the rates will stay low. very low for a long time. ecb delivers a rate cut and unprecedented stimulus package, but mario draghi puts the damper on further reductions. the biggest sale since the december 3 meeting the insurertual -- be headed for a split? the chance for an asset sale. .ust after 7:00 u.k. time

welcome to "countdown," i am anna edwards. perspectiveings in for you. storyl start with the ecb and the impact we saw in the currency markets. the euro. over three days. it shows you the volatility, the price swings we saw. a raft of measures to stimulate the european economy, the europe the euro zone economy. it took less than 19 minutes for verse all itse declines. on some other risk assets. we've got german two year yields, a volatile session around the press conference. -0.4%.ng the day at

oil, up by 2.3%. $38 and on.71. asia, positive territory. up 0.7% on the asia-pacific index. increasing the chinese currency by the most in four months. leading to more risk-taking in the asian session. dollar on thessie screen, highest level since july. let's get bloomberg news with nejra. nejra: if we turn our attention

rate is the negative the most likely tool for any expansion of stimulus. shopped markets with a negative rate policy, which charges financial institutions to keep their reserves at the boj. raised itstral bank daily reference rate by the most in four months. a story and new zealand banking group, the euro decline and rally overnight. creditan cutting several traders including its global head. that is according to people with knowledge of the move. collapsing oil prices and the economic slowdown have hammered the bonds of emerging market countries over the last year. has riskedon

dragging mark carney deeper into the debate about whether written should lead the european union. bank of england governor mark carney said leaving the eu is the biggest risk to financial stability, he wrote on twitter. global news 24 hours a day, 2400 journalists. you can find more stories. anna: breaking news. old mutual, which operates in africa, based in the u.k. and also has a big is this in the u.s., they are going to separate their businesses. separating emerging markets. nedbank and their asset management units. they are planning to quote their

debt quote materially. also implementing a new asset management policy. the separation going to be question mark what do they intend to do with these different parts of the businesses? which parts are going to be sold off? we are also hearing from net nk, saying, it remains in independent entity. nedbank saying old mutual's announcement has no impact on its strategy. let's get to the asian market session. update us on what has been an interesting session. we did have some weakness, and then things stronger? david: certainly. before we shook

off the cobwebs from a lackluster session in the u.s. in europe on drop thursday. right now, fairly solid. everything is on the way up. we are poised, barring any late drop in equity prices over the next 1-2 hours, poised for a fourth straight weekly gain. leading the gains, financials. it comes down to this solid session across the japanese banking space. you have a weaker japanese yen. plus you have yields on the way up in asia. 0-year look at where the 1 is in japan. just about zero. it resurfaced for the first time in about three weeks, above zero for the first time. that is the outlook for the

markets, at least for now. another thing worth noting for asia, and you were talking about ,his, the pboc fixing the yuan strengthening the fixing of the yuan by the biggest gain going back to november. the largest adjustment in the fixing, i think that is the best way to describe it. %.34 doesn't sound like a lot. very quickly, before i go, let me show you how asia looks individually. a fairly solid session. a few weeks bought. -- weak spots. we have the pboc governor scheduled to speak this week as well. anna: thank you. ingles during

us from hong kong. the euroncements sent on the roller coaster ride, as we said. everything you need to know about his comments. you need to account the current outlook for price stability. the governing council expects interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time. the risk to the outlook remains tilted to the downside. in particular, to the heightened uncertainties regarding developments in the global broaderas well as geopolitical risks. this broad pattern is also reflected in the march, 2016 ecb mike ross are not make -- 2016

ecb microeconomic projections. in 2016. 1.3% perspective, taking into account the support of our measures for growth and inflation, we do not anticipate it will be necessary to reduce rates further. it is true that some of the measures have spilled over on the foreign exchange market. let's bring into the conversation, our guest+++

and fx strategist. let's go to you first. how crafty do you think mario draghi will be with how markets responded? guest: what happened yesterday could go down in history as one of the few mistakes he has made. if anything, the fact that the euro is harder despite the fact that they cut a rates, for the time being, it was not the response they were looking for. any need foree further cuts. it highlights how costly they could be for the banking sector. euro-dollaring towards 115, you are asking yourself, is this a verbal intervention or will it be a cut? talk is cheap. try to talk it down. but that is taking a lot of the

