Banking Monitor

Bank Breaks the Mold With an All-Women Trading Desk

The small fixed-income desk at Banca Promos is quietly defying Wall Street.
The bond-trading team Banca Promos in Naples.Photographer: Alessandro Loffredo
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Some financial executives met in a remote Swiss town to swap remarks about banking, some of which are duly noted below. Among those at Davos was Commerzbank’s Bettina Orlopp, who outlined how European clients are trying to navigate around the political iceberg known as Greenland. Before we go there, though, let’s take note of the unusual (and unusually successful) bond-trading team at Italy’s Banca Promos, staffed entirely by women.

Jobs are on the chopping block at Societe Generale, which plans to axe 1,800 positions in France. In the UK, salaries and bonuses are getting an overhaul, with cuts in the former and boosts for the latter. Either way, the recipients are headed for riches, but the same can’t be said for all of the world’s ballyhooed fintechs — Brazil just put one out of business. This hardly stems the fintech tide, with Brazil’s Picpay looking to go public and Revolut seeking a license for Peru.

If you’re not a Terminal subscriber with access to Bloomberg Intelligence (and if not, why aren’t you?), take a peek around the paywall by watching Bloomberg TV’s interview with Herman Chan. BI’s always-insightful bank analyst discusses how a rate cap on credit cards might affect US lenders. Donald Trump punted the proposal to Congress after his directive to put a 10% ceiling in place was brushed off by bankers, and not always quietly. But for the most part Wall Street chiefs are laying low and muzzling their staff to avoid the wrath of their new boss. — Rick Green