By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal Reserve emergency lending to banks, which hit record levels last week, remained high in the latest week, amid continued large scale extensions of credit to the financial system, which now includes official foreign borrowing.

The Fed reported that discount window borrowing, its main source of emergency credit to depository institutions, ticked down to $110.2 billion as of Wednesday, from the $152.9 billion reported last week.

Last week’s level had surged from $4.6 billion on March 8, shredding the $112 billion record set during the fall of 2008, during the global financial crisis’s most perilous phase.

However, as of Wednesday, banks boosted borrowing under the central bank’s newly launched Bank Term Funding Program to $53.7 billion. In its first outing last week, the facility had drawn a smaller than expected $11.9 billion in lending.

The facility allows eligible financial firms to borrow against a range of bonds without the penalties normal imposed on this type of credit.

Analysts had expected to see some movement from the discount window over to the BTFP. TD Securities said Thursday that when both lending avenues are considered together, “the relatively flat combined usage suggests that banks have already borrowed sufficient funds and are transitioning to the more cost-advantageous BTFP facility.”

The Fed also reported lending to foreign central banks and monetary authorities went from nothing on March 15 to $60 billion on Wednesday. Several major central banks announced recently they would draw on Fed dollar liquidity as needed.

Joined with a drop in Treasuries the Fed holds for foreign authorities, “it looks like there was a big spike in demand for dollar liquidity from overseas, most likely from Europe in the wake of the Credit Suisse merger with UBS,” analysts at Jefferies said in a report.

Borrowing from the Fed caused the size of its overall balance sheet to move to $8.8 trillion from $8.7 trillion the prior week.

Last week’s increase set back the Fed’s work since last summer to reduce the size of its stockpile of cash and bonds that topped out at just shy of $9 trillion during the summer, a development the Fed views as having no implications for monetary policy.

Fed data also showed the $142.8 billion in credit it had extended to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to deal with the failed California banks rose further and stood at $179.8 billion.

BANKS SEEK FED CASH

Emergency lending to banks has surged in the wake of the failure of two California banks, which has in turn spurred worries about broader stresses in the financial system in part tied to the aggressive pace of tightening by the Fed to lower inflation.

The Fed pressed forward with rate rises on Wednesday but signaled that it is nearly done with rate increases and acknowledged tighter financial conditions created by the banking sector woes and market reaction will likely weigh on the economy.

Speaking after the Fed meeting, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said current bank troubles are not a replay of events in 2008. “Our banking system is sound and resilient with strong capital and liquidity” and “all depositors’ savings in the banking system are safe,” he told a media conference.

Powell justified the fast-moving response of the central bank by saying “history has shown that isolated banking problems, if left unaddressed, can undermine confidence in healthy banks and threaten the ability of the banking system as a whole.”

As Powell expressed confidence in the financial system, money market funds have seen strong inflows. Analysts at investment bank Barclays have added a note of caution, however, and said in a note Wednesday “we suspect these more recent flows are rate- rather than fear-driven.”

Data from the New York Fed also gave further insight into money market flows. The bank’s reserve repo facility, which allows banks to park cash at the central bank at a return that generally beats what they could earn in the private sector, has seen already massive usage further accelerate over recent days.

Inflows have moved toward the $2.554 trillion record set on Jan. 3 and hit $2.233 billion on Thursday after several days of rising usage.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lincoln Feast.)

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to back a revamp of the single market, simplified regulations and other steps to ensure the bloc can compete with the United States and China as an industrial leader in green and digital technologies.

High energy prices and U.S. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which offers $369 billion of green subsidies that often only apply to products made in North America, have raised EU fears of an exodus of European industry.

Europe’s competitiveness in relation to the world’s two biggest economies has become a major concern 30 years after it created an internal market, which is largely seamless for goods, but falls short for services.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was vital to cut red tape and make the most of the single market.

“The internal market is of vital importance for our welfare,” he said, adding it had helped make the Netherlands among the world’s richest countries.

EU leaders, meeting in Brussels from Thursday for a two-day summit, said the single market was essential to future economic growth, while highlighting areas for improvement.

“The European Council calls for ambitious action to complete the single market, in particular for digital and services,” the summit conclusions said.

The conclusions also called for progress in areas to improve the long-term competitiveness of the European Union.

These include simplifying regulation and reducing bureaucratic burdens, such as by accelerating procedures for granting permits for green or digital projects.

The leaders also pressed for the completion of a capital markets union to ease access to private investment, more spending on research and innovation and moves to increase the take-up of digital tools across the economy.

