We need to find a fairer way of providing Goods and Services to the rest of the people on Earth.Cryptocurrencies and/or Gold Standard of money....maybe the answer to fight hyperinflation caused by too much printing of paper/fiat currencies by Governments and Central Banks all over the World. (https://nomorefiatmoneyplease.blogspot.com)
Facebook to prohibit private firearm transactions on its service
Facebook Inc will begin prohibiting users from coordinating private sales of firearms on the online social network, a spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[WASHINGTON] Facebook Inc will begin prohibiting users from coordinating private sales of firearms on the online social network, a spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.
The move comes as the United States debates the issue of access to guns after a string of mass shootings. It updates Facebook's regulated goods policy, introduced in March 2014, that banned people from selling marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs.
Facebook already prohibited private firearms sellers from advertising "no background check required," or offering transactions across state lines without a licensed dealer because the company said such posts indicated a willingness to evade the law.
Licensed retailers will still be able to advertise firearms on Facebook that lead to transactions outside of Facebook's service, the spokeswoman said. "Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another," Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of product policy, said in a statement.
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"We are continuing to develop, test, and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution," Ms Bickert said.
Facebook is the world's most popular online social network, with 1.59 billion users across the globe, 219 million of them in the United States and Canada.
Argentina agrees to borrow US$5 billion from Wall Street banks
Argentina's central bank reached terms with seven Wall Street banks for US$5 billion of loans as the government looks to bolster reserves ahead of talks with holdout creditors next week.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[NEW YORK] Argentina's central bank reached terms with seven Wall Street banks for US$5 billion of loans as the government looks to bolster reserves ahead of talks with holdout creditors next week.
The one-year loan, finalised Friday, will be backed by sovereign bonds, according to an e-mailed statement from the central bank.
Argentina has been seeking to shore up its central bank reserves after years of currency controls and policies that discouraged investment and depleted the country's supply of dollars.
Unable to tap international bond markets because of a decade-long feud with creditors left over from the nation's 2001 default, the country's cash hoard dropped to a nine-year low last month.
Next week, officials will begin settlement talks with holders of some defaulted bonds who won a US court order requiring they be paid in full.
HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Banco Santander SA are each providing US$1 billion in loans, according to three people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Deutsche Bank AG, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Citigroup Inc and UBS Group AG will each provide US$500 million, the people said. The interest rate is Libor plus 6.15 percentage points, the people said.
Press officials for Citigroup, Santander, JPMorgan and HSBC declined to comment on the loan. Officials at BBVA, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Argentina's Finance Ministry didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. The central bank declined to comment beyond its statement.
Finance Secretary Luis Caputo will meet debt mediator Daniel Pollack Feb 1 and Feb 2 in New York to begin the process of opening negotiations with the holdout creditors, according to a ministry official.
After bolstering reserves, Argentine authorities will have more bargaining power in the talks, according to Hernan Yellati, the head of research and strategy at BancTrust & Co.
"This is a good way of raising confidence and increasing reserves so that the government can negotiate with the holdouts without an urgency that might put Argentina in a situation where they need to accept worse terms," Mr Yellati said from Miami. "It's a positive first step."
Argentina's reserves rose by US$4.8 billion Friday to US$30 billion, the highest since Oct 2, according to a central bank statement a few hours after the deal was finalised Friday.
In his first month in office, President Mauricio Macri has undone policies put in place by his predecessors that throttled foreign investment, moving to remove currency controls and being talks with the holdout creditors.
In an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Macri said he aims for a "realistic, reasonable settlement" with the holdouts.
"We want to finish all our conflicts of the past," he said.
The holdouts, who are trying to limit the nation's ability to raise money offshore to pressure Argentina to comply with a court order to repay their defaulted debt, subpoenaed HSBC in late December for information on Argentina's efforts to raise cash, according to a person familiar with the matter. US District Judge Thomas Griesa has prohibited Argentina from paying future overseas creditors before settling with the holdouts.
Fed's Williams says sees 'smidgen' slower rate hikes
The Federal Reserve probably needs to keep US interest rates lower for longer given headwinds from weak global economic growth, a stronger dollar and an unexpectedly sustained drop in oil prices, a top Fed official suggested on Friday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[SAN FRANCISCO] The Federal Reserve probably needs to keep US interest rates lower for longer given headwinds from weak global economic growth, a stronger dollar and an unexpectedly sustained drop in oil prices, a top Fed official suggested on Friday.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams told reporters he now sees slightly slower growth, slightly higher unemployment, and about a tenth of a per cent lower inflation this year than he had expected in December, when the Fed raised rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
At the time, officials at the Fed, the US central bank, had as a group expected about four further rate hikes this year, and Mr Williams had said that was in line with his own expectation.