bearishness, europe and bearishness in the market. whatever the ecb policymakers will tell us about the forward guidance, it may carry less weight. in inhas he boxed himself terms of how low he can take a rates in europe? : i think maybe he has. at the same time, ou we have to remember, draghi has done it before. circumstances changed and they cut rates again. the long game is he does not look to cut a rates anytime soon but he does reserve the right to do it again. talk is cheap. they would like to see more from the ecb, especially in the currency and currency space.

also in terms of peripheral yields. i think those will be the two concerns. anna: focusing on the currency i have chartstin, of what happened to the euro over the last three days which is fascinating to watch. you could look at what he said yesterday and conclude he cares less about it? valentin: what is concerning, it the mistakeabout with the forward guidance. if you look through the whole conference in speeches, time and again when draghi had the chance to talk down the euro, in the past, he used to mention the the driver.s he refrained from that.

as if the euro does not matter as much as it does. among the levers or tools the ecb is keen to use to boost inflation and growth in the eurozone. anna: they actually increase their forecast where the euro is going to be. particular, in the last quarterly update, the less two quarterly updates in september and december, the projections were expecting it to sustain its losses of 10%. , we areatest edition seeing the staff is expecting the euro to officiate. the euroe even -- appreciate. appreciate even further in 2018. you wouldn't do that if you wanted to use depreciation as an instrument. anna: the ecb only one side of

the trade. plan to do,t they what do think of this suggestion they don't care too much about where the euro heads in the short-term question mark richard: it depends where the level is. they are probably comfortable with it at 110. 108-112at we have had range yesterday, they are probably ok with where it is. we have a different sort of story. behink the push back will more vigorous against currency strengths should we get to levels where they are less comfortable. anna: thank you very much. richard, thank you very much for joining us. let's get your day ahead. this is what is on the radar for you this friday. in under an hour, we will get a reading of german inflation. followed by the same from spain

one hour later. at 9:00 u.k. time, we will get italian production followed by u.k. trade data. a lot to focus in on. up next, could london lose its role as the central hub for euro trading if britain leaves the eu? that is what a governor has warned. we discussed that next. ♪

anna: welcome back. this is "countdown." bloomberg business updates. nejra: bp won't have to raise lawsuits by oilfield service companies. they have blamed to the group

ther bans imposed after gulf of mexico oil spill. has already paid out $55 billion over the spills. deutsche bank is in talks to factions, about $1 trillion in complex financial instruments. they have sold about two thirds of the credit default swaps and wants to sell the rest. department ande apple have ratcheted up with their battle over a terrorist iphone. prosecutors say the argument is undercut by its own ethics with china. apple responded, saying they are resorting to conspiracy theories. and that is your bloomberg's nest flash. anna: -- your bloomberg business

flash. anna: give us the latest. it took less than 90 minutes to go from overwhelmed at the scale of draghi's stimulus too. -- stimulus too underwhelmed. just look at the swing. a 2% gain. that was the biggest range since the ecb meeting in december. we remember how much markets were disappointed after that meeting. it is headed for its best week and more than one month, strengthening against all the g 10 pairs. before the meeting, we saw the euro dropping against the g 10 peers before the meeting. you can see the initial drop was led by a bounce back of the euro. i want to show you euro volatility.

we saw it really spiking. it is coming down. i looked at one month and six month volatility on the euro. that is coming down as well. what is the impact on other markets? what are the other ramifications? nejra: there have been impacts across the board. we saw european stocks gain and then decline. european sovereign debt gain and then decline. credit risk is what i want to highlight. see market i track. 125 -- this is a market i track. 125 investment-grade companies. buyie announced plans to bonds. corporatef insuring

bonds has tumbled the most since 2011. i want to quickly show you gold. that hit a one-year high. careerhank you very much the former bank of france governor says london will not be able to keep its central role in euro trading at the u.k. leaves the european union. note, hearch wrote -- in an exclusive ceorview, the berkeley c said he will be worse off in the case of a brexit. >> we are a you came think. if our clients suffer, we suffer. made the, we have recommendation the u.k. vote to stay inside the european union. anna: let's get back to our guest.

