Deutsche Bank Loses $1.6 Billion on Bonds

 

Deutsche Bank is amidst the world’s top 50 financial institutions with its investments in BNP Paribas, Allianz, AXA, China Construction Bank and Berkshire Hathaway.  The loss faced by Deutsche Bank in its complex municipal bond investment which amounts to $1.6 Billion is one of the historical losses in the banking industry to date. Embattled banking institute Deutsche bank had to face a rough path in its investment on bonds of insurance of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.  

The story started in 2017 as a giant investment deal

These losses are a result of $7.8 Billion municipal bonds bought back in 2007 by the leading global investment German Deutsche Bank. According to The Wall Street Journal, the German lender had bought default protection on the bonds which led to paying $140 Million in the following year for a transaction. This scandal about Deutsche Bank hogged the limelight after The Wall Street Journal came up with this breaking news. It is to be noted that the German lender had previously refused to accept the depreciating rates of these bonds for years which the markets had suggested brushing aside the concerns of financial agents. 

Arising conflicts within the German bank executives

Though it has been a decade after a disastrous investment like this, the Deutsche Bank has not come out clean with regard to its scope of loses on the municipal bonds. The piling of the loss may probably be due to the negligence of the Deutsche bank in recognizing the loses earlier and the conflicts between the executives of the bank regarding the decision to invest in Berkshire Hathaway.

Financial auditors had raised doubt regarding the capabilities of the Deutsche bank to withstand the future loses due to such municipal bond investments earlier. However, the German lender had ignored such concerns about those related derivatives. Finally, after almost a decade the Deutsche Bank decided to offload these municipal bonds. Since the senior executives refuse to restate the happenings regarding the bonds the internal investigations had come to a halt. 

Ultimately Deutsche bank had decided to sell the municipal bonds for Berkshire insurance for a loss of $1.6 Billion in 2016. The debate among bank executives included whether they should have explained clearly about the wrong-path in this investment. But, later chose not to restate it.

This story has not come to an end

The Deutsche Bank spokesperson explained that this investment was unwinded in 2016 as part of winding up non-core operations. After the interrogation of auditors and external lawyers about the municipal bonds, it was clear that it accounted in line with the rules and regulations. However other journals predict that this deal may have to face interrogations from the investors and the people concerned and that the Deutsche Bank can expect another storm any time soon. Deutsche Bank is also in the news for rumours about its Russian money laundering. The bad decision behind the investment led to the Deutsche Bank dragging the decision to finally sell it off at huge losses. 

Automation in Investment Banking

Taking the technological progression into consideration, none of the industries is left untouched across the globe. In the recent few years, the industrialization has successfully marked its space into the area of banking. A lot of countries have embedded Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence into their operations. The trend has impacted, massively, the Indian banking industry, wherein, the investment banking segment is witnessing a significant upsurge in concern to getting automated.
The Investment Banking in India is a much broader concept as it majorly revolves around the establishing and retaining essential relationships with the potential clients. The Indian banks are actively ensuring the successful implementation of automation for attaining desirable results. Though the human intervention is a necessary facet of investment banking, however, the automation is undoubtedly taking over investment bankers and initiating much-systematized operations. An Indian investment banker involves more of Sales and Marketing as compared to applying finance in their routine responsibilities. The efficacious execution of technology-driven software’s in Investment Banking Course in India has eased the complexities and are proving an added advantage for contemplating financial analysis.
investment banking courseThe automation in Investment Banking is turning out be a hugely profitable deal. The banking transactions have become smooth followed with error-free execution, in turn, circumventing the possible associated risks. On the other hand, the financial analysis has become proper due to the figures being extracted from the automated system technology. The automation has indeed, fetched stronger systems that effectively reduce costs for the human intervention. The scenario of traditional investment banking in India involved a range of significant workforce. However, with the emergence of automation within the business, the added costs incurred in the process of hiring and training of the new employees have witnessed a reduction. Also, the values have been saved to a great extent in bringing the office equipment followed by paying massive wages to the workforce.
Taking a major throwback to the Investment Banking in India, the routine operations – right from essential transactions to financial analysis, the processes were surrounded with tremendous challenges. The workforce suffered from workplace disturbances which in turn, impacted their productivity adversely. Such aspect also, made their performance weak and raised competition as well. Nevertheless, the implementation of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence ensured a better execution and reducing the paperwork within the investment banks. The abridged processes have undoubtedly increased the productivity of the investment bankers and have provoked them to deliver the profitable results.
Long gone are the days where banks took extensive time and energy to solve the customer queries. The automation has successfully led to a substantial increase in the conversion rate with a significant boost into the responsiveness from the customer’s perspective. The automation has provided the investment banks with a personalized platform that drives better and timely execution of decisions. Following such tremendous automation approach in the investment banking, the operations have efficiently become flexible. The flexibility in the procedures have improved the functionalities and enabled the banks to expand their services overseas.
Automation is an intense wave which is hitting the banking across the globe. The successful implementation is ensuring better retention of customers and doing extreme benefit to the banks. However, the automation within the Investment Banking in India is demanding a considerable awareness due to the technology being overlooked by those situated in the developing cities. Automation possesses a strong tendency to change the face of the economy and enable efficient delivery of strategized decisions for the betterment of the sector.
The banks are automating with time, in turn, leading to improved and appropriate changes in the back-office segment of the banks.

