Category: Banking

MIL-OSI Economics: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

Source: Microsoft

Headline: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

The pace of AI innovation today continues to be extraordinary, and at Microsoft we are focused on helping organizations embrace it. By providing our customers with the most advanced AI technology across every product we build — combined with our unparalleled partner ecosystem and co-innovation approach — we are helping them make real progress in ways that matter. I am proud to share over 100 customer stories from this quarter alone showing how we are helping customers accelerate AI Transformation — no matter where they are on their journey.

Recently during the Microsoft AI Tour, I spoke with customers who shared ways they are adopting Copilots to empower human achievement, democratize intelligence and realize significant business value. I also discussed the concept of an AI-first business process and the differentiation you can drive when bringing together the power of Copilots and human ambition with the autonomous capabilities of an agent. I was inspired by the outcomes our customers have achieved through pragmatic innovation and the progress they are making to evolve the future of industry. I am pleased to share ten stories from the past quarter that illustrate how Copilots have yielded results for our customers, while highlighting AI Transformation experiences in their own words.

Accenture and Avanade have a long history of helping customers implement cutting-edge solutions, with internal testing a key factor in their ability to deliver customizable Microsoft solutions with deep expertise. Putting Microsoft 365 Copilot into the hands of employees helped them realize ways to increase productivity, with 52% of employees seeing a positive impact on the quality of their work, 31% reporting less cognitive fatigue and 84% finding Copilot’s suggestions fair, respectful and non-biased. Accenture also piloted GitHub Copilot to help build better solutions faster with developers spending less time debugging, resulting in 95% of developers reporting they enjoyed coding more.

“Using our extensive Microsoft technology expertise and practical learnings from our own experience implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot, our solutions empower clients to fully tap into Microsoft AI capabilities.”

Veit Siegenheim, Global Future of Work Lead at Avanade

Nigerian multinational financial services group Access Holdings Plc. serves more than 56 million customers across 18 countries. As the business grew and transitioned from a small bank to a major holding company, it adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to address challenges in data management, meeting productivity and software development. With the integration of Copilot into daily tools, the company significantly enhanced efficiency and engagement across the business. Writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots can be launched in 10 days instead of three months and presentations can be prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours. Copilot has also driven a 25% increase in staff engagement during meetings.

“To inspire everyone in the organization to take advantage of AI, we knew we had to integrate AI into the tools people use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot made the most sense and was a natural fit for us.”

Lanre Bamisebi, Executive Director IT and Digitalization at Access Holdings, Plc.

To improve resident services and reinvent customer engagement, the City of Burlington, Ontario, embraced AI and low-code tools to develop new online services that transform and automate internal processes. In just eight weeks, the city utilized Copilot Studio to develop and launch a custom copilot designed to help residents quickly find answers to frequently asked questions. The city also developed a portal that streamlines building permit reviews and enables customers to track the status of their own applications. As a result, the average time it takes to process a permit approval decreased from 15 weeks to 5-7 weeks, allowing more time for city employees to evaluate complex submissions.

“Our staff and citizens do not have to worry about mundane tasks as much anymore. Now they’re able to have rich, collaborative conversations about how to creatively solve problems, making for a much more fulfilling and rewarding work and customer experience.”

Chad MacDonald, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at the City of Burlington

Finastra empowers financial institutions with leading software for lending, payments, treasury, capital markets and universal banking. To transform its marketing processes, the company used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions. Since integrating Copilot, the team reduced time-to-market for campaigns from three months to less than one. Copilot also significantly reduced the time marketers spend generating and gathering insights from each campaign, with employees citing a 20%-50% time savings across tasks like full-funnel analysis, supply management analysis and budget management.

“Copilot makes you more effective because you get better insights, and it makes you more efficient because you can produce results faster. It also makes work more meaningful and fun because your team can focus on what matters — strategy, creativity and everything that sets you apart from the competition.”

Joerg Klueckmann, Head of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Finastra

GoTo Group provides technology infrastructure and solutions across Indonesia. It is bending the curve on innovation by significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot. With real-time code suggestions, chat assistance and the ability to break down complex coding concepts, the company has saved over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate within the first month. With 1,000 engineers already using GitHub Copilot, the tool allows them to innovate faster, reduce errors and focus more time on complex tasks to deliver greater value to their users.

“GitHub Copilot has significantly reduced syntax errors and provided helpful autocomplete features, eliminating repetitive tasks and making coding more efficient. This has allowed me to focus on the more complex elements in building great software.”

Nayana Hodi, Engineering Manager at GoTo Group

South Africa’s Milpark Education faced operational challenges when shifting to online learning due to legacy systems slowing down student interactions and support. Through close collaboration with Enterprisecloud, Milpark migrated its back-office infrastructure to Azure within three months, replacing its legacy student admissions system with an extensible, integrated digital platform powered by technologies such as Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio. In just four months, the educational institution improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalations by more than 30%.

“Using Copilot, agents are now able to use generative AI to rapidly get up to speed on case details and respond to students using standardized templates that help them provide more personalized and professional responses. The results speak for themselves.”

Shaun Dale, Managing Director at Enterprisecloud

For over two decades, Teladoc Health has been offering a broad spectrum of services to patients using virtual care services — from primary care to chronic condition management. After the rapid growth of telehealth adoption post-pandemic, operational efficiency was instrumental in managing internal processes and external client interactions. By deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Copilot in Power Automate, the company has reshaped business processes to help employees realize greater time savings while enhancing the client experience. The Copilots and agents helped employees save five hours per week and thousands of enterprise hours annually by eliminating mundane daily processes and fostering better cross-department communications, while also helping new employees get set up to run their workflows 20% faster.

“Copilot is changing the way we work. It’s not just about saving time; it’s about enhancing the quality of our work, allowing us to focus on what truly matters: delivering exceptional care to our members.”

Heather Underhill, SVP Client Experience & Operations at Teladoc Health

International energy company Uniper adopted a single-cloud strategy with Azure as its foundation to drive rapid AI innovation. To help its employees focus on using core competencies, the company implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition. Its in-house auditors have already increased productivity by 80% by using Copilot to create plans and checklists. Uniper is also using Copilot for Security to help identify risks twice as fast and take appropriate action sooner.

“As an operator of critical infrastructure, we have to contend with a growing number of reports of phishing and attacks by hackers. AI can help us implement a sensible way of managing the sheer number of threats.”

Damian Bunyan, CIO at Uniper

British telecommunications company Vodafone has transformed its workplace productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot, already seeing strong ROI from its adoption. In early trials, Copilot saved employees an average of three hours per week by using the tool to draft emails, summarize meetings and search for information. Copilot is also enriching the employee experience, with 90% of users reporting they are eager to continue using Copilot and 60% citing improved work quality. For Vodafone’s legal and compliance team, Copilot has significantly accelerated the processes of drafting new contracts, reducing the time required to complete this work by one hour. As a result of these efficiency gains, Vodafone is rolling out Copilot to 68,000 employees.

“Our AI journey is focusing on three areas: operational efficiency inside the organization; rewiring the business to provide an enhanced customer experience; and unlocking growth opportunities through new products and services that we can create around generative AI. Copilot will help drive all three.”

Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone

Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a global leader in roll-on/roll-off shipping and vehicle logistics, is empowering better decision-making while fostering a culture of innovation and inclusion with AI tools. After participating in an early access program, the company broadly adopted Microsoft Copilot 365 to help streamline processes, enhance data management and improve communication across its 28 countries. To help strengthen Copilot immersion and realize value faster, they introduced a seven-week Microsoft Viva campaign to teach, communicate and measure Copilot adoption. The campaign resulted in 80% of employees using Copilot, with some teams realizing time savings of at least 30 minutes per day. The company also uses Copilot Dashboard to manage usage and gather user feedback, helping demonstrate ROI and measure results outside of time savings alone.

“Copilot changes the way we think and work while keeping us curious and open to embracing opportunities. I think that is the sort of benefit that is not so measurable, but important. So, my time management and structured approach to my everyday work life has been enhanced with Copilot and Viva.”

Martin Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen

I believe that no other company has a better foundation to facilitate your AI Transformation than Microsoft. As we look ahead to Microsoft Ignite, I am excited by the latest innovation we will announce as a company, and the customer and partner experiences we will share. We remain committed to driving innovation that creates value in ways that matter most to our customers, and believe we are at our best when we serve others. There has never been a better opportunity for us to accomplish our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more than now, and I look forward to the ways we will partner together to help you achieve more with AI.

AI Customer Stories from FY25 Q1

Accelleron: Accelleron turbocharges IT support solutions and resolution times with Power Platform

Agnostic Intelligence: Agnostic Intelligence transforms risk management with Azure OpenAI Service, achieving up to 80% time savings

Alaska Airlines: How Alaska Airlines uses technology to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup

Allgeier: Allgeier empowers organizations to own and expand data operations

ANZ Group: ANZ launches first-of-its-kind AI Immersion Centre in partnership with Microsoft

Asahi Europe & International: Asahi Europe & International charts new paths in employee productivity with Microsoft Copilot

Auburn University: Auburn University empowers thousands of students, faculty and staff to explore new ways of using AI with Microsoft Copilot

Avanade: Avanade equips 10,000 employees with Microsoft Fabric skills to help customers become AI-driven and future-ready

Azerbaijan Airlines: Azerbaijan Airlines expands data access to increase efficiency by 70% with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Aztec Group: Aztec Group uses Copilot for Microsoft 365 to enhance the client experience whilst powering efficiencies

Bader Sultan: Bader Sultan uses Microsoft Copilot to boost productivity and serve clients faster

BaptistCare: BaptistCare supports aging Australians and tackles workforce shortages through Microsoft 365 Copilot

Barbeque Mania!: Barbecue Mania! centralizes your data with Microsoft Azure and saves $3.5 million over 5 years

Bank of Montreal: Bank of Montreal reduces costs by 30% with Azure

BlackRock: How BlackRock’s ‘flight crew’ helped Copilot for Microsoft 365 take off

Capita: Capita uses GitHub Copilot to free developers and deliver faster for customers

Cassidy: Cassidy and Azure OpenAI Service: Making AI simple for all

Cdiscount: Cdiscount, Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot join forces for e-commerce

Celebal: Celebal drives custom business transformations with Microsoft Fabric

Chalhoub Group: Chalhoub Group’s People Analytics team speeds reporting with Microsoft Fabric

ClearBank: ClearBank processes 20 million payments a month — up from 8,000 — with platform built on Azure

Cloud Services: Faster with Fabric: Cloud Services breaks new ground with Microsoft

Coles Supermarkets: Coles Supermarkets embraces AI, cloud applications in 500-plus stores with Azure Stack HCI

Commercial Bank of Dubai: Commercial Bank of Dubai: innovating a future proof banking platform with Microsoft Azure

CPFL: CPFL expands its data repository by 1500% with Mega Lake project on Microsoft Azure

Cummins: Cummins uses Microsoft Purview to automate information governance more efficiently in the age of AI

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA): DEWA pioneers the use of Azure AI Services in delivering utility services

Digi Rogaland: Digi Rogaland prioritizes student safety with Bouvet and Microsoft Fabric

Eastman: Eastman catalyzes cybersecurity defenses with Copilot for Security

E.ON: A modern workspace in transition: E.ON relies on generative AI to manage data floods with Copilot for Microsoft 365

EPAM Systems: Efficiency inside and out: EPAM streamlines communications for teams and clients with Copilot for Microsoft 365

EY: EY redefines sustainability performance management with Microsoft

Fast Shop: Fast Shop consolidated its data platform on Microsoft Azure and is now ready for the era of AI

FIDO Tech: AI tool uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water

Florida Crystals Corporation: Telecom expenses for Florida Crystals dropped 78% with Teams Phone and Teams Rooms

Four Agency: Four Agency innovates with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver better work faster

Fractal: Fractal builds innovative retail and consumer goods solutions with Microsoft’s AI offerings including Azure OpenAI Service

GE Aerospace: GE Aerospace launches company-wide generative AI platform for employees

Georgia Tech Institute for Data Engineering and Science: Georgia Tech is accelerating the future of electric vehicles using Azure OpenAI Service

Hitachi Solutions: Hitachi Solutions transforms internal operations with Microsoft Fabric

IBM Consulting: How IBM Consulting drives AI-powered innovation with Fabric expertise

iLink Digital: Transforming user-driven analytics with Microsoft Fabric

Insight Enterprises: Insight Enterprises achieves 93% Microsoft Copilot use rate, streamlining business operations to pave the way for customer success

Intesa Sanpaolo: Intesa Sanpaolo accrues big cybersecurity dividends with Microsoft Sentinel, Copilot for Security

ITOCHU Corporation: ITOCHU uses Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service delivering instant recommendations

IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU): IU revolutionizes learning for its students with the AI study buddy Syntea and Azure OpenAI Service

John Cockerill: John Cockerill engages pro developers to build enterprise-wide apps with Power Platform

Kaya Limited: Kaya Limited elevates customer experience and operational efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI

LexisNexis: LexisNexis elevates legal work with AI using Copilot for Microsoft 365

Lionbridge: Lionbridge disrupts localization industry using Azure OpenAI Service and reduces turnaround times by up to 30%

Lotte Hotels & Resorts: Hotelier becomes a citizen developer, building a smart work culture based on Power Platform and hyper-automated work environment

Lumen Technologies: Microsoft and Lumen Technologies partner to power the future of AI and enable digital transformation to benefit hundreds of millions of customers

LS ELECTRIC: LS ELECTRIC uses data to optimize power consumption with Sight Machine and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing

MAIRE: MAIRE, transforming the energy sector and an entire company culture with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Mandelbulb Technologies: Early-adopter Mandelbulb Technologies finds success with Fabric

McKnight Foundation: McKnight Foundation accelerates its mission and supports community partners with Microsoft 365 Copilot

MISO: MISO undergoes a digital transformation with Microsoft Industry Solutions Delivery

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI): Recognizing the essence of AI and building the future with clients: MHI’s DI to create proprietary architecture using Azure OpenAI Service

Molslinjen: Molslinjen develops an AI-powered dynamic pricing strategy with Azure Databricks

National Australia Bank: National Australia Bank invests in an efficient, cloud-managed future with Windows 11 Enterprise

Nagel-Group: Works agreements and contracts: Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees find information

NC Fusion: Elevating experiences with AI, from productivity to personalization

National Football League Players Association: The National Football League Players Association and Xoriant use Azure AI Services to provide protection to players across 32 teams

Northwestern Medicine: Northwestern Medicine deploys DAX Copilot embedded in Epic within its enterprise to improve patient and physician experiences

Oncoclínicas: Oncoclínicas creates web portal and mobile app to store clinical and medical procedures with Azure Cognitive Services

PA Consulting: PA Consulting saves hours a week with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales

Parexel: Parexel speeds operational insights by 70% using Microsoft Azure, accelerating data product delivery and reducing manual work

Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC): From weeks to days, hours to seconds: PIC automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot

PKSHA Technology: PKSHA leans on Copilot for Microsoft 365 as part of their team

Planted: Planted combines economic growth and environmental sustainability — with Microsoft Azure OpenAI

Profisee: Profisee eliminates data siloes within Microsoft Fabric

Programa De Atención Domiciliaria: The Home Care Program in Panama helped more than 17,000 people with the power of Microsoft Power Automate

PwC: PwC scales GenAI for enterprise with Microsoft Azure AI

QNET: QNET increases security response efficiency 60 percent with Microsoft Security Solutions

RTI International: Research nonprofit RTI International improves the human condition with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Rijksmuseum: Rijksmuseum transforms how art lovers engage with the museum, with Dynamics 365

Sandvik Coromant: Sandvik Coromant hones sales experience with Microsoft Copilot for Sales

Share.Market: Share.Market redefines the investment experience with Microsoft Azure

Simpson Associates: Simpson Associates spurs justice for at-risk communities with Azure AI

Softchoice: Softchoice harnesses Microsoft Copilot and reduces content creation time by up to 70%, accelerating customer AI journeys with its experience

Sonata Software: Sonata Software goes from early adopter to market leader with Fabric

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS): SWISS targets 30% cost savings, increased passenger satisfaction with Azure

SymphonyAI: SymphonyAI is solving real problems across industries with Azure AI

Syndigo: Syndigo accelerates digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% with Azure

TAL: TAL and Microsoft join forces on strategic technology deal

Tecnológico de Monterrey: Tecnológico de Monterrey university pioneers ambitious AI-powered learning ecosystem

Telstra: Telstra and Microsoft expand strategic partnership to power Australia’s AI future

The University of Sydney: The University of Sydney utilizes the power of Azure OpenAI to allow professors to create their own AI assistants

Torfaen County Borough: Torfaen County Borough Council streamlines organizational support for Social Care using Copilot for Microsoft 365

Trace3: Trace3 expands the realm of clients’ possibilities with Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Copilot

Unilever: Unilever is reinventing the fundamentals of research and development with Azure Quantum Elements

University of Wisconsin: Microsoft collaborates with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin–Madison to further advance AI foundation models for medical imaging

Via: Marketplace, online support, and remote work: Via embraces the digital world supported by Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure

Virgin Atlantic: How Virgin Atlantic is flying higher with Copilot

Virgin Money: Redi, set, go: Virgin Money delivers exceptional customer experiences with Microsoft Copilot Studio

Visier: Visier achieves performance improvements of up to five times using Azure OpenAI Service

World2Meet (W2M): World2Meet, the travel company providing a better customer experience and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure

Xavier College: Xavier College begins a process of modernizing its student information systems on Dynamics 365 and AI, unlocking powerful insights

ZEISS: More time for research: ZEISS supports businesses and researchers with ZEISS arivis Cloud based on Microsoft Azure

ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF Group): ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps on Power Platform

Tags: Azure, Azure AI Services, Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Databricks, Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Quantum Elements, Azure Stack HCI, Copilot, Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Security, Copilot Studio, Dax Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft AI Tour, Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, Power Automate, Power BI

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: ICC and Palestine Emerging team up to foster sustainable prosperity in the Middle East

Source: International Chamber of Commerce

Headline: ICC and Palestine Emerging team up to foster sustainable prosperity in the Middle East

In addition to causing devastating human losses in the region, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has led to substantial negative economic consequences. Prior to the war, Palestine already had one of the lowest GDP per capitas in the region. Under the Palestine Emerging growth scenario, GDP can more than double to potentially reach US$36 billion by 2050, compared to US$19 billion for the base case. Palestine Emerging develops and validates ideas, turning them into detailed plans and investable projects.

Formalising the partnership, ICC and Palestine Emerging committed to a set of joint initiatives aimed at growing the Palestinian economy, to the benefit of the Middle East region at large. These include training for Palestinian SMEs, building export capacity and promoting investment opportunities in Palestine. ICC and Palestine Emerging will also work together to identify opportunities to reduce trade barriers, accelerate dispute resolution and increase cross-border trade.

Palestine Emerging Executive Director Shireen Shelleh said:

More than just support, this Trade Gamechanger can reshape a key macroeconomic factor, to significantly accelerate the Palestinian economy. Our partnership with ICC, the global body for commerce, will help produce a step-change for economic development and cross-regional collaboration as we work to prepare more investable conditions in the West Bank and ultimately in Gaza.

ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said:

ICC is uniquely positioned to support the economic reconstruction and recovery of conflict-affected areas, leveraging the knowledge and know-how from across our global network. Our partnership with Palestine Emerging – which draws on unique contributions from regional and international actors – will advance our ultimate goal to enable business to support peace and prosperity for everyone, everywhere in line with our founding purpose.