valentin, what is your latest thinking about brexit question mark how week do you think the pound could get? valentin: the latest correction reflected the fact that the selloff, below 140, was a bit of an exaggeration of the probability of a brexit taking place. it implied a probability of the higher thang place the bookmakers were placing or the polls suggesting. the pound of view, could linger for a bit here. going into the referendum, and depending on how the polls of all, we still think the risks could be on the downside. presumablyimpact, the pound could drop as much as

15% from a tight in december which implies a level, a little lower for cable. the will be consistent with previous time in recent history when we had a similar event. that could indeed to take place. crisis, whichhe triggered portfolio investment outflows and it drove the pound 50% lower over a time of 11-12 months. time, whenber as a grexit fears are escalating, you ,ould think the current levels consistent with a level of brexit.probability of a

anna: let's get your thoughts on the credit markets in europe. nejra was going through a chart which talks about the falling price of credit. is that something that is going to be sustained? valentin: it is quite significant. corporate a of bonds, it is highlighting that the main channel for cycling the eurozone savings could receive a boost. what we have been seen in recent years is four and cubbies were coming to the eurozone to issue euro debt. a premium toing eurozone investors. what is happening now is with the ecb stepping into the market , buying corporate bonds, the premium foreign borrowers are offering will become even more

attractive. not because they have to pay more, just because investors will receive less from their corporate bonds. as a result, the funding will become even more attractive. what is happening is when these borrowers come to borrow, the cell the euro. that is recycling. briefly, tell me about a one of your latest polls. outlook: we feel the , it could deteriorate from here. the correlation with oil could weekend. .e call it -- could weaken we call it a structural break. something we have seen in the past. it could remain closer to the lows for longer. anna: thank you.

broad spectrum of currencies. up next, bankers weigh negative rates. barclaysf says we are in uncharted negative territory. ♪

anna: welcome back. this is caroline:." ." this is "countdown thea: the negative rate is most likely tool for the expansion of stimulus, with economists forecasting negative easing by july. yuan has a raised its decline for the year, after by thek erased its rate

most in four months. largely to aown euro decline -- euro rally. jpmorgan is cutting several traders. andapsing oil prices china's slowdown have hammered -- they also follow defections over the last month. traders in london have been jailed for manipulating libel. they were given one year and two year sentences as the judge brushed aside a call to punish those responsible for wrongdoing in the banking world. the sentences are the first to be handed down over libel rigging. ministerica's finance says he is hopeful structural

reforms are enough to avoid a credit rating downgrade. he spoke to bloomberg markets. to establish whether our our actions ines the short time. i am hopeful we are actually able to do that. news, 24 hours a day, powered by our before powered by our 2400 journalists. hnson joins us. guy: there are plenty of things to watch. that followed from the ecb to read the fixing with the chinese is important. a stronger currency from the chinese, and we see the stronger

fixing, implies -- anna: we saw that almost instantly in the asian session. thatthere's a nice story highlights this. a chart that you have kindly put in the monitor. that is the index. we take you to the blue line, which is the fixing. as a result of which, you can see the correlation between the two is strong. you highlight the legend and you will be able to see that over there, the blue line, you can see that coming through nicely. almost a 141 correlation. one to one correlation. we think they are listening to the fed and the ecb. anna: oil prices, no doubt.

guy: the oil price story has broken down a little bit. it has definitely broken down a little bit. still there. not as aggressive as what it once was. maybe what you should be watching is what is happening with the chinese currency. that is your best indicator. up 0.7% this hour. thank you very much. guy johnson will be back at 7:30. did draghi deliver? did the ecb president go far enough? here is what some of our guests think. >> i think they did the right thing. it is targeted and as narrow as possible to where the problems are and where their mandate is. >> the negative interest rates, using interest rates as one of the tools, has effectively come to an end. he has given the signal that

policy is exhausted. is continuing to support his initial statement in 2012, they will do whatever it takes. central only so much bankers can do. we really need to structural reform in europe. >> it showed clearly what mr. do which is the ecb is clearly not out of ammo or instruments. they threw the kitchen sink at it. we can see what the impact will be. beginning this is the of showing they can do more than most of us thought. anna: joining us to join, the ceo of dba. an asset strategist. you are deathly the men to get around the desk in terms of where we saw some big moves.

