lender’s so-called run-off portfolio, Chief Financial Officer Bernard Delpit said in November.
Credit Agricole is cutting its debt by 50 billion euros between mid-2011 and the end of 2012, “especially” by refocusing on its corporate and investment bank, the company repeated today.
“Corporate and investment banking will reduce its balance sheet, adjust its cost base and adapt its business model to generate income in a restrictive environment, notably by increasing the share of commissions and fee income in its revenue mix,” the lender said.
The investment bank started off “well” in 2012, Chifflet said in the interview. The bonus pool for traders and other “risk takers” was cut by about 20 percent to an average of 105,000 euros, he said.
Profit from the regional banks’ French retail network rose 2.8 percent to 216 million euros while asset-management profit fell 8.8 percent, hurt by outflows in France, the lender said.
–With assistance from Caroline Connan in London. Editors: Stephen Taylor, Dylan Griffiths
To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net; Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net
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2012年2月4日星期六
Spain reforms banks to revive economy
Click photo to enlarge
Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos pauses during a news conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid Friday after a government cabinet meeting.
Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos pauses during a news conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid Friday after a government cabinet meeting.
The regulations approved by the Cabinet require banks to set aside an estimated (euro) 50 billion $65 billion (50 billion euro) more in provisions to cover toxic real estate assets by the end of the year.
Those unable to do so can present merger plans by the end of May and get government assistance from an existing bailout fund that will be strengthened with an addition 6 billion euro.
To avoid being forced to raise so much money for the real estate provisions, banks will face enormous pressure to sell assets like land and foreclosed or unsold homes at lower market prices.
The aim is to keep them from hoarding the loans and property on their balance sheets, a practice which has already sapped strength from the banking system and the country’s finances overall for years.
“With this set of measures, the fundamental idea is to boost confidence in our economy, strengthen the banking sector and its credibility in the national and international realm,” Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
Spain rode an unprecedented building boom from the 1990s until the financial crisis hit in 2008, but the real estate bubble that burst left it with an
unemployment rate of 22.8 percent — the highest among the 17 nations using the euro — and increasingly tight credit for business and individuals.
Bailed-out Portugal is suffering from an even deeper credit crisis, and its leader appealed Friday for Portuguese banks to be given more leeway to meet capital requirements because the credit crunch is driving viable companies out of business
The country’s bailout terms require Portugal’s banks to improve their reserve cushion of high-quality capital to help them weather Europe’s prolonged sovereign debt crisis.
That debt-reduction process, called deleveraging, has compelled them to reduce the number of loans they grant.
If the deleveraging process is too intense, it can be counterproductive in the medium term. That’s the fine-tuning we’re looking for,” Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho told weekly newspaper Sol in comments published Friday.
Spain’s development ministry now estimates there are 687,000 unsold new homes on the national market, but other studies put the number as high as 1.6 million in the nation of 47 million. There is no government figure for used homes for sale, but estimates range into the millions.
The move to clean up the banking sector and force property sales “is a good plan but it should have been done before because credit has been frozen here for such a long time,” said Carles Vergara, a Financial Management professor at Madrid’s IESE business school.
While home prices have declined more than 20 percent over the last several years to levels not seen since 2005, Spanish banks still hold about (euro) 175 billion in real estate holdings that the Bank of Spain classifies as “problematic.”
The government plan should spur banks to reduce prices by double digits and send down prices of homes not held by banks as well, said Fernando Encinar, head of research at the popular Idealisto.com real estate web site.
“Prices will go down more, and at a faster rate,” he said.
The book value of property on Spanish banks’ balance sheets is widely seen as inflated, and that has spooked foreign investors, making it hard for the banks to tap capital markets for money to lend.
Some economists warned that the bank reforms won’t work overnight miracles in restructuring the banking sector or getting credit flowing again to the eurozone’s fourth largest economy, which is expected to slip into recession this quarter.
The government, elected in November, is working desperately to chip away at a bloated deficit and keep Spain from having to request a bailout like those taken by Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Its first big step was a (euro) 15 billion ($20 billion) deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax hikes in January.