About Palestine Emerging

Palestine Emerging is a pro-bono coalition of over 100 leaders and experts from Palestinian business leaders, international financial organisations and global economic development experts, coalesced around a robust economic blueprint of what needs to happen for Gaza and the West Bank to see substantial reconstruction and a sustainable road to prosperity and economic growth.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: C&F Financial Corporation Announces Net Income for Third Quarter and First Nine Months

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TOANO, Va., Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — C&F Financial Corporation (the Corporation) (NASDAQ: CFFI), the holding company for C&F Bank, today reported consolidated net income of $5.4 million for the third quarter of 2024, compared to $5.8 million for the third quarter of 2023. The Corporation reported consolidated net income of $13.9 million for the first nine months of 2024, compared to $18.7 million for the first nine months of 2023. The following table presents selected financial performance highlights for the periods indicated:


	For The Quarter Ended						For the Nine Months Ended
Consolidated Financial Highlights (unaudited)	9/30/2024			9/30/2023			9/30/2024			9/30/2023
Consolidated net income (000’s)	$	5,420		$	5,777		$	13,889		$	18,658

Earnings per share – basic and diluted	$	1.65		$	1.71		$	4.15		$	5.41

Annualized return on average equity		9.74	%		11.28	%		8.47	%		12.22	%
Annualized return on average tangible common equity¹		11.16	%		13.19	%		9.74	%		14.18	%
Annualized return on average assets		0.86	%		0.96	%		0.75	%		1.04	%

________________________
¹ For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures, which are not calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), please see “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” below.

“We are pleased with our results from the third quarter,” commented Tom Cherry, President and Chief Executive Officer of C&F Financial Corporation. “Both loans and deposits demonstrated solid growth, and the community banking segment showed increased earnings when compared to the previous quarter. Despite market and industry challenges, the consumer finance and mortgage banking segments remained profitable. Our net interest margin was relatively flat when compared to the second quarter, which was expected, and asset quality, liquidity and capital all remain strong.”

Key highlights for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024 are as follows.

Community banking segment loans grew $158.5 million, or 16.6 percent annualized, and $185.6 million, or 14.9 percent, compared to December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively;
Consumer finance segment loans grew $8.8 million, or 2.5 percent annualized, and $6.1 million, or 1.3 percent, compared to December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively;
Deposits increased $69.8 million, or 4.5 percent annualized, and $107.5 million, or 5.3 percent, compared to December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively;
Consolidated annualized net interest margin was 4.13 percent for the third quarter of 2024 compared to 4.29 percent for the third quarter of 2023 and 4.12 percent in the second quarter of 2024;
The community banking segment recorded provision for credit losses of $700,000 and $1.7 million for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, respectively, compared to $500,000 and $1.6 million for the same periods in 2023;
The consumer finance segment recorded provision for credit losses of $3.0 million and $8.1 million for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, respectively, compared to $1.6 million and $4.3 million for the same periods in 2023;
The consumer finance segment experienced net charge-offs at an annualized rate of 2.36 percent of average total loans for the first nine months of 2024, compared to 1.75 percent for the first nine months of 2023;
Mortgage banking segment loan originations were $157.0 million for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of $27.3 million, or 21.1 percent, and an increase of $11.0 million, or 7.5 percent, compared to the third quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, respectively;
During the third quarter of 2024, the community banking segment opened a new retail banking branch in Colonial Heights, Virginia and announced the closure of its Hampton, Virginia branch in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Community Banking Segment. The community banking segment reported net income of $5.3 million and $13.9 million for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, respectively, compared to $5.7 million and $17.7 million for the same periods in 2023. The decreases in community banking segment net income were due primarily to:

higher interest expense due primarily to higher rates on deposits and higher balances of interest-bearing deposits, partially offset by lower balances of borrowings;
higher salaries and employee benefits expense for the first nine months of 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023, which have generally increased in line with market conditions. Salaries and employee benefits expense decreased to $8.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $9.1 million and $9.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 and March 31, 2024, respectively, due primarily to a reduction in headcount through attrition;
higher occupancy expense related to branch network improvements, including the relocation of a branch and the opening of a new branch; and
higher data processing and consulting costs related to investments in operational technology to improve resilience, efficiency and customer experience;

partially offset by:

higher interest income resulting from the effects of higher interest rates on asset yields and higher average balances of loans, offset in part by lower average balances of securities; and
higher wealth management services income as assets under management increased 19.0 percent for the first nine months of 2024, as compared to the same period in 2023.

Average loans increased $186.5 million, or 15.2 percent, for the third quarter of 2024 and increased $158.4 million, or 13.2 percent, for the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same periods in 2023, due primarily to growth in the construction, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage segments of the loan portfolio. Average deposits increased $135.8 million, or 6.8 percent, for the third quarter of 2024 and increased $101.2 million, or 5.1 percent, for the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same periods in 2023, due primarily to higher balance of time deposits, partially offset by decreases in savings and interest-bearing demand deposits and noninterest-bearing demand deposits.

Average loan yields and average costs of interest-bearing deposits were higher for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, compared to the same periods of 2023, due primarily to the effects of the higher interest rate environment.

The community banking segment’s nonaccrual loans were $628,000 at September 30, 2024 compared to $406,000 at December 31, 2023. The community banking segment recorded provision for credit losses of $700,000 and $1.7 million for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, respectively, compared to $500,000 and $1.6 million for the same periods of 2023. At September 30, 2024, the allowance for credit losses increased to $17.5 million, compared to $16.1 million at December 31, 2023. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans decreased to 1.22 percent at September 30, 2024 from 1.26 percent at December 31, 2023. The increases in provision and allowance for credit losses are due primarily to growth in the loan portfolio. Management believes that the level of the allowance for credit losses is adequate to reflect the net amount expected to be collected.

Mortgage Banking Segment. The mortgage banking segment reported net income of $351,000 for the third quarter of 2024, compared to a net loss of $5,000 for the same period of 2023, due primarily to:

higher gains on sales of loans due to higher volume of mortgage loan originations; and
higher mortgage banking fee income;

partially offset by:

higher variable expenses tied to mortgage loan origination volume such as commissions and bonuses, reported in salaries and employee benefits, and data processing expenses.

The mortgage banking segment reported net income of $1.0 million for the first nine months of 2024, compared to $568,000 for the same period of 2023, due primarily to:

lower variable expenses tied to mortgage loan origination volume such as commissions and bonuses, reported in salaries and employee benefits, as well as mortgage banking loan processing expenses and data processing expenses;
lower occupancy expense due to an effort to reduce overhead costs;
higher mortgage banking fee income; and
relatively unchanged gains on sales of loans and mortgage loan production volume;

partially offset by:

lower mortgage lender services income due lower mortgage loan production volume across the industry.

The sustained elevated level of mortgage interest rates, combined with higher home prices and lower levels of inventory, has led to a level of mortgage loan originations in 2024 and 2023 for the industry that is lower than recent historical averages. Mortgage loan originations for the mortgage banking segment were $157.0 million for the third quarter of 2024, comprised of $15.0 million refinancings and $142.0 million home purchases, compared to $129.7 million, comprised of $11.9 million refinancings and $117.8 million home purchases, for the same period in 2023. Mortgage loan originations for the mortgage banking segment were $397.3 million for the first nine months of 2024, comprised of $34.3 million refinancings and $363.0 million home purchases, compared to $400.6 million, comprised of $40.2 million refinancings and $360.4 million home purchases, for the same period in 2023. Mortgage loan originations in the third quarter of 2024 increased $11.0 million compared to the second quarter of 2024 due in part to normal industry seasonal fluctuations. Mortgage loan segment originations include originations of loans sold to the community banking segment, at prices similar to those paid by third-party investors. These transactions are eliminated to reach consolidated totals.

During the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, the mortgage banking segment recorded a reversal of provision for indemnification losses of $100,000 and $375,000, respectively, compared to a reversal of provision for indemnification losses of $200,000 and $435,000 in the same periods of 2023. The mortgage banking segment increased reserves for indemnification losses during 2020 based on widespread forbearance on mortgage loans and economic uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The release of indemnification reserves in 2024 and 2023 was due primarily to improvement in the mortgage banking segment’s assessment of borrower payment performance, lower volume of mortgage loan originations in recent years and other factors affecting expected losses on mortgage loans sold in the secondary market, such as time since origination. Management believes that the indemnification reserve is sufficient to absorb losses related to loans that have been sold in the secondary market.

Consumer Finance Segment. The consumer finance segment reported net income of $311,000 and $1.1 million for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, respectively, compared to net income of $682,000 and $2.3 million for the same periods in 2023. The decreases in consumer finance segment net income were due primarily to:

higher provision for credit losses due primarily to increased net charge-offs and loan growth; and
higher interest expense on variable rate borrowings from the community banking segment as a result of higher interest rates and higher balances of borrowings;

partially offset by:

higher interest income resulting from the effects of higher interest rates on loan yields and higher average balances of loans;
lower salaries and employee benefits expense due to an effort to reduce overhead costs; and
lower loan recovery expense related to growth in loans with stronger credit quality and efficiency initiatives within the collections department.

Average loans increased $8.3 million, or 1.8 percent, for the third quarter of 2024 and increased $3.0 million, or less than one percent, for the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same periods in 2023. The consumer finance segment experienced net charge-offs at an annualized rate of 2.36 percent of average total loans for the first nine months of 2024, compared to 1.75 percent for the first nine months of 2023, due primarily to an increase in the number of delinquent loans and repossessions and a higher average charge-off per unit as a result of larger loan amounts due to higher automobile values during 2020 and 2021 and a decline in wholesale values of used automobiles since then. At September 30, 2024, total delinquent loans as a percentage of total loans was 3.49 percent, compared to 4.09 percent at December 31, 2023, 3.30 percent at September 30, 2023, and 3.51 percent at June 30, 2024. Delinquency and loss rates have generally returned to pre-pandemic levels due to the passage of time since the expiration of stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits that benefitted borrowers.

The consumer finance segment, at times, offers payment deferrals as a portfolio management technique to achieve higher ultimate cash collections on select loan accounts. A significant reliance on deferrals as a means of managing collections may result in a lengthening of the loss confirmation period, which would increase expectations of credit losses inherent in the portfolio. The average amounts deferred on a monthly basis during the third quarter and first nine months of 2024 were 1.91 percent and 1.70 percent of average automobile loans outstanding compared to 2.20 percent and 1.83 percent during the same periods during 2023. The allowance for credit losses was $23.2 million at September 30, 2024 and $23.6 million at December 31, 2023. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans decreased to 4.87 percent at September 30, 2024 from 5.03 percent at December 31, 2023, primarily as a result of growth in loans with stronger credit quality while balances of loans with lower credit quality declined. Management believes that the level of the allowance for credit losses is adequate to reflect the net amount expected to be collected. If loan performance deteriorates resulting in further elevated delinquencies or net charge-offs, the provision for credit losses may increase in future periods.

Liquidity. The objective of the Corporation’s liquidity management is to ensure the continuous availability of funds to satisfy the credit needs of our customers and the demands of our depositors, creditors and investors. Uninsured deposits represent an estimate of amounts above the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance coverage limit of $250,000. As of September 30, 2024, the Corporation’s uninsured deposits were approximately $607.6 million, or 28.5 percent of total deposits. Excluding intercompany cash holdings and municipal deposits, which are secured with pledged securities, amounts uninsured were approximately $455.6 million, or 21.3 percent of total deposits as of September 30, 2024. The Corporation’s liquid assets, which include cash and due from banks, interest-bearing deposits at other banks and nonpledged securities available for sale, were $287.4 million and borrowing availability was $583.8 million as of September 30, 2024, which in total exceed uninsured deposits, excluding intercompany cash holdings and secured municipal deposits, by $415.6 million as of September 30, 2024.

In addition to deposits, the Corporation utilizes short-term and long-term borrowings as sources of funds. Short-term borrowings from the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Home loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLB) may be used to fund the Corporation’s day-to-day operations. Short-term borrowings also include securities sold under agreements to repurchase. Total borrowings increased to $142.3 million at September 30, 2024 from $109.5 million at December 31, 2023 due primarily to higher borrowings from the FHLB. Borrowings decreased $4.7 million from $147.0 million at September 30, 2023.

Additional sources of liquidity available to the Corporation include cash flows from operations, loan payments and payoffs, deposit growth, maturities, calls and sales of securities and the issuance of brokered certificates of deposit.

Capital and Dividends. The Corporation declared a quarterly cash dividend for the third quarter of 2024 of $0.44 per share, which was paid on October 1, 2024. This dividend represents a payout ratio of 26.7 percent of earnings per share for the third quarter of 2024. The Board of Directors of the Corporation continually reviews the amount of cash dividends per share and the resulting dividend payout ratio in light of changes in economic conditions, current and future capital requirements, and expected future earnings.

Total consolidated equity increased $10.4 million at September 30, 2024, compared to December 31, 2023, due primarily to net income and lower unrealized losses in the market value of securities available for sale, which are recognized as a component of other comprehensive income, partially offset by share repurchases and dividends paid on the Corporation’s common stock. The Corporation’s securities available for sale are fixed income debt securities and their unrealized loss position is a result of rising market interest rates since they were purchased. The Corporation expects to recover its investments in debt securities through scheduled payments of principal and interest and unrealized losses are not expected to affect the earnings or regulatory capital of the Corporation or C&F Bank. The accumulated other comprehensive loss related to the Corporation’s securities available for sale decreased to $17.2 million at September 30, 2024 compared to $25.0 million at December 31, 2023 due primarily to fluctuations in market interest rates of debt securities.

As of September 30, 2024, the most recent notification from the FDIC categorized the C&F Bank as well capitalized under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. To be categorized as well capitalized under regulations applicable at September 30, 2024, C&F Bank was required to maintain minimum total risk-based, Tier 1 risk-based, CET1 risk-based and Tier 1 leverage ratios. In addition to the regulatory risk-based capital requirements, C&F Bank must maintain a capital conservation buffer of additional capital of 2.5 percent of risk-weighted assets as required by the Basel III capital rules. The Corporation and C&F Bank exceeded these ratios at September 30, 2024. For additional information, see “Capital Ratios” below. The above mentioned ratios are not impacted by unrealized losses on securities available for sale. In the event that all of these unrealized losses became realized into earnings, the Corporation and C&F Bank would both continue to exceed minimum capital requirements, including the capital conservation buffer, and be considered well capitalized.

In December 2023, the Board of Directors authorized a program, effective January 1, 2024, to repurchase up to $10.0 million of the Corporation’s common stock through December 31, 2024. During the third quarter and first nine months of 2024, the Corporation repurchased 60,520 shares, or $3.2 million, and 149,594 shares, or $7.3 million, of its common stock under this share repurchase program, respectively.

About C&F Financial Corporation. The Corporation’s common stock is listed for trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol CFFI. The common stock closed at a price of $61.78 per share on October 28, 2024. At September 30, 2024, the book value per share of the Corporation was $70.29 and the tangible book value per share was $62.13. For more information about the Corporation’s tangible book value per share, which is not calculated in accordance with GAAP, please see “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” below.

C&F Bank operates 32 banking offices and four commercial loan offices located throughout eastern and central Virginia and offers full wealth management services through its subsidiary C&F Wealth Management, Inc. C&F Mortgage Corporation and its subsidiary C&F Select LLC provide mortgage loan origination services through offices located in Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia. C&F Finance Company provides automobile, marine and recreational vehicle loans through indirect lending programs offered in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia from its headquarters in Henrico, Virginia.

Additional information regarding the Corporation’s products and services, as well as access to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), are available on the Corporation’s website at http://www.cffc.com.

Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures. The accounting and reporting policies of the Corporation conform to GAAP in the United States and prevailing practices in the banking industry. However, certain non-GAAP measures are used by management to supplement the evaluation of the Corporation’s performance. These include adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share, adjusted return on average equity, adjusted return on average assets, return on average tangible common equity (ROTCE), adjusted ROTCE, tangible book value per share, price to tangible book value ratio, and the following fully-taxable equivalent (FTE) measures: interest income on loans-FTE, interest income on securities-FTE, total interest income-FTE and net interest income-FTE.

Management believes that the use of these non-GAAP measures provides meaningful information about operating performance by enhancing comparability with other financial periods, other financial institutions, and between different sources of interest income. The non-GAAP measures used by management enhance comparability by excluding the effects of balances of intangible assets, including goodwill, that vary significantly between institutions, and tax benefits that are not consistent across different opportunities for investment. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP-basis financial statements, and other bank holding companies may define or calculate these or similar measures differently. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures used by the Corporation to evaluate and measure the Corporation’s performance to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is presented below.

Forward-Looking Statements. This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of the Corporation’s management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Corporation’s management, and reflect management’s current views with respect to certain events that could have an impact on the Corporation’s future financial performance. These statements, including without limitation statements made in Mr. Cherry’s quote and statements regarding future interest rates and conditions in the Corporation’s industries and markets, relate to expectations concerning matters that are not historical fact, may express “belief,” “intention,” “expectation,” “potential” and similar expressions, and may use the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “intend,” “target,” “should,” “could,” or similar expressions. These statements are inherently uncertain, and there can be no assurance that the underlying assumptions will prove to be accurate. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, without limitation, statements regarding expected future operations and financial performance, expected trends in yields on loans, expected future recovery of investments in debt securities, future dividend payments, deposit trends, charge-offs and delinquencies, changes in cost of funds and net interest margin and items affecting net interest margin, strategic business initiatives and the anticipated effects thereof, changes in interest rates and the effects thereof on net interest income, mortgage loan originations, expectations regarding C&F Bank’s regulatory risk-based capital requirement levels, technology initiatives, our diversified business strategy, asset quality, credit quality, adequacy of allowances for credit losses and the level of future charge-offs, market interest rates and housing inventory and resulting effects in mortgage loan origination volume, sources of liquidity, adequacy of the reserve for indemnification losses related to loans sold in the secondary market, the effect of future market and industry trends, the effects of future interest rate fluctuations, cybersecurity risks, and inflation. Factors that could have a material adverse effect on the operations and future prospects of the Corporation include, but are not limited to, changes in:

interest rates, such as volatility in short-term interest rates or yields on U.S. Treasury bonds, increases in interest rates following actions by the Federal Reserve and increases or volatility in mortgage interest rates
general business conditions, as well as conditions within the financial markets
general economic conditions, including unemployment levels, inflation rates, supply chain disruptions and slowdowns in economic growth
general market conditions, including disruptions due to pandemics or significant health hazards, severe weather conditions, natural disasters, terrorist activities, financial crises, political crises, war and other military conflicts (including the ongoing military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East) or other major events, or the prospect of these events
average loan yields and average costs of interest-bearing deposits
financial services industry conditions, including bank failures or concerns involving liquidity
labor market conditions, including attracting, hiring, training, motivating and retaining qualified employees
the legislative/regulatory climate, regulatory initiatives with respect to financial institutions, products and services, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB) and the regulatory and enforcement activities of the CFPB
monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. Government, including policies of the FDIC, U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the effect of these policies on interest rates and business in our markets
demand for financial services in the Corporation’s market area
the value of securities held in the Corporation’s investment portfolios
the quality or composition of the loan portfolios and the value of the collateral securing those loans
the inventory level, demand and fluctuations in the pricing of used automobiles, including sales prices of repossessed vehicles
the level of automobile loan delinquencies or defaults and our ability to repossess automobiles securing delinquent automobile finance installment contracts
the level of net charge-offs on loans and the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses
the level of indemnification losses related to mortgage loans sold
demand for loan products
deposit flows
the strength of the Corporation’s counterparties
the availability of lines of credit from the FHLB and other counterparties
the soundness of other financial institutions and any indirect exposure related to the closing of other financial institutions and their impact on the broader market through other customers, suppliers and partners, or that the conditions which resulted in the liquidity concerns experienced by closed financial institutions may also adversely impact, directly or indirectly, other financial institutions and market participants with which the Corporation has commercial or deposit relationships
competition from both banks and non-banks, including competition in the non-prime automobile finance markets and marine and recreational vehicle finance markets
services provided by, or the level of the Corporation’s reliance upon third parties for key services
the commercial and residential real estate markets, including changes in property values
the demand for residential mortgages and conditions in the secondary residential mortgage loan markets
the Corporation’s technology initiatives and other strategic initiatives
the Corporation’s branch expansions and consolidations plans
cyber threats, attacks or events
C&F Bank’s product offerings
accounting principles, policies and guidelines, and elections by the Corporation thereunder

These risks and uncertainties should be considered in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. For additional information on risk factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein, see the Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and other reports filed with the SEC. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


C&F Financial CorporationSelected Financial Information (dollars in thousands, except for per share data) (unaudited)

