Indecision & distractions
It’s almost the end of the year after all
Happy Sunday!
It’s been a busy week across the world as everyone rushed to wrap up all they need to before the Christmas break.
Omicron is still hovering menacingly over us all, as the looming spectre of potential lockdowns threaten the global economy.
Put the two together and it is no surprise the world is rushing to get the business of 2021 behind us, so we can all prepare for whatever 2022 is going to bring.
This weekend, I thought I’d save you my thoughts on the world as it is and jump straight to the news and newsmakers of the week! There are so many to get through - so here goes!
The business of business
The price of indecision
For Santander that price equals €67.8 million. What’s the decision they were waffling on? The person who’d take on the role of CEO.
For anyone who has had an agreed EU employment contract pulled at the last minute in Europe - the Santander Vs. Andrea Orcel case has been one to watch. Ana Botin’s close professional friendship with Italian banker Andrea was broken when she pulled her offer for him to be CEO of Santander back in 2018. Andrea didn’t take it lying down and took her and Santander to court. It’s been an employment dispute that has provided a window into the highest levels of finance, and how it operates.
After numerous hearings, including testimony from Ana herself (back in May), it looks like she hasn’t just lost a friend and colleague — She’s about to lose a whole lot of money for Santander too. It’s been a messy case where it seems poaching Andrea from UBS (where he was an investment banking star, working on Santander deals) was proving too expensive for Ana and the Board and resulted in Santander pulling his employment contract, but only after he quit his job at UBS.
A Madrid court has now ordered Santander to pay the Italian banker €67.8 million ($76.42 million). The court has said Santander's job offer letter to Andrea was a “valid and perfect contract” which was “unilaterally and arbitrarily” rescinded by Santander. While Ana claimed that the employment offer wasn’t a contract and therefore wasn’t valid as the Santander Board hadn’t agreed to Andrea’s financial compensation, the judge referred to “particularly eloquent” tweets by Ana, a TV interview and a video in which she said that Andrea's appointment would be "effective from the beginning of 2019".
Santander has 20 days to appeal the verdict, which the banking group has said it will. That means appeals could delay a final ruling for a few more years if this drags on, all the way to Spain’s Supreme Court
Changing Chinese priorities
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s market cap halved this year, and the company seemingly wants to now shake up its leadership team and go in a different direction.
The latest head to roll is the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Maggie Wu. She’s the one who brought in global investors and gave shareholders an S&P500 beating massive return. But it seems Alibaba wants to return to its roots in China under new CFO, Toby Xu.
This latest shakeup is being linked to the Chinese government crackdown on domestic tech behemoths and delisting concerns. Maggie will remain on the board and on the company’s partnership committee, but as Reuters Breaking Views delves into the shifting priorities at Alibaba they point to the fact that little is known about Alibaba’s new CFO, and therefore the company’s new trajectory.
Nigerian acquisition
Global data centre company Equinix is acquiring MainOne, a West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider with a presence in Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, for $320 million. The acquisition is expected to close Q1 of 2022.
Founder Funke Opeke started MainOne in 2010 upon her return to Nigeria from the U.S. Raising over $200 million in equity and debt investment, she built MainOne as West Africa’s first privately owned, open access undersea high-capacity cable submarine. It’s a 7,000-kilometer cable stretching from Portugal to West Africa with landings along Accra in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal, Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and Lagos in Nigeria.
Billionaire needs
Gina Rinehart is Australia’s richest woman. A mining magnate who owns Hancock Prospecting Group and is worth just over A$31 billion (£16.5 billion) according to the Australian Financial Review, she’s decided that one of the biggest problems facing Australia and the state of Queensland is a lack of ports. And not just any ports, but those for Super Yachts.
At a lunch hosted by The Courier Mail to plan for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, Gina decided to send a video message (ironically from the deck of her super yacht) to government officials and business leaders underscoring what she believes is critical for the success of the games - fewer bureaucratic obstacles for marina development. Why? Because Gina says, she can’t find a port to dock in after rough days at sea, and more ports for Super yachts she says “enable standards of living to rise”.
“For instance, we've just experienced days of very rough water from the southern Queensland border to the Capricorn Coast. Then when we arrived at the coast not feeling that great after two very rough sleepless nights and a rough day, many yachts were outside the marinas given the lack of marinas.
And let's not forget superyachts that may want to visit from overseas, bringing passengers who would want to spend in Australia. These superyachts need marinas too - sadly lacking for vessels over 50m. It's time for more marinas large enough to cater, not only for small and medium yachts, but larger ones too.”
