By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
BRUSSELS, March 4 (Reuters) - EU competition enforcers on Thursday cleared a 20-billion-euro ($24 billion) French scheme to help virus-hit companies via loans, subordinated debt.
The European Commission said the scheme consists of a state guarantee on private investment vehicles, funded by private investors, that will acquire participating loans distributed by commercial banks as well as subordinated bonds, aimed at improving their capital position.
The French state guarantee will cover up to 30% of loans and subordinated bonds to be acquired by private investment vehicles and that these must be issued before June 30, 2022 with a maturity of 8 years.
Emerging market stocks fell on Thursday, led by Chinese blue-chips after a day of strong gains, while currencies looked to a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the day for comments on recent bond market gyrations.
A measure of job vacancies in Britain showed an improvement in late February but around one in five workers remained on the government's job furlough scheme, data published on Thursday showed.
3 Min Read
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank missed its pre-pandemic profit target with a 10% decline in net profit last year due to provisions against bad loans, but pledged to maintain its dividend payout, helped by efforts to contain costs.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Russia s largest lender Sberbank in one of its offices in Moscow, Russia, December 24, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
The coronavirus crisis and a sharp drop in the price of oil, Russia’s key export, have pressured the banking sector and prompted lenders to set more money aside against potential bad loans in the face of economic contraction and a weaker rouble.