Financial Condition	9/30/2024		12/31/2023		9/30/2023
Interest-bearing deposits in other banks	$	32,507	$	58,777	$	53,407
Investment securities – available for sale, at fair value		409,045		462,444		460,653
Loans held for sale, at fair value		44,677		14,176		25,469
Loans, net:
Community Banking segment		1,414,576		1,257,557		1,230,694
Consumer Finance segment		454,062		444,931		446,787
Total assets		2,550,904		2,438,498		2,421,705
Deposits		2,135,891		2,066,130		2,028,429
Repurchase agreements		28,643		30,705		28,660
Other borrowings		113,683		78,834		118,388
Total equity		227,958		217,516		200,380


	For The				For The
	Quarter Ended				Nine Months Ended
Results of Operations	9/30/2024		9/30/2023		9/30/2024		9/30/2023
Interest income	$	36,131	$	31,686	$	103,151	$	91,729
Interest expense		11,442		7,224		31,476		17,964
Provision for credit losses:
Community Banking segment		700		500		1,650		1,550
Consumer Finance segment		3,000		1,550		8,100		4,250
Noninterest income:
Gains on sales of loans		1,825		1,220		4,814		4,930
Other		6,947		4,994		18,774		16,882
Noninterest expenses:
Salaries and employee benefits		13,921		12,921		41,625		40,841
Other		9,170		8,605		26,989		25,969
Income tax expense		1,250		1,323		3,010		4,309
Net income		5,420		5,777		13,889		18,658

Fully-taxable equivalent (FTE) amounts¹
Interest income on loans-FTE		33,070		28,423		94,166		81,999
Interest income on securities-FTE		2,958		3,134		9,033		9,589
Total interest income-FTE		36,417		31,936		104,010		92,424
Net interest income-FTE		24,975		24,712		72,534		74,460

________________________
¹For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures, please see “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”


	For the Quarter Ended
	9/30/2024							9/30/2023
	Average			Income/		Yield/		Average			Income/		Yield/
Yield Analysis	Balance			Expense		Rate		Balance			Expense		Rate
Assets
Securities:
Taxable	$	318,834		$	1,828	2.29	%	$	414,036		$	2,207	2.13	%
Tax-exempt		119,253			1,130	3.79			110,182			927	3.37
Total securities		438,087			2,958	2.70			524,218			3,134	2.39
Loans:
Community banking segment		1,411,337			19,797	5.58			1,224,791			15,887	5.15
Mortgage banking segment		40,232			597	5.90			30,210			517	6.79
Consumer finance segment		481,124			12,676	10.48			472,811			12,019	10.09
Total loans		1,932,693			33,070	6.81			1,727,812			28,423	6.53
Interest-bearing deposits in other banks		38,756			389	3.99			38,507			379	3.90
Total earning assets		2,409,536			36,417	6.02			2,290,537			31,936	5.54
Allowance for credit losses		(40,879	)						(41,014	)
Total non-earning assets		158,063							151,070
Total assets	$	2,526,720						$	2,400,593

Liabilities and Equity
Interest-bearing deposits:
Interest-bearing demand deposits	$	323,019			540	0.67		$	341,707			505	0.59
Money market deposit accounts		293,789			1,104	1.49			304,309			782	1.02
Savings accounts		178,417			23	0.05			204,042			29	0.06
Certificates of deposit		801,669			8,524	4.23			571,499			4,316	3.00
Total interest-bearing deposits		1,596,894			10,191	2.54			1,421,557			5,632	1.57
Borrowings:
Repurchase agreements		27,207			117	1.72			29,440			95	1.29
Other borrowings		93,961			1,134	4.83			122,250			1,497	4.90
Total borrowings		121,168			1,251	4.13			151,690			1,592	4.20
Total interest-bearing liabilities		1,718,062			11,442	2.65			1,573,247			7,224	1.83
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits		537,796							577,382
Other liabilities		48,330							45,124
Total liabilities		2,304,188							2,195,753
Equity		222,532							204,840
Total liabilities and equity	$	2,526,720						$	2,400,593
Net interest income				$	24,975						$	24,712
Interest rate spread						3.37	%						3.71	%
Interest expense to average earning assets						1.89	%						1.25	%
Net interest margin						4.13	%						4.29	%


	For the Nine Months Ended
	9/30/2024							9/30/2023
	Average			Income/		Yield/		Average			Income/		Yield/
Yield Analysis	Balance			Expense		Rate		Balance			Expense		Rate
Assets
Securities:
Taxable	$	340,297		$	5,665	2.22	%	$	441,204		$	7,017	2.12	%
Tax-exempt		119,931			3,368	3.74			104,549			2,572	3.28
Total securities		460,228			9,033	2.62			545,753			9,589	2.34
Loans:
Community banking segment		1,357,962			55,671	5.48			1,199,560			45,375	5.06
Mortgage banking segment		30,759			1,411	6.13			26,713			1,312	6.57
Consumer finance segment		477,768			37,084	10.37			474,738			35,312	9.94
Total loans		1,866,489			94,166	6.74			1,701,011			81,999	6.45
Interest-bearing deposits in other banks		30,197			811	3.59			33,072			836	3.38
Total earning assets		2,356,914			104,010	5.89			2,279,836			92,424	5.42
Allowance for loan losses		(40,670	)						(41,192	)
Total non-earning assets		155,935							150,826
Total assets	$	2,472,179						$	2,389,470

Liabilities and Equity
Interest-bearing deposits:
Interest-bearing demand deposits	$	326,540			1,569	0.64		$	359,157			1,578	0.59
Money market deposit accounts		295,257			3,177	1.44			323,630			2,121	0.88
Savings accounts		181,880			85	0.06			213,940			91	0.06
Certificates of deposit		753,114			23,140	4.10			509,424			9,447	2.48
Total interest-bearing deposits		1,556,791			27,971	2.40			1,406,151			13,237	1.26
Borrowings:
Repurchase agreements		26,774			325	1.62			32,048			273	1.14
Other borrowings		91,024			3,180	4.66			122,984			4,454	4.83
Total borrowings		117,798			3,505	3.97			155,032			4,727	4.07
Total interest-bearing liabilities		1,674,589			31,476	2.51			1,561,183			17,964	1.54
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits		533,113							582,573
Other liabilities		45,835							42,108
Total liabilities		2,253,537							2,185,864
Equity		218,642							203,606
Total liabilities and equity	$	2,472,179						$	2,389,470
Net interest income				$	72,534						$	74,460
Interest rate spread						3.38	%						3.88	%
Interest expense to average earning assets						1.78	%						1.05	%
Net interest margin						4.11	%						4.37	%


	9/30/2024
Funding Sources	Capacity		Outstanding		Available
Unsecured federal funds agreements	$	75,000	$	—	$	75,000
Borrowings from FHLB		254,445		60,000		194,445
Borrowings from Federal Reserve Bank		314,385		—		314,385
Total	$	643,830	$	60,000	$	583,830


Asset Quality	9/30/2024			12/31/2023
Community Banking
Total loans	$	1,432,109		$	1,273,629
Nonaccrual loans	$	628		$	406

Allowance for credit losses (ACL)	$	17,533		$	16,072
Nonaccrual loans to total loans		0.04	%		0.03	%
ACL to total loans		1.22	%		1.26	%
ACL to nonaccrual loans		2,791.88	%		3,958.62	%
Annualized year-to-date net charge-offs to average loans		0.01	%		0.01	%

Consumer Finance
Total loans	$	477,300		$	468,510
Nonaccrual loans	$	1,101		$	892
Repossessed assets	$	522		$	646
ACL	$	23,238		$	23,579
Nonaccrual loans to total loans		0.23	%		0.19	%
ACL to total loans		4.87	%		5.03	%
ACL to nonaccrual loans		2,110.63	%		2,643.39	%
Annualized year-to-date net charge-offs to average loans		2.36	%		1.99	%


	For The								For The
	Quarter Ended								Nine Months Ended
Other Performance Data	9/30/2024				9/30/2023				9/30/2024				9/30/2023
Net Income (Loss):
Community Banking	$	5,337			$	5,685			$	13,920			$	17,742
Mortgage Banking		351				(5	)			1,021				568
Consumer Finance		311				682				1,142				2,261
Other¹		(579	)			(585	)			(2,194	)			(1,913	)
Total	$	5,420			$	5,777			$	13,889			$	18,658

Net income attributable to C&F Financial Corporation	$	5,389			$	5,789			$	13,797			$	18,536

Earnings per share – basic and diluted	$	1.65			$	1.71			$	4.15			$	5.41
Weighted average shares outstanding – basic and diluted		3,258,420				3,391,624				3,323,942				3,426,845

Annualized return on average assets		0.86		%		0.96		%		0.75		%		1.04		%
Annualized return on average equity		9.74		%		11.28		%		8.47		%		12.22		%
Annualized return on average tangible common equity²		11.16		%		13.19		%		9.74		%		14.18		%
Dividends declared per share	$	0.44			$	0.44			$	1.32			$	1.32

Mortgage loan originations – Mortgage Banking	$	156,968			$	129,658			$	397,324			$	400,559
Mortgage loans sold – Mortgage Banking		146,143				140,214				367,449				389,465

________________________
¹ Includes results of the holding company that are not allocated to the business segments and elimination of inter-segment activity.
² For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures, please see “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”


Market Ratios	9/30/2024		12/31/2023
Market value per share	$	58.35	$	68.19
Book value per share	$	70.29	$	64.28
Price to book value ratio		0.83		1.06
Tangible book value per share¹	$	62.13	$	56.40
Price to tangible book value ratio¹		0.94		1.21
Price to earnings ratio (ttm)		10.30		9.87

________________________
¹ For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures, please see “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”



							Minimum Capital
Capital Ratios	9/30/2024			12/31/2023			Requirements³
C&F Financial Corporation¹
Total risk-based capital ratio		13.8	%		14.8	%		8.0	%
Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio		11.6	%		12.6	%		6.0	%
Common equity tier 1 capital ratio		10.5	%		11.3	%		4.5	%
Tier 1 leverage ratio		9.8	%		10.1	%		4.0	%

C&F Bank²
Total risk-based capital ratio		13.4	%		14.1	%		8.0	%
Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio		12.1	%		12.9	%		6.0	%
Common equity tier 1 capital ratio		12.1	%		12.9	%		4.5	%
Tier 1 leverage ratio		10.1	%		10.3	%		4.0	%

________________________
¹ The Corporation, a small bank holding company under applicable regulations and guidance, is not subject to the minimum regulatory capital regulations for bank holding companies. The regulatory requirements that apply to bank holding companies that are subject to regulatory capital requirements are presented above, along with the Corporation’s capital ratios as determined under those regulations.
² All ratios at September 30, 2024 are estimates and subject to change pending regulatory filings. All ratios at December 31, 2023 are presented as filed.
³ The ratios presented for minimum capital requirements are those to be considered adequately capitalized.


	For The Quarter Ended								For The Nine Months Ended
	9/30/2024				9/30/2023				9/30/2024				9/30/2023
Reconciliation of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Return on Average Tangible Common Equity
Average total equity, as reported	$	222,532			$	204,840			$	218,642			$	203,606
Average goodwill		(25,191	)			(25,191	)			(25,191	)			(25,191	)
Average other intangible assets		(1,242	)			(1,507	)			(1,303	)			(1,572	)
Average noncontrolling interest		(573	)			(484	)			(670	)			(668	)
Average tangible common equity	$	195,526			$	177,658			$	191,478			$	176,175

Net income	$	5,420			$	5,777			$	13,889			$	18,658
Amortization of intangibles		65				69				195				205
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interest		(31	)			12				(92	)			(122	)
Net tangible income attributable to C&F Financial Corporation	$	5,454			$	5,858			$	13,992			$	18,741

Annualized return on average equity, as reported		9.74		%		11.28		%		8.47		%		12.22		%
Annualized return on average tangible common equity		11.16		%		13.19		%		9.74		%		14.18		%


	For The Quarter Ended				For The Nine Months Ended
	9/30/2024		9/30/2023		9/30/2024		9/30/2023
Fully Taxable Equivalent Net Interest Income¹
Interest income on loans	$	33,021	$	28,369	$	94,014	$	81,845
FTE adjustment		49		54		152		154
FTE interest income on loans	$	33,070	$	28,423	$	94,166	$	81,999

Interest income on securities	$	2,721	$	2,938	$	8,326	$	9,048
FTE adjustment		237		196		707		541
FTE interest income on securities	$	2,958	$	3,134	$	9,033	$	9,589

Total interest income	$	36,131	$	31,686	$	103,151	$	91,729
FTE adjustment		286		250		859		695
FTE interest income	$	36,417	$	31,936	$	104,010	$	92,424

Net interest income	$	24,689	$	24,462	$	71,675	$	73,765
FTE adjustment		286		250		859		695
FTE net interest income	$	24,975	$	24,712	$	72,534	$	74,460

____________________
¹ Assuming a tax rate of 21%.


	9/30/2024			12/31/2023
Tangible Book Value Per Share
Equity attributable to C&F Financial Corporation	$	227,340		$	216,878
Goodwill		(25,191	)		(25,191	)
Other intangible assets		(1,211	)		(1,407	)
Tangible equity attributable to C&F Financial Corporation	$	200,938		$	190,280

Shares outstanding		3,234,363			3,374,098

Book value per share	$	70.29		$	64.28
Tangible book value per share	$	62.13		$	56.40


Contact:	Jason Long, CFO and Secretary
	(804) 843-2360

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Canada: Accountability for Ottawa’s carbon tax double standard
Source: Government of Canada regional news

[embedded content]

Alberta’s government is standing up against the federal government’s carbon tax exemption for heating oil to protect Albertans from the double standard Ottawa has created with the carbon tax, which means Albertans continue to pay carbon taxes to stay warm in winter.

Last fall, after years of insisting that the carbon tax is applied equally across Canada, the federal government exempted the carbon tax for heating oils, which are used predominantly in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Over the last year, the federal government has refused multiple requests to grant a similar carve-out on other heating methods from Alberta and others across the country who are also facing rising costs of living.

Alberta’s government will now take this fight to the courts. Alberta filed an application seeking judicial review of the exemption with the Federal Court on Oct. 29, asking the court to declare that the exemption is both unconstitutional and unlawful. The application argues that Ottawa’s carbon tax exemption for heating oil is unconstitutional and inconsistent with the Government of Canada’s stated purpose for enacting the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

“Last year, Ottawa decided Canadians in the East deserved a three-year break from paying the carbon tax on their home heating costs. While we’re happy for these Canadians, Alberta, Saskatchewan and other provinces who heat their homes with natural gas have been deliberately excluded from these savings. Albertans simply cannot stand by for another winter while the federal government picks and chooses who their carbon tax applies to. Since they won’t play fair, we’re going to take the federal government back to court.”

Danielle Smith, Premier

While the Supreme Court of Canada previously found the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was constitutional, it found that Canada’s jurisdiction to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was limited to the ability to create minimum national standards for carbon pricing for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Alberta strongly opposes the federal carbon tax exemption on heating oil, as the federal government is no longer creating minimum national standards that apply evenly across the country, and is instead creating a regime that favours one region and fuel type over others.

“This exemption is not only unfair to the vast majority of Canadians, but it is also unlawful as the federal government does not have the authority to make special exemptions for certain parts of the country under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The federal government isn’t even following its own laws now. Someone needs to hold them accountable, and Alberta is stepping up to do just that.”

Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General

The federal carbon tax adds to the rising cost of living for all Canadians. By 2030, it will cost Canadians $25 billion every year, in addition to lowering the gross domestic product (GDP) by $9 billion. In addition, the Bank of Canada has estimated that the federal carbon tax increases inflation by 0.15 per cent year over year.

Quick facts
- Since Apr. 1, 2024, Albertans have been paying around 35 cents in federal taxes on every litre of fuel – along with the carbon tax, that also includes the federal excise tax and the GST.
- The following percentage of households use home heating oil by province:
  - Forty per cent in Prince Edward Island
  - Thirty-two per cent in Nova Scotia
  - Eighteen per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador
  - Seven per cent in New Brunswick
  - Four per cent in Quebec
  - Two per cent in Ontario
  - One per cent in British Columbia
  - Less than one per cent in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Related news
- Readout: Premier meets with Prime Minister (March 13, 2024)
- Rebranding the carbon tax won’t fix a failure: Statement (February 14, 2024)
Multimedia
- Watch the news conference
MIL OSI Canada News –
January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Security: Peoria Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison for Multi-Year Fraud Scheme

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, Chad Duane Campen, 35, was sentenced on October 24, 2024, to 135 months (11.3 years) following his convictions for bank fraud (one count), wire fraud (three counts), illegal monetary transaction (one count), bankruptcy fraud (one count), and false statements under oath (one count).

At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the government presented evidence that Campen successfully swindled dozens of individuals and financial institutions between 2013 and 2021. During the course of the sentencing, the court heard from several of Campen’s victims who described themselves as “survivors” of Campen’s crimes. Campen pretended to be engaged in various business ventures ranging from farming to the construction of a solar farm. Via this elaborate scheme, Campen obtained loans from multiple banks using each fraudulent loan to not only enrich himself but also to pay off his previous victim. By the time his scheme collapsed, the government showed that Campen had obtained more than $17 million from these banks, of which almost $5 million was still outstanding.

Campen, however, did not limit himself to stealing from banks, he also defrauded individuals. Witnesses, victim letters, and other evidence demonstrated how Campen would pretend to befriend people over the course of years and be welcomed into their families and homes only to steal from them. Campen caused a family farm to have its equipment repossessed after he claimed their equipment as his to secure one of his fraudulent loans. In another instance, Campen offered to assist an elderly man, gained access to his home, and stole more than $50,000 from him. And Campen convinced a family to invest in a purported farming opportunity. The family took out a loan using their own farm as collateral. When Campen’s fraud scheme collapsed, the family not only lost the money they had given Campen, but their farm—which had been in their family for more than 100 years—had to be sold.

Another victim of Campen’s fraud was the Village of Bartonville, Illinois. Campen with co-conspirator Richard Weiss, convinced the Village to extend loans and additional funds to tear down the old Bowen Building in Bartonville. Campen lied to the Village and made promises that he could recoup the Village’s loan and investments through the sale of materials from the building. Campen secured these funds by falsely claiming that he already had buyers lined up for the stone for the building. As a result of Campen’s fraud, the Village lost the equivalent of half of all its property tax revenue for an entire year.

Campen’s co-conspirator in certain acts connected with that fraud, the owner of the Bowen building, Richard Weiss, 62, of Pekin, Illinois, was charged in a separate case in February 2024 with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, related to his and Campen’s receipt of funds from the Village. He pleaded guilty to both counts in February and was sentenced the same day as Campen to 15 months of imprisonment. Weiss’s sentence took into account his unique personal characteristics and significantly smaller role in the offense. In imposing the sentence, Judge Shadid noted that Weiss himself was a victim of Campen’s fraud.

As Campen’s scheme began to unravel, he tried to use the mechanisms of bankruptcy court to delay his creditors and prevent discovery of his fraud. Campen committed additional fraud in the bankruptcy court by filing counterfeit documents and making false statements in his pleadings and under oath. Campen’s fraud was quickly detected by the professionals with the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, who added to the growing investigation of Campen by providing a criminal referral to the United States Attorney’s Office.

A seventeen-count indictment was filed January 19, 2022, and Campen was arrested and detained five days later. Although he has filed several motions and appeals requesting bond, he has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest. Campen entered into a written plea agreement in March 2024, pleading guilty to seven of the seventeen counts.

The statutory penalties for the charges are:

Charge	Imprisonment Time	Supervised Release
Bank Fraud (Ct. 5)	Not more than 30 years	5 years
Wire Fraud (Cts. 6, 12, 13)	Not more than 20 years	3 years
Illegal Monetary Transaction (Ct. 14)	Not more than 10 years	3 years
Bankruptcy Fraud (Ct. 16)	Not more than 5 years	3 years
False Statements Under Oath (Ct. 17)	Not more than 5 years	3 years

During his term of supervised release, Campen is to refrain from engaging in any occupation, business or profession related to the banking industry, including, but not limited to, employment by a bank or any other financial institution.

“The defendant’s repeated acts of fraud caused great damage not only to financial institutions, but also to members of our community, including but not limited to the Village of Bartonville and its taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris. “Our office is committed to protecting individuals and banks from predatory acts like those of the defendant and will vigorously pursue such cases. We are grateful to our federal law enforcement partners, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10.”

