The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy with no cash-for-reform agreement in sight. Europe’s political leaders and central bankers and Greek politicians agree on only one thing: if Greece goes down, they don’t want their fingerprints on the murder weapon. If Athens runs out of cash and defaults in the coming weeks, as seems
Deutsche Bank’s (DBKGn.DE) earnings fell by half in the first quarter, a greater-than-expected drop as hefty legal charges eroded gains in investment banking revenue, while it prepares to unveil details of a strategic overhaul. Almost half came from the investment bank, but its pre-tax contribution fell by more than half due to litigation and regulatory expenses and currency swings, the bank said on Sunday. Deutsche has so far positioned itself
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is convening a group of financial industry veterans for the first time next month to consider stock market reforms, but one group will be conspicuously absent: retail brokerages. The SEC’s 17-member Market Structure Advisory Committee includes representatives of fund companies, an exchange, off-exchange trading venues, dealers, and academia, among others. The group, which meets four times a year, will review old rules, and advise
Most central banks have been easing policy since the start of the year and are set to do more, but it still isn’t clear whether that new activism, which has pushed stock markets to record highs, will help the global economy much. Several meet this week to set policy, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and Sweden’s Riksbank, which all have turned to government bond purchases as
Finland’s Nokia denied reports in Chinese media that it planned to return to manufacturing phones. “Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false,” Nokia said in a statement posted on its website. Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft last year, but just months after that it launched a new brand-licensed tablet
Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) supervisory board Chairman Ferdinand Piech unexpectedly resigned on Saturday in the wake of a leadership crisis he kicked off earlier this month by saying he had “distanced” himself from Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn. Volkswagen said in a statement that Piech had resigned from his position as Chairman as well as member of the supervisory board and any other mandates within the Volkswagen group with immediate effect. Deputy Chairman
Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) faces a long and costly battle, analysts say, to sell Postbank (DPBGn.DE) and pare investment banking, the new strategic goals it outlined late on Friday. Deutsche will face an especially difficult challenge in selling off Postbank without having to post losses. “We’re worried about jobs at Postbank,” Carsten Schneider, finance expert and deputy SPD parliamentary floor leader, told Reuters. Postbank could fetch close to 3.6 billion euros
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble hinted on Saturday that Berlin was preparing for a possible Greek default, drawing a parallel with the secrecy of German reunification plans in 1989. At a briefing with reporters after a tense meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Greece on Friday, Schaeuble was asked if euro zone finance ministers were working on a “Plan B” in case negotiations on funding with cash-strapped Athens fail.
As the buses carrying European finance ministers left for a gala dinner in the Latvian capital on Friday night, one of the party hung back at the hotel and then wandered off alone into the dusk. Greece’s Yanis Varoufakis had other dinner plans, he said, after a bruising first day of meetings in Riga that underlined his isolation as he tries to avert national bankruptcy. While other ministers were feted
The collapse of the deal opens the door for other possible offers for Time Warner Cable, but also casts heightened regulatory risk on merger activity in the U.S. cable industry, which has been rapidly consolidating in the face of competition from satellite TV and Web-based services. Comcast had argued the merger would bring faster service and better video services to more Americans. Charter Communications Inc lost out on a bid
