Latest news with #LSEG
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Banks diversify cloud portfolios to bolster resilience
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Banks are boosting investments in infrastructure and platform services while diversifying their cloud portfolios, according to a London Stock Exchange Group report published Monday. The firm commissioned Phase 5 to survey more than 450 banking IT leaders between November and March. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents said their organization increased cloud spend over the last two years and 82% have a hybrid cloud environment or a strategy that leverages more than one cloud provider. Cloud was integral to AI adoption for 91% of banks surveyed. 'Companies are increasingly driving meaningful value from cloud, improving operational resilience and preparing for the next wave of innovation,' Stuart Brown, group head of data and feeds at LSEG, said in the report. 'Over the next three years, that innovation will be driven by AI and machine learning, with financial institutions increasingly using cloud to power fraud detection, risk management, data analytics and generative AI.' Dive Insight: As banks evolve their cloud investment strategies, cutting IT costs has become less pressing than using the technology to drive innovation and generate revenue. Only one-third of respondents to the LSEG survey said their organization currently prioritizes immediate savings through cloud. Instead, financial firms are leaning on cloud to improve customer service today and power long-term growth, LSEG found. Banks are even willing to shoulder the added cost and complexity of a multicloud enterprise ecosystem to bolster resilience and avoid vendor lock-in, Matt Eddy, global head of real time, quant and economic data solutions at LSEG, told CIO Dive. 'We are seeing an increasing number of clients also now looking at building out parallel environments in multiple cloud providers to avoid concentration risk,' Eddy said in an email. 'This may appear overly cautious ... from a geographic resiliency perspective but with many of the more recent catastrophic failures being caused by logical or software issues, this caution appears well founded.' More than 9 in 10 respondents prioritized operational resilience when selecting a provider. The European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act, which gave organizations operating in the region until January of this year to achieve compliance, and the General Data Protection Regulation, enacted in 2018, have also steered banking cloud strategy. Despite the resource drain of complex hybrid environments, roughly 3 in 5 firms said cloud adoption reduced IT infrastructure costs, LSEG found. Efficiency improvements in data-intensive operations, such as risk mitigation, are an area where banks report major gains. Banks are shifting risk management to cloud for processing and storage efficiencies, according to Eddy. Data privacy concerns, which have been a migration roadblock, have largely diminished, he said. More than half of respondents said their firm has seen benefits from migrating risk management, customer engagement and enterprise data workloads. Risk management operations were cloud-based for 83% of the firms surveyed. Data and compute hungry generative AI use cases are thriving in cloud, as well, according to Eddy. 'Without the hyperscale of public cloud, AI would not be cost effective for many,' Eddy said. 'We are seeing more customers looking to leverage LSEG data in cloud and at scale to build new workflows, insights and analytics that even just a few years ago would have been unheard of.' Recommended Reading Cloud waste, hyperscaler discounts shape FinOps priorities Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Mint
5 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Indias HDFC Bank reports 12.2% profit growth in Q1 due to higher interest income
July 19 (Reuters) - HDFC Bank, India's largest private bank by market capitalisation, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Saturday due to a surge in interest income from loans and treasury gains, even as provisions for bad loans spiked. The bank's standalone net profit rose 12.2% to 181.55 billion rupees ($2.11 billion) in the April-to-June quarter, above the average analyst forecast of 172.84 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG. The bank's net interest income - the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits - rose 5.4% to 314.38 billion rupees. Other income, typically backed by treasury gains and fees on services, more than doubled to 217.29 billion rupees in the quarter. HDFC Bank's provisions for bad loans, however, jumped five-fold to 144 billion rupees. The bank, in its exchange filing, said most of these provisions were not linked to any actual bad loans but instead acted as a "countercyclical buffer for making the balance sheet more resilient." Indian lenders have been grappling with an increase in bad loans in segments such as microfinance and unsecured portfolio, which have forced them to set aside more funds for potential defaults and to strengthen their balance sheets. On Thursday, HDFC Bank peer Axis Bank saw its new bad loans double due to a market benchmarking exercise. While overall bank credit growth has slowed in India, HDFC Bank posted growth of 6.7% for its overall loan book, driven by a 17.1% rise in loans to small and medium businesses. The private lender also approved its first ever bonus share issue on Saturday, meaning each of its shareholders will be eligible to receive an extra bonus share for every share held. The date of issuance is still to be determined, the bank said. In a bonus issue, a company distributes additional stock to shareholders as a proportion of their holdings at no cost. It is typically a sign of confidence in financial performance and growth trajectory. The board has also approved a special dividend of 5 rupees per share. ($1 = 86.1450 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan; Editing by Joe Bavier)
Arabian Post
10 hours ago
- Business
- Arabian Post
Arada Eyes $500 Million Sukuk to Fuel Gulf Land Acquisitions