“Today’s sentence will go a long way in protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system,” said Nancy J. Gargula, United States Trustee for Indiana and the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois (Region 10). “We are grateful to U.S. Attorney Harris and our law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect the interests of creditors and the public.”

“Driven by an unquenchable thirst for ill-gotten gains, Chad Campen embarked on an eight-year fraud spree which led to devastating results for those who put their trust in him,” said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Christopher Johnson. “This sentence sends a clear message about the consequences of greed and demonstrates the resolve of the FBI and our law enforcement partners to follow the money trail and ensure justice.”

“Over several years, Chad Campen defrauded dozens of victims, creating severe economic distress for families and straining resources for institutions that fell victim to his fraud scheme,” said Marta C. Grijalva, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “This sentencing reflects the consequences of actions that caused significant financial pain to not only institutions and communities, but also individual families. That is why IRS Criminal Investigation and its fellow law enforcement partners remain committed to safeguarding the financial security of our communities and holding accountable those who exploit the system for personal gain.”

The case investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office. The bankruptcy fraud charge was referred for criminal prosecution by the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, Nancy J. Gargula. The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. Region 10 is headquartered in Indianapolis, with additional offices in South Bend, Indiana, and Peoria, Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer represented the government in the prosecution.

MIL Security OSI –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Sheffield extends hand of friendship to Nablus A Declaration of Friendship has been signed between the City of Sheffield and the City of Nablus on the West Bank in Palestine, at a virtual ceremony today (Tuesday 29th October 2024). 29 October 2024

Source: City of Sheffield

Cllr Johnson, Cllr Hunt, the Lord Mayor and Cllr Mohammad signing the declaration

A Declaration of Friendship has been signed between the City of Sheffield and the City of Nablus on the West Bank in Palestine, at a virtual ceremony today (Tuesday 29^th October 2024).

The declaration outlines the intention of both cities to promote friendship, understanding and exchange experience and knowledge in different fields and areas, including education and environment.

The agreement is a statement of intention and is not legally binding and will be reviewed every 12 months by both parties.

Councillor Jayne Dunn, Lord Mayor of Sheffield City Council, said:

“I am delighted that today we have entered into a Friendship Agreement with the City of Nablus.

“In recent years, our two cities have developed strong cultural and educational links and that is why we believe extending a hand of friendship is appropriate.

“I look forward to seeing what our two societies can learn from each other.”

In November 2023, Sheffield City Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee agreed on a Partner City Policy. In this policy, the Council committed to producing an annual review of all their relationships with international cities.

This review provided the Council with the opportunity to address any requests that had been made to establish relationships with Sheffield, with the only outstanding request coming from Nablus.

In the past five years, Sheffield and Nablus have already established cultural and educational links.

Going forward, connections will be developed in areas that both cities share similar aims and goals, including youth services and their sports offer.

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Braintree Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Charges

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

BOSTON – A member of a nationwide drug trafficking ring was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2024 in federal court in Boston for drug trafficking and money laundering. During the investigation, over 160 pounds of pure methamphetamine, as well as an AK-47, a Glock with no serial number, two loaded Smith & Wesson handguns and over 4,200 rounds of ammunition were seized. An illegal marijuana grow operation with hundreds of marijuana plants was also dismantled.

Patrick O’Hearn, 64, of Braintree was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. In March 2024, O’Hearn pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of money laundering.

O’Hearn was charged along with 10 others in September 2021 in a 15ifteen count superseding indictment.

O’Hearn was part of a large-scale methamphetamine distribution network that distributed significant quantities of pure methamphetamine throughout New England. The investigation began in late 2020, when O’Hearn’s methamphetamine supplier Reshat Alkayisi was identified as a large-scale methamphetamine trafficker, who distributed multi-pound quantities to customers throughout the New England area. O’Hearn was subsequently identified as one of Alkayisi’s regular large-scale distributors who routinely purchased methamphetamine and redistributed it throughout the Boston area. Bank records indicated that O’Hearn paid Alkayisi at least $100,000 between January and July 2021. O’Hearn also purchased over $465,000 worth of methamphetamine from Alkayisi between January and May 2021.

O’Hearn conspired with Alkayisi to launder their drug proceeds. As part of that money laundering conspiracy, Alkayisi used O’Hearn’s residence as the address for his shell company that he used to launder drug proceeds.

In July 2021, O’Hearn was arrested and over 680 grams of pure methamphetamine was seized, as well as small quantities of cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and other controlled substances from O’Hearn’s residence. Over $213,000 in cash was also found in O’Hearn’s residence and in bank safe deposit boxes.

Alkayisi pleaded guilty in April 2024 and in September 2024 sentenced to 23 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. O’Hearn is the 10th defendant to be sentenced in the case. The remaining defendant has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Department of Correction; Norfolk County Sherriff’s Office; and Concord, Hudson, Peabody, Reading, Watertown and Waltham Police Departments. Assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alathea Porter and Katherine Ferguson of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

MIL Security OSI –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Governor Signe Krogstrup’s speech at The International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies

Source: Danmarks Nationalbank

Exchange rates

29 October 2024

On 29 October 2024, Governor Signe Krogstrup gave a speech on capital flows and exchange rate management at The International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies in Geneva. The speech offered a practitioner’s view, originating from the Danish fixed exchange rate policy.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis Announces Third Quarter 2024 Dividends, Reports Earnings

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (“FHLBank Indianapolis” or “Bank”) declared its third quarter 2024 dividends on Class B-2 activity-based capital stock and Class B-1 non-activity-based stock at annualized rates of 9.50% and 4.50%, respectively. The higher dividend rate on activity-based stock reflects the Board’s discretion under the Bank’s capital plan to reward members that use FHLBank Indianapolis in support of their liquidity needs.

The dividends will be paid in cash on October 30, 2024.

Earnings Highlights

Net income, for the third quarter of 2024, was $91 million, a net increase of $214,000 compared to the corresponding quarter in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to net changes in gains (losses) on investments, substantially offset by an increase in voluntary allocations to affordable housing, small business and community investment programs.

Net income, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, was $275 million, a net increase of $1 million compared to the corresponding period in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to higher earnings on the portion of the Bank’s assets funded by its capital.¹ However, such increase was substantially offset by net gains on the extinguishment of consolidated obligations in the corresponding period that did not occur in the current period and an increase in voluntary allocations to affordable housing, small business and community investment programs.

__________________¹ FHLBank Indianapolis earns interest income on advances to and mortgage loans purchased from its Michigan and Indiana member financial institutions, as well as on long- and short-term investments. Net interest income is primarily determined by the size of the Bank’s balance sheet and the spread between the interest earned on its assets and the interest cost of funding with consolidated obligations. Because of the Bank’s inherent relatively low interest-rate spread, it has historically derived a substantial portion of its net interest income from deploying its interest-free capital in floating-rate assets.

Affordable Housing Program Allocation

The Bank’s Affordable Housing Program (“AHP”) provides grant funding to support housing for low- and moderate-income families in communities served by its Michigan and Indiana members. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, AHP assessments² totaled $32 million. Full-year 2024 required allocations will be available to the Bank’s members in 2025 to help address their communities’ affordable housing needs, including construction, rehabilitation, accessibility improvements and homebuyer down-payment assistance.

In addition, as part of the Bank’s commitment to further support its AHP and additional affordable housing, small business and community investment programs, the Bank voluntarily allocated additional funding in 2024 totaling $23 million, based on 5% of its net earnings for 2023. During the third quarter of 2024, the Bank also committed additional voluntary funding of $10 million, raising the total voluntary allocation for 2024 to $33 million, of which $17 million has been recognized in the nine-month period and is reported in other expenses. The timing of the recognition of such allocations in other expenses can vary due to the application of the related accounting requirements.

As a result, the Bank’s combined required and voluntary allocation recognized in the nine-month period totaled $49 million, an increase of $11 million, or 30%, compared to the corresponding period in the prior year.

Condensed Statements of Income

The following table presents unaudited condensed statements of income ($ amounts in millions):

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2024		2023		2024		2023
Interest income ^(a)	$	1,090	$	974	$	3,140	$	2,743
Interest expense ^(a)		960		846		2,756		2,388
Provision for credit losses		—		—		—		—
Net interest income after provision for credit losses		130		128		384		355
Other income ^(b)		9		—		26		39
Other expenses ^(c)		37		27		103		89
AHP assessments		11		10		32		31

Net income	$	91	$	91	$	275	$	274

^(a)		Includes hedging gains (losses) and net interest settlements on fair-value hedge relationships. The Bank uses derivatives, specifically interest-rate swaps, to hedge the risk of changes in the fair value of certain of its advances, available-for-sale securities and consolidated obligations. These derivatives are designated as fair-value hedges and, therefore, changes in the estimated fair value of the derivative, and changes in the fair value of the hedged item that are attributable to the hedged risk, are recorded in net interest income.
^(b)		Includes impact of purchase discount (premium) recorded through mark-to-market gains (losses) on trading securities and net interest settlements on derivatives hedging trading securities, while generally offsetting interest income on trading securities is included in interest income.
^(c)		Includes voluntary allocations to the Bank’s AHP and other affordable housing, small business and community investment programs.

__________________
² Each year, Federal Home Loan Banks are required to allocate to the AHP 10% of earnings, defined for this purpose as income before assessments plus interest expense on mandatorily redeemable capital stock.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Total assets, at September 30, 2024, were $81.1 billion, a net increase of $4.5 billion, or 6%, from December 31, 2023, primarily due to an increase in advances outstanding.

Advances ³

Advances outstanding, at September 30, 2024, at carrying value, totaled $38.6 billion, a net increase of $3.0 billion, or 9%, from December 31, 2023. The par value of advances outstanding increased by 7% to $38.5 billion, which included a net increase in short-term advances of 31% and a net decrease in long-term advances of 2%. At September 30, 2024, based on contractual maturities, long-term advances composed 67% of advances outstanding, while short-term advances composed 33%.

The par value of advances outstanding to depository institutions — comprising commercial banks, savings institutions and credit unions — increased by 11%, while advances outstanding to insurance companies increased by 1%. As a percent of total advances outstanding at par value, at September 30, 2024, advances to commercial banks and savings institutions were 50% and advances to credit unions were 15%, resulting in total advances to depository institutions of 65%, while advances to insurance companies were 35%.

Mortgage Loans Held for Portfolio ⁴

Mortgage loans held for portfolio, at September 30, 2024, totaled $10.0 billion, a net increase of $1.3 billion, or 16%, from December 31, 2023, as the Bank’s purchases from its members exceeded principal repayments by borrowers. Purchases of mortgage loans from members, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, totaled $2.0 billion.

Liquidity Investments ⁵

Liquidity investments, at September 30, 2024, totaled $11.3 billion, a net decrease of $874 million, or 7%, from December 31, 2023. The Bank’s liquidity remained well above regulatory requirements and continues to enable the Bank to be a reliable liquidity provider to its members.

Cash and short-term investments decreased by $1.4 billion, or 12%, to $10.2 billion. The portion of U.S. Treasury obligations classified as trading securities increased by $501 million, or 84%, to $1.1 billion. As a result of this activity, cash and short-term investments represented 90% of the total liquidity investments at September 30, 2024, while U.S. Treasury obligations represented 10%.

The total outstanding balance and composition of the Bank’s liquidity investments are influenced by its liquidity needs, regulatory requirements, actual and anticipated member advance activity, market conditions, and the availability of short-term investments at attractive interest rates, relative to the cost of funds.

Other Investment Securities

Other investment securities, which consist substantially of mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasury obligations classified as held-to-maturity or available-for-sale, at September 30, 2024, totaled $20.3 billion, a net increase of $881 million, or 5%, from December 31, 2023.

__________________
³ Advances are secured loans that the Bank provides to its member institutions.
⁴ The Bank purchases mortgage loans from its members to support its housing mission, provide an additional source of liquidity to its members, and diversify its investments.
⁵ The Bank’s liquidity investments consist of cash, interest-bearing deposits, securities purchased under agreements to resell, federal funds sold and U.S. Treasury obligations.

Consolidated Obligations ⁶

FHLBank Indianapolis’ consolidated obligations outstanding, at September 30, 2024, totaled $75.0 billion, a net increase of $3.9 billion, or 6%, from December 31, 2023, which reflected increased funding needs associated with the net increase in the Bank’s total assets.

Capital ⁷

Total capital, at September 30, 2024, was $4.1 billion, a net increase of $383 million, or 10%, from December 31, 2023. The net increase resulted from issuances of capital stock to support advance activity, the growth in retained earnings and an increase in accumulated other comprehensive income.

The Bank’s regulatory capital-to-assets ratio⁸, at September 30, 2024, was 5.56%, which exceeds all applicable regulatory capital requirements.

__________________
⁶ The primary source of funds for FHLBank Indianapolis, and for the other FHLBanks, is the sale of FHLBanks’ consolidated obligations in the capital markets. FHLBank Indianapolis is the primary obligor for the payment of the principal and interest on the consolidated obligations issued on its behalf; additionally, it is jointly and severally liable with each of the other FHLBanks for all of the FHLBanks’ consolidated obligations outstanding.
⁷ FHLBank Indianapolis is a cooperative whose member financial institutions and former members own all of its capital stock as a condition of membership and to support outstanding credit products.
⁸ Total regulatory capital, which consists of capital stock, mandatorily redeemable capital stock and retained earnings, as a percentage of total assets.

Condensed Statements of Condition

The following table presents unaudited condensed statements of condition ($ amounts in millions):

	September 30, 2024			December 31, 2023
Advances	$	38,600		$	35,562
Mortgage loans held for portfolio, net		9,955			8,614
Liquidity investments		11,278			12,152
Other investment securities ^(a)		20,332			19,451
Other assets		894			829

Total assets	$	81,059		$	76,608

Consolidated obligations	$	74,989		$	71,053
MRCS		363			369
Other liabilities		1,580			1,442
Total liabilities		76,932			72,864

Capital stock ^(b)		2,476			2,285
Retained earnings ^(c)		1,668			1,532
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)		(17	)		(73	)
Total capital		4,127			3,744

Total liabilities and capital	$	81,059		$	76,608

Total regulatory capital ^(d)	$	4,507		$	4,186

Regulatory capital-to-assets ratio		5.56	%		5.46	%

^(a)		Includes held-to-maturity and available-for-sale securities.
^(b)		Putable by members at par value.
^(c)		Includes restricted retained earnings, at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, of $453 million and $398 million, respectively.
(d)		Consists of total capital less accumulated other comprehensive income plus mandatorily redeemable capital stock.

All amounts referenced above are unaudited. More detailed information about FHLBank Indianapolis’ financial condition as of September 30, 2024, and its results for the three and nine months then ended, will be included in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in the Bank’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events and performance. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “will,” “believes,” “may,” “temporary,” “estimates,” and “expects” or the negative of these words or comparable terminology. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release reflects FHLBank Indianapolis’ current beliefs and expectations. Actual results or performance may differ materially from what is expressed in any forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement contained in this news release speaks only as of the date on which it was made. FHLBank Indianapolis undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Readers are referred to the documents filed by the Bank with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, which include factors that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements. These reports are available at www.sec.gov.

Media Contact:
Scott Thien
Sr. Communications Lead
317-902-3103
sthien@fhlbi.com

Building Partnerships. Serving Communities.
FHLBank Indianapolis is a regional bank included in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. FHLBanks are government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to provide access to low-cost funding for their member financial institutions, with particular attention paid to providing solutions that support the housing and small business needs of members’ customers. FHLBanks are privately capitalized and funded, and receive no Congressional appropriations. FHLBank Indianapolis is owned by its Indiana and Michigan financial institution members, including commercial banks, credit unions, insurance companies, savings institutions and community development financial institutions. For more information about FHLBank Indianapolis, visit www.fhlbi.com. Also, follow the Bank on LinkedIn, as well as Instagram and X at @FHLBankIndy.

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

October 29, 2024

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

October 29, 2024

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

October 29, 2024

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

October 29, 2024

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

October 29, 2024

Previous news Next news

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

The National Championship of Professional Skills among the Disabled and People with Limited Health Abilities “Abilympics” has ended in Moscow. 450 winners were awarded certificates for additional professional education and the purchase of technical rehabilitation equipment. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko congratulated the winners of the championship.

“It was a truly great success. Over the past 10 years, we have come a long way and have become convinced that the order of President Vladimir Putin to realize the capabilities and talents of each person in our country does not encounter any barriers. Every year, the championship is becoming more and more popular – it has already covered 120 thousand participants from all regions of Russia. And this is, of course, the merit of our regions,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Dmitry Chernyshenko also noted that Abilympics faces important challenges.

“The kids need support, it is important for them to see role models in front of them who give them hope and confirm that every person in our country is in demand and can be useful to the Motherland, themselves and their families,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that more than 2.5 thousand enterprises joined the Abilympics championship, creating jobs and conditions for young specialists. He emphasized that 93% of participants are already employed, which is a very good indicator.

Dmitry Chernyshenko presented letters of gratitude from the Russian Government Office to employers who employ the largest number of participants in the Abilympics championships and provide internships in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Thus, the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, the United Engine Corporation, the Bank of Russia, Mobile TeleSystems and Ozon Holding were noted.

The Deputy Prime Minister also presented awards to the regions that demonstrated the best results in employing participants in the Abilympics championships and involving people with disabilities and people with limited health capabilities in the movement’s events. Among them are Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Ulyanovsk and Rostov Regions. The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania received an award for high indicators of the Abilympics movement development based on the results of 2023 and 2024.

On behalf of the regions, the awards were accepted by the Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Mikhail Kotyukov, the Minister of the Moscow Government, the Head of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the City of Moscow Evgeny Struzhak, the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan Ilsur Khadiullin and others.

Head of the Russian Presidential Administration for Public Projects Sergei Novikov emphasized that over ten seasons, the participants of the Abilympics championship have become a big family, they are constantly in touch and support each other. He added that thanks to the movement, people with disabilities motivate each other to develop in their chosen specialty, compete successfully and show excellent results.

Sergey Novikov presented awards to representatives of the countries that won the overall team standings of the competitions with friendly countries. The first place was taken by the national team of the Russian Federation. The award for second place was received by the national team of the Republic of Belarus. Third place went to the Republic of Abkhazia.

First Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Alexander Bugaev expressed gratitude to everyone who created the Abilympics movement in all regions of Russia over the course of ten years.

“I would like to thank the huge army of participants in the movement over all these years – 120 thousand people. You can come to any region of our country and find your comrade, like-minded person. I am sure that each of those who participate in the tenth season of the Abilympics championship is already a winner. We must name the winners, but the best is everyone who is present in this hall today. Thank you for this, and always remain as wonderful,” said Alexander Bugayev.

In the overall team standings of the Abilympics championship, the Moscow team took first place. The Republic of Tatarstan team took second place. The St. Petersburg team came in third.

The 2024 National Abilympics Championship was held from October 26 to 29, 2024, at the Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Center, as well as at six additional venues of professional educational organizations in Moscow and the Diana Gurtskaya Social Integration Center. The contestants were 869 people from 73 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including 290 schoolchildren, 276 students, and 303 specialists. The judging was carried out by 276 experts from 52 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The championship’s competition program included 50 competencies in the fields of education, IT technologies, decorative and applied arts, creative industries, industry, public catering, services, economics and management, construction, and medical professions.

Representatives of foreign countries competed in 12 main and 1 presentation competencies. Participants from Azerbaijan, Abkhazia, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Qatar demonstrated their skills in person. Contestants from Armenia, Nicaragua and China took part in the competition remotely.

For participants with severe and multiple developmental disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, a Festival of Opportunities was held. It included competitions in 11 competencies. The Festival of Introduction to the Profession brought together 50 preschool and primary school children with disabilities aged 6 years and older. They competed in 10 competencies.