>> huge moves. the rabbit out of the bag was the addition of corporate bonds, non-bank corporate bonds. there were questions in terms of liquidity. markets whichedit are suffering from a lack of liquidity. at the end of the day, this is addressing a market which was not broken. there are questions as to whether this is a policy error and a step too far. in the short-term, it is driving a risk. anna: here is what it has done to credit risk. thanks to draghi, as issued by the market. hitting a two-month low. the cheapness of corporate forit, of borrowing european corporate, is one of the highlights of the

interventions draghi made. >> the risk premium within the it should also trigger a risk in the credit market. thing that came out yesterday out of mr. draghi's speech. .he intervention it should have a broader effect across the risk markets. it is good news for the market. not for liquidity. s should shrink. i also you think it will affect junk. it goes down across the range. r: the intention was to revive the growth. we got a great story on bloomberg that says it is all very well to make

arlene cheaper, but you can't force committees to borrow. it is all about confidence. as one company has told bloomberg news, what you don't want is a load of cash sitting there. simon: that has been the big question throughout the recession. you can give negative rates and you can encourage as much lending as you want, but wide why want to borrow unless i can sell more of the widgets i am producing? there lies the problem. they are trying to garner and to generate that level of economy. which clearly, draghi is trying to do. crowding out potentially into high yield. we saw a huge rally yesterday. at the end of the day, trying to generate that level of growth and activity and inflation over an long-term is more than extra 20 billion is going to do. ier: the bulk of credit is

bank credit. ina: we will return to that a moment. in terms of the broader measures we saw from the ecb, including this credit move, did they know answer the critics who said, how are you going to find 80 billion of assets to buy? they've got 22 go and buy, now? critics ofis also the idea the central bank has exhausted all the tools. there is always something to do. what central banks do, central banks will get. anna: we will cause with that thought. we are going to continue the conversation. let's turn the attention to the banking sector. how will it be affected by deeper negative rates? a reporter, are

guest weighed in on the paths ahead. on in china has had a big impact. the slow growth is a challenge for the markets. inflation expectations are low. that is leading to some central banks talking about negative interest rates. this is uncharted territory. we just don't know. challengingwill be this year. the banking industry is so much was inr now than it 2008. capital levels are completely different. liquidity levels are completely different. we have such a different they can industry than we did then. it is a safer group of banks dealing with a challenging market.

negative interest rates, they are seriously only on excess reserve. for the consumer, across the banking industry itself, they are so positive. a are a long way from being disruptive influence in the banking industry. putting someley perspective around the negative interest rate story. we saw bank credit reacting. big users of the cheap credit from the ecb. financing from the ecb. they saw big moves in their credit prices. simon: that is where the risk is laying. the periphery. to go further into negative territory is supported. i think it is indicative, while we are talking about adding corporate bonds, the impact that will have on big margins and business models, a are going to continue to support the bank's

financing activity on a day to day basis. negative rates of positive -- positive in the short term. anna: anything that made you more confident about investing in the banking sector? didier: the set of measures are very comforting for the banking sector. this is the best result the banking sector could expect from the banking sector -- ecb. is that something for you? ier: it is a complex instrument for the retail investor. they are on the border between equities and bonds.

