Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/565097
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2015 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way HSBC Bank Malta announces new CEO Andrew Beane has been appointed HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. Chief Executive Offi cer, succeeding Mark Watkinson, who has been appointed Chief Executive Offi cer of HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited. Beane will take up his new posi- tion with effect from today. Both appointments are subject to regula- tory and other approvals. Andrew Beane is currently Chief of Staff to the CEO of HSBC Europe, Middle East & Africa and a member of the executive and risk committees of HSBC Bank plc, the parent company of HSBC Bank Malta. He joined HSBC in 2002 and has worked principally in the areas of Commercial Banking and Strategy & Planning with assignments in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and the United States. Beane returns to Malta having worked for a short period with the bank in 2003 in the Risk department. Chris Davies, CEO HSBC International, said: "Thanks to the wealth of international banking experience that Andrew Beane brings to this role, he is very well positioned to continue implementation of our strategy to position HSBC as the leading international bank and the bank of choice for customers. I would like to thank Mark Watkinson for successfully leading the bank during the past years and wish him well in his next role." Mark Watkinson said: "It has been a great privilege to work in Malta for the past four years during which, as Malta's largest international bank, we continued to build a strong, sustainable business whilst supporting the local economy and helping Maltese businesses grow globally. I thank the board, management, staff, our customers and all stakeholders for their ongoing support. I look forward to welcoming Andrew in Malta in the coming weeks as he takes over the leadership of the bank." Weak Chinese data hits European markets Renewed fears over growth in China have hit European markets, with the main indexes falling sharply in early trade. Germany's Dax tumbled by 3% to 9,948.59, while France's Cac- 40 fell 2.8% to 4,519.23 and the UK's FTSE was off by 2.7% at 6,080.20. There were no shares rising on any of the main indexes, with mining firm Glencore among the biggest losers. Earlier, figures for August showed factory activity in China contracting at its fastest pace in three years. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 49.7 from 50 in July. A figure below 50 indicates contraction. It follows recent turmoil in the markets sparked by concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. "The importance of today's announcement is that the slowdown is hitting the larger state-backed firms who typically take longer to feel the pain," said Josh Mahony from online trading firm IG Index. "There are precious few signs that China is beginning to recover, and while [the People's Bank of China's] action can provide a temporary reprieve, we are yet to see any evidence that it is doing any good to the economy," he added. For both the UK's FTSE 100 and the US's S&P 500, August was the worst month since May 2012. "While a measure of calm has returned to these markets recently and they have seen relief rallies, many of the underlying negative fundamentals are still in place," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for IHS, in a report. "As a result, the downside risks for most commodity prices, exchange rates and stock markets are likely to persist for some time, while growth in many parts of the world, especially in emerging markets, is likely to deteriorate further." The Chinese manufacturing data also sent the price of Brent crude oil down by 3% to $52.43 a barrel, giving back some of its recent sharp gains. Before Tuesday's fall, the price of oil in London had risen by about 25% in the past three trading sessions, while in the US it has risen by 27% in the same period. Eurozone jobless rate lowest for three years Unemployment in the eurozone fell to its lowest rate in July for more than three years, fi gures have shown. European Union statistics agency Eurostat said the jobless rate in the currency union fell to 10.9% in July from 11.1% the month before. The fall was helped by a sharp fall in unemployment in Italy, where the jobless total fell by 143,000. It is the first time the unemployment rate in the eurozone has been below 11% since February 2012. The wider 28-member EU saw the unemployment rate fall to 9.5%, the lowest rate since June 2011. The lowest unemployment rate was in Germany, at 4.7%. Greece had the highest unemployment rate, at 25%, the latest available data from May showed, followed by Spain at 22.2%. The rate of youth unemployment across the eurozone also declined to 21.9% in July from 22.3% a month earlier. A survey released earlier on Tuesday suggested that growth in the eurozone's manufacturing sector had eased slightly in August, despite factories barely raising prices. The closely-watched Markit eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 52.3 last month, below a preliminary reading that suggested it had held steady at July's reading of 52.4. However, it has remained above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for more than two years. There was some good news within the data. Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy all saw strong growth, with Germany's manufacturing PMI reading jumping to 53.3 in August from 51.8 a month earlier. Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, said the data suggested the eurozone manufacturing sector showed continued resilience in August, with output growth and inflows of new business both strengthening. "Based on the historical relationship, the PMI is tracking at somewhere close to a 2% annualised increase in industrial production so far in the third quarter, a modest gain but still representing a positive step forward," he said. "The job numbers are also looking more positive, with employment rising at the fastest pace in four years. On the inflation front, lower oil prices led to the first dip in input costs since February, while selling prices remained close to stagnation." The manufacturing figures come almost six months into the European Central Bank's €60bn- a-month bond-buying programme designed to inject new life into the eurozone economy and combat low inflation, which is currently sitting at 0.2%. With inflation still far from the ECB's target rate of just below 2%, and looking likely to stay there for the foreseeable future, speculation is growing the bank will have to extend its stimulus programme beyond the planned completion in September 2016. Mark Watkinson (above left) has been succeeded as HSBC Malta Chief Executive Offi cer by Andrew Beane (above right)