CIBC profit rises on markets-related income

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce  reported a 13 percent increase in quarterly earnings, driven by higher income from its wholesale banking and wealth management businesses.

CIBC, Canada's fifth-largest bank, said on Thursday that it had earned C$852 million ($858.05 million), or C$2.02 a share, in the fourth quarter ended on October 31, compared with C$757 million, or C$1.79 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the bank earned C$2.04 a share, ahead of the analysts' average estimate of C$1.98, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Toronto-based CIBC is the third of Canada's "Big Five" banks to report fourth-quarter results.

Like peers Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada , CIBC benefited from a sharp year-on-year rise in wholesale banking revenue as trading fees improved from the relatively weak year-earlier period.

Wholesale banking income, which includes trading and investment banking, rose 58 percent to C$193 million.

Income from domestic retail banking, CIBC's largest division, fell 5 percent to C$569 million, while wealth management income rose 20 percent to C$84 million.

(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Explore Related Content
1 - 4 of 20
prevnext

    * Go to page 1
    * Go to page 2
    * Go to page 3
    * Go to page 4
    * Go to page 5

   1.
      A Bank of Montreal sign is pictured in downtown Ottawa

      A Bank of Montreal sign is pictured …

   2.
      BMO profit rises on wholesale banking, better loans

      BMO profit rises on wholesale banking, …

      Reuters
   3.
      AkzoNobel's logo is seen in Amsterdam

      AkzoNobel's logo is seen in Amsterd …

   4.
      Scotiabank profit rises 31 percent on wholesale banking

      Scotiabank profit rises 31 percent on …

      Reuters

Read More..

Sudan rules out devaluation despite black market gap

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan  plans to close the gap between official and black market exchange rates through higher earnings from resources like gold and oil instead of devaluing the pound again, a vice-president said on Wednesday.

Sudan has been in economic crisis since South Sudan seceded last year, taking with it three-quarters of the once unified nation's oil output. This had been Sudan's main source of revenues and the dollars it needs to pay for imports.

Inflation hit 45 percent in October. This week Sudan's pound fell to a historic low of 6.5 pounds against the dollar on the black market as hopes faded that Sudan would soon collect revenues from South Sudanese oil exports.

In an interview with Reuters, Second Vice President al-Haj Adam Youssef said authorities were trying to get the rate down to about 4.5 pounds to the dollar, close to the official rate of around 4.4 pounds.

"There are some efforts to have the price of the dollar around 4.5 as an average in the next few months, and that will be appropriate for our economy, for export and import as well," he said in his office in Sudan's Republican Palace on the Nile.

Youssef said the government would not devalue the pound, as it did in July when it nearly halved the official value.

Instead, it hoped the pound would get a boost from previously announced plans to increase foreign currency earnings through higher output of gold and oil from Sudan's own resources.

"We want things to be normalised by the natural mechanism," he said.

There is little foreign trade in the pound, but listed firms like cellphone operator Zain, German airline Lufthansa and Bank of Khartoum, co-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank, watch the rate closely because they sell products in pounds and then struggle to convert profits to dollars.

CUTTING SUBSIDIES

Sudanese officials blame economic problems largely on tensions with South Sudan, which was supposed to pay Khartoum fees to pipe oil through Sudanese pipelines to a Red Sea port.

But the two fell out over the fees, and South Sudan shut down its 350,000 barrel-per-day output in January. Flows have yet to resume, although the two signed economic and border security deals in September that officials say could see oil exports restart by the end of the year.

Sudan says it aims to increase oil production in its remaining fields from 115,000 barrels per day to 150,000 bpd next year. It had planned to boost output to 180,000 bpd this year but failed to reach the target.

The country's gold exports reached between 47 and 48 tonnes this year and were expected to rise above 50 tonnes annually, bringing in more than $2 billion a year, Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud said this week.

Even before South Sudan seceded - the result of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war - Sudan's economy was weakened by years of conflict, corruption and U.S. trade sanctions.

The government was forced to scale back its costly fuel subsidy programme in June to plug a budget deficit left by the loss of oil revenues, sparking small anti-government protests.

Youssef said the government still aimed to eliminate subsidies for all commodities but declined to give a timeline, saying only that subsidies would be phased out gradually.

The country's cabinet approved the country's 2013 budget on Monday, putting the budget gap at 10 billion Sudanese pounds - roughly $1.5 billion at current black market rates.

Even without earnings from the South's oil - which are not included in the budget - Youssef said the government could draw about half the deficit from the central bank and make up the rest with increased tax collection and other measures.

Support from friendly countries could also help, he said, although this was not included in the budget. "There is no problem as far as the deficit is concerned," he said.

Read More..