Coming up next week is a controversial package of reforms to shake up a labor market seen as one of Europe’s most rigid and encourage business to hire. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was heard saying at an EU summit on Monday that the reform will “cost me a general strike.”
Under the current system, people who are laid off or fired must be paid between 20 to 33 days of salary per year worked, and companies can’t negotiate directly with their unionized workers because they must adopt wage deals set for entire sectors.
Unions are expected to rally against the changes, and investors are wary about the possibility of social unrest if union members are joined in protests by droves of discontented Spaniards — including young adults under 25 hit by a jobless rate of nearly 50 percent.
But Antonio Barroso, an London-based analysts at the Eurasia Group consulting firm, said Rajoy’s government will almost certainly follow through with the labor reform.
“Unless the protests get out of control and get really nasty I don’t think the government will backtrack,” he said.
The bank reforms require institutions to increase provisions for troubled assets from 30 percent to 80 percent of book value, creating the incentive for them to sell them off.
Larger Spain banks should be able to set aside money to meet the new provisions, but experts say the rules will set off another round of mergers among ‘cajas,’ or savings bank chains more heavily exposed to real estate. The number of cajas dropped from 45 to 15 in a previous bout of mergers.
Spain could end up with as few as three to five cajas, said Oscar Moreno of Madrid brokerage Renta 4. Bank layoffs and branch closings are inevitable, added Rafael Pampillon, an economist at Madrid’s IE Business School.
“Clearly, we are going to downsize,” Pampillon said.
————
Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
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2012年2月3日星期五
PRESS DIGEST – Financial Times – Feb 3
Financial Times
GLENCORE AND XSTRATA CLOSE TO MERGER DEAL
Glencore and Xstrata (Dusseldorf: XTR.DU – news) have launched merger talks to create a $88 billion commodities trading and mining giant with the financial muscle to sweep up some of its biggest rivals. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a672e172-4d6c-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
BT SET TO LAUNCH ‘ULTRA-FAST’ INTERNET
“Ultra-fast” broadband using direct fibre-optic connections will become available to most British homes and businesses next year, after a significant technological breakthrough by BT , the UK telecoms group. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f7cad70c-4da6-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
SNB STANDS FIRM ON SWISS FRANC CAP
The independence of the Swiss National Bank risks being compromised due to political pressure following the departure of Philipp Hildebrand as chairman, the central bank’s acting chairman has warned. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4109d3c8-4dbb-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
DEUTSCHE BANK CONCERNED BY ECB LOANS
Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 – news) has risked a clash with the European Central Bank by indicating it sees a stigma attached to the long-term help offered to banks to try to ease the euro zone’s funding crisis. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad4e2782-4cda-11e1-8b08-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
SPANISH BANKS TOLD TO FIND BILLIONS
Spanish banks must find 50 billion euros ($65.86 billion)from profits and capital this year to finance a clean-up of their balance sheets or agree to merge with another bank by May to gain an extra year’s grace, according to Spain’s economy minister Luis de Guindos. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34a3a576-4dc7-11e1-a66e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
RECESSION PREDICTED TO RETURN TO UK
The British economy will suffer a modest contraction this year, according to an influential academic institute that is the first to forecast a return to outright recession for the UK. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a891b292-4dc3-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
CHINA’S STATE GRID TO TAKE 25 PERCENT IN REN
State Grid Corporation of China is to acquire 25 percent of Portugal’s national power grid in the second large-scale Portuguese acquisition by a Chinese energy group in six weeks. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/41a0c572-4dba-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
CHINA CONSIDERING DEEPER INVOLVEMENT IN EFSF
China is considering how to get “more deeply involved” in resolving Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD – news) ‘s debt crisis by co-operating more closely with European rescue funds, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b5870fa-4d63-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
($1 = 0.6321 British pounds) (Reporting by Stephen Mangan)
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2012年1月31日星期二
Wait for Greece-debt deal rattles global markets
NEW YORK — The wait for an expected deal between Greece and its creditors rattled financial markets around the world Monday. Yields for ultra-safe U.S. government debt hit their lowest this year, the euro dropped against the dollar, and European stocks took a fall.
