Author: Press Room

LONDON – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has initiated a formal process for a significant capital increase to support sustained investment in Ukraine during and after the current conflict. This move comes as the bank seeks to reinforce its financial capacity with a €4 billion boost to its €30 billion shareholding. The EBRD’s Board set this process in motion on Tuesday, with expectations for the capital increase to be effective by the end of 2024. The bank’s governors will make a decision on this proposal by the end of this year. Once approved, payments are slated to…

© Reuters. ZURICH – Swiss private banking group Julius Baer has announced the sale of its subsidiary Kairos, an Italian investment management firm, to Anima Holding. The deal, valued between €20 million and €25 million ($21.7 million and $27.1 million), is a strategic move to realign Julius Baer’s core business focus and enhance its services for Italian clientele outside of Italy. The transition, which is expected to be completed by spring 2024, will include the shift of Kairos’ senior management and co-shareholders to Anima Holding. Julius Baer’s relationship with Kairos began in 2013, culminating in full ownership by 2018. However,…

Bet_Noire Discussing the two-sided risk that the U.S. central bank faces in setting monetary policy, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa D. Cook said she’s aware that continued momentum in demand “could keep the economy and labor market tight and slow the pace of disinflation.” But she’s also “attuned to the risk of an unnecessarily sharp decline in economic activity and employment” from overtightening. Some parts of the economy are showing the strain of tighter financial conditions, she said in a speech on Thursday. Cook believes that a soft landing is possible, but it isn’t assured. “As we try to identify…

Top Democrats who have been pressuring the Supreme Court to adopt a new code of ethics appear dissatisfied after the court’s unprecedented announcement of a new Code of Conduct, saying the code alone isn’t enough. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said, “It is long past time for a code of conduct that explicitly applies to the justices,” adding “the lack of any way to enforce the code should any justice decide to ignore it is a glaring omission.”Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the new rules “fall short” of what Congress “could and should expect,” despite several Republicans saying Democrats’…

BRAZIL – 2023/03/17: In this photo illustration the FedNow Service (Instant Payments) logo seen … [+] displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FINTECH SNARK TANK It’s a funny paradox. The Federal Reserve Bank’s launch of FedNow in July 2023 promised that consumers and businesses would be able to pay for groceries, pay their suppliers, and pay each other “instantly” with full and immediate access to funds. But banks are moving slowly down the path to “faster” or “instant” payments. The need to integrate systems, deploy new…

getty The hardest part of investing for retirement is budgeting ample contributions. Solve that issue and you jump into the next hardest part: Deciding how to invest. Your retirement investment decisions should flow from a target asset allocation that aligns with your time horizon and risk tolerance. Once you implement that allocation, you’ll lean on a rebalancing strategy to keep it. Read on to learn how to allocate a retirement portfolio and rebalance it later. This guide details the elements of a balanced portfolio and provides six sample allocations for different scenarios. What Is Portfolio Allocation? Portfolio allocation is the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Arctos Partners, the sports-focused private equity group, has invested in Aston Martin’s Formula One team on the eve of F1’s return to Las Vegas in a deal that values the racing unit at about £1bn.The investment is the first time that team owner Lawrence Stroll, who is also the largest shareholder in the listed Aston Martin carmaker, has tapped outside investors for the F1 team in which his son, Lance, races.Under the deal, announced ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix this…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Lisa Cook testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on her nomination to be a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (for a second term), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. central bank must steer between the risk of doing too little and taking the fight against inflation too far, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said on Thursday, a task made particularly delicate because other global central banks have also tightened monetary policy quickly over the past couple of years. “I believe that…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A truck loads concentrated brine at SQM lithium mine at the Atacama salt flat, in Antofagasta region, Chile, May 3, 2023. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo (Reuters) – SQM, the world’s second-largest lithium producer, said on Thursday it is building its lithium inventories as it continues to produce at maximum capacity, even as falling prices more than halved its quarterly profit. “The idea is to be prepared when inventories return to the normal level and customer purchases are reactivated,” said SQM’s lithium vice-president Carlos Diaz. Prices for lithium, an ultralight metal used for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, have…

designer491 Timber Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TMBR) fell ~16% in the early hours on Thursday ahead of a special meeting scheduled later this week to obtain shareholder approval for its proposed merger with Danish dermatology company LEO Pharma. Shares of the nano-cap pharma company surged in August in reaction to the deal under which LEO US Holding, a unit of LEO Pharma, is set to acquire TMBR for $14M in upfront cash and an additional $22M in contingent value rights ((CVRs)). However, since then, the stock has lost ~34%, as the company’s previous attempt to obtain shareholder approval in October failed amid insufficient…