(Reuters) – Investors stepped cautiously into bank stocks on Tuesday, emboldened by the rescue of Credit Suisse, with share prices inching tentatively higher amid continuing concerns about smaller U.S. lenders and further financial market ructions.
DEVELOPMENTS
* Attention now on this week’s meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with traders wondering whether the central bank’s relentless rate hikes – blamed by some for sparking the crisis – might be at an end.
* U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. banking system is stabilizing after strong actions from regulators, but further steps to protect depositors may be needed if smaller institutions suffer runs that threaten more contagion.
* The European Central Bank’s top bank supervisor Andrea Enria said euro zone banks increased their capital ratios late last year and remain solid, a message echoed by Spanish ECB policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos. But Enria warned banks against being “caught off guard” by rising interest rates.
* Sweden’s banks are well-capitalised, central bank chief Erik Thedeen said.
* Turmoil in the banking sector is hurting investor confidence, surveys showed, including the German ZEW index of sentiment which ended a five-month streak of gains.
* The Bank for International Settlements, said it fully supported recent actions taken by central banks to address banking system problems.
* Britain’s legal framework is clear about the treatment of shareholders and creditors in the event of a bank collapse, financial services minister Andrew Griffith said. What is AT1 debt?
* The Swiss Banking Association said credit supply would not be restricted by the demise of Credit Suisse, and that it saw a “prosperous future”.
* Credit Suisse on Tuesday kicked off its annual Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, although CEO Ulrich Koerner, who was expected to attend the conference, dropped out.
MARKET REACTION
* Europe’s bank shares and bonds gained.
* U.S. stocks rallied.
ANALYSIS
* Switzerland’s secretive Credit Suisse rescue rocks global finance
QUOTES
* “Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader U.S. banking system,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said. “And similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion.”
* “Increasing interest rates and quantitative tightening require banks to sharpen their focus on liquidity and funding risks,” the ECB’s top banking supervisor Enria said. “There is a risk that banks might be caught off guard.”
* Credibility “is not destroyed, but it’s not good,” Swiss Banking Association chairman Marcel Rohner said.
(Compiled by Reuters editors)