That view appears to have changed, after investor worries about a global slowdown and weakness in China sent equities and oil prices plunging through most of January. Meanwhile the dollar has strengthened, pushing down on US inflation, which is running well below the Fed's 2-per cent target.
"Standard monetary policy strategy says a little less inflation, maybe a little less growth ... argue for just a smidgen slower process of normalising rates," Mr Williams said.
"We got a little stronger dollar, some mixed data on the economy, some weakness in (fourth-quarter US GDP growth), all of those coming together kind of tell me that we probably need a little bit more monetary accommodation this year than I was thinking in the middle of December."
Earlier this week Williams was in Washington, where he and other Fed policymakers decided to leave benchmark rates unchanged and to acknowledge that they were closely watching global financial markets.
Mr Williams said that over the past several months nothing had fundamentally changed in his view of China's growth path, and that even the Bank of Japan's surprise move to negative interest rates on Friday had not changed his baseline forecast for the US economy.
Further, his scenario of what's most likely for the US economy, his "modal" forecast, remains fundamentally unchanged for 2016 and 2017, he said.
He has previously forecast the US economy will grow at about 2 per cent to 2.25 per cent, inflation will begin to return to the Fed's 2-per cent target over the next couple of years, and the unemployment rate, now at 5 per cent, will also fall. "The thing that has changed is that commodity prices keep coming down," he said.
Digital currency firm co-founder admits to US money laundering charge
The co-founder of the Liberty Reserve digital currency service pleaded guilty to a criminal charge on Friday, days before he was to go on trial accused by US prosecutors of enabling criminals worldwide to launder more than US$6 billion.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[NEW YORK] The co-founder of the Liberty Reserve digital currency service pleaded guilty to a criminal charge on Friday, days before he was to go on trial accused by US prosecutors of enabling criminals worldwide to launder more than US$6 billion.
Arthur Budovsky, 42, admitted he knew Costan Rican-based Liberty Reserve was "susceptible" to be used by criminals, including for Ponzi schemes. He pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a money laundering conspiracy charge. "I knew what I did was illegal," Budovsky, in blue jail clothing, told US District Judge Denise Cote.
Mr Budovsky faces up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 6.
Liberty Reserve operated what US prosecutors called one of the world's most widely used digital currency services, which was used by criminals involved in hacking, child pornography and drug trafficking.
The company was shuttered in May 2013 amid US efforts to crack down on the use of digital currencies including bitcoin to evade law enforcement and launder illicit proceeds.
Authorities have called the case the largest international money laundering prosecution in history, involving more than US$6 billion of proceeds from 2006 to 2013.
Four people previously pleaded guilty in the Liberty Reserve case, including Mr Budovsky's co-founder Vladimir Kats.
Mr Budovsky and Mr Kats, 44, previously were convicted in 2006 on New York state charges for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, the Goldage digital currency exchange.
In court, Mr Budovsky said Mr Katz in 2002 approached him about developing Liberty Reserve, and they launched its website in 2005.
It was incorporated a year later in Costa Rica, prosecutors said. Mr Budovsky, who had been living in New York, later renounced his US citizenship and became a Costa Rican citizen.
Prosecutors said Liberty Reserve users would buy and redeem its digital currency, LR, through third-party exchangers who in turn bought and sold LR in bulk from Liberty Reserve.
Liberty Reserve did not require users to validate their identities, prosecutors said, allowing an undercover Secret Service agent to establish an account for a "Joe Bogus" from"Completely Made Up City, New York, United States."
The website became a hub for criminals, facilitating identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography, and narcotics trafficking, prosecutors said.
Some of the top websites driving traffic offered stolen credit card data, prosecutors said, while about US$1.4 billion in transactions were tied to online Ponzi schemes.
Swiss seek Malaysian help probing US$4b financial scandal
Earlier this week, Malaysia's attorney general cleared Prime Minister Najib Razak of any criminal offences or corruption, declaring that US$681 million deposited into his personal bank account was a gift from Saudi Arabia's Royal family.
PHOTO: AFP
[WASHINGTON] Switzerland's chief prosecutor said on Friday he has formally asked Malaysia for help with his probe into possible violations of Swiss law by the state-owned fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), saying suspected misappropriations amounted to about US$4 billion.
The office of Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber said the request pertained to possible violations of Swiss laws related to bribery of foreign officials, misconduct in public office, money laundering and criminal mismanagement at 1MDB.
Earlier this week, Malaysia's attorney general cleared Prime Minister Najib Razak of any criminal offences or corruption, declaring that US$681 million deposited into his personal bank account was a gift from Saudi Arabia's Royal family.
1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Mr Najib, was being examined by Malaysian authorities investigating accusations of financial mismanagement and graft. The fund has been dogged by controversy over its US$11 billion debt and alleged financial mismanagement.
The Swiss statement said Lauber's investigation had already"revealed serious indications that funds have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies." Those funds "would have been earmarked for investment in economic and social development projects in Malaysia," the Swiss official said.
