Anonymous ID: 633902 June 19, 2019, 7:29 a.m. No.6789353   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Tesla loses another exec: HR vice president and head of diversity Felicia Mayo

Tesla vice president of HR and head of diversity, Felicia Mayo, has departed the company. Mayo, who worked at Tesla for almost two years, is one of a few black women to rise to executive ranks in Silicon Valley.

Tesla vice president of human resources and head of diversity Felicia Mayo has left the company.

 

A company spokesperson told CNBC, “We’ll miss Felicia and would like to thank her for her hard work over the last two years and wish her all the best in the future. We have a talented HR team in place that will continue to report into our VP of People & Places and will remain focused on advancing our mission and making Tesla a great place to work.”

 

Tesla is known as a mission-driven and hard-driving workplace with significant pressure to hit ambitious goals and deadlines meted out by CEO Elon Musk. Among other things, these conditions have led to a high level of churn among Tesla executives, in recent years.

 

Mayo is one of a few black women leaders to break the glass ceiling and rise to executive ranks in a large, Silicon Valley tech firm. Less than 0.5% of Silicon Valley tech leadership positions are held by black women, according to 2018 statistics from the Kapor Center.

 

She previously served as vice president of global talent acquisition and diversity at Juniper Networks, then held the role of VP of Human Resources at Tesla for less than two years. She reported to Tesla’s vice president of people and places, Kevin Kassekert, and CEO Elon Musk.

 

During her tenure, Tesla expanded its operations internationally, began manufacturing its Model 3 electric sedan in high volumes, and implemented controversial strategies ranging from store closures and other restructuring efforts, to giving employees a discount on Tesla vehicles, if they agreed to use and give feedback on beta versions of the company’s Full Self Driving software.

 

Mayo’s departure follows the resignation of other Tesla executives in the last year, including:

Tesla’s former chief people officer, Gaby

Toledano

General Counsel, Todd Maron

VP of Legal, Phil Rothenberg

CFO Deepak Ahuja (who announced his

retirement at the end of a Tesla earnings call

in January this year)

VP of Engineering, Michael Schwekutsch

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/18/tesla-loses-felicia-mayo-human-resources-vp-and-head-of-diversity.html

Anonymous ID: 633902 June 19, 2019, 7:56 a.m. No.6789526   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>9537 >>9711

Deutsche Bank seeks to shed risky assets as part of overhaul

 

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is aiming to cut up to a quarter of its riskiest assets in the next few years, people familiar with the matter said, shedding more light on how the German lender is trying to overhaul its business and revive profitability.

The plan provides more detail on a restructuring expected since Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing promised shareholders “tough cutbacks” to turn the bank around after it botched an attempted merger with rival Commerzbank.

 

The bank’s shares, which have hit record lows in June, have perked up on expectations that a major overhaul is underway.

 

Deutsche is expected to talk to top investors within days to elaborate on its plans, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The group will unveil the strategy in July, other people say.

 

The bank has struggled to bounce back after the 2008 financial crisis and has been plagued by failed regulatory stress tests, multi-billion dollar fines and management upheavals and most recently a failed merger.

 

Deutsche’s biggest business by revenues is its investment bank, which holds swathes of high-risk assets such as complex derivatives. Cutting back on risky assets would in theory allow Deutsche to hold less capital and use this money for other purposes to try to boost profit.

 

Under the plan, Deutsche will reduce its so-called risk-weighted assets by between 20% and 25% over the next three-to-five years, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

Risk weighting is where a bank assigns a risk of losses to an asset, such as a derivative or loan. That, in turn, determines how much capital it needs to cover such a loss.

 

The bank held 347 billion euros ($388.61 billion) in such assets at the end of the first quarter, according to Deutsche’s quarterly results. A 25% reduction would bring assets to about 260 billion euros.

 

Deutsche Bank declined to comment but said it was working on measures to accelerate its transformation so as to improve its sustainable profitability. “We will update all stakeholders if and when required,” the bank said.

 

Other changes include shrinking or shutting equity and rates trading businesses outside of Europe. Deutsche is also planning to create a “bad bank” for non-core assets, which can be a way to reduce risky assets over time. In an internal bad bank, risk weighted assets remain on the bank’s balance sheet until they are wound down.

 

One of the big open questions is how many jobs Deutsche will cut. The bank has already pledged to reduce headcount to under 90,000, from the current 91,463.