But U.S. stocks dropped only slightly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.74 points to close at 12,653.72, a drop of 0.1 percent. The Dow lost as much as 131 points in morning trading, then slowly recovered in the afternoon.
Borrowing costs for European countries with the heaviest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal’s government debt jumped to 21 percent after trading around 14 percent last week.
Greece and the investors who bought its government bonds were said to be close to an agreement over the weekend. A tentative deal would replace bonds held by investment funds and banks with new ones at half the face value.
The plan is aimed at cutting Greece’s debt by roughly $132 billion. Greece needs it to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and make an upcoming bond payment. But a deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.
The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what’s going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.
“Our collective breath has been held for so many months,” he said.
At this point, a good or even a bad resolution of Greece’s debt crisis could lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, Ablin said. “If it finally happens and the world doesn’t fall apart, maybe we’ll have a reason to take risk again,” he said. “Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better.”
U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year.
In other trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,313.01. The Nasdaq composite lost 4.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,811.94.
The euro dropped 0.5 percent against the dollar to $1.3124 in late trading Monday from $1.3208 late Friday. It was worth almost $1.50 in May.
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But U.S. stocks dropped only slightly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.74 points to close at 12,653.72, a drop of 0.1 percent. The Dow lost as much as 131 points in morning trading, then slowly recovered in the afternoon.
Borrowing costs for European countries with the heaviest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal’s government debt jumped to 21 percent after trading around 14 percent last week.
Greece and the investors who bought its government bonds were said to be close to an agreement over the weekend. A tentative deal would replace bonds held by investment funds and banks with new ones at half the face value.
The plan is aimed at cutting Greece’s debt by roughly $132 billion. Greece needs it to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and make an upcoming bond payment. But a deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.
The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what’s going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.
“Our collective breath has been held for so many months,” he said.
At this point, a good or even a bad resolution of Greece’s debt crisis could lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, Ablin said. “If it finally happens and the world doesn’t fall apart, maybe we’ll have a reason to take risk again,” he said. “Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better.”
U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year.
In other trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,313.01. The Nasdaq composite lost 4.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,811.94.
The euro dropped 0.5 percent against the dollar to $1.3124 in late trading Monday from $1.3208 late Friday. It was worth almost $1.50 in May.
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2012年1月2日星期一
Credit Agricole to cut jobs as loss looms
PARIS (Reuters) – Credit Agricole will make a 2011 loss, write off 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion) worth of assets and cut 2,350 jobs in a cull of its investment banking operations, the French bank said on Wednesday in its second profit warning of the year.
The warning reflects mounting pressure on lenders to curtail risky activities to meet tougher capital standards even as they wrestle worsening economies and slumping markets. The deepening euro zone debt crisis has slammed French banks in particular as traditional sources of dollar funding have evaporated.
“These are all things we would have expected to happen at some point, but putting it all in one quarter, in this kind of market, is unhelpful,” said a London based analyst who did not want to be named. “The stock is at bombed-out levels already … What will be key in how bad this gets is what they tell us about the ongoing business.”
The bank is following in the footsteps of larger domestic rivals BNP Paribasand Societe Generale , which have also announced job cuts primarily in investment banking as they seek to cut debt and wean themselves off funding markets frozen by the economic slump.
The pressure on the French banks’ capital and liquidity has led to recurring speculation that they could eventually seek a government bailout, but Credit Agricole Chief Executive Jean-Paul Chifflet denied that it would need any help in reaching stringent Basel III regulations.
“We will meet Basel III with our own resources,” he told a conference call.
That will call for some bitter medicine.
Credit Agricole, which in recent years abandoned its humble agricultural origins in favor of international growth, will exit 21 of the 55 countries where it operates and shutter entire businesses like equity derivatives and commodities.
MARKET TURMOIL
The writedown includes 1.3 billion euros to reflect the shrinkage of its investment banking division and 1.23 billion euros as writedowns of minority stakes, such as those in Spain’s Bankinterand Portugal’s Banco Espirito Santo .
