Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Wanted for war crimes

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to the alleged abduction of children from Ukraine. Though predictably decried by the Kremlin, the call for the arrest of a head of state, let alone a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a nuclear superpower, resonated all over the world. It could also be the beginning of a series of charges against Putin, his adjutants and Russian forces over waging the war on Ukraine, as well as allegations of mass executions, torture and the targeting of residential homes and infrastructure. Next week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Moscow amid warnings from the US of unspecified consequences should Xi decide to send arms to Russia. —David E. Rovella

In a bit of an anticlimax to the crisis its bank triggered, Silicon Valley Bank’s former parent company filed for bankruptcy. Over at First Republic, it looks like $30 billion won’t necessarily do the trick. The California lender saw its shares tumble again on Friday, closing out their worst week ever, as sentiment around the lender remained fragile even after a massive cash injection. Shares of First Republic sank 33% to finish at their lowest level since October 2011. Here’s your markets wrap.

As government officials, regulators and executives huddle to find ways to stabilize Credit Suisse Group, attention keeps turning to the lender’s most prized asset: the Swiss universal bank.

The Credit Suisse office tower in Zurich Photographer: Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg

After SVB’s collapse, Apollo Global Management and its investment rivals began angling for ways to profit off the once-storied, now-dead technology bank. They circled its loan book and mulled buying the SVB business and staff dedicated to making loans. But Washington had other ideas. 

Markets are grappling with a $600 billion question: Are the half-dozen banks in the harsh spotlight outliers, or a warning sign of a wider malaise in the financial sector?

China suspended the operations of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s Beijing office for three months and imposed an unprecedented fine over lapses in its auditing work of bad-debt manager China Huarong.

The CFA Institute unveiled sweeping changes to its three-level financial analyst exam to emphasize practical skills and reduce the amount of time candidates study, in the biggest reworking since the test was introduced in 1963.

The US may have reached a tipping point in its transition to electric vehicles. The latest developments all point toward an accelerating trend of electrification. Except for batteries, that is. Their dirty supply chains mean an EV driver has to travel 13,500 miles for their vehicle to become carbon neutral. On this episode of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn, we go to Nevada and meet a co-founder of Tesla (no, not that one) who may have found the solution.

Redwood Materials, above, a battery reprocessing facility in Nevada. Source: Redwood

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• Slovakia will send its entire fleet of MiG-29 jets to Ukraine.
• The collapse of SVB wasn’t really a surprise to the Fed.
• Ackman says even with First Republic rescue, contagion risk remains.
• In this market, volatility means wait 10 seconds and you’ll lose $1 million.
• Charles Schwab said it just saw $16.5 billion in customer inflows.
• Bloomberg Opinion: The end of an era for the global economy.
• LME rocked by new nickel scandal after finding bags of stones.

Japanese whisky fanatics don’t generally look for their beverage of choice in New York’s Chinatown. But soon they will be headed down an alley off Bowery, behind a camouflaged door at the back of a popular yakitori spot. There they’ll find the pocket-size Beatbox. There are no cocktails, outside of highballs. The emphasis is on pours, which, at the higher end, include Yamazaki’s lauded Sherry Cask whisky that goes for $1,300 a glass.

Beatbox maxes out at four guests Source: Kono

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