Swiss start enforcement actions against banks over Petrobras scandal

NOV 3, 20157:33 PM

[ZURICH] Switzerland's financial regulator has begun enforcement proceedings against three banks over their provisions to prevent money laundering following an investigation into a graft scandal at Brazilian state-owned oil firm Petrobras.

The watchdog, Finma, did not name the three banks, where enforcement actions were initiated in September, and said it would comment neither on how long the process will take nor what penalties the Swiss banks face.

"The regulator determined shortcomings in the implementation of money-laundering regulations that will now be investigated by an enforcement action," Finma said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that details would be announced after the cases were resolved.

Swiss authorities have been collaborating with Brazil since at least March on the investigation into corruption at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, that has grown to include Latin America's largest engineering and construction company, Odebrecht SA, and engulfed the country in a political crisis.

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Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber said in March that prosecutors had uncovered around 300 accounts at more than 30 Swiss banks suspected to be linked to a massive corruption and money-laundering scandal. Switzerland froze roughly US$400 million and returned US$120 million to Brazil.

Early last month, Swiss authorities gave Brazilian prosecutors records of accounts held by Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress, and his family in Switzerland. Assets worth US$2.4 million were frozen. Cunha had said he had no foreign bank accounts and has not commented further.

A Finma spokesman said on Tuesday that banks in Switzerland had been scrutinised to gauge whether they had done enough to prevent money laundering.

The regulator said its review placed particular importance on whether banks had fulfilled their due-diligence provisions of Switzerland's money washing regulations and how they made reports to the country's money laundering office.

In enforcement actions, Finma can order banks to change their business model or key personnel, disgorge profits, ban managers from the industry and revoke licences. If it discovers potential criminal wrongdoing, the regulator also can file a complaint with authorities.

While some banks were determined to have met regulatory obligations, Finma said, others where "smaller shortcomings"were uncovered are now being subjected to intensified reviews, to ensure measures they've introduced to remedy problems are working.

In addition to the three banks now facing enforcement proceedings, Finma said reviews of other banks have yet to be completed, an indication that more actions could be launched.

REUTERS

    
 

Forbes family sues Chinese majority stakeholder investors

NOV 3, 20158:23 PM

[NEW YORK] The Forbes family is suing the Chinese investors that took a majority control of the Forbes Media group in 2014, alleging failure to pay, media reports said Monday.

AFP confirmed the lawsuit, initially reported by the Financial Times, with a source close to the issue.

The family is accusing the investors, Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media Investments, of refusing to pay a large amount of the promised price.

US media said the deal, announced in mid-2014, valued Forbes Media at US$475 million.

At the time of the announcement the publisher of Forbes magazine said that the Forbes family will retain "a significant ownership stake" in the company under the plan and will continue to participate in its operations.

The majority stake of the Asian investors was not made public.

The magazine, known for its rankings of wealthy Americans and global business leaders, was launched in 1917 by Scottish immigrant BC Forbes. It was run by his son Malcolm Forbes before being taken over by Steve Forbes, a one-time presidential candidate.

The magazine has some six million readers in the United States and international editions published in 21 languages, which brings the number of global readers to some 75 million.

The agreement had Forbes lending money to the investors to finance the deal, according to the lawsuit filed in a Maryland court that AFP consulted.

The investors, however, have not made full regular payments, the lawsuit contends, and now the family wants payment in full.

Integrated Whale rejected the charges in an email to AFP as baseless and without merit.

AFP

    
 

Standard Chartered being investigated in Britain: CEO

Britain's financial watchdog has two open investigations against British bank Standard Chartered, the lender's CEO said on Tuesday. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

NOV 3, 201510:04 PM

[LONDON] Britain's financial watchdog has two open investigations against British bank Standard Chartered, the lender's CEO said on Tuesday.

"We have two investigations with the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) related to sanctions compliance and anti money laundering oversight," chief executive Bill Winters said in a conference call.

"Those investigations are ongoing. Impossible for us to determine exactly when those will conclude or the magnitude if any fine that could result from that," he said, adding: "We're cooperating fully".

Standard Chartered paid US$667 million in 2012 to settle charges it violated US sanctions by handling thousands of money transactions involving Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan.

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It is under monitoring until the end of 2017.

The Asia-focused emerging markets bank also said earlier that it was cooperating with "an ongoing US sanctions-related investigation".

In August last year, Standard Chartered was hit by US regulators with a US$300 million fine and restrictions on its dollar-clearing business for failing to detect possible money-laundering.

