Weekly Global News Wrap: Over $425b European loans deferred; Goldman Sachs, Barclays mull buying GM's credit card arm

And JPMorgan hires former UK finance minister Sajid Javid.

From Reuters

More than $425b (EUR360b) of loans at Europe’s biggest banks have been subject to payment breaks or other COVID-19 relief measures, but the question of whether borrowers will be able to resume payments when support ends looms.

Figures from the seven biggest European banks that provided data on their relief measures at the end-Q2 show the value of outstanding loans subject to some kind of moratorium is around 15 times the size of the total provisions set aside for loan losses.

Determining what proportion of loans might go bad when relief measures end, and in turn the degree to which banks’ will suffer losses, is not straightforward.

From Reuters

Goldman Sachs and Barclays are looking to buy General Motors’ credit card unit as it looks to double down on its consumer banking arm amidst about $3b in outstanding balances.

Goldman currently has a much smaller presence in consumer banking, and it is an area that chief executive David Solomon has been aggressively looking to strengthen.

In their pitches to GM, Goldman and Barclays have pushed the idea of cars as e-commerce portals. GM’s cars are equipped with in-dash e-commerce technology, allowing drivers to order food, find fuel or reserve hotel rooms by tapping icons on the dashboard screen, instead of using smartphones while driving.

From Reuters

JPMorgan has hired Britain’s former finance minister Sajid Javid as a senior adviser, a move that sees the politician resume his career in investment banking.

Javid quit his role in government earlier this year after falling out with Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a cabinet reshuffle. He remains a lawmaker in Britain’s parliament but is to take up a post as a member of the bank’s advisory council for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Javid began his career in finance at Chase Manhattan, which later merged with JP Morgan, and worked in a number of roles in its currencies and emerging market businesses.