it is the touching point when he risk is increasing. think this in transit problem we have at the heart of the negative interest rate policy, on one hand you want to increase borrowing, but on the other hand it can wait on probability. the way things were structured, did they cut through that? did they find a way to find -- they call that an inherent conflict. imon: this is a monetary policy without the advantage of being a fiscal policy. is a long-term constraint for a central bank. there lies the major issue for the ecb. they have no hold over fiscal policy in the member states. monetary policy can only have a limited impact over the longer term. want to seeyone

more fiscal spending? : we are in the yesterday levels and it should be supported, that is for sure. there are signs the situation is improving, in particular when we look at countries such as italy. confidence is going well. spainsidential sector in is very solid. we have some positive signs. production in germany picking up. we are probably going on the bright side. germane will see what inflation data is at the top of the art. your thoughts on inflation. this comes from the fact that the ecb is trying to write against deflation. you don't think deflation is the problem, you think inflation will be the problem soon. we come from an

environment where there was a tol threat when it came inflation. f ever the community goes to a level where we were last year, we will not talk about the headline inflation going south. we are observing in the u.s., core inflation above the target of the fed, above 2%. that is probably the problem to watch. feeling ofve the higher interest rates in the u.s.. anna: oil prices rebounding 2.2%. thank you very much for joining us. simon from bloomberg joining us on set. up next, merkel's refugee policy faces its first electoral test. we are in berlin. that is next. ♪

anna: welcome back. you are watching "countdown." this is a live shot of new york this morning. 1:49 in the morning. it is+++

nejra: old mutual is going to separate its markets to unlock value. that news came as the firm says it expects 2016 to be a challenging year. bp will not have to face lawsuits by oil service companies. they had blamed the company for the losses after the ban on drilling. that was one of the largest categories of claims bp faced. the company has already paid out more than $65 billion over the spill. the justice department and apple have ratcheted up their argument over a terrorist iphone. responded, saying the government is so desperate, it is resorting to conspiracy theories. authorities told a judge apple is standing in the way of evidence that may further its investigation into the san bernardino shooting. that is your bloomberg business flash. anna: thank you. as angela merkel apples with a refugee crisis, the german chancellor faces the first electoral test. three regions go to the polls. bloombergg in the german government editor. good to see you.

take us through exactly what is at stake. 20% of the got about german electorate, slightly more than 20% of the electorate up to vote. these are three states of a varying importance. the biggest is the southwestern state that borders switzerland and france. it is kind of an iconic state. it is the home to daimler. small and medium-sized enterprises germany is famous for. in german lore, it has a reputation as a hard-working, thrifty place. it should be natural terrain for christian democrats but it looks like she is going to struggle. anna: what are the threats to merkel and party? if they do badly in these three regions?

main threat that has emerged, and germany has been consumed by this refugee crisis has muchs summer, as of europe, the main threat is alternative for germany. this is a party that many people outside germany already know. they are campaigning against immigration. one leader said it might be necessary to shoot at refugees at the border. that party is gunning for merkel . they are probably going to get the best result yet. in the eastern state. if all three of these elections go badly for merkel, then the criticism of her refugee policy in her own party, her own party block, is certainly going to increase. anna: thank you for joining us.

regional the german elections ahead this weekend. let's put the politics to one side and get your thoughts about what is happening in equity. -- in equity markets. we saw lukewarm reaction to what the ecb said. by the end of the day, disappointment around not more disappointment. : the late reaction may be a true did to the volatility in currency markets. what is important to behind the equity markets, our risk reversal way we are seeing now, it is coming from a very negative press if that we had in starsnuary where all the

were going in the wrong directions. now we are seeing positive signs when it comes to the economy. when it comes to currency, the emerging-market currencies like the run and be. -- renminbi. this is not a sign pointing in the direction of deflation, it is a sign of relief. something at the end of the quarter that should trigger the continuation of the window dressing. it should be good. the quarter after that, the markets will focus on the fundamentals, the earnings and on the and+++

psychology. anna: we were talking i about te role -- the chinese fixing their currency a little higher. perhaps a sign of strength in the economy. we have a chart that shows the chinese currency and its relationship with global currencies. we wait to see what they do with their currency. didier: what we have to recognize is the central bank of china is part of the central banks. they are talking and coordinating, especially when times get rough. they are communicating more. this is something that was missing sense august. the outflows are being reduced. represent global stabilization coming out of china. anna: how do you invest in china at the moment?

do you buy stocks that tap into the growth areas, insurance companies and leisure wear? didier: there is a tremendous chance going on, a huge turn happening in the economy of china. you have to go into your sectors. the consumer sector, the sectors behind the consumption. anna: thank you very much. good to have you on the program. the cio of abn private banking. news out ofots of this business already. they say they want to split up into units. we will sit down with the ceo of the business. he is going to join us next here on the program. what exactly they want to do with the separate units they are sitting up.