Chifflet said in an interview with Les Echos newspaper that the bank was mulling the sale of stakes in both lenders, although he ruled out the sale of its holding in its Newedge joint venture with Societe Generale.
The bank also shelved its 2014 financial goals and eliminated its dividend for this year to preserve capital.
Analysts had expected France’s No. 3 lender to post a full-year profit of 2.4 billion euros after it was profitable in all previous quarters.
In July, Credit Agricole warned that deepening problems at its Emporiki Bank unit in Greece would wipe nearly 1 billion euros off its first-half results.
The job losses include 1,750 at Credit Agricole’s corporate and investment bank, which employs 13,000 people, and 600 at its factoring and consumer finance arms.
The bulk of the job losses will take place internationally, although 550 investment banking and 300 consumer finance jobs will be cut in France.
Credit Agricole shares slumped 6.7 percent to close at 4.23 euros, part of a wider rout in French banking shares which saw Societe Generaleslide 8 percent and BNP Paribas lose 7.4 percent.
More than six months of intense market turmoil sparked by the euro zone debt crisis is pummeling investment banks globally, denting their bond and stock trading income and sparking a wave of layoffs in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
JOB LOSS TALLY GROWS
Citigroup was last week among the latest to press ahead with job cuts, while banks in some of the crisis hotspots — such as Italy’s UniCreditand Intesa Sanpaolo — are also laying off thousands of people.
More than 120,000 job losses have been announced this year, and many in the industry fear the tally will be greater than at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, as redundancies continue into 2012.
Like its French rivals, Credit Agricole is primarily pulling back in certain financing businesses, such as those in dollars, which have become harder for it to access, and will cut staff accordingly.
It also has a European equity broker, Chevreux, and a majority stake in Asian brokerage CLSA. But the bulk of cuts are likely to fall in fixed-income, which houses its rates and credit divisions, analysts said.
Credit trading in particular has come under pressure at all banks this year as wary investors shy away from the market and new regulation bites.
The recently appointed Chifflet has espoused a back-to-basics focus on retail banking in France and Europe after moves like the purchase of Emporiki backfired, rendering it deeply sensitive to turmoil in the eurozone economy.
Chifflet’s team is mulling various ways of bolstering the bank’s balance sheet, banking sources say, even though Credit Agricole’s robust parent network of regional banks has provided a cushion that has made raising additional capital unnecessary.
This may include more deal-making. The bank is close to announcing the sale of its private-equity activities, while it has also struck a $374 million deal to sell minority stakes in its CLSA and Cheuvreux brokerage brands to Chinese brokerage Citic Securities .
While Credit Agricole would be open to letting Citic increase its stake in the ventures — now at 19.9 percent — it aims to at least keep majority control, according to a person familiar with the bank’s thinking.
(Editing by David Holmes)
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The warning reflects mounting pressure on lenders to curtail risky activities to meet tougher capital standards even as they wrestle worsening economies and slumping markets. The deepening euro zone debt crisis has slammed French banks in particular as traditional sources of dollar funding have evaporated.
“These are all things we would have expected to happen at some point, but putting it all in one quarter, in this kind of market, is unhelpful,” said a London based analyst who did not want to be named. “The stock is at bombed-out levels already … What will be key in how bad this gets is what they tell us about the ongoing business.”
The bank is following in the footsteps of larger domestic rivals BNP Paribas
The pressure on the French banks’ capital and liquidity has led to recurring speculation that they could eventually seek a government bailout, but Credit Agricole Chief Executive Jean-Paul Chifflet denied that it would need any help in reaching stringent Basel III regulations.
“We will meet Basel III with our own resources,” he told a conference call.
That will call for some bitter medicine.
Credit Agricole, which in recent years abandoned its humble agricultural origins in favor of international growth, will exit 21 of the 55 countries where it operates and shutter entire businesses like equity derivatives and commodities.