The project operator is the National Center “Abilympics” of the Institute for the Development of Professional Education of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Burundi: African Development Bank Group hosts training for project partners on social and environmental safeguards

Source: African Development Bank Group
As part of its commitment to building the capacity of its partners and improving the quality of project implementation, the African Development Bank Group organized a workshop on strengthening social and environmental safeguards for projects funded by the Bank in Burundi.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: Money Market Operations as on October 28, 2024

Source: Reserve Bank of India


(Amount in ₹ crore, Rate in Per cent)

	Volume (One Leg)	Weighted Average Rate	Range
A. Overnight Segment (I+II+III+IV)	559,669.89	6.45	5.00-6.75
I. Call Money	9,351.89	6.62	5.10-6.75
II. Triparty Repo	407,058.50	6.43	6.11-6.60
III. Market Repo	142,040.79	6.52	5.00-6.70
IV. Repo in Corporate Bond	1,218.71	6.69	6.65-6.75
B. Term Segment
I. Notice Money**	209.50	6.43	6.10-6.65
II. Term Money^@@	489.50	–	6.50-7.05
III. Triparty Repo	2,536.00	6.42	6.35-6.55
IV. Market Repo	2,134.85	6.53	6.45-6.57
V. Repo in Corporate Bond	0.00	–	–

	Auction Date	Tenor (Days)	Maturity Date	Amount	Current Rate / Cut off Rate
C. Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) & Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)
I. Today’s Operations
1. Fixed Rate
2. Variable Rate^&
(I) Main Operation
(a) Repo
(b) Reverse Repo
(II) Fine Tuning Operations
(a) Repo
(b) Reverse Repo
3. MSF^#	Mon, 28/10/2024	1	Tue, 29/10/2024	1,648.00	6.75
4. SDF^Δ#	Mon, 28/10/2024	1	Tue, 29/10/2024	103,800.00	6.25
5. Net liquidity injected from today’s operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*				-102,152.00
II. Outstanding Operations
1. Fixed Rate
2. Variable Rate^&
(I) Main Operation
(a) Repo
(b) Reverse Repo	Fri, 18/10/2024	13	Thu, 31/10/2024	20,073.00	6.49
(II) Fine Tuning Operations
(a) Repo	Fri, 25/10/2024	6	Thu, 31/10/2024	25,005.00	6.55
(b) Reverse Repo
3. MSF^#
4. SDF^Δ#
5. On Tap Targeted Long Term Repo Operations^€	Mon, 15/11/2021	1095	Thu, 14/11/2024	250.00	4.00
5. On Tap Targeted Long Term Repo Operations^€	Mon, 27/12/2021	1095	Thu, 26/12/2024	2,275.00	4.00
6. Special Long-Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) for Small Finance Banks (SFBs)^£	Mon, 15/11/2021	1095	Thu, 14/11/2024	105.00	4.00
	Mon, 22/11/2021	1095	Thu, 21/11/2024	100.00	4.00
	Mon, 29/11/2021	1095	Thu, 28/11/2024	305.00	4.00
	Mon, 13/12/2021	1095	Thu, 12/12/2024	150.00	4.00
	Mon, 20/12/2021	1095	Thu, 19/12/2024	100.00	4.00
	Mon, 27/12/2021	1095	Thu, 26/12/2024	255.00	4.00
D. Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) Availed from RBI^$				8,696.81
E. Net liquidity injected from outstanding operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*				17,168.81
F. Net liquidity injected (outstanding including today’s operations) [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*				-84,983.19
G. Cash Reserves Position of Scheduled Commercial Banks
(i) Cash balances with RBI as on		October 28, 2024		1,010,098.68
(ii) Average daily cash reserve requirement for the fortnight ending		November 01, 2024		1,016,726.00
H. Government of India Surplus Cash Balance Reckoned for Auction as on^¥		October 28, 2024		0.00
I. Net durable liquidity [surplus (+)/deficit (-)] as on		October 04, 2024		488,495.00
^@ Based on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) / Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
– Not Applicable / No Transaction.
** Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 2 to 14 days tenor.
^@@ Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 15 days to one year tenor.
^$ Includes refinance facilities extended by RBI.
^& As per the Press Release No. 2019-2020/1900 dated February 06, 2020.
^Δ As per the Press Release No. 2022-2023/41 dated April 08, 2022.
* Net liquidity is calculated as Repo+MSF+SLF-Reverse Repo-SDF.
^€ As per the Press Release No. 2020-2021/520 dated October 21, 2020, Press Release No. 2020-2021/763 dated December 11, 2020, Press Release No. 2020-2021/1057 dated February 05, 2021 and Press Release No. 2021-2022/695 dated August 13, 2021.
^¥ As per the Press Release No. 2014-2015/1971 dated March 19, 2015.
^£ As per the Press Release No. 2021-2022/181 dated May 07, 2021 and Press Release No. 2021-2022/1023 dated October 11, 2021.
# As per the Press Release No. 2023-2024/1548 dated December 27, 2023.
Ajit Prasad Deputy General Manager (Communications)
Press Release: 2024-2025/1389

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI China: China urged to seize growth opportunities

Source: China State Council Information Office 3

China should seize the current window of improving expectations and rising confidence to build momentum going into 2025, economists said, calling for a forceful and extraordinary combination of macro policies next year.

Given the recently announced stimulus package, China’s economy will likely pick up in the fourth quarter, providing strong support for meeting the annual growth target of around 5 percent, they said.

Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, which is affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, said the Chinese economy is likely to register a “U-shaped” recovery for the full year, with consolidated momentum in the fourth quarter amid strengthened social expectations, bringing the annual economic and social development goals within reach.

He said the recent incremental policies, ranging from reducing interest rates and banks’ required reserves to lowering existing mortgage rates, have been extraordinary and strong in intensity, demonstrating the government’s “determination and courage to promote economic recovery”.

“Looking ahead, we must seize the current window of stabilizing expectations and growing confidence to capitalize on the momentum. We need to launch a forceful and extraordinary combination of macro policies and initiate iconic reform measures,” Huang added.

Zong Liang, chief researcher at Bank of China, said that China’s economy is poised to pick up in the fourth quarter, with the stimulus policies gradually taking effect.

Sino-US communication

Their remarks came after Vice-Minister of Finance Liao Min highlighted the powerful package of stimulus policies that China recently introduced during a meeting between economic working groups of China and the United States in Washington, DC, on Friday.

The two sides had in-depth, practical and constructive communication on macroeconomic situation and policies of the two countries, the ministry said.

During the World Bank’s 110th Development Committee meeting on Friday, Liao said that China will intensify countercyclical adjustments of fiscal policy, with a series of strong measures implemented to resolve local government debt risks, stabilize the real estate market, increase the income of key groups, enhance people’s livelihoods, and drive equipment upgrades and trade-in deals for consumer goods.

Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of World Economics and Politics, said that expectations and confidence have been significantly boosted by the incremental policies, which sent a clear, strong signal that more policies will be announced to enhance economic vitality and tackle the immediate challenge of insufficient demand.

“The focus now is on how these policies will be implemented and whether their intensity is sufficient. In this regard, I believe the year 2025 is very much worth looking forward to,” said Zhang, who is also a senior researcher at the China Finance 40 Forum, a leading think tank.

“I think policymakers need to further increase the intensity of (macroeconomic) policies. It’s like a race — policies need to precede the market (expectations) to effectively reverse sentiments and kick off a positive economic cycle,” he said.

As for fiscal policy, Zhang said it “deserves anticipation” if next year’s fiscal expansion could be further strengthened based on recent policy signals, although specific plans still await legislative procedures. He added that government spending should outpace GDP expansion to drive growth.

If the country’s GDP growth target stays unchanged at about 5 percent for 2025, it may necessitate a reasonable increase in government debt by about 11 trillion to 12 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion) to ensure adequate government spending and policy-oriented financial bonds worth 3 trillion to 5 trillion yuan, he said.

On the monetary policy front, Zhang said there remains a large scope for interest rates to decline, as the rate cut should be significantly bigger than the slide in price levels to ensure easing real financing costs and spurring investment and consumption.

MIL OSI China News –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: Notice on Public Offering of Subordinated Bonds of LHV Group

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

AS LHV Group (hereinafter LHV) hereby announces a public offering of LHV’s subordinated bonds. The offering is conducted on the basis of the prospectus affirmed by the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority (FSA) on 28 October 2024, that has been disclosed on the date of this announcement on the web pages of LHV and the FSA. The public offering of the subordinated bonds will be carried out in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

This is the second issue of subordinated bonds, in the amount of up to EUR 20 million, under the bond programme confirmed in 2023. Under the bond programme EUR 35 million worth of subordinated bonds have previously been issued and altogether it is possible to raise up to EUR 200 million.

Main Terms of Offering

LHV offers publicly up to 20,000 subordinated bonds of LHV „EUR 6.00 LHV Group subordinated bond 24-2034” with the nominal value of EUR 1,000, the maturity date of 15 November 2034 and a quarterly paid fixed interest rate offered to the investor at the rate 6% per annum. Subordinated bonds will be offered at a price of EUR 1,000 per one bond. Subordinated bonds will be issued in a dematerialised book-entry form and registered in Nasdaq CSD SE under ISIN code EE3300004993.

The subscription period for the bonds will start on 29 October 2024 at 10:00 and will end on 12 November 2024 at 16:00. The subordinated bond offering is intended for retail and institutional investors operating in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and made possible for the clients of account-managing financial institutions that are members of the Estonian securities settlement system.

A subordinated bond represents an unsecured debt obligation of LHV before the investor. The subordination of the bonds means that upon the liquidation or bankruptcy of LHV, all the claims arising from the subordinated bonds shall fall due and shall be satisfied only after the full satisfaction of all unsubordinated recognised claims in accordance with the applicable law. Among other things, with subordinated bonds, the risk of conversion of liabilities and claim rights (bail-in risk) must be considered.

Timetable of Offering

29.10.2024 at 10:00	Start of the subscription period for the subordinated bonds
12.11.2024 at 16:00	End of the subscription period for the subordinated bonds
On or about 13.11.2024	Disclosing the allocation results of the subordinated bonds
On or about 15.11.2024	Transfer of the subordinated bonds to investors’ securities accounts
On or about 18.11.2024	Expected listing of the subordinated bonds and admission to trading on the regulated market operated by Nasdaq Tallinn AS (on the Baltic Bond List of the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange)

Submitting Subscription Undertakings

In order to subscribe for the subordinated bonds an investor has to submit, during the subscription period, a subscription undertaking to the custodian who holds the investor’s securities account opened at Nasdaq CSD SE, with the format accepted by the custodian and in accordance with the prospectus and offer conditions. The subscription undertaking must be submitted before the end of the subscription period. The investor may use any method that such investor’s custodian offers to submit the subscription undertaking (e.g., physically at the client service venue of the custodian, over the internet or by other means). The subscription undertaking will be forwarded to Nasdaq CSD SE.

Listing and Admission to Trading

LHV intends to submit an application to Nasdaq Tallinn AS for the listing and admission to trading of the LHV’s subordinated bonds on the Baltic Bond List of the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange. The expected date of listing and admission to trading is on or about 18 November 2024.

While every effort will be made and due care will be taken in order to ensure the listing and the admission to trading of the subordinated bonds, LHV cannot ensure that the subordinated bonds will be listed and admitted to trading.

Availability of Prospectus and Terms of Offering

The Prospectus has been published and can be obtained in electronic format from LHV’s website https://investor.lhv.ee/en/ and from the website of the FSA https://www.fi.ee/en. Additionally, the Estonian translation of the Prospectus has been disclosed and made available together with the Prospectus on the LHV website https://investor.lhv.ee/en and is also available through the information system of Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange. The terms and conditions of the subordinated bonds and the final terms of the offering together with the summary of the prospectus and their translations to Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian have been published and can be obtained in electronic format from LHV’s website https://investor.lhv.ee/en.

Before investing into LHV’s subordinated bonds we ask you to acquaint yourself with the prospectus, the terms and conditions of the bonds, the final terms and if necessary consult an expert.

LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. The LHV Group’s key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, LHV Kindlustus, and LHV Bank Limited. The Group employs nearly 1,200 people. As at the end of September, LHV’s banking services are being used by 445,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 116,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 169,000 clients. LHV Bank Limited, a subsidiary of the Group, holds a banking licence in the United Kingdom and provides banking services to international financial technology companies, as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Priit Rum
Communications Manager
Phone: +372 502 0786
Email: priit.rum@lhv.ee

Important information:
This information is an advertisement of securities within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and does not constitute an offer of bonds of AS LHV Group or an invitation to subscribe for or acquire bonds. The offer of the bonds will be made on the basis of the Terms and Conditions of the Prospectus published on the day of the public offer of the bonds and approved by the Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority), and the Final Terms of the First Issue. The Prospectus is available on the websites of the Finantsinspektsioon and AS LHV Group at fi.ee and investor.lhv.ee, respectively, where the Terms and Conditions referred to and the Summary of the Prospectus are also available. Investors should read the information published in the Prospectus, its Terms and Conditions, and the Final Terms of the First Issue before making an investment decision in order to understand all the facts relating to the investment. The approval of the prospectus by the Finantsinspektsioon does not constitute an approval of AS LHV Group or the securities offered. The bonds are publicly offered in the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, and the Republic of Lithuania.

Attachments

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: AIIB Commits EUR75 Million to Support ENGIE’s Global Renewable Energy Expansion, Decarbonization

Source: Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has committed EUR75 million to a EUR500 million sustainability-linked green loan facility to support ENGIE’s global renewable energy portfolio expansion and decarbonization efforts.

The ENGIE Sustainability Linked Green Loan Project has been co-financed with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco). This is AIIB’s second engagement with ENGIE, one of the world’s largest multinational electric utilities and independent power producers, following the financing of the 400MW Gujarat Solar Project earlier this year.

AIIB joins IFC and Proparco to provide a green sustainability-linked loan facility to support the expansion of the group’s clean energy assets in Poland and South Africa, both AIIB members. Proceeds will finance the acquisition, development and construction of over 550MW of installed capacity. In line with sustainability-linked principles, remuneration of the loan will be linked to ENGIE’s global performance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy expansion and occupational health and safety.

“This project reinforces AIIB’s global mandate, strong partnership and innovative focus on climate finance,” said Najeeb Haider, AIIB Director General, Project and Corporate Finance Clients, Global. “With its agility and international presence in strategic markets, AIIB is uniquely placed to support multinational energy groups like ENGIE to advance the energy transition in Asia and beyond with their investments. We congratulate ENGIE and our cofinancing partners on their respective achievements.”

Through the loan, AIIB is supporting its members by leveraging ENGIE’s global leadership in green energy and climate transition. ENGIE aims to invest EUR22-25 billion in renewable energy and low-carbon energy solutions between 2023 and 2025. The projects are aligned with AIIB’s Energy Sector Strategy, which directs the Bank to support traditional energy conglomerates and state-owned enterprises as they shift their corporate strategies and business modalities to redirect investments toward the energy transition.

“To accelerate the energy transition, considerable resources and efforts are needed from many stakeholders,” said Jean-Marc Turchini, Group Head of Corporate Finance at ENGIE. “Our partnership with AIIB is certainly a meaningful contribution and we feel grateful for what they achieved with this financing. We are also proud to highlight the innovative structure of this most recent corporate loan, which includes climate-related targets for scope 3 emissions and a health and safety performance indicator that covers ENGIE employees and subcontractors on all sites, reflecting ENGIE’s sustainability and social ambitions.”

About AIIB

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank whose mission is Financing Infrastructure for Tomorrow in Asia and beyond – infrastructure with sustainability at its core. We began operations in Beijing in 2016 and have since grown to 110 approved members worldwide. We are capitalized at USD100 billion and AAA-rated by the major international credit rating agencies. Collaborating with partners, AIIB meets clients’ needs by unlocking new capital and investing in infrastructure that is green, technology-enabled and promotes regional connectivity.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Jyske Bank launches strategy and long-term financial targets
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

”Earlier in the month, Jyske Bank upgraded its outlook for 2024 due to a continued positive development. We are now launching a strategy to become an even better bank for our customers,” says Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director, and continues:

“With a strong foundation in the Danish market and a number of positions of strength in servicing both personal and corporate customers, Jyske Bank will over the coming years do more of what we have shown that we are good at and accelerate development in the areas where we want to do better.“

“We support customers, e.g., in their sustainable transition and use digitization proactively to the benefit of the customers and to increase efficiency. Based on the strategy, we have set financial targets according to which we aim to obtain a return on tangible equity of 10% based on a cost/income ratio below 50 supplemented by an attractive distribution to shareholders,” says Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director.

Jyske Bank utilizes the opportunities that arise to create value for customers, and the Group will seek out opportunities for cooperation and, in doing so, be an attractive partner for other players in the sector.

In the lead up to the strategy announcement, the Group has set up the organisation so that customer orientation is strengthened throughout the value chain and efforts and resources are efficiently channelled to where it benefits the customers the most and contributes the most to the Group’s profitability. At the same time, risk management and digitization have been strengthened.

Jyske Bank expects a return on tangible equity of 10% in 2028 based on a presupposed common equity tier 1 capital ratio at the lower end of 15%-17%, a cost/income ratio below 50, and a normalised cost of risk of 8bp p.a. The ambition to distribute approx. 30% of shareholders’ result supplemented by share buy-backs is maintained. In the coming years, the Danish economy is expected to be dominated by lower interest rates and balanced growth with high levels of employment and moderate inflation.

The targets reflect an underlying improvement in profitability aimed at mitigating expectations of significantly lower interest rates over the coming years. The targets will be achieved through stronger customer-orientation and focus on capital-light income as well as structural cost measures, ensuring continued investment in new technology and higher efficiency.

The expectations involve uncertainty and depend, for instance, on macroeconomic circumstances and developments in the financial markets.

In connection with the release of its Interim Report for Q1-Q3 2024, Jyske Bank will publish an update of the strategy that expands on the above. Otherwise, reference is made to jyskebank.com/investorrelations, which also provides access to today’s conference call at 2.00 p.m.

Yours faithfully,
Jyske Bank

Contact:
Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director, tel. +45 89 89 20 01
Birger Krøgh Nielsen, CFO, tel. +45 89 89 64 44

Attachment
- Strategy Announcement_20241029
The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Luis de Guindos: Interview with ANSA

Source: European Central Bank

Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Domenico Conti

29 October 2024

At the latest press conference, President Lagarde spoke of a series of economic indicators pointing lower and of downside risks to growth. The Survey of Professional Forecasters published by the ECB foresees inflation of 1.9% in 2025, compared with 2.2% in the projections by ECB experts. In this context, will the Governing Council have the option to make back-to-back interest rate cuts, as occurred in September and October?

In short, on the current economic situation, we don’t have good news with respect to growth but we do have good news with respect to inflation.

On growth, we have revised down our projections twice – before the summer and in September. We see that the downside risks that we identified are crystallising, mainly because consumption is not recovering as expected. Even though real disposable income has increased because wages are catching up with past inflation, households are not increasing their spending. This could be due to structural factors, including a lack of confidence owing to past inflation, the pandemic or geopolitical risks. But it is clear that the recovery in consumption is not happening at the pace we had previously projected.

On inflation, we have the opposite happening. The latest figures are good, in terms of both headline inflation and underlying inflation. Most measures of underlying inflation are declining, and we are confident that we will be able to reach our 2% target over the medium term in the course of 2025.

Regarding possible future cuts, we have been very clear that we will keep all options open at forthcoming meetings, both in terms of the number of cuts and the size of these cuts. But what is most relevant for the transmission of monetary policy and the impact of financial conditions on aggregate demand is the medium-term trajectory, which is evidently that of an easing cycle. Fine-tuning monetary policy is very complex and the important signal is the medium-term trajectory.

Geopolitical risks will play a role in the forthcoming monetary policy decisions. To what extent are the risks associated with the conflicts in the Middle East and the risks of a further escalation in trade tariffs pushing the ECB to take a prudent approach in reducing interest rates?

Geopolitical factors play a very important role in our analysis. For example, the conflict in the Middle East has an impact on energy prices and upcoming elections could have an impact on international trade, global growth and inflation. This is one reason why we have to be very prudent with our decisions. When you are in a dark room full of uncertainty, for example because of geopolitical risks that you cannot control, you have to take very careful steps.

Another important element is fiscal policy. Governments are now submitting their medium-term budgetary plans to the European Commission. This will give us more clarity on the fiscal outlook, which is an element that we take into consideration in our analysis and decision-making. So geopolitical risks, the possibility of distortions in international trade plus what will happen with fiscal policy will all feed into our decisions in the near future.