Arada Developments, the Sharjah-based property developer, is preparing to raise up to $500 million via an Islamic bond as it joins a wave of Gulf real estate firms turning to debt markets to fund expansion. The group plans to launch the issuance next week to finance new land purchases and capitalise on a construction surge across the United Arab Emirates. The proposed sukuk issue represents a strategic step for Arada to strengthen its position amid intensified regional economic diversification efforts and an escalating boom in property development across the UAE. With past sukuk issuances drawing strong demand, the company aims to repeat that success to secure favourable financing terms. Arada previously issued a $400 million sukuk in June 2024 under its $1 billion programme, followed by a $150 million tap in September that attracted an order book exceeding $1.45 billion. In September 2022, the firm also issued a benchmark $500 million debut sukuk, tightening from initial guidance and attracting strong investor interest. ADVERTISEMENT Regional corporate sukuk issuance has surged, offsetting a dip in sovereign debt. LSEG data show corporate bond and sukuk sales climbed 52% year‑on‑year in the GCC during the first five months of 2025, even as total issuance fell overall. UAE debt issuance grew in the first half of 2025, although green bond and sukuk volumes declined sharply. Within the UAE, developers such as Sobha Realty and Omniyat also issued $500 million sukuk in May, highlighting strong appetite in the Islamic finance market for real estate funding. The overall trend underlines a rising preference for sharia‑compliant financing instruments to support both corporate needs and state diversification agendas. Founded in 2017 by Sharjah's deputy ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi and Saudi Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, Arada has rapidly scaled its presence in Sharjah and Dubai, launching developments valued at AED 60 billion and exploring international expansion into Australia. The company also plans to enter the Australian market fully by the end of 2025. Arada's prior promises to land acquisitions and project funding seem to extend with this latest sukuk. The proceeds will directly support the acquisition of new land parcels, ensuring the company can sustain its pipeline of projects including township developments, wellness‑focused residential schemes and branded hospitality offerings. The firm's decision to revert to debt markets follows its move early this month to seek approval for modifications to financial covenants on its existing $500 million trust certificates due 2027. Arada sought to raise leverage limits—net indebtedness to equity and EBITDA ratios—from current 1.5:1 and 3.0:1 to 2.0:1 and 4.0:1 respectively—prompting a consent solicitation that attracted strong holder engagement. A meeting on July 23 in London will finalise this vote. While global uncertainties—from oil price swings to geopolitical tensions—have weighed on capital markets, Gulf property developers have continued to tap sukuk issuance to spread costs and manage growth. Analysts argue that solid investor interest, particularly from Asia, sovereign wealth diversification and the Emirates' push into non‑oil sectors have sustained this demand.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Netflix Beats Earnings Expectations as Revenue Surges 16%, but Stock Slips on Margin Warning
Netflix (NFLX, Financials) delivered a solid second-quarter performance Thursday, beating earnings expectations and showing strong revenue momentum but that wasn't quite enough to keep investors fully satisfied. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with OPEN. The streaming giant reported $11.08 billion in revenue, up nearly 16% year over year, narrowly beating Wall Street's $11.07 billion consensus, according to data compiled by LSEG. Net income for the quarter came in at $3.1 billion, or $7.19 per share, a sharp improvement from $2.1 billion, or $4.88 per share, a year earlier. Driving the gains? A combination of healthy subscriber growth, higher subscription pricing, and a continued ramp-up in advertising revenue, Netflix said in its earnings statement. While Netflix no longer reports quarterly subscriber numbers, the company raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $44.8 billion and $45.2 billion, up from the earlier $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion range partially due to a weaker U.S. dollar and strong engagement across markets. Operating metrics also impressed. Free cash flow surged 91% to $2.3 billion, while cash generated from operations rose more than 84%, reaching $2.4 billion. Netflix now expects full-year free cash flow between $8 billion and $8.5 billion, up from its earlier $8 billion estimate. Another highlight: the operating margin climbed to 34.1%, nearly 7 points higher than the same period last year. But there was a catch. Netflix warned that operating margins in the second half of 2025 will shrink thanks to higher content costs and marketing tied to its massive slate of upcoming shows and films. With blockbuster content on the way including the second season of Wednesday, the finale of Stranger Things, and Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein the company appears poised for a busy back half. Still, that margin outlook left a mark. Shares slipped roughly 1% in after-hours trading, as investors weighed the costs of keeping the content pipeline flowing. Netflix's strategy seems clear: keep subscribers hooked with premium content while continuing to squeeze more value from both pricing and ads. But with content spending rising and Wall Street watching margins closely, the road ahead could be a balancing act. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
Zawya
a day ago
- Business
- Zawya
India's Reliance quarterly profit surges 78%, tops view
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries beat estimates for quarterly profit on Friday, powered by strong growth in its energy, retail and digital services businesses. Consolidated profit soared 78.3% to 269.94 billion rupees ($3.14 billion)for the quarter ended June 30, beating analysts' average estimate of 198.59 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG. ($1 = 86.0620 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sethuraman NR and Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