One issue of potential division is the extent to which state aid rules should be relaxed to allow public funds to be pumped into clean tech, although leaders did not discuss this in detail at the summit.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Barbara Lewis and Lincoln Feast)

By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House Republicans are working on a “term sheet” of conditions they would want Democrats to agree to before voting to raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, which would be necessary to avert a historic default that could shake the economy.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington said on Thursday that Republicans are closing in on a “package of reforms” including spending cuts that could pass the House of Representatives with bipartisan support and win the signature of President Joe Biden.

“If we’re going to negotiate, we’re going to have to have something on paper that gets the support of at least 218 of our members,” said Arrington, whose party controls the House by a narrow 222-213 margin.

Biden maintains that Democrats will not negotiate on the debt ceiling, which needs to be raised to cover spending and tax cuts previously authorized by Congress. But no hike can happen without the support of Republicans who say they will not approve an increase without an agreement on spending cuts.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last month forecast that the federal government could default sometime between July and September without a deal. The recent collapse of a pair of U.S. banks have also raised the stakes of further economic uncertainty.

Arrington told reporters that completing the debt ceiling document is now a higher priority for Republicans than presenting a budget, adding that the effort led by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is “on track to have something on paper, in writing” that the conference can move forward on.

McCarthy’s office was not immediately available for comment.

More than seven weeks after Biden and McCarthy held their first and only meeting at the White House, Republican lawmakers have shown increasing frustration over the president’s insistence that Congress raise the federal borrowing limit before spending discussions begin.

An outside budget expert called the move toward a Republican debt ceiling term sheet a positive development.

“It’s encouraging,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“What we need is a reasonable resolution to this fiscal standoff,” she added. “There are many reasonable places to land, but discussions need to get underway in earnest as quickly as possible.”

The Democratic staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee issued a report on Thursday analyzing the impact on everyday Americans, if the government even comes close to defaulting.

    Workers would lose an average of $20,000 from retirement savings and new home buyers would pay an extra $55,000 over the course of a mortgage, they warned.

    “Before you even get to default, if we see interest rates rise the way that we saw them rise in 2011, these are the real world impacts on average Americans,” said Senator Martin Heinrich, the committee’s senior Democrat.

    In 2011, Republicans also demanded steep budget cuts in return for a debt limit increase. A stalemate ensued and in August 2011, the Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency stripped the world’s largest economy of its top-notch AAA status.

But Arrington insisted that the U.S. government would not default, suggesting that the Republican debt ceiling terms would include debt prioritization that would allow the Treasury to continue to make payments on the debt, Social Security and Medicare and benefits for veterans and activity duty military personal.  

“You already have the prioritization of payments. So that’s one. We now know that creditors are going to be paid. Our seniors are going to be paid. Our sailors and soldiers will be paid. And we’re not going to default,” Arrington said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this month warned that the prioritization strategy would not avert default.

“Prioritization is simply not paying all of the government’s bills when they come due,” she told the House Ways and Means Committee on March 10. “That really is just default by another name.”

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Marguerita Choy)

By Divya Rajagopal

TORONTO (Reuters) -The Credit Roundtable, a lobby group of some of the biggest fixed income asset managers from the United States and Canada, has decided not to take legal action against Credit Suisse AG, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Swiss regulator ordered 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.5 billion) of Additional Tier-1 (AT1) debt to be wiped out under its rescue takeover by UBS.

The issue came up for discussion in a meeting earlier this week when some members wanted to sue the banks for the write-off, but the association decided not to take any action, the person added. The source was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

The source said it was always “black and white” that these bonds can be written down to zero in adverse events. “So if you bought it and didn’t know about it, shame on you and if you bought it and knew about it, well …, ” the source added.

The Credit Roundtable was unavailable for comment. Launched in 2007 for bondholders’ protection, Credit Roundtable consists of 43 members including PIMCO, Vanguard, MetLife, Canadian pension fund Omers, and Sun Life Financial Inc.

The source said individual members are free to pursue legal action independently.

The bond holders of Credit Suisse in Europe and UK have been seeking legal advice over the Swiss banking regulator’s decision to write off AT1 bonds under the rescue take over by UBS. However on Thursday, the Swiss regulator reaffirmed its position on creditor hierarchy.

(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Denny Thomas and Richard Chang)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s initial offer to address EU antitrust complaints filed by rivals is insufficient and the U.S. software giant needs to do more, German software provider Nextcloud said, as regulators consider whether to open a formal investigation.

