TOP NEWS IN GLOBAL FINANCIALS

* U.S. banks The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are winding down their operations in Russia amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Goldman Sachs has said it only had roughly $1 billion of exposures to Russia at 2021-end, while JPMorgan's presence in Russia is relatively small as Russia has not been in the top 20 countries the bank operates in since 2015, the newswire noted.

* Blackstone Inc. is selling its majority-owned Australia-based company, La Trobe Financial Group, to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for about A$1.6 billion, The Australian Financial Review reported, citing a source close to La Trobe. Both Blackstone and Brookfield Asset Management did not comment on the deal, the publication noted.

* The ECB announced plans to conclude its asset purchase program in the third quarter and its pandemic emergency purchase program at the end of March. The regulator said it could still revise the schedule of the quantitative easing, or QE, program in terms of size and/or duration if the medium-term inflation outlook changes. The ECB also held the interest rate on the main refinancing operations zero, with President Christine Lagarde ruling out any rate hikes until the QE program ends, adding that any increase will be gradual.

➤ Top investors in Russia's Sberbank, VTB Bank face billions in losses

Shares in Russia's two largest banks have plummeted following the country's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions, leaving institutional investors exposed to sizeable losses.

➤ Asset quality at most big European banks improves in Q4'21

Italian lender BPER Banca's asset quality improved the most among big European banks in the fourth quarter of 2021, while two of the region's five largest banks saw an increase in problem loans.

US & CANADA

* BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, marked down the value of its Russian securities holdings by approximately $17 billion following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. Shuttered markets and worldwide sanctions on Russia have made the vast majority of Blackrock’s $18.2 billion in Russian assets as of end of January unsaleable, leading to the markdowns, according to the report. Blackrock stopped buying Russian assets on Feb. 28, saying its exposure to Russia had then fallen to less than 0.01% of its assets under management largely due to markdowns, the Times reported.

* The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center warned the financial services sector in a report released March 10 of fiercer global cyber threats in 2022, especially third-party risk, zero-day vulnerability exploits, and ransomware that adapts even to increased law enforcement scrutiny.

Click here for more of the day's essential bank and financial services news in the U.S. and Canada.

LATIN AMERICA

* Peru's central bank raised the benchmark rate to 4.0% from 3.5% as annual inflation rose to 6.15% in February, above the upper target of 3%.

* The Brazilian central bank will impose new rules on fintech companies according to their size and complexity. The regulations will also adjust the minimum capital requirements according to the "intrinsic risks" of each type of payment or financial activity.

EUROPE

* Credit Suisse Group AG intends to cut by 49% its exposures to the oil, gas and coal sector by 2023, it said in its 2021 sustainability report. The Zurich-based bank has faced investor calls to outline how it plans to align its business with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

* Deutsche Bank AG outlined new financial targets, including a return on tangible equity by 2025 of more than 10% and capital returns totaling up to around €8 billion in respect of 2021 to 2025. The German bank also pledged to distribute half of its attributable net income in 2025 and beyond. The targets also include average annual revenue growth of between 3.5% and 4.5%, which translates to annual revenues of roughly €30 billion in 2025, CEO Christian Sewing said in a statement.

Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Europe.

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

* South Africa-based Standard Bank Group Ltd. reported a full-year 2021 headline earnings per ordinary share of 15.73 rand, up from the year-ago 10.03 rand. Its headline earnings rose 57% year over year to 25.02 billion rand from 15.95 billion rand. The group said it has limited direct exposure to Russia and Ukraine and that it is monitoring the conflict there to comply with all relevant local and international laws and guidelines.

* Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority approved Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp.'s request to increase its capital to 40 billion riyals from 25 billion riyals through the issuance of 3 bonus shares for every 5 existing shares.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Ebix Inc.'s Indian unit, EbixCash Ltd., filed a draft red herring prospectus for its planned IPO with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise up to 60 billion rupees. The company intends to use the proceeds from the offering as working capital of subsidiaries Ebix Travels Pvt. Ltd. and EbixCash World Money Ltd., among other things.

* The China Securities and Regulatory Commission barred the mainland Chinese investment banks it regulates from acting as promoters of special purpose acquisition companies in Hong Kong due to concerns over the risks associated with blank check firms, Reuters reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The banks will be allowed to work as advisers on SPAC transactions under Hong Kong's listing framework. The securities regulator and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the newswire noted.

Click here for more of the day's essential financial news in Asia-Pacific.

Erin Tanchico and Ryan Jeffrey Sy contributed to this report.

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