MARKET TURMOIL
The writedown includes 1.3 billion euros to reflect the shrinkage of its investment banking division and 1.23 billion euros as writedowns of minority stakes, such as those in Spain’s Bankinter
Chifflet said in an interview with Les Echos newspaper that the bank was mulling the sale of stakes in both lenders, although he ruled out the sale of its holding in its Newedge joint venture with Societe Generale.
The bank also shelved its 2014 financial goals and eliminated its dividend for this year to preserve capital.
Analysts had expected France’s No. 3 lender to post a full-year profit of 2.4 billion euros after it was profitable in all previous quarters.
In July, Credit Agricole warned that deepening problems at its Emporiki Bank unit in Greece would wipe nearly 1 billion euros off its first-half results.
The job losses include 1,750 at Credit Agricole’s corporate and investment bank, which employs 13,000 people, and 600 at its factoring and consumer finance arms.
The bulk of the job losses will take place internationally, although 550 investment banking and 300 consumer finance jobs will be cut in France.
Credit Agricole shares slumped 6.7 percent to close at 4.23 euros, part of a wider rout in French banking shares which saw Societe Generale
More than six months of intense market turmoil sparked by the euro zone debt crisis is pummeling investment banks globally, denting their bond and stock trading income and sparking a wave of layoffs in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
JOB LOSS TALLY GROWS
Citigroup was last week among the latest to press ahead with job cuts, while banks in some of the crisis hotspots — such as Italy’s UniCredit
More than 120,000 job losses have been announced this year, and many in the industry fear the tally will be greater than at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, as redundancies continue into 2012.
Like its French rivals, Credit Agricole is primarily pulling back in certain financing businesses, such as those in dollars, which have become harder for it to access, and will cut staff accordingly.
It also has a European equity broker, Chevreux, and a majority stake in Asian brokerage CLSA. But the bulk of cuts are likely to fall in fixed-income, which houses its rates and credit divisions, analysts said.
Credit trading in particular has come under pressure at all banks this year as wary investors shy away from the market and new regulation bites.
The recently appointed Chifflet has espoused a back-to-basics focus on retail banking in France and Europe after moves like the purchase of Emporiki backfired, rendering it deeply sensitive to turmoil in the eurozone economy.
Chifflet’s team is mulling various ways of bolstering the bank’s balance sheet, banking sources say, even though Credit Agricole’s robust parent network of regional banks has provided a cushion that has made raising additional capital unnecessary.
This may include more deal-making. The bank is close to announcing the sale of its private-equity activities, while it has also struck a $374 million deal to sell minority stakes in its CLSA and Cheuvreux brokerage brands to Chinese brokerage Citic Securities .
While Credit Agricole would be open to letting Citic increase its stake in the ventures — now at 19.9 percent — it aims to at least keep majority control, according to a person familiar with the bank’s thinking.
(Editing by David Holmes)
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Portugal slips deeper into recession in Q3
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal‘s economy shrank a greater than initially reported 0.6 percent in the third quarter, slipping deeper into recession as austerity and financing problems weighed amid the debt crisis while export growth slowed.
Austerity measures under Portugal’s 78 billion euro bailout agreed with the European Union and the IMF in May are expected to lead to the deepest recession since the country returned to democracy in 1974. The government projects the economy will contract 1.6 percent this year and 3 percent in 2012.
The National Statistics Institute‘s second reading of GDP on Friday showed a sharper quarter-on-quarter contraction than the flash estimate of minus 0.4 percent.
GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, INE said.
“The reduction of economic activity is still more of a reflection of difficulties with the financing of the economy rather than the impact of austerity … which means the recession will continue to worsen in the quarters to come when austerity measures fully kick in,” said Filipe Garcia, head of Informacao de Mercados Financeiros economic consultants.
INE said that year-on-year GDP fell 1.7 percent, the same as in its flash estimate, after a contraction of 1 percent in the previous quarter.
Parliament approved last week a tough 2012 budget that suspends holiday and year-end bonuses for civil servants and hikes many taxes further.
The INE said internal demand, which has already suffered from higher taxes and pay cuts imposed this year, dropped 0.6 percent from the previous quarter as both investment and public consumption ebbed.