What Is In The Store For The Indian Markets in 2019?

In 2019, the current Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi is scheduled to submit his application and woo a billion individuals of India for a second run as the ruling government. While pole predictions are on the way and experts predict that Modi will undoubtedly succeed in his attempt, there is another major event in global history which is scheduled to happen.

In Mid 2018, the World Bank is set to release a global list of nations GDP from across the world. While this seems uninteresting at first sight, experts predict that India is set to overcome and become the 5th largest nation in the world surpassing the UK.

While this might seem to be a rare coincidence, we can confidently say that political parties will not let go of this opportunity to show off their might and skills. But since the results are yet to be announced, experts are predicting the outcome based on previous data.

According to the latest estimates by the World Bank, the GDP or Gross Domestic Product of India was 15 billion USD bigger than the French economy in 2017. As of now, India is only behind, United States of America (USA), China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom (UK) in terms of its economy, but this year this might change for the better.

While both China and the USA are multi-trillion dollar economies, the India of today is only a 2.6 trillion USD economy. Right after the recession and depression of 2010 to 2017, the UK has only seen a 2 per cent growth in its economy, while India has seen a staggering 7.5 per cent. If the economy of India continues to grow at the same rate even this year, the predictions will come true, and India will surpass UK in its overall GDP.

Although the ruling party might contest a narrative around this news, but the fact still remains that the living standards of the UK are too high for the average Indian to catch. As of 2017, the average income of a UK resident was $42,515 whereas that of her Indian counterparts was only $1,964.

While India may surely surpass the UK in the race for becoming the 5th largest economy in the world, it will take her some years to overtake that of Germany. As of now, Germany is the fourth largest economy in the world, with the World Bank pegging her at 4.7 trillion US Dollars.

Another announcement that is scheduled to take place is that of India becoming the fastest growing economy in the world this year. With a projected growth of more than 7.3 per cent over the past couple of years and a GDP growth of 7.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 to 2019.

As per the statistics available with the Central Statistics Office(CSO), the average per capita of Indians have increased from Rs. 86,647/- in 2014-15 to Rs 112,835/- in 2017-18, recording a 30.2 percent growth from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

With all this being said, we can confidently predict that this will be a year of growth for India as a country of billions.

