Donald Trump has said that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday and called on supporters to protest, as Manhattan prosecutors continue to investigate allegations that the ex-president paid hush money to buy a porn star’s silence. Trump, who is campaigning as a Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, on Saturday wrote on his
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A deal allowing Ukraine to export grain to world markets by ship despite Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has been extended, the UN and the Ukrainian and Turkish governments said on Saturday. The Black Sea grain initiative, agreed in July under the auspices of the UN and with Turkish mediation, has enabled Ukraine to
The crosses on top of the Refectory Church in Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra holy site have turned from gold to black. Or so said Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, after its priests and monks — deemed by Kyiv to be stooges of Moscow — were ordered by the government to vacate the
Credit Suisse, UBS and their key regulators are racing to thrash out a deal on the historic merger of Switzerland’s two biggest banks as soon as Saturday evening, people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times. The Swiss National Bank and regulator Finma have told international counterparts that they regard a deal with UBS
BlackRock drew up a rival bid for Credit Suisse that would trump a plan blessed by the Swiss central bank for UBS to acquire its struggling rival, five people with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times. The US investment giant evaluated a number of options and talked to other potential investors, said people
The cost of buying insurance to protect against Credit Suisse defaulting on its debt soared to a record high this week, in a sign of growing jitters about the lender’s financial position after the failure of two US banks sent shockwaves through global markets. As Credit Suisse’s stock and bond prices have whipsawed in recent
David Tepper has snapped up bonds of SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, in a bet that the value of the debt will rise as parts of the group are auctioned off, said people briefed on the matter. Tepper acquired the bonds along with preferred stock via Appaloosa, which for the
UBS is in discussions to take over all or part of Credit Suisse, with the boards of Switzerland’s two biggest lenders set to meet separately over the weekend to consider Europe’s most consequential banking combination since the financial crisis, according to multiple people briefed on the talks. The Swiss National Bank and regulator Finma are
Top Democrats in Congress have called for a federal investigation into the role Goldman Sachs played in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and urged regulators to examine whether the investment bank’s profits handling a $21bn trade for SVB should be repossessed. “As Goldman Sachs is poised to profit from SVB’s failure, we strongly urge
An explosion of volatility in US Treasuries following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has provided the sternest test of a market that underpins much of the global financial system since a dramatic meltdown in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. But while the $22tn market for US government debt this week suffered its
First Republic Bank stock tumbled yet again on Friday after a financial lifeline from large US banks that deposited $30bn into its accounts failed to calm investor fears. Shares in the San Francisco-based lender closed down 32.8 per cent in the first session after 11 of the largest US banks, spearheaded by JPMorgan Chase, said
In another life, Ulrich Körner would be best known for trying to save a different Swiss bank from collapse. In September 2011, UBS was in disarray after rogue trader Kweku Adoboli lost $2.3bn and chief executive Oswald Grübel was forced to resign. As the board scrambled to find a replacement, early press release drafts had
On Monday this week, the most important market in the world went, to use the technical term, completely bananas. Government bonds have a habit of rallying when the going gets tough, which it indisputably did when Silicon Valley Bank imploded. So a jump in US Treasury debt prices off the back of this makes sense.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia. Pre-trial judges of The Hague-based International Criminal Court said the Russian president was “allegedly responsible” for the forced transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia during the two countries’
Late last Saturday night, Jason Calacanis, a prominent internet entrepreneur and investor, hit the caps button on his keyboard and tweeted out a warning about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. “YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW — THAT IS THE PROPER REACTION TO A BANK RUN AND CONTAGION,” he wrote. “THIS WILL SPIRAL
Investors have wiped nearly half a trillion dollars from the value of bank shares around the world in the worst rout for the financial sector since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Financial stocks dived this week as the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank spread through global markets. Banks in the US,
US regulators are willing to entertain the prospect of backstopping losses at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank if it helps push through a sale of the failed lenders, according to people briefed on the matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s willingness to discussing loss-sharing marks a significant shift in position for the agency, which
As shares in their companies were tanking this week, a small group of European bank bosses sat down in London for a dinner of saffron risotto, salmon and asparagus and agreed that the market reaction to the collapse of a Californian lender was overblown. The chief executives were adamant that investors were “underestimating” the strength
Scotland’s governing Scottish National party needs a leader who can widen support for independence by respecting and listening to those who favour union with the UK, finance secretary and leadership candidate Kate Forbes has said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Forbes, 32, also sought to ease tensions within the SNP heightened by her
Northern Rock, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial and Alliance & Leicester. Back in late 2007 and early 2008, when they all failed or were rescued, none of the above was systemically important. And few observers would have predicted the nightmarish crisis that was to strike within the year, felling behemoths from Wall Street’s venerable Lehman Brothers
Russia’s Sberbank will send $3.6bn to the state coffers this spring as part of a record dividend payout, even as its profits collapsed last year due to western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. This marked a record in terms of share of profit paid out. In previous years, the bank distributed just 40-56