In the u. S. , which we had to reduce our tax asset, reducing completely our tax level in the u. S. , with Significant Growth of our net profit. Swiss re says it is considering a partnership with softbank after better than expected profits and returning more cash to shareholders. We feel comfortable that we have the ability to return funds to share hoholders. And a number of negative earnings limit cap gains in europe as James Bullard tells cnbc that rates should not go up too quickly. The idea that we have to go 100 basis points in 2018, that seems like a lot to me thats price for perfection. Everything would have to go just right. The economy would have to surprise on the upside a bunch of times in the year im not sure thats a good way to think about 2018. Good morning flat open so far across europe the stoxx 600 slightly into negative territory, but not by a massive, massive margin. Its down less than 0. 1 we look at the individual markets, you can see its a bit of a mixed picture the ftse mib up 0. 10 . The fotse 100 up 0. 24. Phoenix is in the green after Standard Life aberdeen agreed to sell its Insurance Unit to the company for 3. 2 billion sterling it is also trading at the top of the stoxx 600. Shares of rbs are selling off after fullyear net profit misses expectations. And valeo is at the bottom of the european markets after earnings sank on a tax charge. Shares in swiss re opened higher after better than expected estimates net profit came in at 3 331 million, significantly down from 3. 3. 56 billion just a year ago. The firm proposed raising its dividend and they are still talking to softbank about the sale of a Minority Stake and said there is no certainty any deal would be concluded. Joumanna is in zurich this morning. What possible justification does the Company Offer for raising its dividend good morning. So they would say theyre starting from a position of strength starting from a Strong Capital position, despite the hit that clearly the 2017 natural catastrophes took on their top line earnings. They said in total all those natural disasters together have had an impact of 4. 7 billion in terms of total claims, which explains why the net income number dropped significantly from 2016 to 2017. That being said they did stage a turnaround from the Third Quarter earnings to q4 and ended up positive. So that is some of the justification for raising dividends, and also announcing another 1 billion Share Buyback program. Also people are looking for further clues on the softbank partnership. A couple weeks ago there was a report that came out that softbank were thinking about buying a 10 billion stake in swiss re they have confirmed they are in discussion with softbank and the board of directors is assessing the strategic and financial implication of such a partnership. I sat down with david cole and asked why this partnership would make sense for them. Discussions are ongoing, still preliminary. Its not the right time to go into details but if you think about our strategy at swiss re its about allocating capital to Insurance Risk its about insuring and extending access to risk pools its about positioning ourselves in parts of the world where growth rates are higher. And lastly its about addressing this continuing protection gap that we see. So i think when we engage with clients, engage with potential partners, its always about how we can continue to actually pursue this strategy i did not mention technology, but technology is quite important. We see a digitalization going on across the world that will also impact the insurance sector if you combine our role, allocate our cap tam to Insurance Risk pools, we want to extend access to risk pools, stay on the forefront of technology and make sure were helping the world address this protection gap you can put some of the context and discussions with various parties into the right context assuming this deal goes ahead, would swiss re be offering Insurance Products to some companies owned by softbank i dont want to talk about the deal and wloerhether or nott will go ahead, we want to address this protection gap. One last question on this topic, some reports suggest that the stake could be 10 bil yo 1 in swiss re. Lets let the discussions take place if we come to the conclusion that we can reach an agreement thats in the interest of our shareholders, well have something to say about it then so, not giving a lot of color on the timing there. But two things did stand out to me from that conversation. One is the identification of a protection gap, in the sense that this partnership would open up a lot of markets to them in the sense that if you look at softbank, they have a stake in uber, a lot of employees who work for uber are not covered by insurance, and this could offer swiss re to offer Insurance Products directly. The other thing he said is that technology is very important to them and if you look at softbank and the type of institution that it has become, they have become more active in the technology space. They have a private equity arm that invests in technology companies. That will give swiss re some access and partnership theyre looking for. David said the timing is unclear, theyre thinking about the Strategic Priorities and the financial imperatives of going down the route if such a deal does happen. Did he give any idea about his views on bond yields and what impact that could have on the industry insurers are very heavily