In its new operational framework that came into force in September 2024, the ECB anticipates that a substantial contribution to providing liquidity to the banking sector will come from a structural portfolio of securities and from new longer-term refinancing operations, under conditions to be defined at a later date. What point has the discussion reached and what guidance is there?

The operational framework has to be used to implement our monetary policy, it cannot condition it. And we have said very clearly that all monetary policy instruments in our toolkit remain available to us. This will include, for example, non-conventional measures, such as targeted longer-term refinancing operations and quantitative easing.

Right now, we are in a situation of ample liquidity, which we are gradually reducing by discontinuing reinvestments, which will come to a complete halt at the beginning of next year. Once that liquidity has been significantly reduced, a combination of the monetary policy instruments at our disposal will help us deliver enough liquidity to the banking system.

In my view, when we discuss the structural portfolio, we will need to take into account the actual liquidity situation of the banks and look not only at the average, but also at the dispersion in the banking sector. We have not decided on the size of the structural portfolio, but it will need to be large enough to deliver sufficient liquidity to the banking system.

The latest monetary policy strategy review in 2021 took place at a time of strong deflationary pressures linked to various factors, including digitalisation and globalisation. Since then the landscape has changed. We find ourselves in a fragmented geopolitical context with the return of inflationary shocks. How will all this be reflected in the coming monetary policy strategy review? When will the discussion begin and what topics will it cover?

We have established a couple of workstreams at the technical level to examine these factors, namely how the landscape has changed, how the new environment could have an impact on inflation, and our evolving policy toolkit. But this will not be discussed by the Governing Council until next year, with conclusions expected in the second half of 2025.

What is crystal clear is that the definition of price stability as 2% inflation over the medium term will not be up for debate. And several other elements, such as the importance of financial stability considerations or accounting for climate change in our work, are already established. Instead, this review will mostly be an assessment of the previous strategy review while considering new elements, such as the changed economic and inflation environment, the possibility of deglobalisation and other structural elements that could affect the inflation outlook.

Importantly, we will look at the consequences of measures we have used in the past. For every monetary policy decision, we need to look not only at short-term effects but also further ahead at possible unwanted effects. Quantitative easing, for example, is an instrument that proved to be very useful to fight deflation and the impact of the pandemic, but it also caused some side effects. In that respect, now that we have started the opposite process of quantitative tightening, we have much more information on the potential consequences of quantitative easing.

Are you referring to fiscal side effects?

No. I’m referring, for instance, to the impact on financial stability or on national central banks’ profit and loss accounts. These are side effects that can be better taken into consideration and that were not obvious at the time.

Italy has seen inflation fall to below 2% from a high of close to 12% two years ago, and its growth rate is in line with the European average. While real disposable income is improving, investment is feeling the effects of a still restrictive monetary policy and politicians have criticised the ECB’s cautious stance in the last few months. How would you explain to Italian politicians and households the need for a cautious approach in reducing interest rates, and how do you plan to reassure them about the current transition from still restrictive interest rates to a more neutral stance?

Above all else, we listen to all opinions carefully and with an open mind. The ECB and central banks are independent institutions, meaning that they need to display an additional level of responsibility and accountability.

What I would say to Italian and European citizens is that it’s important to be cautious and prudent. We have reduced interest rates and the trajectory of our monetary policy is very clear, but there is a huge amount of uncertainty and we cannot make mistakes. That’s why a gradual approach to implementing monetary policy is essential.

That being said, I’d like to reassure them that things are moving in the right direction. Inflation has fallen significantly. Most people look more closely at price levels than at inflation, but at the end of the day, current price levels are a consequence of past inflation. We can’t claim victory yet, but we have made good progress so far. And despite an economic slowdown, we have so far managed to reduce inflation without causing a recession in the euro area. When you look at the labour market, the situation remains positive. So I hope that in the medium term it will become more evident that we are on the right track.

In its draft budget, the Italian government is seeking a contribution of around €3.5 billion from the banking sector by targeting deferred tax assets (DTAs). Has the ECB been consulted on the merits of this approach and what guidance is being formulated on this measure?

In general, our assessment of banking sector taxes is quite clear from the legal opinions we have issued on proposals by several countries. Our view is that such taxes should not impair banks’ solvency or the transmission of monetary policy in terms of hampering the flow of credit to the real economy.

In this specific case, we don’t have the definitive version of the tax yet, so it’s difficult to form an opinion about it. But I hope that solvency will be one of the items taken into consideration, which would be positive from our perspective.

In my view, the design of the previous version of the tax was balanced, for example, because it made tax revenues and bank solvency compatible. Of the many approaches taken by other European countries that imposed taxes on the banking sector, I believe this was the most balanced one.

Completing the banking union is one of the most urgent objectives that will make Europe more resilient and more competitive. Despite this, a cross-border merger like the potential merger between Unicredit and Commerzbank currently under discussion is treated as a national matter in both countries. What lessons can we learn from this and why is a cross-border merger between European banks still hitting the headlines in Europe in 2024?

Given the importance of banks’ funding for the real economy, completing the banking union should be the number one priority on the European Union’s economic agenda. I acknowledge that there are political hurdles to achieving that, but it will be very difficult to have a real economic and monetary union without a banking union. Greater coordination of fiscal policy, for example through a common fiscal instrument or progress towards the capital markets union, would also be important.

If you want a single banking market, you need to have genuine pan-European banks. This is why cross-border consolidation of the banking sector is important. I don’t discuss the merits of individual cases, but in my view, a European approach should prevail over a national one. That’s the way forward for European integration.

In any case, our assessment of any merger and acquisition transaction is always based exclusively on prudential and solvency criteria. This is the guiding principle for us, based on European regulation.

The Italian government has voiced its support for the merger between Unicredit and Commerzbank, which would strengthen European banking consolidation. At the same time, Italy is the only Member State that hasn’t ratified the treaty to reform the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which is an important element in completing the banking union. How important will it be to remove this obstacle?

In my previous answer, I referred to how important it is for a European approach to prevail over a national one. But this principle has to be consistent from all angles and in all kinds of situations. In my opinion, a pro-European approach to the integration of the economy, the banking system and the capital markets should be the one that prevails for all the items under discussion, including ESM reform. Ratifying the reformed ESM Treaty would be a clear pro-European decision.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Speech by SJ at plenary session of 14th China-ASEAN Prosecutors-General Conference in Singapore (English only)

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at the plenary session of the 14th China-ASEAN Prosecutors-General Conference in Singapore today (October 29):Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, To begin with, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Your Excellency Mr Lucien Wong, SC, for organising this year’s conference.Urgent call for co-operation in the fight against financial crimes The theme of this year’s conference is “Fostering Co-operation on Combating Financial Crimes”. The definition of financial crimes is very wide. In Hong Kong, they cover a broad range of money-related criminal activities including money laundering, terrorists financing, fraud, theft, market misconduct as well as corruption and irregularities in the financial market. There is, however, very often a common element: that is they involve transboundary elements. In recent years, we have witnessed an alarming rise in financial crimes. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that money laundered globally in one year is 2-5 per cent of global gross domestic product, that is approximately US$800 billion to $2 trillion. Hong Kong, which ranks No. 1 in the 2024 Economic Freedom of the World Report compiled by the Fraser Institute, is not immune to these challenges. According to the latest statistics released by the Hong Kong Police Force, over 19 000 cases of deception were registered in the first half of 2024, accounting for around 44 per cent of the total number of crimes and resulting in the loss of HK$4.48 billion. There is, therefore, no wonder why there is consensus that international co-operation to combat financial crimes is both essential and imminent. In May this year, the Heads of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the UNODC and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued an unprecedented joint call for actions to be taken across sectors and at the global level to target the huge illicit profits generated by transnational organised crimes that facilitate conflicts, fund terrorism and negatively impact vulnerable populations. Hong Kong is committed to engaging in international co-operation to combat financial crimes proactively. This is both required and made possible by the principle of “one country, two systems”. In the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Article 109 gives Hong Kong the mandate to provide an appropriate economic and legal environment for the maintenance of the status of Hong Kong as an international financial centre. Under Articles 96 and 152 of the Basic Law respectively, Hong Kong may make appropriate arrangements with foreign states for reciprocal juridical assistance, and representatives of Hong Kong may participate in international organisations or conferences as members of delegations of the People’s Republic of China or in other appropriate capacity. Hong Kong has been adopting a four-pronged approach in combating financial crimes with international elements: first, espousing international regulatory standards; second, establishing a collaborative network for effective prosecution and asset recovery; third, embracing technologies as our new tools; and, lastly, encouraging knowledge and experience sharing.Espousing international regulatory standards Let me begin with espousing international regulatory standards. While different jurisdictions have diverse legal landscapes and different financial systems, it is essential to ensure that the local legal and regulatory frameworks would comply with international standards. I am proud to say that Hong Kong has so far successfully achieved this objective. Owing to the fact that, in practice, it is very often difficult to identify, catch and bring participants of financial crimes to justice and that the loss and damage caused by such crimes are in many cases untraceable and irrecoverable, the Hong Kong law in this respect focus very much on effective prevention and early detection of suspicious transactions. Our Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615) (AMLO) sets out the requirements on financial institutions regarding customer due diligence and record keeping; and other legislations impose statutory obligations for reporting suspicious transactions. Earlier this year, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in a landmark judgment known as Tam Sze Leung & Ors v Commissioner of Police (2024) 27 HKCFAR 288 upheld the validity of the “letters of no consent” scheme under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 455), which aims at assisting financial institutions to consider how to deal with, or not to deal with, funds known or suspected to be proceeds of crime. On the other hand, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong publishes alert list to provide early warnings to investors on suspicious investment products and virtual asset trading platforms. Very recently in August this year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Association of Banks, extended the coverage of the Suspicious Account Alert to physical branches and Internet banking transactions. Hong Kong has been a member of the FATF, an intergovernmental organisation which sets global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, since 1991. In the fourth round of FATF mutual evaluation in 2018-19, Hong Kong’s anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) system has been assessed to be compliant and effective overall, making it the first jurisdiction in the Asia-Pacific region to have achieved an overall compliant result. The FATF also adopted Hong Kong’s follow-up report and recognised Hong Kong’s efforts in strengthening its AML/CFT regulatory regimes last year. That said, Hong Kong does not remain complacent. Hong Kong is also one of the founding members of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), an autonomous FATF-style regional anti-money laundering body, founded in 1997. The APG published annual reports to assist governments and other stakeholders to have a better understanding about the nature of existing and emerging threats. The 2023 report includes a chapter on threats and trends related to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers. Hong Kong took the initiative to introduce a licensing regime for virtual asset service providers under AMLO, which came into effect in June 2023. To further strengthen the virtual assets regulatory framework in Hong Kong, we consulted the public on a regulatory regime for stablecoins earlier this year and had received overall support.Establishing a collaborative network for effective prosecution and asset recovery Let me turn to establishing a collaborative network across jurisdictions to enable effective prosecution of financial crimes and asset recovery. Hong Kong has established a comprehensive co-operation regime for the mutual legal assistance and surrender of fugitives. The Department of Justice of Hong Kong published various practical step-by-step guidelines, such as “Guide to Asset Recovery in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” and “Guidelines for Making Applications under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance (Cap. 525)”, with a view to assisting our foreign counterparts in understanding the procedures in relation to international legal co-operation in criminal matters in Hong Kong and the wide range of legal assistance that may be provided by Hong Kong, such as taking of oral evidence, obtaining materials under production orders, enforcement of external confiscation orders and restraining of dealing in property which may be subject to external confiscation orders, etc. Over the years, the Department of Justice has been providing effective and timely assistance to various foreign jurisdictions, including our ASEAN and Asia-Pacific partners. Let me share with you some examples. Recently, pursuant to a request made by an East Asian country, we have successfully obtained from the High Court a restraint order freezing assets in the form of cryptocurrencies of a total value of more than US$20 million, which are suspected to be proceeds of a massive fraudulent scheme. In another case regarding a request received from Indonesia, we have restrained over US$8 million worth of assets, representing proceeds of offences of fraud and money laundering, with a view to repatriating the confiscated funds back to the victim of crimes in Indonesia eventually. Singapore is one of our most valued and top legal co-operation partners. Thanks to the tireless effort of the Attorney General’s Chambers of Singapore, a fugitive was successfully surrendered back to Hong Kong earlier this month to face justice in court for offences relating to a securities fraud. In another case involving offences of money laundering and corruption, Hong Kong is working very closely with Singapore in our collaboration to repatriate US$13 million of proceeds of crime back to the victim in Mainland China. In yet another example, with the joint effort of Interpol and following extensive information sharing and joint investigations by the police from Singapore and Hong Kong, a transnational syndicate allegedly involved in laundering ill-gotten gains derived from tech support scams, including around HK$33 million from the victims in Singapore, has recently been crippled in August this year, resulting in the arrest of eight persons in Singapore and Hong Kong. Another significant development in 2024 is that, on June 26, 2024, Hong Kong has officially joined the South East Asia Justice Network (SEAJust), which was established in 2020 with the support of the UNODC. This enables Hong Kong to make use of this important platform to facilitate co-operation in criminal matters with other members, including all my friends here today. I feel obliged to take this opportunity to register my disappointment that, due to geopolitical reasons, some Western countries have unilaterally suspended their mutual legal co-operation arrangements with Hong Kong, which is plainly against common interests. Geopolitical considerations should not be allowed to hinder international co-operation in fighting financial crimes.Embracing technologies as our new arsenal of tools Let me move on to embracing technologies as our tools. In this digital age, technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace. It is unfortunate that it has been misused to enable financial crimes to transcend borders and get “bigger” in terms of quantity and complexity, and allow the culprits to hide their identities in the virtual world. To counter such misuse, we should consider how to deploy technological advancements as our ally. In particular, we should proactively explore the possibilities of leveraging powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools for detecting and disrupting financial crimes at an early stage. For example, AI-powered systems may facilitate real-time online transaction monitoring and individual behavioural analysis, and alert unusual transaction patterns with speed and accuracy that human beings cannot duplicate. AI-assisted automation may also play a pivotal role in enhancing the efficiency of investigations. AI technology is able to analyse vast amounts of data at lightning speed. Automating some repetitive but essential tasks throughout the investigation process enables investigation officers to dedicate their time and energy to developing strategies in higher-impact cases. On September 9, 2024, with a view to accelerating the use of AI in monitoring money laundering and terrorist financing risks, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority published a circular on “Use of Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring Suspicious Activities”. The HKMA observed that AI-powered systems take into account a broad range of contextual information focusing not only on individual transactions, but also the active risk profile and past transaction patterns of customers in determining whether the activity of a customer should be flagged for further investigation. These enhanced systems have proved to be more effective and efficient than conventional rules-based transaction monitoring systems.Encouraging knowledge and experience sharing Lastly, let me say a few words on encouraging knowledge and experience sharing. Last month, a dedicated team of prosecutors who specialise in prosecuting sophisticated and syndicated high-tech crimes in the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice of Hong Kong paid a visit to Guangdong Provincial People’s Procuratorate, the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province and Guangzhou Internet Court. The sharing sessions with Mainland judges and procurators were greatly beneficial to deepening the mutual understanding of the latest trends of deception cases and the handling of cryptocurrency cases. And, of course, international symposiums and conferences provide an excellent forum for free flow of ideas, which assist in gathering and accumulating a general pool of knowledge, and stimulating new and innovative ideas to combat financial crimes. This successful conference is, by itself, a perfect example. In this aspect, I am very pleased to inform you that, next month between November 27 and 29, Hong Kong will organise the 11th Asia and Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) under the theme of “Effective Prosecution Service in the Technological Age”. I look forward to welcoming you to Hong Kong. Lastly, I am also very pleased to inform you that the Department of Justice of Hong Kong will formally establish the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy very soon. The Academy will organise practical training courses, seminars, and international exchange programmes to promote exchanges among legal professionals coming from different jurisdictions. This may serve as an additional platform for capacity building and experience sharing in the area of international co-operation on combating financial crimes.Concluding remarks To conclude, while the challenges we face in our fight against financial crimes are daunting and are likely to be ongoing, they are ones that we can and must overcome – together. In this war that we cannot afford losing, let us remain steadfast to our commitment to align with international regulatory standards, work closely via various collaborative networks, make better use of emerging technologies, and share knowledge and experience. In co-operation lies our strength, and in action lies the promise of a secure financial environment where trust and integrity flourish. On this note, may I once again thank the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore for giving me and other members of the Hong Kong delegation such a fruitful experience at this successful conference, and to all the distinguished speakers and friends from the Mainland and ASEAN countries for their sharing of valuable insights and experiences. Thank you very much.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: Interim Financial Report Q1-Q3 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
- Updated strategy and new long-term targets
- Earnings per share declined by 2% to DKK 60.5 (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 62.0)
- The net profit was down by 1% to DKK 4,044m (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 4,106m)
- Net interest income rose by 1% to DKK 7,211m (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 7,155m)
- Core income was up by 1% to DKK 10,307m (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 10,244m)
- Core expenses rose by 6% to DKK 4,768m (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 4,498m)
- Loan impairment charges DKK 13m (Q1-Q3 2023: DKK 96m)
- Capital ratio at 22.6%, of which common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 17.2% (Q1 – Q3: 2023: 20.9% and 16.7%, respectively)
- Expected earnings per share in 2024 upgraded on 11 October to DKK 75-80 from the upper end of the range of DKK 64-76
- Share buy-back programme of DKK 1.5bn completed on 3 October 2024.
Summary

”Earlier in the month, Jyske Bank upgraded its outlook for 2024 due to a continued positive development. We are now launching a strategy to become an even better bank for our customers,” says Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director, and continues:

“With a strong foundation in the Danish market and a number of positions of strength in servicing both personal and corporate customers, Jyske Bank will over the coming years do more of what we have shown that we are good at and accelerate development in the areas where we want to do better.“

“We support customers, e.g., in their sustainable transition and use digitization proactively to the benefit of the customers and to increase efficiency. Based on the strategy, we have set financial targets according to which we aim to obtain a return on tangible equity of 10% based on a cost/income ratio below 50 supplemented by an attractive distribution to shareholders,” says Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director.

Updated strategy
Jyske Bank utilizes the opportunities that arise to create value for customers, and the Group will seek out opportunities for cooperation and, in doing so, be an attractive partner for other players in the sector.

In the lead up to the strategy announcement, the Group has set up the organisation so that customer orientation is strengthened throughout the value chain and efforts and resources are efficiently channelled to where it benefits the customers the most and contributes the most to the Group’s profitability. At the same time, risk management and digitization have been strengthened.

Long-term financial targets
Jyske Bank expects a return on tangible equity of 10% in 2028 based on a presupposed common equity tier 1 capital ratio at the lower end of 15%-17%, a cost/income ratio below 50, and a normalised cost of risk of 8bp p.a. The ambition to distribute approx. 30% of shareholders’ result supplemented by share buy-backs is maintained. In the coming years, the Danish economy is expected to be dominated by lower interest rates and balanced growth with high levels of employment and moderate inflation.

The targets reflect an underlying improvement in profitability aimed at mitigating expectations of significantly lower interest rates over the coming years. The targets will be achieved through stronger customer-orientation and focus on capital-light income as well as structural cost measures, ensuring continued investment in new technology and higher efficiency.

Other initiatives
Prior to the update of its strategy, Jyske Bank changed its organisation to obtain stronger client orientation, higher professionalism in the Group’s control set-up and higher development and implementation efficiency. Subsequently, the Group Executive Board will consist of the CEO and Managing Director, a Managing Director of Corporate Clients and Capital Markets, a Managing Director of Personal Clients and Wealth Management, a Managing Director of Digitization and Operations as well as a Chief Risk Officer.

In continuation of the organisational change, Erik Gadeberg was appointed new member of the Group Executive Board as Managing Director, Corporate Clients and Capital Markets. Erik Gadeberg has prior to this held the position as Managing Director of Capital Markets at Jyske Bank. He joined Jyske Bank in 1990 and has primarily been employed in functions associated with Capital Markets, including large corporates and institutional clients.

Managing Director Per Skovhus retired at the end of June 2024. Jacob Gyntelberg will take office on 6 December 2024 as Managing Director, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and new member of the Group Executive Board. Since 2021, Jacob Gyntelberg has been Director of Economic and Risk Analysis at the European Banking Authority (EBA). During the period 2019-2021, Jacob Gyntelberg was Deputy Chief Risk Officer at Nordea, and previously he held executive positions at Danske Bank, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Nykredit and Danmarks Nationalbank.