we will get more details on that, the debt and dividend policy. the challenges that lie ahead. this is a shot of new york, this early hour. ♪

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follow every pitch, every play and every win. change the way you experience tv with x1 from xfinity. stay low, veryll low, for a long time. well past the horizon. the ecb delivers a rate cut and the more bond buying in stimulusedented package. march madness, the euro makes a u-turn, sending the currency on its biggest price swings since december 3. announces plans to split its various units. we will speak to the ceo of the business in a few minutes time.

welcome back, this is "countdown ." a big focus on inflation. cpi in germany coming in at expectations. the final reading, 0.4 percent come a month. entirely flat, your on year. perhaps there lies the problem. even in one of the right spots of the european economy, inflation flat, year on year. let's look at where the equity markets will go.

european markets, the expectation is we will bounce at the start of the trading day. up by 1.5%. all in similar fashion, expected ofopen strongly at the start the european trading day. let's focus in on the currency markets as well and remind you where we have been, the roller coaster the euro has been over the past two days. the ecb introduced a raft of measures to stimulate the economy. it took less than 90 minutes for the euro to reverse all the declines we see in that chart. point up high 2% at one after mario draghi said there was no need to cut rates further. that is where we are on the currency markets. breaking news for you as well. caroline hyde is with us. the ecb, the central bank the focus, but if we turn our attention to asia, the bank of japan negative rate is the

most likely tool for any stimulus. a majority of economists forecasting raises by july. raisedhore yuan has declines for the year. aacised -- china senior currency strategist put it down to the euro rally and a dollar decline overnight. traders,is cutting according to people with knowledge of the move. collapsing oil prices and hammeredlowdown have the market over the past year. it also follows several defections. two traders have been jailed for manipulating -- the

toge brushed aside a call severely punish those wrong inle for doing the market. these are the first sentences to be handed out over libel rigging. brought carneyas into the debate. he said, it is the biggest domestic risk to financial stability on twitter. three days ago, members of the parliament attacked the governor for what they said was bias in favor of staying in the eu during a parliamentary hearing. stories ond more bloomberg. thank you very much. old mutual has announced plans boostit its units to

growth and unlock value. joining me in the studio is old mutual ceo bruce hemphill. for clarity, you are talking about separating the business into four units. what does that exactly mean as far as old mutual is concerned? will old mutual exist by the and of the process? ruse: we put out a statement where we said the group in its current form will cease to exist once the separation has been affected. shareholderso give greater value. the group has been trading at a significant discount. we believe this will unlock the discount. do the names cease to exist? will there be anything called old mutual? ce: it is too soon to say,

but i think it would be crazy to rid of the name, particularly in the south african market. anna: do you see it being sold off? it is too early to say. we have made a fundamental strategic call which is the structure as we currently have cease to exist in time. that will unlock a value for shareholders. there are obviously a huge number of stakeholders involved in this. shareholders, bondholders, regulators. we need to go into a process of engagement to ensure we get the right kind of alignment between competing interests. anna: is this some sort of holding pattern before the units are sold off? bruce: what we are saying is we are going to go into a process

of engagement and we will update the market as to the route we are going to follow. we have interrogated different groups. it is like threading a needle delicately. we have to strike the right balance. anna: is that why you cannot come out and announce asset sales no? there is speculation you might sell the u.k. part of the business, focus back in on africa, but you are not saying you are going to sell it. but you are consulting on selling it? we will talk the stakeholders. we know there are a number of options to us. we need to consult through this process. ake in nejra ea nedbank+++

doing. bruce: we are selling there is no need to sell that stake. we have been engaged in a effective process with the board. we believe it is important to own minority shareholding. it is important to retain a significant minority interest. it is not necessary to own it. we think the shareholders would be better off owning and. anna: tell us about the value it does add to the group. we have targeted synergies any businesses. the management teams work together in south africa. there are also plans to collaborate and work together in the rest of africa, particularly in west africa through nedbank