invested in fixed income as a part of managing liability sets. I did pose that question i said with fixed income yields rising so much, will that have an impact on your overall portfolio . He said not necessarily, because ultimately rising yields is a good thing for the industry from a discounting perspective. So higher yields means your discounting your liabilities at a higher rate and ultimately you have less liabilities in the future bottom line is hes saying higher yields is a good thing for the industry as far as the fixed Income Portfolio is concerned, they have 100 billion worth of fixed income bonds in their universe it would actually be a good thing for them in terms of opportunities going forward. Thank you very much for that. The chinese regulator has seized control of anbang insurance after charging the chairman with several crimes including fundraising fraud the move highlights the countrys continued crackdown on financial risk anbang has been on an aggressive buying spree and has 3 315 billion in assets. Anbang will remain a private company, but the regulator has invited outside investors to take part in a restructuring that will include an injection of capital Nancy Hungerford has been following this story from singapore. What have we heard about the chairman, wu xiaohui not a whole lot prosecutors saying in a oneline sentence citie inine ining fraut fundraising and abuse of position in terms of the former chairman i think thats significant wu xiaohui has been prosecuted according to law on Economic Crimes this has been ongoing for quite some time. Wu xiaohui has been detained since june, and since that time we have not heard much from the chairman so a bit of mystery surrounding his fate when it comes to whats happening with the takeover specifically, we have heard the takeover will last for a year starting today in many regards its an unprecedented takeover of a nonstate firm, but because this firm has been in the cross hairs of the government for some time, a few industry insiders said they were not all that surprised. Some people were saying the government has been running the operations since wu xiaohui was detained so this could be sending a message to other big conglomerates. You know the Chinese Government has made a push into financial stabilit stability. Authorities were worried about the insolvency of anbang they were worried about the risks the company had made particularly the waldorf astoria in new york. So the government here is sending a clear message in that regard when it comes to market reaction, the shanghai composite ending higher today on the session. More importantly the firms with specific ties to anbang including those in which anbang has a stake in are taking it in stride a few traders say because there could be fears about a fire sale if this takeover did not go through. So we are seeing some relief in these firms tied to anbang nancy, thank you very much. Nancy mentioned anbangs purchase of the waldorf astoria in new york. Thats interesting when you look at u. S. Regulators blocking the sale of an American Company selling semiconductors to a chinese firm the committee on Foreign Investment in the United States refused to grant permission for the purchase citing concerns that xcerra sells things to chip manufacturers that supplies the u. S. Government. After the u. S. Government stopped the sale of monogram to ant financial also the u. S. Defense department is weighing in on the issue of global trade saying it would prefer targeted tariffs on steel and aluminum instead of blanket in a memo mattis said he would recommend the u. S. Government pause before taking further steps on aluminum. The u. S. Commerce department sittinged new limits on chinese steel, but President Trump said he has not yet made a decision on the matter. The u. S. Commerce secretary yesterday said that the u. S. President is focused on finding a favorable trade balance between america and the European Union. The u. S. Is the least protectionist major country. The eu, if you think of it as one company, because for trade purposes it really is, is one of the most protectionist countries. So anything that changes their favorable trade balance with us gives them a little bit of anxiety. Frankly thats a good thing. Weve been patsies for too long. Weve been suckers for too long. President trump is now trying to pick that. Wilbur ross there talking in washington yesterday also in washington, Robert Mueller filed 32 new charges against Paul Manafort and rick gates. The charges include bank fraud, falsifying tax returns and Money Laundering a spokesman for Paul Manafort said he is innocent and the new charges have nothing do with the Russian Election meddling that mueller is investigating. In the uk, theresa may will unveil her vision for exiting the European Union next week in what will be the culmination of a series of speeches called the road to brexit this after the british Prime Minister held crunch talks with top ministers at her retreat late into the evening last night. The discussions dragged on for eight hours and were intended to iron out differences amongst her jeremy corbyn, could back a rebel conservative move marking a shift in the previously held position he will deliver his own speech on monday and is expected to signal his intent for a softer brexit approach. With the conservative short of a parliamentary majority the move could threaten theresa mays own brexit strategy. Coming