Articles by Louie Woodall
Systemic US banks’ trading portfolios swell 10% in 2019
US Treasuries held-for-trading soar 28% on Q4 2018
Low risk assets pile up at systemic US banks
Sub-100% risk-weighted assets increased by $157.9 billion
UK bank market RWAs ebbed in 2019
HSBC shed $5.9 billion of market RWAs in 2019
Rates trading revenues up 154% at top US banks
Net gains on interest rates-related exposures top $21 billion
Top banks’ US Treasury holdings up 26% in 2019
Fair value gains follow plummeting yields on government paper
TD Bank’s US unit incurred eight VAR breaches in 2019
Number of backtesting exceptions pushed the bank’s VAR capital multiplier to 3.75
Scotiabank takes C$116m XVA charge
Introduction of centralised valuation platform altered fair value of uncollateralised positions
Goldman hits the Collins floor
Changes to loss-given-default models caused advanced approaches credit RWAs to plummet
Fewer losing trading days at top US banks in 2019
State Street posted most losing days in 2019, with 146
Capital buffers edge lower at systemic US banks in 2019
CET1 excess above institution-specific amounts slid 228bp at median G-Sib
Wells Fargo’s VAR spiked in Q4
Interest rate VAR increased to $211 million in last quarter of the year
Sliding rates crimp Allianz’s Solvency II ratio
Solvency II ratio down 17 percentage points year-on-year
Systemic US banks shed $70bn of repo exposure in Q4
Goldman Sachs lowered repo exposures 13% quarter-on-quarter
Equity gains bolster EU hedge funds’ portfolios
Funds were net sellers of equities, but market gains added +10% to balance sheet values
De-risking efforts yet to boost profits at Lloyds
Commercial banking entity saw RWAs fall -11% in 2019
EU funds loaded up on US debt in 2019
Net purchases of US debt up +962% in 2019
€5trn of Eonia swaps mature after benchmark’s death
Almost 20% of derivatives notionals linked to retiring rate will expire post-2022
‘Fallen angels’ pose little threat to EU funds
Passive fund outflows in a credit crisis would put pressure on high-yield bond prices
Crédit Agricole leads French banks on return on RWAs
BNP Paribas only bank to improve RoRWA year-on-year
HSBC to reallocate $100bn of RWAs in shake-up
Global banking and markets division to take brunt of cuts
Systemic EU banks’ bail-in requirements vary
One G-Sib resolution group has an MREL requirement of 32.8% of RWAs
EU banks short €178bn of MREL requirements
117 resolution entities report bail-in bond and capital shortfalls
Tax windfall at Crédit Agricole to fund capital shake-up
Relief for Emporiki sale bolstered CET1 capital ratio +40bp
RBS takes axe to NatWest Markets
Bank plans to slim trading operation to 10% of total RWAs