shareholding in nigeria and ghana. tell us what you want to do for shareholders. how do you see that playing out? bruce: the first point is, what do we want to do for shareholders? we are trying to improve returns by cutting costs. there were costs involved in running the sector in london. the intention is the costs will go as the process unfolds. we want to unlock the conglomerate discount and as we get businesses close to the market, we believe they will rebate significantly relative to peers. have madessue that we a fundamental strategic decision, now we need a management policy to implement what we are talking about in a disciplined and responsible manner. we need to make sure we have enough cash at the center to do that. we have enough cash to invest in

these businesses. they are growing businesses. in addition, we need to make sure they have their own dividend policies for ultimately when they get to market. weakness is something that has impacted your business. does it happen for other south african businesses? what kind of headaches has that been causing for you?

+++ africa, that translates into lower earnings in sterling. that is an issue. if you think about the risk, you got a currency dividend. hard currency debt and earnings in a soft currency. that represents significant risk. when the south african currency weakens, it does have an impact on our performance. anna: some people have suggested that is one reason to move back to south africa. why have this publication? bruce: we are not talking about head courting the business back in south africa because we do not believe that will achieve shareholder value in the long term. we think they will be best served by owning these businesses directly. anna: there are a lot of assets for sale in the african banking sector.ncial services have you had conversations with people? you have said you are not selling any of these yet. what kind of appetite is there to buy these assets? there is an't think huge amount of appetite. it is more complicated by the fact that barclays has indicated they want to sell at the same time.

shareholders are going to say, what are you thinking about? as i said at the beginning, it is too early to commit to a particular route but we think at this stage, it would make more sense to distribute those. anna: there was a lot going on at this business. one of the parties you are consulting with question mark your not looking to buy anything at the moment? bruce: absolutely not. we have four good businesses. we believe they should be owned by the most appropriate shareholders. another issue we have had to shareholder, from a perspective, it is a confused proposition. you got businesses in the mix. we think that means there are a large number of investors. anna: you mentioned the emerging -- emergingme market nature of some of these businesses. some have been hit by the oil

prices. many of these african economies are struggling. could you have waited to come is there is an argument you could have waited and done this at a time when things look better? bruce: you can argue you should wait, but we think this is the right time. the strategy is clear and we should act. joining us.you for good to have you on the program and the look with the -- and good luck with the consultations you need to do. bruce hemphill join us in london, the ceo of old mutual. ryan error. -- ryan air. that is next. ♪

anna: welcome back. this is "countdown.:

" bloombergto the business flash. caroline: bp will not have to face lawsuits from oil services companies. they had blamed -- that was one of the largest remaining had a gorey's bp faced. the company has already paid out $55 billion. deutsche bank is in talks with jpmorgan in citigroup to sell about one trillion euros in complex financial instruments. they say deutsche bank has sold about two thirds of the portfolio. and wants to sell the rest within the next few months. and the u.s. just department has battle with its apple over access to a terrorist iphone. the argument against helping the fbi is undercut i assistance to

china. apple responded, saying the government is so desperate it is resorting to conspiracy theories. authorities told a federal judge apple is standing in the way of evidence that may further the san bernardino investigation. anna: let's move on. here in london. kenny jacobs joins us from berlin. thank you so much for joining us. it looks like we are having trouble establishing the line to kenny. in the meantime, let's talk about the oil price. opec and russia have yet to set date and place to -- location suggested by one producer this month or next, they have been snubbed in the fledging ally gins. joins us. east editor

sounds like there is a lot we don't know about when or if they are going to meet. a reporter: that is right. this month, next month. moscow, vienna. if they cannot agree on a time and place, it makes you wonder how this ledge lane coalition that is supposed to be led by the saudis and a russians, how they are going to forge this agreement. agreement ishe reached and implemented to, that will leave an oversupply in the market leading to greater stockpiles. right now, it is quite hard to various players are going to sit around the table and try to reach some sort of agreement since they can't even agree to where to sit around the table. remind us who is on board with his freeze. elliott: the venezuelans were

pushing it originally but the saudis and the russians were the most important stakeholders. qatar was on board as well. to come into meant effect, the russians and the abides if everybody else by it. at least one country, one big producer is not going to abide by it and that is iran. anothert to produce billion -- million barrels of oil a day. they call this agreement ridiculous. countries you have like ecuador that want to cut output. you have disagreements about how to stabilize the market. major stakeholders. if ithard to see when or is going to come into effect. anna: thank you very much. the oil price matters very much to our next guest.