up, rbs turns a profit for the first time in over a decade. But investors focus on the disappointing aspect of the fullyear results. Well break down the numbers after the reak your brain is an amazing thing. But as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back to street signs. Pearson reported operating profit of 576 Million Pounds for 2017 coming in at the top end of its guidance the uk publisher is recovering from a series of profit warnings and says it in talks to sell its School Software unit the chief executive said the structural changes being pushed through have left the company on a stronger footing for 2018. Theres been a huge focus on our Higher Education business, which i think everyone knows has been through big structural changes. That is now less than 30 of pearson. We have a good handle on the issues the strategy that we got in place is starting to have an impact the other 70 of pearson will get good Revenue Growth this year, which means big pivotal year, lots to get done but i think were starting to feel confident were starting to build from a Stronger Base shares in rbs are trading lower. Investors have been left disappointed by a miss on fullyear net profit despite it being the first time the bank has been back in the black in over a decade. Rbs failed to give an update on its outstanding misconduct charge with the u. S. Department of justice some estimated the fine could cost the bank as much as 12 billion pounds for more on the british bank and its legacy issues, head to cnbc. Com for more details. Standard Life Aberdeen is selling its european Life Insurance holdings to phoenix. Standard Life Aberdeen up around a percent. The company says the deal marks a transition to a capital wide investment business. Fullyear results showed assets under management grew 1 to 655 billion pounds valeo plunged to the bottom of the stoxx 600 after reporting a fall in profit for the second half of 2017 the French Auto Parts maker saw net income drop 25 in the six months from july to december the ceo told us hes happy with the performance despite being impacted by u. S. Tax reform. Having been impacted by the fiscal reform in the u. S. , which we had to reduce our tax asset excluding that problem, which is not a problem in the longterm because it will reduce significantly our tax level in the u. S. , we have something can growth of our net profit so in all the lines, growth of business, growth of operating margin, growth of net profit excluding the impacted u. S. Tax reform its a very good year that weve had. Shares in iag are down despite the Company Forecasting higher profits this year following 19 growth in 2017 the parent of British Airways reported 3 billion euros in operating profit before exceptional items. Its set to return half a billion euros to shareholders this year, planning a Share Buyback and hiking its fullyear Dividend TelecomItalia Trading higher after reporting it could drop a proposed venture with canal. The decision will be discussed early next month under the terms, Telecom Italia would have paid for content provided by canal. The italian Telecoms Company has also hired Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs to work on the spinoff of its Legacy Network business italian bond yields ahead of the election next sunday, that yield for the twoyear is at 0. 682. The tenyear is at 2. 153 that 30year is at 3. 1610. Some people selling off those bonds right now. We are just over a week away from the italian general election head to our website for a simple guide to the march 4th vote which could help rebalance the political environment in the country or send shockwaves think the european continue innoceent. It also talks about whether we could see a return from former Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi im joined this morning by the head of asset and Wealth Management at barenberg. Lets talk about italy we see some interesting numbers. We talk about Political Uncertainty in germany, doesnt impact the economy but that level of uncertainty in italy, do you think that would have an impact on the Italian Economy . Could have a double whammy after the election, there is also the coalition vote. So on monday morning it could be an interesting market environment. The elections are probably something weve seen before, where we dont get larity, and italy needs reforms. Thats clear spain got it france had it. Germany had it before. Italy is lagging the european landscape after the 5th of march or the 4th of march could be messy again want to talk about market volatility the correction we saw in equities not so long ago has that had real impact op Business Sentiment in europe i doubt it. Its a combination of the volatility and the unclear political landscape. We had a great environment last year, came into the year and now we get some uncertainties. Volatility is something we normally experience in markets i would rather say the environment in the bond market is something which is now concerning some people the rise in bonds, the bond yields in the u. S. Was fast. And thats created volatility on the stock market at the end. So people question themselves where are we going is there a different course in the economic Landscape Capital the Financial Markets are getting pore volatimore vol, and thats making some people concerned. I dont think that will have a longterm effect what are you seeing in terms of the sentiment numbers and what i