Standard Chartered on Tuesday said it would axe 15,000 jobs and raise US$5.1 billion in capital after posting a "disappointing" third-quarter loss as it struggles to return to growth.

AFP

    
 

'Iron Lady' Thatcher's personal effects to go on sale

Personal items belonging to Britain's "Iron Lady" prime minister Margaret Thatcher, including some of her famous handbags, are to be sold in London next month, Christie's auction house said Tuesday. 

PHOTO: SPH

NOV 3, 201510:30 PM

[LONDON] Personal items belonging to Britain's "Iron Lady" prime minister Margaret Thatcher, including some of her famous handbags, are to be sold in London next month, Christie's auction house said Tuesday.

Around 350 lots including clothes and jewellery accrued during her 87 years - 11 of which were spent in Downing Street - are being sold after the Victoria & Albert Museum turned them down.

An emerald and diamond Chaumet necklace, valued between £120,000 (US$185,000, 168,000 euros) and £180,000, is expected to fetch the highest price, with proceeds to be split between Thatcher's children Mark and Carol, and her grandchildren.

"In the year that 'The Iron Lady' would have celebrated her 90th birthday, approximately 350 historic and personal lots will be offered across two landmark sales," said Christie's.

"These sales are taking place 25 years after Margaret Thatcher left office, at the end of her 11-year high-profile tenure as prime minister.

"These auctions present unique opportunities, across price levels, for collectors around the world to acquire property from the longest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century and the only woman to have held office to date," it added.

The items were initially offered to The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, but they decided against showing the objects.

"The V&A politely declined the offer of Baroness Thatcher's clothes, feeling that these records of Britain's political history were best suited to another collection which would focus on their intrinsic social historical value," said the museum.

"The museum is responsible for chronicling fashionable dress and its collecting policy tends to focus on acquiring examples of outstanding aesthetic or technical quality." Thatcher's programme of privatisations and deregulation helped turn around Britain's ailing economy following her election in 1979, and she is also credited with playing a leading role in ending the Cold War.

But she remains a divisive figure, particularly in Britain's working-class heartlands, which suffered devastating industrial decline as a result of the economic rebalancing.

She died on April 8, 2013, and received a ceremonial funeral, including full military honours, attended by Queen Elizabeth II.

The auction will take place on December 15, and an online-only sale comprising 200 lots will run for two weeks from December 3. It is expected to raise around £500,000.

Thatcher's most famous handbag, which struck fear into the hearts of British ministers during the former premier's rule, sold at a charity auction for £25,000 in 2011.

AFP

    
 

China's biggest challenge is negotiating middle income gap: state planner

NOV 3, 20153:48 PM

[BEIJING] China's top economic planner said on Tuesday that the country's biggest challenge in the next five years is to negotiate the middle income gap.

Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that China can achieve its targets set out in the country's 12th five-year plan, which runs between 2011 and 2015. He was speaking at a briefing on the country's 13th five-year plan.

The Communist Party concluded a meeting last week to finalise its 13th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint for economic and social development between 2016 and 2020.

REUTERS

    
 

Update: China's Xi says 6.5% annual growth enough to meet goals: Xinhua

Growth of only 6.5 per cent a year in 2016-2020 will be enough for China to meet its wealth goals, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday according to the official news agency Xinhua. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

NOV 3, 20155:19 PM

[BEIJING] Growth of only 6.5 per cent a year in 2016-2020 will be enough for China to meet its wealth goals, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday according to the official news agency Xinhua.

The report came as the ruling Communist party issued guidelines for the next five-year plan for the world's second-largest economy, whose slowing growth has alarmed investors worldwide.

The first documents released by the leadership conclave did not include a numerical growth target.

But Xinhua cited Xi as saying that annual growth should be no less than 6.5 per cent in the next five years to achieve the Communist Party's aim of doubling GDP per capita from 2010 by the end of the decade.

It said he made the remarks in a speech, without giving direct quotes.

The doubling target is part of achieving what China's ruling party calls a "moderately prosperous society" in time for the 100th anniversary of its foundation.

The comments are the clearest indication yet that Beijing will reduce its target growth rate from the current "around 7 per cent", after expansion slowed last quarter to its lowest in six years.

Some economists say that the current figure is unattainable going forwards, and that trying to do so risks derailing painful but necessary markets reforms.

The country has faced economic turbulence in recent months as it attempts to transition its economy from years of super-charged growth to a more modest pace it has dubbed the "new normal".

Botched stock market interventions and a sudden currency devaluation have rattled confidence in the country's leadership, which has staked its legitimacy on maintaining an aura of economic infallibility.

AFP