Compared with a year ago, internal demand fell a steep 4.6 percent, with private consumption down 3.3 percent and investment slumping by 13.7 percent.
Exports rose just 2.7 percent from the previous quarter, their positive impact neutralised by a 2.4 percent increase in imports. Export growth also decelerated to 6.5 percent year-on-year from 8.7 percent in the second quarter.
Nevertheless, another batch of INE data on Friday showed exports growing faster in the three months through October than in the third quarter, with Portugal’s trade gap falling a steep 30 percent from a year earlier.
The government is hoping a recovery may begin by late 2012 mainly on exports, although many economists warn Europe’s economic slowdown would make it much more difficult for Portugal to return to growth and meet its 2012 budget deficit target under the bailout. It has to slash the gap to 4.5 percent next year from this year’s projected 5.9 percent.
(Reporting By Andrei Khalip and Sergio Goncalves)
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Austerity measures under Portugal’s 78 billion euro bailout agreed with the European Union and the IMF in May are expected to lead to the deepest recession since the country returned to democracy in 1974. The government projects the economy will contract 1.6 percent this year and 3 percent in 2012.
The National Statistics Institute‘s second reading of GDP on Friday showed a sharper quarter-on-quarter contraction than the flash estimate of minus 0.4 percent.
GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, INE said.
“The reduction of economic activity is still more of a reflection of difficulties with the financing of the economy rather than the impact of austerity … which means the recession will continue to worsen in the quarters to come when austerity measures fully kick in,” said Filipe Garcia, head of Informacao de Mercados Financeiros economic consultants.
INE said that year-on-year GDP fell 1.7 percent, the same as in its flash estimate, after a contraction of 1 percent in the previous quarter.
Parliament approved last week a tough 2012 budget that suspends holiday and year-end bonuses for civil servants and hikes many taxes further.
The INE said internal demand, which has already suffered from higher taxes and pay cuts imposed this year, dropped 0.6 percent from the previous quarter as both investment and public consumption ebbed.
Compared with a year ago, internal demand fell a steep 4.6 percent, with private consumption down 3.3 percent and investment slumping by 13.7 percent.
Exports rose just 2.7 percent from the previous quarter, their positive impact neutralised by a 2.4 percent increase in imports. Export growth also decelerated to 6.5 percent year-on-year from 8.7 percent in the second quarter.
Nevertheless, another batch of INE data on Friday showed exports growing faster in the three months through October than in the third quarter, with Portugal’s trade gap falling a steep 30 percent from a year earlier.
The government is hoping a recovery may begin by late 2012 mainly on exports, although many economists warn Europe’s economic slowdown would make it much more difficult for Portugal to return to growth and meet its 2012 budget deficit target under the bailout. It has to slash the gap to 4.5 percent next year from this year’s projected 5.9 percent.
(Reporting By Andrei Khalip and Sergio Goncalves)
http://tourism9.com/
2011年12月31日星期六
Skyscanner Travel Trends Report 2012 Now Available
EDINBURGH, Scotland–(BUSINESS WIRE)– In its new 2012 Travel Trends Report, Skyscanner has revealed that Estonia, Russia, Iraq and Cape Verde are all emerging destinations likely to see a significant rise in interest from UK tourists over the coming year.
The flight comparison website, which has over 15 million users a month, analysed its vast data on user flight searches to produce the report on global travel trends. Overall, Spain remains the most popular choice for British holidaymakers for a fourth consecutive year, however in the ‘Destinations of The Future’ section of the report, Skyscanner highlights a number of more exotic locations.
Where are we going?
Estonia is the highest climbing destination with a search increase of 90% year on year. This is largely attributed to the increased publicity the country has received following Tallinn’s stint as a European Capital of Culture in 2011, however other Eastern European destinations have also seen a significant rise in popularity. A 32% increase in interest for Russia suggests that the world’s biggest country will get a bigger share of tourists over the coming year. With major sporting events looming (Winter Olympics in 2014, and the World Cup Football in 2018), Russia’s profile as a tourist destination is set to rise substantially.