ryanair's chief marketing officer joins us. we have established online to read good morning and welcome to the program. can i ask you about the brexit? it is a hot topic in this part of the world. talk about the contingency planning you are doing around it. kenny: our view is we hope the of thetizens remain part eu. we think britain is better off as part of it. we support the call for reform within europe. all a lot of countries share the same concerns the u.k. has. we think britain should continue to call for reform. but britain should stay. it will be better for doing business in britain and for british businesses doing business across europe. anna: what about the operations ryan and has in the u.k.? would you move some of those? would you road use the amount of

flights? what sort of planning are you doing around that? kenny: we don't think it would change what we want to do. it is the biggest market for low-cost airlines. we don't to get would have an ourdiate impact on business. over the medium and longer-term, it would create some uncertainty. europe will continue to want to fly to great britain and people in britain will want to fly to europe. anna: was your working assumption, if we did see the eu vote to leave, what would be your working assumption around to relationships? would businesses like yours have to assume things carry on as they were before until you are told otherwise? or do you start again immediately? kenny: our view is it would continue as we see today and everyone would make the adjustments that need to be made. anna: are you doing any

contingency planning at a ryanair around this? protecting ourselves against turmoil in markets? what sort of contingency plan will you look to do? elemente will do some of contingency planning on the financial side. when it comes to the operations, it will be business as usual. the most important thing from our point of view, it is not going to be that much of an operational disruption to the business. the most important thing is people who still want to travel, bd business people or leisure travelers. the traffic from britain to europe and europe to britain would continue. about something else. you have recently launched a service. jet charter give us the size and scope of that. this is not the core of ryanair's business. how far down that road you want to go? ryanair, you have

seen you can expect the unexpected from ryanair. we have been inundated with requests to hire one of our jets on a regular basis. we listened to that and took the opportunity to get a 737. we fitted it with luxury seats. we have already seen in two days over 40 requests to hire. this jet is novel and place to the theme of wanting to do corporate travel for less. it will be much cheaper to hire the ryanair corporate jet, get find food and champagne and whatever you want, much cheaper than what you pay to existing operators in this space. anna: corporate customers, that is the target market. kenny: about half of the groupts are from sports

spirit professional teams, rugby or football, as well as businesses. a few wedding parties will be looking to hire the jet as well. anna: fine dining, that is not something ryan air is used to offering? kenny: we are doing things a lot of people thought we never would. we will give customers a choice. fine dining.t some will have straightforward aircraft food. the always getting better campaign continues. a new phase of that coming soon. what is the difference between phase three and what has come before? kenny: this will be the third year of always getting better. three things that i would call out, the first thing would be choice. we have introduced new flux to our customers and seeing how they have responded. we will introduce new, exciting choices on both the fight products and also the non-flight

side. simplification is the second biggest theme. when it comes to travel, digital allows us to simplify the traveling process. there is a lot of change that will make traveling with ryanair more straightforward. the other thing, business travel. we have had a success with the launch of our business product. andwill see us do more new interesting things to get a higher share of the important business travel segment across europe. anna: thank you for joining us. good luck with the conference. the chief marketing officer, giving us some of his time in berlin. here is the day ahead, spanish and inflation just over 30 minutes ahead. followed by industrial production from italy to and then u.k. trade data. all-important u.s. rate count. bouncingick look,

strongly at the start of european equity trading to read still half an hour but we could be up more than 2%. stay tuned. move," we will be talking to norway's finance minister. ♪

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follow every pitch, every play and every win. change the way you experience tv with x1 from xfinity. >> is welcome to "on the move". preliminary.m. in we are counting it down to the european open which is half an hour away. here is what we are watching. draghi switching strategies. will this new plan work? we're going to discuss that. a different cap as -- path as