Weekly Global News Wrap Up: Why banks aren't worried about souring credit card loans; Barclays to hire 100 staff
And EU lists criteria for hosting bank regulators after Brexit.
From Bloomberg: For Kevin St. Pierre, the math on credit cards is pretty simple. “Generally, if the consumer has income, they pay their debts,” St. Pierre, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note to clients last week. “Consumer credit losses are driven predominantly by unemployment.” With investors skittish over the potential for higher defaults on auto and student loans, St. Pierre is one of many industry analysts and banking executives who’ve sought to allay similar concerns over rising credit-card write-offs.
From Reuters: Barclays will hire 100 new staff in its private bank as it launches its second attempt in the last seven years to win more business from wealthy clients, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Reuters. The hires will be a mixture of relationship managers - the money-earners in private banking who attract and serve customers - and the administrative and risk management staff necessary to support them, the source said.
From Bloomberg: The European Union circulated criteria for cities vying to house the bloc’s banking and drugs regulators after Brexit forces them from London, identifying October as the deadline for a decision. The EU’s remaining 27 members have until July 31 to bid for the European Medicines Agency and European Banking Authority, which police their respective industries and have a combined headcount of 1,000 staff. More than 20 nations say they will apply for the drugs regulator while cities such as Paris and Frankfurt are eyeing the bank monitor.