UPS Financial News

CATL said on Wednesday it had co-developed 10 new electric vehicle models with automakers that use swappable batteries, as the Chinese battery giant seeks to lead a trend it says will replace a third of gasoline stations in China. Yang Jun, CEO of CATL's battery swapping brand EVOGO, said it would roll out the first EV that uses its so-called «choco-swap» battery this month, with the remaining to be launched in upcoming months. CATL will also look to build 1,000 battery swapping stations next year and to accelerate this further by enlisting partners to build more stations, he added.

In her letter of resignation, Chrystia Freeland criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in pushing for gimmicky tax holidays and one-time rebates rather keeping the government’s fiscal powder dry in case Canada faces aggressive Trump tariffs. She is absolutely right, of course. Bad things can happen — like the COVID pandemic — that ratchet up debt burdens and interest costs and eventually impair growth by raising interest rates or taxes.

Regarding our current predicament with our neighbours on the continent, I realize it risks a rebuke from Elon Musk to say so but if Americans had elected Kamala Harris last month, we would not currently be in a national panic about access to the U.S. market, and no one within 100 miles of the White House would be making sophomoric jokes about “Governor Justin Trudeau” of the “Great State of Canada.”

It’s not every day, or even every decade, that a big foreign bank decides to have a go at Canada’s retail banking market.

Mizoram government on Wednesday signed agreements with the partner banks to provide banking loans under the state's flagship initiative, the handholding scheme – 'Bana Kaih', designed to promote economic growth and self-sufficiency. The 'Bana Kaih' scheme, launched in September this year, is the state government's flagship programme aimed at fostering self-reliance and inclusive economic development in the state. The primary objective of the scheme is to contribute to the realisation of 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India) and the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to a notice to shareholders seen by Investment Week, the change to the Coutts Diversifying Alternatives Multi-Manager fund will come into effect on the 14 January 2025.  The move comes shortly after the fund was launched earlier this year.  In early May, Coutts teamed up with JP Morgan AM to launch the strategy, allowing Coutts and NatWest clients to diversify their assets within equity or bond portfolios.  Shareholders comfortable with the change will not need to take action but those not in favour of the alteration will have the option to switch their investment to anot...

According to Teneo's latest CEO and Investor Outlook Survey, 56% of UK-based businesses took into account listing abroad in 2024, up from 27% a year before. The latest figures came after a year which saw the London Stock Exchange suffer its largest exodus since the 2009 financial crisis. According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, a total of 88 companies have delisted or transferred their primary listing from London's main market in 2024, with a mere 18 taking their place.  Over the past couple of weeks, FTSE heavyweight Ashtead Group became the latest company to announ...

Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, with its UP unit chief Ajay Rai claiming that he died due to «police brutality». Police said 28-year-old Prabhat Pandey, a native of Gorakhpur, was brought dead to the hospital from Congress office. «Prabhat Pandey was brought to the Civil Hospital in Hazratganj in an unconscious condition from the Congress office. The doctors declared him brought dead,» DCP (Central Lucknow) Raveena Tyagi said. «Prima facie, according to doctors, there was no visible injury mark on his body. Apart from this, a post-mortem would be done by a panel and the process would be videographed. Accordingly further legal proceedings would be carried out,» Tyagi added.

ecommerce giant Amazon on Wednesday exited retail chain Shoppers Stop by selling a 4% stake in the company for Rs 276 crore through an open market transaction. US-based Amazon, through its investment arm Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings, sold nearly 44 lakh shares or 4% stake in Mumbai-headquartered Shoppers Stop, as per the block deal data on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The shares were offloaded at an average price of Rs 627.60 apiece, taking the transaction value to Rs 275.89 crore. Asset and wealth management company 360 One, through its four affiliates, acquired stakes in Shoppers Stop. Also, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund (MF), Tata MF and Morgan Stanley also picked up shares in the department store chain at the same price.

Barcelona's subway system is using regenerative braking to help power both its convoys but also recharge electric cars at street level

Capybaras are having a big moment

Was it Olivier Vigneron's intention to walk away from Deutsche Bank? The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times both suggest that it was. He has decided not to «seek an extension of his contract» goes the wording. He will be leaving on May 19th 2025.

On the face of it, the list of promotions to managing director (MD) which Bank of America has just announced looks like it might have raised a few eyebrows.  The overall MD class of ’24 has 387 members, up 16% on last year.  Within that, Jim DeMare’s global markets operation accounts for 65 new promotions, same as 2023.  But what’s happened to the bankers?

It’s been a strange few years for ESG specialists in investment banking.  As recently as 2021 it was one of the hottest recruitment segments, with $500k roles going unfilled.  Any banker who had driven past a wind turbine on the way to the airport, or walked past a casino while a Pride event was taking place was reinventing him or herself as an ESG expert, to the extent that the regulators had to put out formal warnings against “ competencewashing ”.

In case you hadn’t heard, 2025 is shaping up to be a good year for investment bankers. It’s not just rhetoric, either – they’re putting their money where their mouth is and hiring in anticipation of it, too.

We're in the dying light of the fourth quarter, but banks are still making strategic hires. And when they find the right person, they are promoting them too. 

Ex-Credit Suisse people have turned up in a lot of places since their house burned down, but Santander has rescued more than most. By our reckoning, the Spanish bank added over Credit Suisse bankers last year. Most, but not are all, were ex-Credit Suisse managing directors in the US. Many were CS veterans, who spent tens of years at the firm. They included David Miller, the former head of Credit Suisse's investment bank, who joined in the US last November.

When 44-year-old Michael Bruun, the London-based co-head of global private equity at Goldman Sachs, invested in Swedish battery maker Northvolt in July 2022, he wrote on LinkedIn that he was «proud» to do so. 

What do you do when the energy is flagging, you’re eighty hours into a ninety-hour week and someone needs you to really concentrate on changing the colour scheme on a slide pack from ochre yellow to mustard yellow?  According to a number of currently working bankers who have spoken to the Wall Street Journal and been surprisingly willing to be quoted under their own names, you reach for drugs that are meant to treat ADHD and you carry on.

If you're going to make a $45m loss on a block trade, December is probably not the time to do it. It's unfortunate, then, that this is what has occurred at Citi. 

Fresh from promoting Brian Carosielli as global head of credit trading, Bank of America has made some new changes to its credit business. It hasn't hired any new traders. It has given its existing big credit traders some even bigger jobs.