Bumper iron ore prices have resulted in a $7.3 billion profit for Hancock Prospecting this quarter. It posted one of the largest profit margins for private companies in Australia with revenue up from $10.5 billion to $16.6 billion. The company paid $2.7 billion in taxes for the year. I guess that entitles Gina to what she thinks her taxes should pay for.
Government business
Warning the Russians
As everyone tries to figure out whether Liz Truss is a worthy successor to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he scrambled to save himself from multiple crises - The U.K. is chairing the G7 this year. And it has fallen on Liz, the U.K.’s foreign secretary to host G7 Foreign Ministers in Liverpool this weekend.
She’s been busy setting the tone, and its distinctly one that is anti-Russia. Ahead of the meet she held talks with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba in London and also met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Liz’s clear warning to Russia is that the country will face “severe economic consequences” if it invades Ukraine.
“If Russia were to take that action, it would be a strategic mistake, and there will be severe consequences for Russia. And what we're doing this weekend is working with like-minded allies to spell that out.”
Key read outs from the Truss-Blinken meet were:
Both agreed their support for Ukraine and expressed deep concern about the build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border. In addition, they said that any incursion by Russia would be a strategic mistake for which there would be serious consequences.
The Foreign Secretary and Secretary Blinken both agreed on the importance of defending and promoting freedom and democracy and the need for a unity of purpose from the G7 to achieve this.
The need for Iran to meaningfully engage on a nuclear deal was stressed.
Both also agreed to further cooperation in areas like tech and security with each other and with like-minded partners.
Aung San Suu Kyi imprisoned again
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was locked away this week by the country’s military junta on two seemingly trumped-up charges in a trial that’s being called a farce in the international community.
One charge had to do with her breaching coronavirus restrictions at a campaign rally last year. The sentence for that was two years in prison. The second charge was for her disturbing public order for which she got another two years. The junta then made a seemingly generous gesture of pardoning half of her 4 year sentence. All this just 10 months after being deposed in a military coup d’état.
Honduras’ big fight ahead (rewrite)
Xiomara Castro has made history. She is officially the first woman to be elected president of Honduras. Now comes the fight to live up to her campaign promise - ease the country’s strict ban on abortion.
Her government’s plan commits to legalize abortion in the case of rape, risk to the mother’s life, and deformities of the foetus. She has also pledged to allow the use and distribution of the morning-after pill. But she is going face an uphill struggle to undo the regressive policies of the conservative post-coup governments that have come before her.
This January, legislators voted to make it more difficult to decriminalize abortion by requiring a three-quarters majority in Congress to change the current law. To understand how difficult it’s going to be to bring about change, consider this — Honduras is one of six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that bans abortion under all circumstances, and it is the only country in the region to ban emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill.
Partnership: Tokyo style
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has announced that the city’s Metropolitan government will start a system that allows same-sex “marriage” in Japan's capital in the next fiscal year from April, per Japan's Kyodo newswire this week.
But before you rush to celebrate marriage equality - there is a glitch in the hitch plans. It’s technically not marriage she is offering but the introduction of a “same-sex partnership” which affords couples some rights but goes nowhere close to offering same sex couples amongst Tokyo’s 14 million residents the same rights as marriage. The plans though are admittedly a step forward in the right direction and were introduced after the Tokyo local assembly unanimously called for such a move.
Caught my eye
Good to know
#Partygate & Omicron Vs. Baby news
The British Prime Minister has been under siege about an illegal Christmas party thrown at the height of 2020’s England lockdown. It’s since emerged that there were not one, but six parties held at No.10 Downing Street, whilst the rest of the country was isolating. Oh, and lest I forget - the U.K. Treasury (Finance Ministry) under Rishi Sunak had a supposed informal party of its own too! If that wasn’t enough hot water to be in, it looks like Boris is about to drown in a whole lot of dirty diapers too.
Carrie Johnson’s delivery schedule couldn’t have been better timed! She and husband Boris announced the birth of a daughter just hours after #Partygate took out the PM’s aide Allegra Stratton, and Boris also announced new restrictions in England to fight the new Omicron variant of Covid. This is Carrie and Boris’s second child together following the birth of son, Wilfred, in April 2020. The little girl is also Boris’ 7th child (that is known about). Talk about distracting from bad news with some good.