French cloud computing services provider and complainant OVHcloud is also waiting for a more concrete proposal from Microsoft, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Resolving the complaints with the companies could help Microsoft stave off a possible EU antitrust investigation that could lead to a fine as much as 10% of its global turnover.

Nextcloud took its grievance to the European Commission in 2021, alleging that Microsoft abuses its dominance by bundling its OneDrive cloud storage service with its Windows 10 and 11 operating system.

Microsoft, which has been hit with more than 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in EU antitrust fines in the previous decade, reached out a year ago but did not talk about the bundling issues, Nextcloud Chief Executive Frank Karlitschek said on Wednesday.

“I would be interested in more talks but it would have to be a serious conversation,” he told Reuters.

The complaints by OVHcloud, Italian cloud service provider Aruba and a Danish association of cloud service providers focused on Microsoft’s cloud practices and licensing deals.

Microsoft said it introduced changes to its licensing practices in October last year that addressed feedback received from European cloud providers.

“We are grateful for the productive conversations that led us there and appreciate the feedback that we have received since,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

Aruba and the Danish Cloud Community declined to comment.

A spokesperson for trade group CISPE which filed a complaint about the company’s cloud computing practices to the Commission last year, said Microsoft reached out last week offering to discuss changes.

Cispe’s members include cloud computing market leader Amazon.com Inc .

($1 = 0.9211 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Richard Chang)

By Koh Gui Qing

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street stocks rose on Thursday, pushing up global stock indexes, and Treasury yields fell, as investors took comfort that the Federal Reserve might pause its interest rate rises to offset the turmoil in financial markets.

The gains in U.S stocks offset loses in Europe, where a post-Credit Suisse rebound sputtered to a halt as Switzerland, Norway and Britain all showed the year-long cycle of sharp interest rate rises was by no means over.

The Fed’s hint of a pause after announcing a quarter-point rate rise on Wednesday, even as it re-stated its commitment to fight inflation, provided relief to markets.

But decisions by Switzerland’s SNB to jack up rates despite a torrid week following the takeover of Credit Suisse and by the Bank of England to hoist borrowing costs after a nasty inflation surprise were reminders not to get carried away.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.23% after a bout of choppy trading late in the day. The S&P 500 trimmed earlier gains to end up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1%. The gains helped MSCI’s main world share index to rise 0.54%.

Stephen Innes, a managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said investors are betting that despite the Fed’s vows to tame inflation, there is a chance “the Fed loses its nerve and downshifts anyway.

“Note the modern-day history book of Fed pauses is very bullish for stocks,” Innes said.

In line with more modest rate expectations, the two-year yield, which rises with traders’ expectations of the Fed fund rates, retreated to 3.8267% compared with Wednesday’s close of 3.981%. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes also fell to 3.4173% compared with 3.5% the previous day. [US/]

In Europe, news of the rate hikes in Switzerland and Britain helped push the European-wide STOXX 600 share index down 0.21%. The banking sector was again a drag, with the index of top European banks down 2.53%.

Investor bets of a more dovish Fed put the dollar on the back foot, with the dollar index flat after hitting a seven-week low earlier in the session. The pound barely budged, having already added to its near 5% rally over the last fortnight with a 0.22% rise to $1.22969. [USD/]

John Leiper, Titan Asset Management’s chief investment officer, said the BoE’s hike came as no surprise following Wednesday’s painful inflation data.

“We think there is more to come,” he added, although he cautioned the result could be a recession.

Fed chief Jerome Powell had said that, while inflation remained a problem, the current stresses in the banking sector could have a significant impact on the U.S. economy, thereby reducing the need for rate rises.

Germany’s hawkish European Central Bank rate setter, Joachim Nagel, on Wednesday said he thought euro zone rates were “approaching restrictive territory,” referring to a level that curtails growth.

“I do not know when we will more or less be there,” he said at an event in London. “But what I know is that when we are there we have to stay there and not come down too early.”

The euro softened 0.2% after trading higher most of the session, while the yen remained up on the day after the SNB’s half-point hike. [FRX/]

Global markets in 2023, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/movakwyrqva/Pasted%20image%201679575321648.png

BRIGHT FUTURES

U.S. stocks sold off on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers that she had not considered or discussed creating “blanket insurance” for U.S. banking deposits without approval from Congress.

Markets are now pricing in an approximately 65% chance of the Fed pausing at its next meeting, in May, and a 35% chance of a 25-basis-point rise.

For bond markets it meant European government bond yields – which reflect borrowing costs – were heading down again. German Bunds were back at 2.25%, having seen 10-year U.S. Treasury yields dip back below 3.5%.