 

Analysts and some investors would like to see a staff reduction of more than 10% for the overhaul to be credible.

 

Deutsche management is also in flux. Pressure to step down has been building on Garth Ritchie, head of the investment bank, and Sylvie Matherat, chief regulatory officer, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

 

The bank has declined to comment on the possible shake-up.

 

The revamp will delay further some of the bank’s goals. Deutsche is widely expected to miss its key profitability target - a return on tangible equity of 4% - in 2019.

 

Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse have already restructured by paring down their investment banks and are today on stronger footing, providing hope for Deutsche Bank, analysts say.

 

But competition is heating up on Deutsche’s home turf. Standard Chartered earlier this year opened its new European Union headquarters in Frankfurt next door to Deutsche’s head office.

 

The bank aims to take on Deutsche’s core clientele - big German corporations - by offering them services in far flung countries, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters told reporters on Tuesday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-deutsche-bank-restructuring/deutsche-bank-seeks-to-shed-risky-assets-as-part-of-overhaul-sources-idUSKCN1TK1Z4?

Anonymous ID: 633902 June 19, 2019, 8:49 a.m. No.6789794   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Five things to watch in the pivotal Fed meeting

 

At its last policy meeting in early May, the Federal Reserve said it was going to be patient for some time before changing interest rates.

 

“Some time” may turn out to be all of two months.

 

Economists expect the Fed to try to back away gracefully from that stance with a new pledge to cut interest rates, if warranted. The two-day Fed meeting begins later Tuesday.

 

Over the last few weeks, escalating trade tensions and a sense that the economy is on a slowing trend have led the market to price in over two cuts this year, according to futures trading as shown by the CME Group’s Fed Watch tool.The market is pricing in an 80% chance of a quarter-point reduction in July.

 

So a Fed remaining on hold, if poised to act, presents a communications challenge to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

 

“It’s not a soft shoe that I envy,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Capital Management.

 

Here is what to watch when the Fed announces its decision at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.

  1. Patient but ready. In its last policy statement in early May, the FOMC said: “in light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the Committee will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate to support these outcomes.”

 

Economists are expecting the central bank to hold the benchmark federal-funds target rate in a range between 2.25% and 2.5% while rewriting the language to signal some greater degree of readiness to adjust policy.

 

“It may do this by adding language on sensitivity to data and developments to its conception of patience,” said Daniel Ahn, chief U.S. economist at BNP Paribas.

 

Some economists think the statement might also might highlight the “downside risks” posed by global and financial developments.

 

  1. Dots in a new world. The Fed’s dot plot, adopted in 2011, has never been used during an easing cycle and economists aren’t sure if the Fed wants to point to future easing. Many think that Fed officials will mark down estimates to reflect anticipated cuts but the median 2019 dot is expected to still show no change in policy. On the other hand, economists expect the median 2020 dot to move down and imply no more hikes in the rate path. In March, the 2020 dot plot penciled in one hike.

 

  1. “Act as appropriate.” The stock market DJIA, +0.14% SPX, +0.00% soared in early June after Powell, speaking at a conference at the Chicago Fed, said he and his colleagues “are closely monitoring the implications of these [trade] developments for the U.S. economic outlook and, as always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.” Some tool that as a clear sign the Fed was willing to consider cutting interest rates to keep the expansion intact. But others saw it as a bland reiteration of the Fed’s philosophy. All eyes will be on Powell when he’s asked about Fed communication during the press conference.

 

  1. Dissent. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said recently that a rate cut may be warranted “soon” to help provide some insurance in case of a steeper-than-expected slowdown and the stop inflation expectations from dropping. Because Bullard is a voting member of the FOMC this year., economists will be watching to see if he will formally dissent if his colleagues decide to hold policy steady.

 

  1. The Fed’s desired market reaction: Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said the Fed’s goal in its communication is to “send a sufficiently dovish message” that would keep financial conditions easy and extend the decision about whether to cut to July. “If the Committee is unable to navigate this balancing act, and the market deems the message as insufficiently dovish, financial conditions could tighten enough to trigger a more aggressive Fed response in July,” he said.

The Powell Fed has had 10 meetings to date and the equity market has ended lower after nine of them finished, he noted.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-things-to-watch-in-the-pivotal-fed-meeting-2019-06-15

https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html/