Jefferies cancels Christmas
While we all wonder whether to Christmas or not to Christmas, Jefferies Financial Group decided what it will do, this week. The firm’s cancelled all client parties, and most travel plans globally, reimposed mask mandates and is asking employees to work from home where possible. This, per a Reuters report of a memo by the firm’s CEO which stated that the bank had seen 40 cases since the start of December. Jefferies has felt the pain caused by Covid at its senior-most levels. Chief Financial Officer Peg Broadbent died due to Covid complications in March 2020.
Christmas derailment
In Germany, hospitality body Dehoga estimates nearly half of Christmas parties have been called off so far. Per media reports other holiday plans of banks/companies/asset managers in Europe are as follows:
No.10 Downing Street - unsurprisingly all parties are cancelled
Amsterdam - municipally organised New Year’s Еve celebrations are cancelled, including the main celebration on Museumplein, where the national countdown to the New Year usually happens, as well as the firework displays in the city's districts.
Man City football club - Christmas party cancelled
Microsoft - Virtual party
Google - Gatherings moved to 2022
HSBC - Let’s party! No events are cancelled
Wells Fargo - No firm-wide celebrations. Team parties per individual managers.
Legal & General - Team based events
Citi - parties cancelled (per Reuters sources).
JPMorgan - annual festive carols (London)+ year-end party (Paris) - cancelled.
Deutsche Bank - small team gatherings for London staff. Testing required
Schroders - guests to take rapid tests before festive events.
PWC - No large events
Deloitte - Event attendance is personal choice
KPMG - team parties only
Understanding space & dad
Alan Shepard’s daughter has finally experienced what drove her father to make history. 74 year old Laura Shepard Churchley was a young girl when her father first streaked into space. This week she became one of six passengers to head into space for a glorious 10 minutes on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft (named after Alan) as it lifted off from a launch site in Texas. She was one of two non-paying passengers of a six person flight.
In 1961 Alan Shepard, became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space. His was a 15-minute suborbital flight as one of NASA’s original “Mercury Seven” astronauts. A decade later, Shepard walked on the moon as commander of the Apollo 14 mission.
Eye on Afghanistan
Secondary schooling ban confirmed
Despite all their promises and avoidance of the topic, finally we have an answer from the Taliban about what’s really going on with their plans for girls’ education. In an interview with the BBC, acting Deputy Education Minister Abdul Hakim Hemat confirmed that girls would not be allowed to attend secondary school until a new education policy was approved in the new year. He did not give the BBC a timeline for when next year.
The question for the world is now whether we are looking at yet another lost generation of women in Afghanistan - banned from education, and married off underage, to be the property of men? It would be hardly shocking.
Sporty
Félicitations Amelie
Amelie Mauresmo has been appointed as the director of the French Open. She is now the first woman to lead the Roland Garros tournament. The 42 year old former world No 1, was the winner of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. She has also coached several top players, including Andy Murray and Lucas Pouille.
Entertainment
Morocco’s hit maker
Meet Faouzia, the Moroccan-born 20 year old is the new hot thing on the Billboard and Grammy “potential” circuit. She’s already worked with the likes of David Guetta, Kelly Clarkson, and Charlie Puth. Her November 2020 single (a duet with John Legend) called ‘Minefields’ has got the music industry pegging her as the next reliable hit-maker.
On the move
In the U.S.
Lynn Martin becomes President of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in January. She steps into the shoes of Stacey Cunningham, who became the first woman to lead the NYSE in 2018. Lynn is currently president of Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) fixed income and data services business. She started her career at IBM before moving to what became NYSE’s derivatives business in 2001. She has led ICE’s data business since 2015 when it acquired Interactive Data Corp.
Stacey in the meantime is moving on to other challenges but will continue her association with ICE by joining the NYSE board.
Sharon Bowen will replace Jeffrey Sprecher as Chair of the NYSE. Sharon is a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the main US derivatives market regulator. She was also previously appointed by President Obama to serve as Vice Chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).
In the U.K.
Dame Inga Beale is joining the board of directors at Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in the New Year. The former Lloyds CEO has also joined the advisory board of Protiviti, the consulting arm of staffing giant Robert Half.
Lynne Toogood has been appointed Electric vehicle infrastructure company Connected Kerb’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO). She’s previously worked in international private and public sector technology integration in the US, Asia and Europe, and her roles have included head of mobile development and programme director at BT Technology.
In Switzerland
Sarah Youngwood has been appointed group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at UBS. She will take over from the current CFO Kirt Gardner when he steps down in May 2022. The C-suite appointment of the former JP Morgan Chase executive is a rare one for women in European banking.
Marinella Soldi has been elected to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Executive Board. Marinella is the Chair of the Board of Directors at Rai and previously was CEO of Discovery Networks Southern Europe.
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