In 2023, Jyske Bank acquired PFA Bank, and the integration was in the first half of 2024 successfully completed according to plan. The IT migration to Bankdata from BEC was implemented in the second quarter of 2024 when also administration and management of PFA Invest were taken over by BankInvest to ensure smooth transfer for the clients. The approach underlines Jyske Bank’s focus on client requirements which contributed to Jyske Bank’s Private Banking clients having been Denmark’s most satisfied clients for the past nine years running according to the research company Voxmeter.

In September 2024, Jyske Finans, which manages the Group’s leasing activities, announced the acquisition of a leasing portfolio from Opendo. The acquisition supports Jyske Finans’ leading position in the structurally growing leasing market with higher volume to the portfolio of cars on operational leasing contracts.

In Q1-Q3 2024, Jyske Bank introduced additional attractive savings products and sharper prices and offers for home loan products to personal clients. The flexible mortgage loan, Jyske Prioritet+, was highlighted by TÆNK, the Danish Consumer Council, with the rating ’Recommend’. Clients’ credit cards were also improved through travel insurance and purchase warranty as well as VISA’s loyalty programme with approx. 1,500 stores and web shops.

Jyske Bank’s target is to be an active and constructive part of the green transition and Jyske Bank’s target is net zero CO₂ emission across business-oriented activities in the form of loans and investments not later than in 2045 and 2050, respectively. In addition, Jyske Bank aims at lending growth contributing to offset climate changes, and the CO₂ emission from Jyske Bank’s own activities must be reduced by 65% from 2020 to 2030.

Earnings per share DKK 60.5 in Q1-Q3 2024
Earnings per share were DKK 60.5 against DKK 62.0 the previous year, corresponding to a net profit of DKK 2,623m or a return of 11.8% p.a. on equity against DKK 2,488m and 13.5% p.a., respectively in Q1-Q3 2023. Despite a lower pre-tax profit, the tax expense increased due to a higher special tax.

The reason for the lower results is particularly higher costs as a result of sector-wide, collectively prescribed salary increases and the acquisition of PFA Bank as well as lower gains from the sale of leasing cars. The development in Q1-Q3 2024 reflects a Danish economy growing moderately with continued high employment. The economy withstood interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, and an improved inflation outlook in June 2024 paved the way for Danmarks Nationalbank’s first interest rate cut for several years, followed up by further cuts in September and October.

Jyske Bank’s business volume showed an overall declining development in loans and deposits in Q1-Q3 2024, supplemented by a sizeable increase in the investment area. Bank loans decreased 5% due to lower loans to personal clients compared with end-2023. Bank deposits fell by 2% due to lower time deposits from corporate clients. Nominal mortgage loans were roughly unchanged since lower lending to personal clients were offset by a higher amount of lending to corporate clients. Assets under management rose by 14% due to a favourable development in the financial markets and net sales of investment solutions.

Core income rose by 1% relative to Q1-Q3 2023 due to a slight increase in most income items. Net interest income rose by 1% due to the higher level of interest rates. Net fee and commission income was up by 1% due to the acquisition of PFA Bank and a higher amount of assets under management. Value adjustments still contributed positively due to the development in the financial markets. Other income increased due to higher share dividends whereas a gradual normalisation of favourable sales conditions in the leasing car market caused a decline in income from operating lease (net).

Core expenses rose by 6% compared to Q1-Q3 2023. The increase can primarily be attributed to sector-wide, collectively prescribed salary increases of 3.7%, the derived effect from the abolishment of All Prayers Day and the effect from the acquisition of PFA Bank. In addition, the level of one-off items was at an elevated level.

Loan impairment charges amounted to DKK 13m in Q1-Q3 2024 compared with DKK 96m in Q1-Q3 2023. Management’s estimates relating to loan impairment charges were in Q1-Q3 2024 reduced by DKK 151m to DKK 1,783m as the result of lower macroeconomic risks. The credit quality is still solid with a low level of non-performing exposures.

At the end of Q1-Q3 2024, Jyske Bank’s common equity tier 1 capital ratio was 17.2%, which is above the targeted range of 15%-17%. In Q1-Q3 2024, Jyske Bank distributed a dividend of DKK 500m or DKK 7.78 per share and executed a share buy-back programme of DKK 1.5bn which was completed in early October. The share buy-back programme was the first since the acquisition of Handelsbanken Denmark and reflects a restored capital base supported by two capital issues in the first quarter of 2024. The issues contributed to an increase in the total capital ratio to 22.6%, above the targeted range at 20%-22%.

2024 outlook
For 2024, Jyske Bank estimates a net profit in the range of DKK 5.0bn-5.3bn, corresponding to earnings per share in the range of DKK 75-80. The outlook was in October 2024 upgraded from a net profit in the upper end of the range of DKK 4.3bn-5.1bn, corresponding to earnings per share in the upper half of the range of DKK 64-76. The upward revision was attributed to favourable financial markets and a solid credit quality.

Core income is expected to decline in 2024, in particular as a result of lower value adjustments which were at a historically high level in 2023. Expectations mirror moderate growth in the Danish economy and a reduction of Danmarks Nationalbank’s deposit rate at 1.0 percentage point in 2024. Core expenses inclusive of non-recurring costs are expected to be slightly higher in 2024 compared with 2023. Non-recurring expenses for the integration of Handelsbanken Denmark and PFA Bank are expected to total DKK 0.1bn.

As in 2023, loan impairment charges are expected to be at a low level in 2024. The expectations involve uncertainty and depend, for instance, on macroeconomic circumstances and the development in the financial markets.

Webcast and conference call
Jyske Bank will host a conference call in English targeting investors and analysts today at 2.00 p.m. CET (link). Conference call and presentation will be available via jyskebank.com/investorrelations.

Yours faithfully,
Jyske Bank

Contact:
Lars Mørch, CEO and Managing Director, tel. +45 89 89 20 01
Birger Krøgh Nielsen, CFO, tel. +45 89 89 64 44

Attachments
- Jyske Bank Interim Financial Report Q1-Q3
- Corporate Announcement_20241029
The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: Share buybacks in Spar Nord Bank – transactions in week 43

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Company announcement no. 65

In company announcement no. 10 2024, Spar Nord announced a share buyback programme of up to DKK 500 million. The share buyback was initiated on 12 February 2024.

The purpose of the share buyback is to reduce the bank’s share capital by the shares acquired under the programme, and the programme is executed pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 (“Market Abuse Regulation”).

In last week the following transactions were made under the share buyback programme.

	Number of shares	Average purchase price (DKK)	Transaction value (DKK)
Accumulated from last announcement	2,727,197		343,387,069
21 October 2024	14,000	138.18	1,934,520
22 October 2024	14,000	140.39	1,965,460
23 October 2024	14,000	142.08	1,989,120
24 October 2024	14,000	140.18	1,962,520
25 October 2024	14,000	139.93	1,959,020
Total week 43	70,000		9,810,640
Total accumulated	2,797,197		353,197,709

Following the above transactions. Spar Nord holds a total of 2,918,269 treasury shares equal to 2.48 % of the Bank’s share capital.

Please direct any questions regarding this release to Rune Brandt Børglum, Head of Investor Relations on tel. + 45 96 34 42 36.

Rune Brandt Børglum
Head of Investor Relation

Attachment

No. 65 – Share buybacks – transactions in week 43 – UK

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: AI Knocks on the Door of FinTech – Industry Experts Gather for the Eleventh Year of FinTech Connect 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

LONDON, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fintech Connect, Europe’s only dedicated fintech event for the entire ecosystem, returns this December to the ExCel exhibition centre in London.

Over the course of two days, 4th and 5th December 2024, more than 2000 attendees will meet and network with industry leaders and innovators from across the fintech sector. More than 100 speakers will take to the stage on a range of topics that are expected to define the course of the fintech ecosystem, including the role of AI in financial services and the innovation vs regulation debate.

With over 80 sessions, engaging workshops, start-up showcases and an extensive exhibition floor, attendees will have the opportunity to experience cutting-edge tech demos that highlight the most innovative solutions driving the transformation of the global payments landscape.

This event, comprising two focused topic streams – Innovation and Implementation – boasts an exceptional line-up of renowned experts and leading figures from across the fintech ecosystem including speakers from HSBC, Starling Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Ireland, TUI GROUP, Asos.com, Jaguar Land Rover, Uber and Bumble. With voices from regulators, investors, technology innovators, traditional banks, merchants and challenger banks, the latest trends propelling fintech forward will be discussed, including:

AI and ML
- Exploring the use of advanced AI to enhance banking products for the consumer
- Partnering AI with fintech successfully and core lessons learned
- Customer-facing generative AI, and how to use enhanced tools without impacting consumer experience
- Ensuring trust, transparency, and safety while incorporating new AI technologies across the business
Open Banking
- Uncovering the key to a successful fintech partnership
- Identifying considerations of a third-party company for successful onboarding and implementation
- Operationalising fintech at scale throughout the business
Innovation VS Regulation
- Understanding how to keep your payments fraud-proof
- Ensuring payment leaders work to update their security features
- Using digital identity verification to keep your payments secure
Laurence Coldicott, Senior Content Director at FinTech Connect, said: “With the recent growth and transformation of the fintech ecosystem, events such as FinTech Connect are important to help you stay on top of all the action through the wealth of resources we have to offer.”

“This year’s event is a testament to our commitment to bring together global fintech thought leaders, innovators, and key stakeholders to reflect on and define the industry. Year after year, we remain true to our original mission: to connect, collaborate, and explore the future of finance.”

FinTech Connect 2024’s media attendees get free entry and will be able to conduct interviews, briefings and meetings in the event’s interactive media room. Media can register to attend here.

The full agenda, list of speakers, keynote panel and content themes can be found here.

Register your interest in attending or exhibiting:

Merchants interested in attending can register for free access to ‘All Area Pass’.

Those interested in having their company represented as a sponsor or exhibitor can get in touch here for more information.

Start-ups are also encouraged to participate- FinTech Connect offers special rates for start-up companies to take part as exhibitors, find out how to get involved here.

About Fintech Connect

FinTech Connect is where large teams from major financial institutions go to assess the latest innovations on the market, and where FinTechs come to accelerate dialogues with digital buyers with responsibility across digital transformation, payments, financial security, RegTech and blockchain.

The 2024 event will bring together 2,000+ of the fintech community to share best practice, showcase new products and solutions and shape financial services of the future. The two-day conference and exhibition offer a comprehensive program of interactive workshops, multiple fireside chats, innovative tech demos, and multiple networking opportunities.

Contacts

FinTech Connect

info@fintechconnect.com

SkyParlour

Deborah@skyparlour.com

The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Decarbonizing Value Chains in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Economies

Source: Asia Development Bank

The brief explores how CAREC members could collaborate to support the movement of goods and people in the region in ways that contribute toward climate objectives. Actions could include digitalizing trade processes, promoting climate-smart transportation, improving governance and decarbonization in the mining sector, harmonizing policies and green standards, and developing a regional approach to climate financing.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Handbook on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Source: Asia Development Bank

Explaining how energy efficient construction can help reduce costs, lower emissions, and improve affordability, the handbook offers practical guidance and tools, covers key project cycle stages, and delves into sustainable heating and cooling strategies. It details ways to improve procurement, supervise, and rate energy efficiency for the emissions intensive industry while underscoring the need for governments and the private sector to work together to help transition toward a zero-carbon building stock.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: African countries push for $25 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund as Sudan tops up its pledge

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, October 29, 2024/APO Group/ —

Sudan has increased its pledged contribution to the replenishment of the African Development Fund to $3 million, its Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Dr Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel announced.

Fediel made the announcement during a meeting with his Sierra Leonean counterpart, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, Gambian Finance Minister Seedy Keita, Liberian Minister for Agriculture, Dr Alexander Nuatah and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina. The ministers and Adesina met on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington DC.

The governments of the Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan are supporting efforts by the African Development Bank Group to push for a $25 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund, its concessional window.

The four countries, together with Ghana, last year pledged to contribute a minimum of $1 million each to the African Development Fund’s 17th replenishment scheduled for 2025.

Adesina praised Sudan’s “incredible show of solidarity for increasing its contribution to the Fund and for continuing to honour its financial commitments to the Bank despite facing difficult challenges.”

The current $8.9 billion three-year financing cycle or the 16th replenishment, which ends in 2025, was the largest ever in the history of the African Development Fund.

The Bank Group president spoke about the African Development Fund’s impressive record as the largest financier of regional transport infrastructure corridors and regional energy connectivity and power pools across its 37 member countries.

Adesina said the Fund beneficiaries need “concessional resources more than just grants and that is why our goal is to triple ADF to $25 billion. That is the reason I fought for ADF, from the first day of my leadership of the Bank, to be allowed to go to the capital markets to raise additional resources.”

“ADF going to capital markets will help generate up to $27 billion additional resources starting from ADF 17th Replenishment,” said Adesina.

Sudan’s decision to top up its contribution to the African Development Fund comes a fortnight after Benin announced a $2 million pledge to the next replenishment.

The African Development Bank Group’s Executive Director for The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, Rufus Darkortey termed the increase by Sudan a powerful demonstration of their steadfast commitment to a bigger ADF-17 Replenishment.

“I commend President Adesina and the leadership of our governors and heads of state for championing the call for a bold $25 billion ADF-17 Replenishment. This unified effort reflects Africa’s determination to lead its transformation,” Dakortey said.

Last May, Kenya’s President William Ruto pledged $20 million to the Fund.

MIL OSI Africa –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Europe: Euro area economic and financial developments by institutional sector: second quarter of 2024

Source: European Central Bank

29 October 2024

As of October 2024, ECB quarterly financial accounts provide more details on loans by counterpart sector granted by other financial institutions (OFIs) and information on debt securities issuance of non-financial corporations (NFCs) via financing conduits. OFIs are creditors of 23% of loans granted to NFCs by financial sector
Euro area net saving increased to €795 billion in four quarters to second quarter of 2024, compared with €787 billion one quarter earlier
Household debt-to-income ratio decreased to 83.4% in second quarter of 2024 from 87.8% one year earlier
NFCs’ debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 69.3% in second quarter of 2024 from 71.8% one year earlier

New details on other financial institutions and the financing of other sectors

As of October 2024, the quarterly sector accounts published by the ECB provide more detailed financial accounts data on OFIs, which constitute the second largest financial sector in the euro area after monetary financial institutions (MFIs).^[1] OFIs mainly provide financing to NFCs and to a lesser extent to households and other sectors. They also channel funds to and from the rest of the world.

This new release provides counterpart sector data, such as loans granted by the OFI subsectors to NFCs (Chart 1). The release also includes new data on euro area NFC financing conduits which are captive financial institutions that raise funds by issuing debt securities to be used by their parent corporation.^[2]

Chart 1

Loans to NFCs by financial subsector

(outstanding amounts at the of end of the second quarter of 2024, as percentages of financial sector loans to NFCs)

Source: ECB.

* Loans from NFC financing conduits to NFCs are estimated based on the financing conduits’ issuance of debt securities.

Total euro area economy

Euro area net saving increased to €795 billion (6.7% of euro area net disposable income) in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2024, compared with €787 billion in the four quarters to the previous quarter. Euro area net non-financial investment decreased to €440 billion (3.7% of net disposable income), mainly due to decreased investment by NFCs (Chart 2 and Table 1 in the Annex).

Euro area net lending to the rest of the world increased to €388 billion (from €336 billion previously) reflecting the increased net saving and decreased net non-financial investment. Household net lending increased to €549 billion (4.6% of net disposable income) from €501 billion. Net lending of NFCs (€233 billion, 2.0% of net disposable income) and that of financial corporations (€124 billion, 1.0% of net disposable income) were broadly unchanged. Government net borrowing stood broadly unchanged at €517 billion, contributing negatively (-4.3% of net disposable income) to euro area net lending.

Chart 2

Euro area saving, investment and net lending to the rest of the world

(EUR billions, four-quarter sums)

Sources: ECB and Eurostat.

* Net saving minus net capital transfers to the rest of the world (equals change in net worth due to transactions).

Data for euro area saving, investment and net lending to the rest of the world (Chart 2)

Households

Household financial investment increased at a higher annual rate of 2.3% in the second quarter of 2024 (after 2.0% in the previous quarter). Among its components, investment in currency and deposits (2.3%, after 1.6%) and investment in shares and other equity (0.8%, after 0.4%) grew at higher rates due to investment fund shares, while investment in debt securities increased at a lower rate (27.9%, after 38.5%).

Households continued to directly buy, in net terms, mainly debt securities issued by general government and MFIs. Households were overall net sellers of listed shares, selling predominantly listed shares of non-financial corporations, while buying listed shares issued by the rest of the world (i.e. shares issued by non-euro area residents) and MFIs (Table 1 below and Table 2.2 in the Annex).

The household debt-to-income ratio^[3] decreased to 83.4% in the second quarter of 2024 from 87.8% in the second quarter of 2023. The household debt-to-GDP ratio declined, to 52.2% in the second quarter of 2024 from 54.4% in the second quarter of 2023 (Chart 3).

Table 1

Financial investment and financing of households, main items

(annual growth rates)

	Financial transactions
	2023 Q2	2023 Q3	2023 Q4	2024 Q1	2024 Q2
Financial investment*	2.0	1.8	1.9	2.0	2.3
Currency and deposits	1.3	0.3	0.8	1.6	2.3
Debt securities	48.6	56.9	54.3	38.5	27.9
Shares and other equity**	1.3	1.1	0.4	0.4	0.8
Life insurance	-0.2	-0.7	-0.6	-0.2	0.0
Pension schemes	2.4	2.4	2.2	2.3	2.3
Financing***	2.4	1.6	0.9	1.1	1.4
Loans	1.8	1.0	0.5	0.6	0.6

Source: ECB.

* Items not shown include: loans granted, prepayments of insurance premiums and reserves for outstanding claims and other accounts receivable.

** Includes investment fund shares.

*** Items not shown include: financial derivatives’ net liabilities, pension schemes and other accounts payable.

Data for financial investment and financing of households (Table 1)

Chart 3

Debt ratios of households and NFCs

(percentages of GDP)

Sources: ECB and Eurostat.

* Outstanding amount of loans, debt securities, trade credits and pension scheme liabilities.
** Outstanding amount of loans and debt securities, excluding debt positions between NFCs
*** Outstanding amount of loan liabilities.

Data for debt ratios of households and NFCs (Chart 3)

Non-financial corporations

Financing of NFCs increased at a higher annual rate of 1.0% in the second quarter of 2024 (after 0.8% in the previous quarter), as financing via debt securities (2.9% after 1.9%), shares and other equity (0.8% after 0.4%) and trade credits (1.8% after 0.6%) all grew at higher rates, while loan financing increased at a broadly unchanged rate (1.3%). Loans granted by other NFCs increased at a broadly unchanged rate (3.7%), while loans granted by MFIs grew at a higher rate (1.3% after 1.1%). Loans granted by the OFI subsector captive financial institutions (-2.9% after 0.5%) and the rest of the world (-2.2% after -2.7) decreased (Table 2 below and Table 3.2 in the Annex).

NFCs’ debt-to-GDP ratio (consolidated measure) decreased to 69.3% in the second quarter of 2024, from 71.8% in the second quarter of 2023; the non-consolidated, wider debt measure decreased to 134.4% from 137.6% (Chart 3).

Table 2

Financing and financial investment of NFCs, main items

(annual growth rates)

	Financial transactions
	2023 Q2	2023 Q3	2023 Q4	2024 Q1	2024 Q2
Financing*	1.7	1.2	0.8	0.8	1.0
Debt securities	0.7	1.5	1.3	1.9	2.9
Loans	3.8	1.9	1.7	1.4	1.3
Shares and other equity	-0.0	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.8
Trade credits and advances	5.2	2.2	1.2	0.6	1.8
Financial investment**	2.9	2.4	1.8	1.9	2.1
Currency and deposits	-0.6	-1.2	-1.2	0.5	2.9
Debt securities	23.3	27.9	23.0	10.6	7.8
Loans	5.9	5.2	5.1	4.4	4.5
Shares and other equity	1.2	1.2	1.0	1.4	1.3

Source: ECB.

