Credit Suisse CEO says cheered by traders’ Brexit performance
GENEVA (Reuters): Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam congratulated all the bank’s trading teams for the way they handled the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, he said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday. “I was on the trading floor in London the day after the Brexit referendum. Some of our people worked 36 hours straight and at one point we had 27 times the normal daily trading volume,” he told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. “Our systems worked without a hitch. This was a real test of the strength of our organisation.” Thiam said the chaos following the Brexit vote had also vindicated his decision to sell off illiquid positions and reduce the bank’s risk profile. “The day after Brexit we were all glad we didn’t hold these positions any longer,” he said. Credit Suisse shares fell below 10 francs last week as the impact of Brexit compounded the pain of a major restructuring of the bank and concerns about its capital position.
Thiam, who has been at the helm of the Swiss bank for a year, said in the interview the bank had no problem with capital and would stick to its capital raising plans and profit forecasts.

Economy strengthened due to PM's
policies: Shahbaz
LAHORE (APP): Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the national economy has strengthened and foreign exchange reserves have reached at a record level in the history of the country due to solid economic policies of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He expressed these views while talking to a delegation of Pakistan Muslim League-N here on Sunday. He said that today's Pakistan was far more prosperous, peaceful and economically strengthened as compared to 2013. “The journey to progress and prosperity of the country will be completed successfully under the leadership of the prime minister,” he claimed. The chief minister said that sincere efforts of the government were proving to be fruitful for the country. Talking about the energy crisis, the CM said that lot of work had already been done on this front. But at the same time, he stressed the need for round the clock efforts for successfully eliminating the energy crisis.

Lowari Tunnel to be completed by year end: Muqam
Peshawar (Online): Advisor to Prime Minister Ameer Muqam has said that according to the directives of Prime Minister, Lowari Tunnel would be completed by December 2016 instead of March 2017 at any cost. He expressed these views while talking to the media personnel after inspecting the Lowari Tunnel on Sunday. He said that the project would be completed at the cost of Rs27 billion which will bring a new revolution. Muqam said that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was taking a keen interest, without political affiliations, in removing the sense of deprivation of people of Chitral. He further said that Chakdara-Chitral and Chitral-Gilgit roads will be opened for tourists from around the world. “Similarly, work also continues on the feasibility to link Chitral with Central Asia via Afghanistan,” Ameer added. Before this, the advisor to prime minster was briefed by the National Highway Authority officials on the construction of Lowari Tunnel.
He examined the whole project and expressed satisfaction over the pace of work as well as its quality.

BoE considers interest rate cut to tackle Brexit crisis
LONDON (Agencies): The Bank of England will consider the first interest rate cut for more than seven years this week, as it seeks to contain the economic fallout from the Brexit vote. Some City economists predict that with consumer confidence battered and businesses nervous about spending and hiring, the Bank will want to shore up sentiment by reducing interest rates further from a record low of 0.5%. The Bank’s governor Mark Carney has dropped heavy hints of a summer rate cut but he and fellow rate setters may want to see more evidence of the Brexit vote’s impact before acting. The nine-member monetary policy committee will announce its decision on Thursday at midday and experts say it has a range of options - including doing nothing for now. Forecasts for what policymakers will vote to do in the wake of the referendum vary from keeping rates on hold to slashing them by 50 basis points to zero.
Some say the committee will go for a smaller 25 basis point cut, leaving itself the option to cut again in August when it also publishes new economic forecasts and will have a better sense of how the EU referendum result has affected the UK.
Carney laid the groundwork for a rate cut in a carefully orchestrated market intervention a week after the Brexit vote wrongfooted investors. Speaking as the pound was plumbing 31-year lows and shares in banks and housebuilders tumbled, Carney said his personal view was that “some monetary policy easing will likely be required over the summer”.