News for Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.MU)

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s Chief Strategy Officer Katsunori Sago is planning to quit after less than three years at the company, as other executives gain prominence at the Japanese investment conglomerate.The Goldman Sachs veteran who joined SoftBank in June 2018 will resign on March 31, SoftBank said in a statement late on Friday. The Tokyo-based company was confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News.The 53-year-old is a key member of founder Masayoshi Son’s inner circle and something of a celebrity in Japan’s world of finance. Prior to joining SoftBank, Sago spent more than two decades at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., rising to become vice chairman of its operations in the country. During a three-year stint at state-owned Japan Post Bank Co., he spearheaded a portfolio shift away from sovereign bonds.But little is known about his work at SoftBank. The company has never clearly defined his role as CSO, a position that did not exist prior to his joining. Over the past few years, he has assembled a small team of former Goldman bankers and set up an investment department in April.“Sago-san dedicated himself to a variety of projects by bringing a whole new perspective as SBG transforms into a strategic investment holding company,” Son said in the statement. “He played a crucial part in expanding SBG’s potential as an investment company.”Rumors about his departure began to circulate late last year as Sago seemed increasingly adrift while other Son lieutenants, including Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure and Vision Fund head Rajeev Misra, began to take more prominent roles in public markets and startup investment.In November, SoftBank said Sago and three other directors will leave the board in an effort to increase the proportion of outside directors and improve corporate governance. The executive earned 1.11 billion yen ($10.2 million) in the year ended March 2020, a 13% increase from the previous year.Sago’s the latest in a string of executive departures at the group. In January, Bloomberg News learned that Vision Fund managing partner Colin Fan, a former Deutsche Bank AG banker who’d focused on technology bets, was leaving along with Jeff Housenbold, the managing partner involved in its bets on startups including DoorDash Inc. and dog-walking startup Wag. Fan had overseen the fund’s investment in troubled lender Greensill Capital.Read More: SoftBank Executive Colin Fan Steps Back From Vision FundThe Vision Fund decided to cut headcount by as much as 15% last year in a round of job cuts after the business reported an $18 billion loss because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cuts disproportionately focused on employees who supported portfolio companies, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Claure’s SoftBank Group International arm reduced its staff by 26 out of 230, a person familiar with the matter said.(Updates with background on previous executive departures in final two paragraphs)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

/PRNewswire/ -- Commonwealth Bank of Australia ("CBA") announced today that it has commenced two concurrent, but separate cash tender offers for any and all of...

OpenGate Capital Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire ScioTeq and TREALITY from TransDigm Group LOS ANGELES, March 2, 2021-- OpenGate Capital, a global private...

Quote To Start The Day: “A focus on global reach and neutrality could see bitcoin become an international trade currency. This would take advantage of ...

Former Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam raised $300 million for his blank-check company after boosting the size of the deal.

In a week when a spike in Treasury yields pressured prices across the equity spectrum, U.S. exchange-traded funds consistently saw inflows -- including $2.7 billion at the height of the carnage on Thursday.

Germany stocks lower at close of trade; DAX down 0.46%

An exact number hasn’t been decided and the figure may still change as talks with works councils continue, sources said .The reductions are part of Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing’s plan to eliminate 20% of Deutsche Bank’s workforce in a four-year restructuring announced in 2019

(Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc warned the pandemic and low interest rates will weigh on earnings this year, projecting little growth before a recovery in 2022.Hurt by restructuring charges, the London-based bank on Thursday reported adjusted pretax profit slid 40%, missing analyst estimates. Credit impairments more than doubled last year.Income in 2021 is expected to be in line with 2020, though lower in the first half than in the same period last year, the bank said as it announced a $0.09 dividend and a $254 million share buyback. The shares slid as much as 3.3% in Hong Kong.“We remain strong and profitable, although returns in 2020 were clearly impacted by higher provisions, reduced economic activity and low interest rates, in each case the result of Covid-19,” Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters said in the statement.The emerging markets-focused lender has revived cost-cutting efforts that were paused during the pandemic. The bank has in recent months resumed hundreds of job cuts and continues to look for savings.Property PlanFurther restructuring charges of about $500 million are expected over the next few years, primarily in 2021, “relating predominantly to people and property actions,” the lender said.The bank is looking at how much office space it might trim as the pandemic prompts a re-think on the need for pricey real estate. Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford said on Bloomberg Television that 75% of its staff were currently working from home and he expects a cut in its global office footprint of about a third over the next four years or so.“It won’t happen overnight and obviously we’ve got lease commitments we need to honor, but I think we will be looking at something of that order,” Halford said.The results come as speculation mounts over the future of Winters, who in June will celebrate the sixth anniversary of his appointment as CEO. Simon Cooper, who runs the lender’s investment and commercial banking operations, has been tipped as the most likely internal successor, though Chairman Jose Vinals has informally sounded out external candidates for the job.The lender said adjusted pretax profit fell to $2.51 billion in 2020, below estimates of $2.55 billion.The firm’s market operations tracked the volatility-driven surge that has buoyed Wall Street while profits for retail and commercial banking slid.Profits in China and North Asia, which make up 81% of the bank’s overall pretax profit, fell 16% because of higher impairments.The lender has been forced to push back a target of reaching a 10% return on equity, and now said it expects to a deliver at least a 7% return by 2023.(Updates with property plans in seventh paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Deutsche Bank is proud to announce the closing of two lending facilities with the Republic of Ghana. The 150 million euro financing agreements, guaranteed by the Italian Export Credit Agency... | February 23, 2021