Among commodities Brent oil, which has fallen nearly 9% this month, slipped 1% to $75.91 a barrel. Gold, which benefits from a more dovish Fed and which is up more than 8% for March, rose 1.18% to $1,992.77 an ounce. [GOL/]

“The thought of peak U.S. rates being within reach is bolstering (gold) prices,” said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity. “As long as market expectations for a 2023 rate cut remain intact, gold may well revisit the psychologically important $2,000 mark.”

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lincoln Feast)

By Ross Kerber

(Reuters) – Large companies, including asset manager Franklin Templeton and web-services provider Akamai Technologies Inc, joined an effort on Thursday to defend sustainable investment practices from a backlash by U.S. Republican politicians.

The companies signed a statement that also drew backing from leaders of major pension funds in Democratic-leaning states New York and California, and religious and progressively-minded investors.

The signatories pledged they were “wholly committed to sustainability and addressing the financial impacts of climate change” and called on policymakers to “protect the freedom to invest responsibly”.

Pressure is mounting from many sides ahead of decisions including long-anticipated guidance for companies’ climate-related disclosures, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is due to issue possibly as early as next month.

Republicans, often from energy-producing states, have sought to block the growing use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations by shareholders and corporate executives.

Earlier this week U.S. President Joe Biden used his first veto to reject restrictions on ESG factors by pension fund managers.

While Thursday’s statement was in line with past comments by signatories such as the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Franklin’s presence sets it apart from rival asset managers that have sought middle ground between right-wing criticism and calls from climate activists urging companies to do more to address rising global temperatures.

BlackRock Inc for instance on Thursday said it would continue to press companies for information about climate risks.

Mindy Lubber, CEO of sustainability nonprofit Ceres, which organized Thursday’s statement, told a call with reporters that companies showed “some hesitancy” to speak up.

But Anne Simpson, head of sustainability for Franklin Templeton, part of California-based Franklin Resources Inc, said on the same call that ESG efforts are “fiduciary duty at work”.

In a separate statement, she said the company would be failing in that duty if it did not “pay attention to the accelerating frequency of severe weather disasters and the hundreds of billions of dollars they cause”.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; editing by Barbara Lewis)

By Allison Lampert and Abhijith Ganapavaram

MONTREAL (Reuters) -Business jet maker Bombardier Inc on Thursday raised 2025 revenue and free cash targets at its investor day and said it would produce more planes, despite broader economic headwinds.

Corporate jet makers have reported swelling order backlogs on persistent strong demand for private flying in the U.S. But flatter global traffic, supply chain snags and the possibility of a recession remain concerns.

Bombardier shares were up about 6.5% in afternoon trading.

Bombardier Chief Executive Eric Martel told investors he expects tailwinds such as a growing backlog and few pre-owned planes available for sale to overcome headwinds like delays on parts.

Supply chain “is improving, but certain issues are persisting,” Martel said. On the order side “it’s a little slower” compared with 2022, but Bombardier remains comfortable with its backlog, he said.

Martel said the company expects to produce about 150 business jets by 2025, and is targeting more than $9 billion in annual revenue for that year, up from $6.9 billion in 2022.

Bombardier has been paying down debt and is targeting stronger free cash flow generation of more than $900 million in 2025 after being hit by a cash crunch while bringing new planes to market a decade earlier. It had a debt of about $5.6 billion as of Thursday.

Speaking later with reporters in Montreal, Martel added that while recent turmoil in the banking world had not led to buyers failing to make payments or to take deliveries, the company was seeing “hesitation.”

Bombardier did not disclose a 2025 capital expenditures target, raising questions over the timing of company plans for a new, clean-sheet plane to market.

Martel said he does not see how the company could produce a new clean-sheet jet without spending billions of dollars.

Higher free cash flow in 2025 and an expected improvement in the company’s credit rating to near investment grade levels would give Bombardier options for allocating capital. That could include reinvestment in its existing product lines, deals, or launching a new aircraft, the company said.

“We will only make investment decisions with the right balance sheet and not strain it by taking too much on at once,” Chief Financial Officer Bart Demosky said.

Desjardins analyst Benoit Poirier said Bombardier’s free cash, revenue and deliveries targets were stronger than expected and deemed the lack of a capital expenditures commitment less risky.

“A clean sheet design has received pushback from investors,” Poirier wrote.

Bombardier also said it anticipates tripling its revenue from defense sales and services to more than $1 billion in the second half of the decade.