* Items not shown include: pension schemes, other accounts payable, financial derivatives’ net liabilities and deposits.

** Items not shown include: other accounts receivable and prepayments of insurance premiums and reserves for outstanding claims.

Data for financing and financial investment of NFCs (Table 2)

For queries, please use the statistical information request form.

Notes

These data come from a second release of quarterly euro area sector accounts for the second quarter of 2024 from the ECB and Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. This release incorporates revisions and completed data for all sectors compared with the first release on “Euro area households and non-financial corporations” of 4 October 2024. The non-financial accounts are revised from the first quarter of 1999, and the financial accounts from the first quarter of 2013, reflecting in both cases also the impact of the benchmark revision 2024 implemented in the EU. For further information see the related Eurostat webpage.
The euro area and national financial accounts data of NFCs and households are available in an interactive dashboard.
The debt-to-GDP (or debt-to-income) ratios are calculated as the outstanding amount of debt in the reference quarter divided by the sum of GDP (or income) in the four quarters to the reference quarter. The ratio of non-financial transactions (e.g. savings) as a percentage of income or GDP is calculated as the sum of the four quarters to the reference quarter for both numerator and denominator.
The annual growth rate of non-financial transactions and of outstanding assets and liabilities (stocks) is calculated as the percentage change between the value for a given quarter and that value recorded four quarters earlier. The annual growth rates used for financial transactions refer to the total value of transactions during the year in relation to the outstanding stock a year before.
Hyperlinks in the main body of the statistical release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Figures shown in annex tables are a snapshot of the data as at the time of the current release.
The ECB publishes experimental Distributional Wealth Accounts (DWA) for the household sector. The release of results for the second quarter of 2024 is planned for 29 November 2024 (tentative date).

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: UP Fintech Announces Full Exercise of Over-Allotment Option in Follow-on Public Offering of American Depositary Shares

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SINGAPORE, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UP Fintech Holding Limited (Nasdaq: TIGR) (“UP Fintech” or the “Company”), a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors, today announced that the underwriters of the Company’s follow-on public offering have fully exercised their option to purchase an aggregate of 2,250,000 additional American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), each representing 15 Class A ordinary shares of the Company, from the Company at the public offering price of US$6.25 per ADS.

Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited and US Tiger Securities, Inc. acted as the joint bookrunners for the ADS offering.

The ADS offering has been made pursuant to an automatic shelf registration statement on Form F-3 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and is available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The ADS offering has been made only by means of a prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus included in the Form F-3. The Form F-3 and the prospectus supplement are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The final prospectus supplement has been filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website at: http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may be obtained by contacting Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch, Level 60, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong; China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited 29/F, One International Finance Centre, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong; or, US Tiger Securities, Inc., 437 Madison Avenue, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10022, United States of America.

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, the securities described herein, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About UP Fintech Holding Limited

UP Fintech Holding Limited is a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors. The Company’s proprietary mobile and online trading platform enables investors to trade in equities and other financial instruments on multiple exchanges around the world. The Company offers innovative products and services as well as a superior user experience to customers through its “mobile first” strategy, which enables it to better serve and retain current customers as well as attract new ones. The Company offers customers comprehensive brokerage and value-added services, including trade order placement and execution, margin financing, IPO subscription, ESOP management, investor education, community discussion and customer support. The Company’s proprietary infrastructure and advanced technology are able to support trades across multiple currencies, multiple markets, multiple products, multiple execution venues and multiple clearinghouses.

For more information on the Company, please visit: https://ir.itigerup.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “might,” “aim,” “likely to,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements or expressions. Among other statements, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, the Company’s strategic and operational plans and expectations regarding growth and expansion of its business lines, and the Company’s plans for future financing of its business contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on Forms 20−F and 6−K, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties, including the earnings conference call. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the Company’s ability to effectively implement its growth strategies; trends and competition in global financial markets; changes in the Company’s revenues and certain cost or expense accounting policies; and governmental policies and regulations affecting the Company’s industry and general economic conditions in China, Singapore and other countries. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on April 22, 2024. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC.

For investor and media inquiries please contact:

Investor Relations Contact
UP Fintech Holding Limited
Email: ir@itiger.com

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
Source: Government of India (2)

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

Loan Limit Raised to ₹20 Lakh from ₹10 Lakh

Posted On: 29 OCT 2024 3:00PM by PIB Delhi

“Millions of common men and women of this country, who run small business, have almost remained outside the net of formal institutional finance, in spite of their large contribution to the economy. MUDRA is our innovation of funding the unfunded.”

~ Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), launched by the Prime Minister on April 8, 2015, has played a pivotal role in empowering non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises by providing loans of up to ₹10 lakh. To strengthen support for aspiring entrepreneurs, the finance minister announced an increase in the loan limit to ₹20 lakh during the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 23, 2024. This new limit took effect on October 24, 2024.

This announcement also introduces a new loan category, Tarun Plus, designed specifically for those who have previously availed and successfully repaid loans under the Tarun category, allowing them to access funding between ₹10 lakh and ₹20 lakh. Additionally, the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units (CGFMU) will now provide guarantee coverage for these enhanced loans, further reinforcing the government’s commitment to nurturing a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.

Mudra Yojana

MUDRA,³ which stands for Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd, is a financial institution set up by the Government of India under PMMY for development and refinancing micro unit enterprises. PMMY aims to provide financial inclusiveness and support to the marginalized and hitherto socio-economically neglected classes. PMMY has given wings to the dreams and aspirations of millions, along with a feeling of self-worth and independence.

Need for the MUDRA Yojana

India is a young country brimming with youthful enthusiasm and aspirations. In order to provide a fertile ground for sowing the seeds of India’s development it is very important to harness this innovative zeal of young India which can provide new age solutions to existing gaps in the economic ecosystem of the country. Understanding the need to harness the latent potential of entrepreneurship in India, the Union Government launched the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.

MUDRA Loans: Categories

Under PMMY collateral free loans up to Rs. 20 Lakh are extended by Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) viz Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Small Finance Banks (SFBs), Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) etc. The loans are given for income generating activities in manufacturing, trading and services sectors and for activities allied to agriculture.

MUDRA loans now will be offered in four categories namely, ‘Shishu’, ‘Kishore’and ‘Tarun’ and newly added category ‘Tarun Plus’ which signifies the stage of growth or development and funding needs of the borrowers:-
- Shishu: covering loans upto Rs. 50,000/-
- Kishore: covering loans above Rs. 50,000/- and up to Rs. 5 lakhs
- Tarun: covering loans above Rs. 5 lakh and up to Rs. 10 lakhs
- Tarun Plus: Rs. 10 lakh and up to Rs. 20 lakhs
Achievements of PMMY

Under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) amount sanctioned and disbursed in the financial year 2023-24 under various categories:[4]
- Women Borrowers: A total of ₹1,08,472.51 crore was disbursed under the Shishu category, ₹1,00,370.49 crore under Kishore, and ₹13,454.27 crore under the Tarun category.
- Minority Borrowers: The disbursements amounted to ₹15,759.66 crore under Shishu, ₹20,766.3 crore under Kishore, and ₹8562.27 crore under Tarun.
- New Entrepreneurs / Accounts:
  - Shishu category: 88,49,101 accounts with a sanctioned amount of ₹29,445.41 crore and disbursed amount of ₹28,839.75 crore.
  - Kishore category: 34,06,239 accounts with ₹62,290.58 crore sanctioned and ₹60,407.02 crore disbursed.
  - Tarun category: 7,57,456 accounts with a sanctioned amount of ₹70,294.35 crore and ₹68,861.13 crore disbursed.
- Unique Borrowers (from 8th April 2015 to 31st March 2024):
  - ₹44,891.82 crore was sanctioned under Shishu.
  - ₹24,575.57 crore was sanctioned under Kishore.
  - ₹19,120.58 crore was sanctioned under Tarun.
Mudra Card

MUDRA Card[5] is an innovative credit product wherein the borrower can avail of credit in a hassle free and flexible manner. It provides a facility of working capital arrangement in the form of an overdraft facility to the borrower. Since MUDRA Card is a RuPay debit card, it can be used for drawing cash from ATM or Business Correspondent or make purchase using Point of Sale (POS) machine. Facility is also there to repay the amount, as and when, surplus cash is available, thereby reducing the interest cost.

MUDRA App- “MUDRA MITRA”

MUDRA MITRA is a mobile phone application available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store, providing information regarding ‘Micro Units Development and RefinanceAgency Ltd. (MUDRA)’ and its various products/ schemes. It will guide a loan seeker to approach a Banker in availing MUDRA loan under PMMY. Users can also access useful loan related material including sample loan application forms in this app.

Steps taken to improve implementation of the Scheme:[6]
- Handholding support for facilitating submission of loan applications
- Provision for online applications through PSBloansin59minutes and Udyamimitra portal
- Intensive publicity campaigns for increased visibility of the scheme amongst the stakeholders
- Simplification of application forms
- Nomination of MUDRA Nodal Officers in Public Sector Banks (PSBs)
- Periodic monitoring of performance of PSBs with regard to PMMY
- Interest Subvention of 2% on prompt repayment of Shishu loans extended under PMMY for a period of 12 months to all eligible borrowers.
- Announced by Union Finance Minister on 14.05.2020 under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, the scheme has been formulated as a specific response to an unprecedented situation and aims to alleviate financial stress for borrowers at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ by reducing their cost of credit.
Conclusion

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) has fundamentally reshaped the landscape of entrepreneurship in India, driving significant progress in financial inclusion. By providing critical funding support, the scheme has enabled countless new entrepreneurs to turn their business ideas into reality. Over the years, it has also empowered women and minority communities, creating opportunities for economic upliftment and fostering a more inclusive growth environment. As the loan limit expands to ₹20 lakh, PMMY continues to play a vital role in nurturing small businesses and fueling the nation’s journey toward a more equitable and prosperous future.

References:

Click here to see in PDF

Santosh Kumar/ Sarla Meena/ Kamna Lakaria

(Release ID: 2069170) Visitor Counter : 38

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: EIB approves a €300 million loan to Red Eléctrica for the construction of Salto de Chira hydroelectric power plant in the Canary Islands
Source: European Investment Bank
- Salto de Chira is a cutting-edge strategic project for the island of Gran Canaria, which combines a pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant of 200 MW installed power capacity and a desalination plant.
- It will strengthen Gran Canaria’s electricity system, providing a fundamental back-up to guarantee energy security and electricity supply, critical issues for citizens and businesses.
- The project contributes to the integration of renewable energies on the island and reflects the important role the EIB is playing in consolidating Spain as the country of renewables.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a €300 million loan to finance the construction of the Salto de Chira pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant being built by Red Eléctrica, a subsidiary of Redeia, in Gran Canaria.

The Salto de Chira power plant will use a system of two water reservoirs at different heights to store or deliver energy from renewable energies according to the needs of the electricity system. It will have a installed power capacity of 200 MW and energy storage capacity of 3,5GWh, making possible to take advantage of surplus renewable production, which would otherwise be lost, at times when the system needs it. In this way, it will contribute to the quality and security of the electricity supply and to greater integration of renewable energies into the electricity system on the island of Gran Canaria. The project also includes the construction of a seawater desalination plant to contribute to water storage, which is also expected to have a positive impact on farming communities’ access to irrigation water.

“We are delighted to join forces with Red Eléctrica to support the construction of the Salto de Chira hydroelectric power plant. This project is key to ensuring energy autonomy and driving the green transition in Gran Canaria,” said Jean-Christophe Laloux, Director General of Operations in the European Union at the EIB. “The project will improve electricity supply quality and security on the island using existing resources and reflects the EIB’s commitment to territorial cohesion and climate action, two of our strategic priorities.”

The investment takes part entirely in the Canary Islands, a cohesion and outermost region. It is expected to have a positive impact on the local economy by driving growth and job creation, and firmly backs the EIB Group’s commitment to economic, social and territorial cohesion.

Commenting on the agreement, the CEO of Redeia, Roberto García Merino, highlighted the importance of this project and of storage in advancing the penetration of renewable energies, “storage will be one of the key elements in the energy transition, providing flexibility and manageability to the electricity system to integrate large amounts of renewable energies, thus contributing to electrification and access to renewable energy, which is especially important for an electricity system like the Canary Islands, which is isolated and therefore more vulnerable’.

Once finalized, the pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant will be a fundamental tool for the operation of the system, providing it with the flexibility essential for the substitution of fossil energy sources and the safe and reliable integration of renewable resources, mitigating the interconnection difficulties of the Canary Islands’ electricity systems.

This project contributes to the decarbonisation objectives of the European Green Deal. It is also part of the EIB’s action plan to support REPowerEU in ensuring energy security and reducing EU dependence on fossil fuel imports.

Operation of the Salto de Chira pumped-storage plant

The plant will use two of Gran Canaria’s existing reservoirs, Chira and Soria, to create an electricity-generating waterfall. It will that harnesses the renewable energy stored in the form of water in the upper reservoir to produce energy through an underground hydroelectric plant, reducing its impact on the environment.

At times of peak renewable energy generation, the excess power will be used to pump water from the lower reservoir (Soria) to the upper one (Chira), storing this energy in the form of water. The water will then be used to generate electricity at times of high demand and low electricity generation from renewable sources.

The project includes the construction of a seawater desalination plant that will be used to fill the reservoirs and will directly benefit the development of farming communities in the area thanks to the water not needed for the operation of the plant.

The EIB and energy security

In 2023, the EIB Group signed more than €21 billion in financing for energy security in Europe. In the same year, it allocated €4.5 billion to this goal in Spain, financing projects in areas including renewable energy, energy efficiency, power grids and storage systems. These investments are helping Europe speed up its transition to sustainable energy and reduce its reliance on fossil fuel imports.

In July 2023, the EIB Board of Directors raised the amount earmarked for REPowerEU projects to €45 billion. REPowerEU is the plan designed to end Europe’s dependence on fossil fuel imports. To boost financing for the EU manufacturing industry, the EIB will also expand the range of eligible sectors to include leading strategic technologies with net-zero carbon emissions, as well as extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials. The additional financing will be disbursed between now and 2027. In total, it is expected to mobilise more than €150 billion in investment in the target sectors.

Find out more about the EIB’s support for the energy sector here.

Background information

EIB

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances sound investments that further EU policy objectives. EIB projects bolster competitiveness, drive innovation, promote sustainable development, enhance social and territorial cohesion, and support a just and swift transition to climate neutrality.

The EIB Group, consisting of the EIB and the European Investment Fund (EIF), reported total financing signatures in Spain of €11.4 billion in 2023, approximately €6.8 billion of which went to climate action and environmental sustainability projects. Overall, the EIB Group signed €88 billion in new financing in 2023.

Red Eléctrica

Red Eléctrica is the sole transmission agent and operator of the electricity system in Spain. Created in 1985, it is the first TSO in the world, being the first company dedicated exclusively to the operation of the electricity system and the transmission of electricity; a model currently implemented in 22 of the 27 countries of the EU.

A subsidiary of Redeia, manager of essential electricity and telecommunications infrastructures, Red Eléctrica’s mission has always been to guarantee a safe and quality electricity supply and to develop a reliable electricity transmission grid to provide a service that is essential for households, companies and public services. It is now also a fundamental pillar of Spain’s ecological transition process, developing the grids necessary for this transformation and operating the system for an efficient and safe integration of renewable energies.
MIL OSI Europe News –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: EIB Global and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance

Source: European Investment Bank

EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York (EACCNY) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday to establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance, a platform for engaging with the private sector to boost infrastructure financing in low- and middle-income countries.

This alliance will provide a new grouping for a set of actors interested in infrastructure development and financing, building a transatlantic platform with major organisations from the US and Europe. Participants will include banks, institutional investors (such as pension funds, insurers, asset managers), and industry, all of which will join in an effort to develop sustainable financing options, identify and advance priority projects, and collaborate on the promotion of resilient infrastructure to build a sustainable future.

TRIA will take as a basis the EIB’s long experience in financing infrastructure investments and complement this through dialogue with European and US businesses keen to support global sustainability goals.

Based on the MoU, the alliance will regularly convene meetings between EIB senior staff and leaders from EACCNY member companies and associated organisations to improve shared understanding of the financing needs and opportunities in infrastructure projects in developing countries. The members of the alliance will work together to identify gaps in existing financing mechanisms and seek to identify solutions.

“The initiative will allow us to build closer relationships with existing and potential clients and other partners interested in transatlantic cooperation in low- and middle-income countries,” said Markus Berndt, Head of the European Investment Bank’s Representation in Washington. “The EACCNY brings together a range of important corporates and institutions who have a lot of valuable insights, as we seek to ensure that more private sector finance reaches high priority investments.”

“Considering the enormous needs in global infrastructure development at this critical moment in time, it is essential that Europe and the United States, two major economic powerhouses, come together and strategically address this challenge,” said Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY. “Bringing together public and private financing and expertise will help bridge the gap and improve the speed and efficiency of infrastructure investment around the world. Our members are ready to be part of this ambitious project.”

The Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance is aligned with the broader objectives of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy and the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, aiming to promote sustainable investment in line with EU and international standards. The scope of TRIA will include all sectors of the Global Gateway strategy, namely digital, climate and energy, transport, health, and education, and their associated value chains.

The European American Chamber of Commerce New York (EACCNY) is a platform connecting public and private sector entities on both sides of the Atlantic. The goal of the EACCNY is to stimulate transatlantic investment, cross-border business development and to facilitate networking and relationships between its members. To do this, the EACCNY provides its members with access to information, resources and support, on matters affecting business activities between Europe and the US.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm devoted to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance, and a key partner in Global Gateway. We aim to support €100 billion of investment by the end of 2027, around one third of the overall target of this EU initiative. With Team Europe, EIB Global fosters strong, focused partnerships, alongside fellow development finance institutions and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to people, companies and institutions through our offices around the world.

EIB Global and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance
EIB Global and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance
©EIB
Download original

EIB Global and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance
EIB Global and the European American Chamber of Commerce New York establish the Transatlantic Resilient Infrastructure Alliance
©EIB
Download original

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Sparking motorcycle evolution

Source: European Investment Bank

Stark Future’s electric dirt bike uses cutting-edge technology and engineering, featuring custom-made key component and innovative electronics. To achieve this, Wass and his team had to reimagine the very essence of the motocross bike itself.

“Motocross is maybe the most difficult motorcycle to build, and the reason is that it does the most extreme type of riding,” says Wass. “So, it needs to be extremely durable and strong, but it also requires having perfect weight balance, very low weight, high power-to-weight ratio, and all of these things have to match perfectly.”

This becomes even more complex when designing an electric bike. You need to consider components such as the battery and electrical systems, which significantly impact the bike’s weight, balance, and overall performance.

“You no longer have things like a gas tank, gears, clutch and an exhaust system,” Anton adds. “It really changes the whole construction of the chassis. But if you stay open minded, this also gives you new opportunities.”

The final product is truly impressive. The company has developed the most powerful power-to-weight motor of any production motocross bike. The 6.5 kilowatt-hour battery, coupled with a custom carbon fibre sleeve motor, provides up to 80 horsepower, 30% more power than a comparable 450cc motocross gas bike. This setup allows up to six hours of technical trail riding or enough energy to complete a full motocross race, with a recharge time of just two hours.

The bike also has an adjustable power setting, enabling riders to set the power level anywhere from 10 to 80 horsepower. Thanks to this feature, new riders can reduce the power as needed during the learning curve.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025

Category: Banking

Quick facts

Related news

Multimedia

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Dmitry Chernyshenko awarded employers participating in the Abilympics championship

Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Domenico Conti

New details on other financial institutions and the financing of other sectors

Chart 1

Total euro area economy

Chart 2

Households

Table 1

Chart 3

Non-financial corporations

Table 2

Notes

Pradhan Mantri Mudra YojanaLoan Limit Raised to ₹20 Lakh from ₹10 Lakh

Need for the MUDRA Yojana

MUDRA Loans: Categories

MUDRA App- “MUDRA MITRA”

Steps taken to improve implementation of the Scheme:[6]

References:

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

Loan Limit Raised to ₹20 Lakh from ₹10 Lakh