BlackBerry’s all-out price war in the UK

The Curve 9320 is the last of the BlackBerry phones using the old operating system, and it is the cornerstone of RIM’s attempt to salvage its Christmas season. The UK is Research In Motion’s (RIMM) most important market in Europe. The latest Kantar World Panel numbers for August-October period showed BlackBerry’s share of the UK market crashing from 19% to 8% in a year, but RIM is now executing the most aggressive BlackBerry price campaign British consumers have ever seen in a bid to stand its ground before its new devices arrive. As the price of the 9320 crashes to rock bottom, the high-end BlackBerry Bold pricing remains at a completely unrealistic level. It looks like British operators have given up on pricier BlackBerry phones and are now putting all promotional support behind the dirt cheap 9320. What does this mean for the launch of the next generation of high-end RIM models in 2013? The British phone retail giant Phones4U just broke new ground by dropping the price of the 9320 from £150 to just £99. Traditionally, even the cheapest Curve models have cost around £130 in the UK during the first year on the market. The 9320 debuted in May and it is already breaking the 100-pound barrier. In comparison, Phones4U’s Christmas pre-paid deal for Samsung’s (005930) Galaxy Ace II is £156. Nokia’s (NOK) cheapie Lumia 800 starts at £150. The price of the six-month old BlackBerry 9320 is now comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Ace — an old war-horse that first rode in the spring of 2011. At another UK retail powerhouse, E2Save, the price of the 9320 remains at £130. But on the contract phone side, E2Save is launching a monster BlackBerry campaign: the cheapest 9320 now starts at under £10 per month. This is unprecedented for a new BlackBerry device. The cheapest monthly offers for budget Android phones like the Galaxy Y and the Galaxy Ace stand at £25 and £17. High-end smartphones have contract prices starting from £35 per month. RIM has started executing an amazingly aggressive Christmas price war in the UK. This is no big surprise; according to Kantar, BlackBerry’s market share in the UK crashed from 19% to 8% between autumn 2011 and autumn 2012. The company has to stanch the bleeding now in order to maintain some leverage with British retailers before new models arrive in 2013. But what is happening to the brand perception? The first new-generation BlackBerry phones are going to be priced close to the BlackBerry Bold level. That aging flagship still costs a hair-raising £440 in the UK pre-paid market and £31-39 per month in the contract phone category. This isremarkably close to Samsung Galaxy S III pricing, a true sign of delusion. The UK operators have apparently completely given up on the Bold and RIM sees no reason to offer steep price cuts for the device. The 9320 is now the only game in town. Perhaps this makes short-term, margin management sense. Perhaps the goal is to protect the high-end BlackBerry brand. But the result is that the only deals the consumers see are the ones hawking BlackBerry phones at £99 in pre-paid and £10 per month as contract devices. These are Huawei-level prices. How on Earth is RIM going to then pivot in February and ask £500 for unsubsidized phones and £35 per month contract prices for the next-generation BlackBerry phones? This will be the branding challenge of the 2013 in the telecom industry.

Read More..

Nokia Siemens to close services unit: sources

FRANKFURT/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia Siemens Networks' (NSN) services unit faces closure as an essential contract with Deutsche Telekom will not be extended, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. One person said the closure, effective en 2013 would be announced on Wednesday during a workers' meeting in Kassel. NSN Services, which generates under 100 million euros ($130.7 million) in annual sales and employs about 1,000 people, ensures that calls and data are transmitted via overhead cable networks. Deutsche Telekom sold the unit to NSN five years ago. At the time the two companies agreed on a 5-year 300 million euro services contract. The unit also counts Vodafone as a customer. The contract would not be extended, the person said. German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung first reported about the closure of the unit. Verdi union representative Mike Doeding said that a meeting to update workers about next year's plans was scheduled for Wednesday, adding he had no idea about the message to be expected. "If they are to close the unit it would be an outrage," Doeding said. NSN declined to comment, while Deutsche Telekom referred to NSN for comment. NSN, a 50-50 joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG, is cutting costs and plans to shed a quarter of its staff and sell product lines to focus on mobile broadband. NSN had 60,600 employees at the end of the third quarter. The telecoms equipment market is going through rough times with stiff competition from Chinese peers Huawei and ZTE as the major telecoms operators postpone investments, faced with shrinking markets due to the weak economy. France's Alcatel-Lucent is also cutting costs. On Monday, NSN said it was selling its optical fiber unit to Marlin Equity Partners, resulting in the transfer of up to 1,900 employees, mainly in Germany and Portugal.

Read More..

Digital rights groups blast Dutch computer plan

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Digital rights groups have called on the Dutch justice minister to retract a proposal that would give the country's police the right to break into computers, including foreign citizens' computers, to combat cybercrime. Minister Ivo Opstelten says investigators have the right to install Internet taps with court permission, citing the need to fight online pedophiles. That sometimes requires breaking into computers. But a coalition of rights groups — including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Netherlands' Bits of Freedom — say other countries will likely follow suit and then attempt to enforce their own laws abroad. The coalition said "these local laws would not solely address cybercrime, but also issues deemed illegal in other countries, such as blasphemy and political criticism." The Dutch parliament debates the proposal this week.

Read More..