While Estonia, which adopted the Euro in 2011, and also Greece and Italy appear to be performing well in the global battle for tourists, other Euro destinations have not fared so well; Portugal, Ireland, Germany and Slovakia all saw minimal rises in searches, well below the Skyscanner site average.
Following years of conflict, Iraq looks to be gaining more visitors from the UK in 2012. Whilst search volumes remain low, the country saw an increase of 75% in interest, likely to be mainly Iraqi nationals visiting. However, the country has also been stepping up its marketing efforts as a destination for cultural and religious tourism with its second appearance at London’s World Travel Market. A number of travel companies are now also offering adventure tours to Iraq for trekking, biking and backcountry skiing.
With a rise of 51% year on year, The Cape Verde Islands, which lie off the west coast of Africa, are becoming an increasingly attractive winter sun alternative to other mid haul destinations such as The Canaries and Egypt, the latter of which has seen a 12% drop in searches from the UK .
Who’s coming?
It’s the Russian market which has grown the most in the last 12 months, with over 100% rise in searches to UK. However with London set to take the world stage for the Olympics in 2012 it is actually the Australians who top the table in terms of the number of visitors while it is the Japanese who are seeing the biggest increase in searches over the Olympic period with a 300% rise. Visitors from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland follow closely behind.
The full report is now available at: http://www.skyscanner.net/news/Skyscanner%20Travel%20Trends%202012.pdf
Ends
About Skyscanner
Skyscanner is Europe’s leading travel search site providing instant online comparisons for millions of flights on over a thousand airlines, as well as car hire and hotels
Follow Skyscanner on Twitter and Facebook
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
The flight comparison website, which has over 15 million users a month, analysed its vast data on user flight searches to produce the report on global travel trends. Overall, Spain remains the most popular choice for British holidaymakers for a fourth consecutive year, however in the ‘Destinations of The Future’ section of the report, Skyscanner highlights a number of more exotic locations.
Where are we going?
Estonia is the highest climbing destination with a search increase of 90% year on year. This is largely attributed to the increased publicity the country has received following Tallinn’s stint as a European Capital of Culture in 2011, however other Eastern European destinations have also seen a significant rise in popularity. A 32% increase in interest for Russia suggests that the world’s biggest country will get a bigger share of tourists over the coming year. With major sporting events looming (Winter Olympics in 2014, and the World Cup Football in 2018), Russia’s profile as a tourist destination is set to rise substantially.
While Estonia, which adopted the Euro in 2011, and also Greece and Italy appear to be performing well in the global battle for tourists, other Euro destinations have not fared so well; Portugal, Ireland, Germany and Slovakia all saw minimal rises in searches, well below the Skyscanner site average.
Following years of conflict, Iraq looks to be gaining more visitors from the UK in 2012. Whilst search volumes remain low, the country saw an increase of 75% in interest, likely to be mainly Iraqi nationals visiting. However, the country has also been stepping up its marketing efforts as a destination for cultural and religious tourism with its second appearance at London’s World Travel Market. A number of travel companies are now also offering adventure tours to Iraq for trekking, biking and backcountry skiing.
With a rise of 51% year on year, The Cape Verde Islands, which lie off the west coast of Africa, are becoming an increasingly attractive winter sun alternative to other mid haul destinations such as The Canaries and Egypt, the latter of which has seen a 12% drop in searches from the UK .
Who’s coming?
It’s the Russian market which has grown the most in the last 12 months, with over 100% rise in searches to UK. However with London set to take the world stage for the Olympics in 2012 it is actually the Australians who top the table in terms of the number of visitors while it is the Japanese who are seeing the biggest increase in searches over the Olympic period with a 300% rise. Visitors from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland follow closely behind.
The full report is now available at: http://www.skyscanner.net/news/Skyscanner%20Travel%20Trends%202012.pdf
Ends
About Skyscanner
Skyscanner is Europe’s leading travel search site providing instant online comparisons for millions of flights on over a thousand airlines, as well as car hire and hotels
Follow Skyscanner on Twitter and Facebook
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
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