The bank saw a 20.4% drop in discretionary awards to about $2.66 billion for 2020.Most European financial institutions have been seeking to keep a lid on discretionary payouts this year

(Bloomberg) -- Infinity Q Capital Management is shutting a $1.8 billion mutual fund after learning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the firm’s chief investment officer incorrectly valued complex derivatives.James Velissaris, the CIO and majority owner of the firm, has been placed on administrative leave, Infinity Q said in a statement Monday. The SEC informed the company that investigators obtained evidence that Velissaris adjusted models used to price swap contracts held by the Infinity Q Diversified Alpha Fund, likely resulting in incorrect valuations being reported to investors, according to the statement.The SEC issued an order approving Infinity Q’s request to temporarily halt redemptions in the fund, which the firm plans to liquidate after determining the proper value for swap contracts that comprise about 18% of its assets. An outside expert is being hired to handle the valuation and sale of the assets.“Infinity Q is cooperating with the SEC investigation and shut off Velissaris’s access to all trading activities and removed his authority to access any accounts,” the firm said. “Infinity Q has independently verified that Mr. Velissaris did access and alter the third party’s valuation models but has not yet assessed the impact of those alterations.”Velissaris couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.“The Commission required, as a condition to its approval of the order, that the fund put in place protections to help preserve assets for shareholders and ensure that they are kept informed about the status of their investment,” an SEC spokesperson said in a statement Monday.Velissaris, 36, founded the firm after working as a portfolio manager for Wildcat Capital Management, originally a family office for David Bonderman, the co-founder of private equity firm TPG Capital. Bonderman invested $2 million in Infinity Q when the money management firm was formed by Velissaris in 2014 and also has investments in its funds, according to the company.Infinity Q was using models provided by an outside pricing service to determine the value of the swap contracts, according to the request filed today with the SEC for permission to suspend redemptions. Based on information provided by the SEC, Infinity Q found out last week that the firm’s CIO had been “adjusting certain parameters” within the models that affected the valuation of the swaps, the firm said in the filing.The Diversified Value Fund held swap contracts with a market value of $449 million at the end of November, equaling about 26% of its $1.71 billion in net assets at the time, according to its most recent portfolio report to the SEC. This included so-called variance swap contracts written by a wide range of Wall Street banks that were tied to the volatility of global market benchmarks, such as the S&P 500 index.Leonard Potter, Infinity Q’s non-executive chairman, will take over management of the firm. Potter is the owner of Wildcat Capital Management, which managed more than $3 billion at the end of 2019, including capital from Bonderman.The Diversified Alpha Fund’s institutional shares have gained almost 1% year-to-date, performance that ranked below almost 90% of its peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.(Adds SEC comment in sixth paragraph, firm background in seventh paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- New World Development Co. is looking for a rainmaker to lead dealmaking for the Hong Kong real estate developer that has been diversifying into areas other than property, according to people familiar with the matter.The company is in the process of searching for a senior executive to oversee its merger and acquisition activities and look for opportunities in areas such as health care and logistics, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.New World Development has been working with headhunters and approached several Hong Kong-based investment bankers for the job, the people said. The incoming executive will work closely with Chief Financial Officer Edward Lau, who is a former banker at Deutsche Bank AG, the people said.The company has been regularly scouting for M&A talent including senior executives to spearhead its general investment and acquisition development, a representative for New World Development said in an emailed response to Bloomberg News.New World Development, whose businesses span across real estate, retail and infrastructure, has been revamping its portfolios in the past few years. It has offloaded non-core assets including two shopping malls and its public bus routes and ferry services in Hong Kong. NWS Holdings Ltd., a majority-owned subsidiary of the group, last month agreed to sell its entire stake in environment services company Suez NWS Ltd. to joint venture partner Suez SA for HK$6.5 billion ($838 million).The conglomerate has also been searching for new investments. In Hong Kong, the company won bids to build and operate a mega sports complex and a HK$20 billion shopping-and-entertainment complex at the city’s airport. The group also ventured into the life insurance business as NWS Holdings acquired FTLife Insurance Co. for HK$21.5 billion in 2018. In China, it has boosted its land reserves including an upscale commercial site in Shanghai for 4.1 billion yuan ($634 million).(Adds New World’s China land purchase in last paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Germany stocks lower at close of trade; DAX down 0.28%

Buoyant securities trading at Barclays made up for a lackluster banking performance in the U.K., where the pandemic caused the largest economic contraction among advanced economies.

DUBLIN, Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 'Consumer Credit - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com...

Germany stocks mixed at close of trade; DAX down 0.28%

LVMH founder Bernard Arnault is among those launching special-purpose acquisition companies in Europe.

Germany stocks higher at close of trade; DAX up 0.51%