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Skyscrapers including the Cheese grater and the Gherkin in the City of London. Photograph: Daniel Absorbing/AFP/Getty Images

Eur ozone posts trade deficit

The euro zone has posted its first trade deficit in the years.

Imported goods from the rest of the world surged by 17% year-on-year in January, to €164.5bn, according to Euro stat. Exports rose by 13% to €163.9bn.

This left the euro area with a deficit of €600m; the first since January 2014.

 The wider European Union posted a trade in goods deficit of €16.2bn in January (partly due to Britain).

That included a large trade deficit with China, but a larger surplus with the United States:

High demand for energy in the winter months helped to cause Europe’s trade deficit, says Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight:
 

Imports can also be lifted appreciably in the winter months if colder than usual weather leads to a pick-up in energy imports.
 

However, the weakened traded goods performance in January will make it harder for net trade to contribute positively to Eur ozone GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017 after being a drag in the fourth quarter of 2016.

For More Information :- Graeme Wearden

Jim Price Aero Financial | Banks could earn $332 million from wave of financial services deals

A spate of big deals by financial services companies in Europe could earn investment banks an estimated $332 million in advisory fees, with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) set to take the lion's share of the pot.

In the past two days, Standard Life (SL.L) revealed plans to buy Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L) and Deutschmark Bank (DBKGn.DE) said it would raise 8 billion euros ($8.48 billion) from investors, potentially generating a big payday for investment banks working on those transactions.

Earlier, British bank Shaw brook Group (SHAW.L) said it had received a $1 billion bid from two private equity firms.

Goldman Sachs, which secured a major role in all three deals, has pocketed the highest fees from investment banking in the first two months of 2017 and pushing usual top dog JPM organ (JPM.N) into third place.

The U.S. bank could earn between $18 and $24 million for advising Standard Life while an additional $13 to $18 million could come from its advisory work with Shaw brook, according to estimates from Freeman Consulting.

Aberdeen's corporate brokers, JPM organ and Credit Issue (CSGN.S), which advised the Scottish asset manager on its sale, could share proceeds of between $23 and 30 million.

But the biggest boost to investment banks' fees will come from Deutschmark Bank's 8 billion euro share sale which could pay advisers up to 260 million euros, according to Freeman Consulting, based on underwriting fees of between 2 and 3.25 percent of the total raised.

Goldman Sachs is one of eight banks underwriting Deutschmark's the rights issue alongside Credit Suisse, Barclays (BARC.L), BNP Pariahs (BNPP.PA), Commercialize (CBKG.DE), HSBC (HSBA.L), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Uni Credit (CRDI.MI).

The German bank will also pay more fees to a pool of banks underwriting the public offering of part of its asset management business, estimated at between 2.75 and 3.5 percent of the amount of money raised, according to Freeman.

Appetite for big takeovers and fundraising deals in the financial services industry remains strong even if some have run up against regulatory and political hurdles.

The long-awaited 29 billion euro merger of the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) with German rival Deutschmark Boers (DB1Gn.DE) was expected to pay a combined $184 million in advisory fees. But this deal is hanging by a thread after LSE turned down demands from European antitrust regulators to sell a trading platform in Italy.

Since the start of the year, nearly $10 billion of financial services takeover deals have been announced in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with Britain accounting for almost half of the value, according to Thomson Reuters data. 

For More Information:- Pamela Barbaglia

Department of Finance ‘changing the game’ one loaf at a time

Stars of the Department of Finance recruitment video, which has ensured ‘paleo pear and banana bread’ passes into the annals of bad advertising immortality.

All it took was one graduate recruitment video and an order of “paleo pear and banana bread” to transform the image of the Department of Finance forever.

Thanks to an unintentionally hilarious recruitment video, the government department is now regarded as not just a dull place to work — but also a place to be mercilessly derided.

Such was the reaction to “The Game Changers”, an online video launched to publicist the department’s 2018 graduate recruitment program.

In terms of gaining publicity, the department has played a blinder. The opening shot swoops over the department’s atrium at 1 Canberra Avenue.

Claire, a young graduate ­employee, tells some colleagues: “Hey guys, I am just heading downstairs for my paleo pear and banana bread. Would you like to join me?”

The offer is declined as being “a little bit fancy for me”, by one colleague, who responds that she is “off to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff network meeting”.

In other storylines:

Excitement builds about that night’s young leaders’ network dinner. Tom couldn’t make the graduate run-through meeting at lunchtime but Skyped in.

First assistant secretary Teena Blewitt tells Dane she wants to recruit Jenna for the budget surge team.

For More Information:- THE NATION