Nokia Siemens cerrará su división de servicios: fuentes

FRANCFORT/HELSINKI (Reuters) - La división de servicios de la empresa de redes Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) enfrenta su cierre debido a la cancelación de un contrato esencial con la empresa de telecomunicaciones alemana Deutsche Telekom, dijeron el martes dos fuentes con conocimiento del tema. Una persona dijo que el cierre, que se hará efectivo en el 2013, se anunciará el miércoles durante una reunión con los empleados. NSN Services, que genera ventas anuales por 100 millones de euros (130,7 millones de dólares) y emplea a unas 1.000 personas, se asegura de la transmisión de llamadas y datos por redes de cables aéreas. Deutsche Telekom le vendió la unidad a NSN cinco años atrás. NSN declinó comentar. La firma, una asociación en partes iguales entre Nokia Oyj y Siemens AG, está bajando costos y planea reducir su plantilla y vender líneas de productos para enfocarse en el negocio de banda ancha móvil. NSN tenía 60.000 empleados a fines del tercer trimestre. El mercado de equipos para telecomunicaciones está atravesando un momento complejo con una fuerte competencia de firmas chinas como Huawei y ZTE, a la vez que los operadores de telefonía posponen inversiones.

Read More..

Data: New (physical) book chronicles the virtual

NEW YORK (AP) — We question. We research. We catalog. We quantify. We aggregate, calculate, communicate, analyze, extrapolate and conclude. And eventually, if we're fortunate and thoughtful, we understand. These are the contours of the society that has taken shape in the past generation with the rise of an unstoppable, invisible force that changes human lives in ways from the microscopic to the gargantuan: data, a word that was barely used beyond small circles before World War II but now governs the day for many of us from the moment we awaken to the extinguishing of the final late-evening light bulb. This is the playing field of "The Human Face of Big Data," by Rick Smolan ("A Day in the Life of America") and Jennifer Erwitt, an enormous volume the size of a flat-screen computer monitor that chronicles, through a splash of photos and eye-opening essays and graphics, the rise of the information society. The book itself ($50, Against All Odds Productions) is a curious, wonderful beast — a solid slab that captures a virtual universe. Weighing in at nearly five pounds (a companion iPad app is available), it is being delivered Tuesday by the publisher to what it calls some of the world's most influential people, including the CEOs of Yahoo and Starbucks and Amazon, Oprah Winfrey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The goal, say those behind the project, is to "ignite a conversation about an extraordinary knowledge revolution." You would think that capturing such a sprawling — and, one might easily conclude, inherently nonvisual — societal change would be difficult in a coffee-table book. You'd be wrong. This is one of those rare animals that captures its era in the most distinct of ways. It's the kind of thing you'd put in a time capsule for your children today to show them, long after you're gone, what the world was like at the beginning of their lives. The obvious is here, of course — the crimefighting, the moneymaking, the advertising, the breathtaking medical advances, the dark pathways of data nefariousness. But there are more unexpected tales as well. Among the pools the book dips into: —How data can provide utterly unexpected results: In Singapore, a project designed to look at why people couldn't get a taxi during a rainstorm came back with a surprising dividend — the cabs, fearful of accidents and the financial impact they cause even for drivers who may not be at fault, were just pulling over when it started to pour. Now they're changing policies to counteract that problem. —How global connectivity can beget entirely new forms of storytelling: The Johnny Cash Project invites people worldwide to share their visual representations of the iconic musician, and each submission is combined with others to create a music video that keeps changing based on the images that people are sending in. —How crowdsourcing is changing science: "Technology grants us the ability to harness wisdom from anywhere for specific projects, encouraging scientists to cooperate more, seek other points of view and share their achievements quickly — "the beginning of a democratization of discovery," writes science journalist Gareth Cook. —How machines are now communicating among themselves (though no sign yet of Skynet from the "Terminator" movies): "Humans will no longer be the center of the data solar system, with all of the billions of devices orbiting around us, but will rather become just another player, another node, in an increasingly autonomous data universe," writes technological thinker Esther Dyson. Brave new world? Of course. Yet it's easy to be unsettled by all of this. Hackers lurk everywhere; organizations like WikiLeaks are — depending on your politics — irresponsibly revealing secrets or responsibly liberating information. And anytime the notions of biology and technology meld, it's difficult not to summon images of the part-human, part cybernetic Borg from "Star Trek." In the face of so many preconceptions, what makes "The Human Face of Big Data" so engaging, so important, is its balanced tone. This is not a screed, in either direction. Technology is not greeted only as a marvel to be worshipped, nor is it cast as only a villain whose bits and bytes can blight our inherent humanity. The notion of making sense of information, of unpacking what the changes that data has wrought will mean to all of us, is the underpinning of the book. That's as it should be: As information's pathways and archives develop at breakneck speeds, we must race, too, to develop a vocabulary to describe and critique its rise. Passionate, critical thinking about a subject is still the sole purview of humanity — at least for now. "The history of mankind has always been influenced by a shortage of knowledge," technology and business writer Michael S. Malone says in one essay. "Now the opposite — an information surplus — may soon define our lives." The question, of course, runs even deeper. There is information, there is knowledge and there is wisdom. And no matter how many strong numbers we humans have at our disposal, if we can't understand the important differences between those three categories, the odds are good that we're on a path not toward 1, but toward 0. Save to the cloud and fire up the iPad tonight, sure — but do it with open eyes and probing mind. "Not everything that can be counted counts," warns a saying that Albert Einstein loved, "and not everything that counts can be counted."

Read More..