London takes on Geneva as Schroders Buys Majority Stake in Impact Investing Manager Blue Orchard

Schroders (based in London) has bought a majority stake in impact investing specialist Blue Orchard ("where financial returns meet social and environmental impact"), based in Geneva, which manages $3.5bn in assets, in credit, PE and sustainable infrastructure, for an undisclosed sum. Robeco SAM is another player in the once-niche impact investing space.

Blue Orchard was founded by two bankers who are no longer with the firm, Jean-Philippe de Schrevel and Melchior de Muralt, a Swiss private banker. Chairman Peter Fanconi and CEO Patrick Scheurle will stay with Blue Orchard post Schroder-acquisition.

Facebook Lands on $5bn Settlement with FTC

Facebook's stock dipped in June when the market learned the Federal Trade Commission was investigating the company. This is linked to deceiving users that they could control the privacy of their information. "Facebook undermined consumers' choices" said Joe Simons, FTC Chairman.

Amazon Enters EdTech Market with Indian Test Prep App

The app which is in beta targets the IIT JEE or Joint Entrance Examination which is a prerequisite for entering the Indian Institutes of Technology (and is also used by other institutions such as Indian Institute to Science) has been launched by Amazon.

How are Markets doing YTD 2019 (as of 13 July 2019)?

S&P 500 is up 500 points from the start of the year (+20%) [2510, 3013]
SX5E is also up 500 points from the start of they year, though lower percentage gain (+17%) [2993,3497].
DAX which closely follows SX5E is up 1743 points, again a lower percentage gain (+16%) [10580, 12323].
GSCI is up 15% but it was impacted by a late May sell off followed by recovery. [377,434].

Accenture Picks Ex "Legal Eagle" Julie Sweet as CEO, Incumbent CEO Supports with "Right Person" Comment

Accenture (NYSE:ACN)  has picked 51-year old Julie Sweet as CEO after serving on the company's management committee for almost a decade. She has headed Accenture's North America operations since 2015 She has said looking for diversified revenue growth will be a key priority for her. She has previously been a Partner for 10 years at Cravath, Swaine and Moore. "Julie is the right person", assented current interim CEO David Rowland who will step into the role of Executive Chair. Non-Executive Chair Marge Magner, speaking on behalf of the board, cited Julie's "ability to forge major client relationships", "leading with innovation" and "focus on delivering value to shareholders" as key strengths which will serve her well as CEO. She is a member of the TechNet Executive Council.

Under BladeLogic Founder Dev's Leadership, Mongo DB Stock is Up 200%, Market Cap 8.7bn

Mongo DB (NASDAQ:MDB) stock is up 200% year to date, from $52 to $157. Its current CEO, Dev Ittycheria, co-founded BladeLogic and sold the company to BMC for a whopping $900m. BladeLogic has since been re-branded to TrueSight.

Christian Sewing Presses "Restart" for Deutsche Bank, Casting off Equities, Capital Crunching Fixed Income and Shoving 7.4bn RWA into "Capital Release" Unit

Deutsche CEO Christian Sewing has stated "We are doing what is necessary to unleash our true potential...We are building on our strengths. This is a restart for Deutsche Bank".

Sewing replaced outgoing German-speaking British Chief Executive John Cryan on 8 April 2018. One year into the CEO role Sewing has unleashed a radical restructure of the Deutsche Bank.

New Board members effective 1 August 2019 will be ex-McKinsey consultant Christiana Riley, Bernd Leukert who is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE and held various executive roles at SAP and Stefan Simon, a lawyer, bringing experience in corporate law, corporate governance and compensation oversight (he is also an honorary professor at the University of Cologne).

A major part of the restructuring will be exiting the Equities Sales and Trading business and reducing capital consumed by the other businesses especially Rates. A preliminary agreement has been struck with BNP Paribas to provide continuity of service for electronic equities clients with a view to moving technology and staff across in due time. Deutsche's electronic equities and prime brokerage is mainly US-based. Several hedge funds have pulled out of Deutsche's prime business following a series of fines.

As part of the "restart", 74 billion euros of risk-weighted assets will be moved into a Capital Release Unit (CRU) for wind-down. A new CET1 target ratio of 12.5% has been targeted along with a fully loaded leverage ratio of 5% from 2022. There will also be a reduction in headcount by 18,000 full time employees. 13 billion will be invested in technology in the next three years.