Round Up of Global & India M.A. in 2018

 
2018 was a very eventful year for businesses across the globe and especially in India with mergers happening throughout the year and big names joining hands. The most significant of the many mergers and acquisitions that took place in India of 2018 have been processed for a long time and finally, in 2018 the deal was sealed and the mergers made official.
With that being said, in this article, we will take a closer look at all the mergers that took place and also talk about the most significant ones of the year. Let’s begin!
Flipkart and Walmart
We have all heard of Flipkart in India. Since its inception in 2007, Flipkart has become a household name for consumers across the nation for its deals, huge savings and especially Big Billion Day.
For the past couple of years, Flipkart had been struggling to keep their feet in the market after e-Commerce giant Amazon decided to step into the game and thus in 2018, Flipkart joined hands with one of the largest retailers in the world, Walmart. The deal between the giants was announced in May 2018, where Walmart will purchase a 77 per cent stake in the company. The deal which was finalized in August 2018 also included 2 billion USD in fresh funding to help Flipkart in its goal to become the biggest eCommerce retailer in India, surpassing Amazon.
Vodafone and Idea
In 2018 the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Telecommunications Limited and Idea Telecommunications finally received a go-ahead on their merger from the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT. The deal which was in works since last year finally was made public in August 2018, making it the biggest network with a subscriber base of 430 million. Companies representatives mentioned that this was a strategic move to fend off competitors like Airtel and Reliance Jio by holding a market stake of 37 per cent in the Indian Telecommunications space.
ONGC and HPCL
India is a country which is heavily dependent on Petroleum and natural gas produce. Both ONGC and HPCL are household names in the country and are the major suppliers of oil and natural gas to a country of millions. In January 2018, ONGC which is a partly owned Government organization announced its acquisition of 51 per cent stake in HPCL in an attempt to help the government meet its disinvestment target for 2017-2018.
ONGC shelled around 5.2 billion USD in its move to acquire a majority stake in the state-backed refinery, which was primarily funded by loans by debtors.
Tata Steel and Bhushan Steel
In May 2018, the steel conglomerate Tata submitted a winning bid of 4.2 billion USD to buy a 71 per cent stake in its bankrupt competitor Bhushan Steel. The announcement which got the approval of NCLT is a move to improve Tata’s domestic capacity and make inroads into the automotive steel, which was till now dominated by Bhushan Steel.
Conclusion
India is a fast-growing economy and thus the biggest mergers and acquisitions of 2018 have had a severe impact of growth on the economy of the country. Now in 2018, we are to see what new mergers and acquisitions take place.

What Transferable Skills and Personality Traits Are Needed For an Investment Banker?

 

Financial careers are highly sought after because they can offer high payouts, and are exciting, high-pressure, nerve-wracking and demanding at the same time. That’s why an investment banker needs a very specific set of skills both tangible and intangible.

The banking sector job roles are customer oriented, and the most popular job role is that of the investment banker. An Investment banker is basically a broker as in the case of acquisitions and mergers, or between market and the firm like in IPO offerings, or within the firm itself like in maintaining the company’s finances.

Essential skills:

Besides the basic qualifications, the most crucial intangible skills for an investment banker are:

Proven intellect: Qualifications and an inherent liking for analytics, finances, economics, and mathematics help in job requirements and performance. Certifications from CFA- Chartered Financial Analyst and investment banking courses will in large measure help develop and whet the curiosity of an investment banker in finding solutions. A good understanding of physics, engineering, economics, computer skills, and many others will help your development.

Hardcore discipline: This trait is essential as an insider will know that it takes immense discipline to stay focused, work long hours and still be customer facing. Honesty, integrity and a lot of hard work go with the fantastic payouts you can expect in return. Discipline is quality that is largely inculcated through sports, doing additional studies like law, physical training, solving puzzles, and such activities. Remember that from your entry as an analyst to becoming the topmost director all roles work in an environment akin to a food processor and cooker. Develop those venting systems and stay focused on your daily goals.

Entrepreneurial skills: Innovation, creativity, excellent interpersonal skills are survival skills for this role. The way to approach tasks, find the right solutions and more importantly present them is a skill that is invaluable. Looking at solutions from all angles, having an open mind, and innovative thinking are traits to develop through case studies, further reading and diligent research.

Global: Knowledge of languages, a good understanding, and felicity towards cultural differences, broad-minded ability to handle situations and sensitivity to others will stand you in good stead globally. French, German, Mandarin, and English are popular languages to learn well. Your linguistic skills will also empower you in your role as an investment banker. Volunteering, disaster relief camps, foreign trips and such are great ways to build on these skills.

Building Relationships: Social skills, dressing appropriately, relationship-enhancing skills, and a healthy attitude that goodwill will aid you on the path to success. Customer acquisition and retention never happen by luck. You will need one or all of them on a daily basis, 24×7 to be able to clinch those deals and earn those fantastic brokerage fees and commissions.

Wrapping it up
The role is not an easy one. It is your drive and belief that will keep you focused as you move upwards. It is all about being on stage for much longer than you will ever expect. If you have these skills, very well! Learn more and acquire new ones as you retain the best.