The company expects an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 18% in 2025, down from an earlier target of 20% on high inflation on materials, Demosky said.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bangalore. Additional reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bangalore and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Will Dunham, Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Starbucks, which has faced criticism over its opposition to union organizing, wants to be “a different kind of company” that cares for its frontline workers, new CEO Laxman Narasimhan told employees on Thursday before the coffee chain’s annual meeting.

In a letter to workers, Narasimhan said Starbucks’ performance was strong but the company needs to strengthen its health. “We must care for” customer-facing staff, he wrote.

“We strive to be a different kind of company operating in a different kind of world,” he said, adding Starbucks plans to “reinvigorate” its employee culture.

His comments came the day after Starbucks workers walked off the job at 100 stores around the United States, and a video posted by the union on social media showed hundreds of activists marching in protest outside company headquarters.

The former PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser executive, who joined the company in October, took over on Monday as Howard Schultz stepped down from his third stint as CEO of the chain he helped turn into a global coffee behemoth.

Narasimhan must contend with the company’s divisive record on labor unions, an issue of increasing concern to politicians and shareholders.

The company has said it complies with U.S. labor law. It has accused the union of failing to bargain in good faith and the National Labor Relations Board of running unfair elections that favored the union.

Schultz is scheduled to testify next week before a U.S. Senate committee on the topic.

Investors voted Thursday on a shareholder proposal for an independent review of Starbucks’ practices on union organizing and collective bargaining.

The company did not disclose results of the voting.

During the meeting, acting executive vice president and general counsel Zabrina Jenkins addressed the proposal, saying the company is conducting an independent assessment “that will include a deeper level review of the principles of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. This represents a much broader commitment than the shareholder proposal requests.”

Jonas Kron, chief advocacy officer at shareholder Trillium Asset Management, one of the investors that made the proposal, said this was the first time he had heard that argument.

Jenkins’ comments “didn’t provide clarity” and were “very vague,” Kron said.

But Narasimhan taking over “is a real opportunity for a pivot” on unions, he said.

Much of the meeting consisted of a video showing Narsimhan’s last six months with the company, visiting coffee farmers, suppliers and cafes around the world, donning a green apron and giving fist bumps and high fives to baristas.

LABOR STRIFE

Since late 2021, workers at more than 290 U.S. corporate-owned locations have voted to unionize. Unionized employees say the company illegally retaliated against union organizers with firings and store closures.

Hundreds of pro-union baristas and supporters protested outside Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters on Wednesday, according to Starbucks Workers United and video on social media.

Chanting and carrying signs reading “seize the beans of production” and “be kind to your workers,” baristas urged the company to increase staffing and schedule the workers for more hours so they could qualify for health insurance benefits.

“Stop union busting and show up to the bargaining table,” barista Hailey Cribbs from Bellingham, Washington, told the rally.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; additional reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and David Gregorio)

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index fell on Thursday to its lowest closing level in nearly a week as the energy and financial sectors lost ground, while shares of Bombardier Inc rallied after the company’s targets for 2025 impressed investors.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 72.86 points, or 0.4%, at 19,459.92, its lowest closing level since last Friday.

Wall Street seesawed to a higher close as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen provided reassurances that measures will be taken to keep Americans’ deposits safe, but jitters among regional banks persisted.

“We’re getting thrown in with the U.S. banks even though our banks really don’t have anything to do with these regional banks down in the U.S.,” said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth. “When the banking sector as a whole gets sold off, so do our banks.”

The Toronto market’s heavily weighted financials sector was down 0.7%, while energy fell 1.8% as the price of oil settled 1.3% lower at $69.96 a barrel.

Oil fell after U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told lawmakers that refilling the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may take several years.

Bombardier shares ended up 2.8% after the company raised its 2025 revenue and free cash flow targets at its investor day, banking on strong demand for private flights.

“Bombardier as a large conglomerate has done a relatively good job of shedding its non-core assets and realigning itself as a business jet provider,” said David Pepall, portfolio manager at Aventine Investment Counsel.

Technology was another bright spot, rising 1.4%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Will Dunham)

PARIS (Reuters) – French car maker Renault is in talks with Nissan about synergies in electric vehicle charging in 11 European countries, Renault’s charging unit CEO told Reuters on Thursday.

Talks have already moved forward in France on charging boxes that customers can have installed at home for their Nissan EV, which will be supplied by the Mobilize unit of its partner Renault.

“We are in talks about the 11 countries where we are present … it is up to Nissan to decide,” Nicolas Schottey said at the Autonomy Mobility conference about new mobilities in Paris.

Nissan Europe declined to comment on the talks as long as no decision is taken

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume’ writing by GV De Clercq; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)