The Swiss prosecutor said the misappropriated amount was suspected to be around US$4 billion. He said a small portion of the money had been transferred to accounts held in Switzerland by former Malaysian public officials and current and former public officials from the United Arab Emirates.
The statement said the prosecutor wanted legal assistance from Malaysian companies involved to try to find out whether "losses on this scale have been sustained."
The Swiss Attorney General's office opened criminal proceedings last August against two former 1MDB officials as well as "persons unknown." The statement on Friday said Lauber had discussed the case with his Malaysian counterpart at a meeting in Zurich in September.
Sources familiar with the September discussion between the two law enforcement officials said that the Malaysian official strongly urged Lauber to abandon his 1MDB-related investigation.
Malaysia's anti-graft agency said on Wednesday it will seek a review of a decision by the attorney-general to clear Mr Najib.
1MDB is also under investigation by law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong and the United States, media and other sources have said.
Platinum to remain in deficit through next 6 years, council says
The platinum market will stay in a shortage in the next six years as supplies remain constrained amid growing or robust demand from jewelers and car companies, according to a report commissioned by the World Platinum Investment Council.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[LONDON] The platinum market will stay in a shortage in the next six years as supplies remain constrained amid growing or robust demand from jewelers and car companies, according to a report commissioned by the World Platinum Investment Council.
The deficit, which totaled 365,000 ounces in 2015, will average about 250,000 ounces a year though 2021, David Jollie, an independent consultant at Glaux Metal, said in the report. The global truck market, which uses the metal in devices to curb emissions, may double purchases in the next five years, he said.
While platinum has been in annual shortage since 2012, ample supplies of stockpiled metal and China's slowdown sent prices to a seven-year low this month. The rout has hurt some of the biggest miners, including Lonmin Plc, who have been forced to cut unprofitable production. If prices remain weak, there's a risk that output will decline further as producers reduce investment, according to Mr Jollie.
"The drivers for the continued deficit are split between the supply and demand side," Mr Jollie, the former head of research at Mitsui & Co Precious Metals Inc, said by phone. That "should help drive higher metal prices," he said.
Jewellery demand is expected to increase by about 1 per cent a year as Indian consumers buy more, while there will probably be little growth in Chinese demand for the items, according to the report. Total platinum consumption is estimated to total 8.1 million ounces this year.
Platinum for immediate delivery in London has dropped 31 per cent over the past year to about US$865 an ounce, according to Bloomberg generic pricing.
Japan's regional banks to bear brunt of Bank of Japan bombshell
The Bank of Japan's shock move to impose negative interest rates is another blow to regional banks already hit by low returns on lending and weak corporate borrowing, and may add to pressure for them to consolidate or accept the advances of bigger rivals.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[TOKYO] The Bank of Japan's shock move to impose negative interest rates is another blow to regional banks already hit by low returns on lending and weak corporate borrowing, and may add to pressure for them to consolidate or accept the advances of bigger rivals.
Regional banks have long struggled to put their huge cash reserves to profitable use. Now, they face charges to keep deposits with the BOJ, and government bonds are less attractive than ever. "We're in trouble, it's very tough," said an official at a regional bank near Tokyo. "Each of us will have to start from scratch to think of a strategy for the next fiscal year." Beyond parking cash at the BOJ, options for Japan's smaller banks are limited.
"Banks have been hit hard," said Yasuo Sakuma, portfolio manager at Bayview Asset Management, referring to the BOJ's decision. "It's particularly serious for regional banks with low loan-deposit ratios, which may well act on pressure for restructuring." Corporate demand for borrowing has been weakened by slow economic growth at home and abroad, meaning firms are reluctant to invest in either plant machinery or raise wages.
That is despite sustained pressure on them from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to spend more on equipment and wages.
Last month, Kuroda stressed that companies needed to spend further on new innovation and increased salaries to assist the BOJ in reaching its two per cent inflation target.
The head of the Keidanren, Japan's biggest business lobby, responded with only conditional support, underscoring the difficulty policymakers face in persuading risk-averse Japanese companies to spend.
For regional banks, alternatives to lending to companies, such as passing on negative interest rates to customers, are not an option.
"For the small- and medium-sized banks whose reserves are parked at the BOJ, negative rates will be a big problem," said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex. "They'll find it very hard to pass on the costs to individual customers."
Reflecting those concerns, Tokyo Stock Exchange's banking index hit its lowest level since October, 2014, after the BOJ's announcement, falling 2 per cent despite a 2.9 per cent gain in the wider Topix index.
Shares in regional banks fell, with Fukuoka Financial Group dropping 3.6 per cent and Bank of Yokohama Ltd shedding 2.2 per cent. Investors also sold shares in major banks, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group losing 2.8 per cent.
Japan's roughly 100 regional banks account for around half of the country's outstanding bank loans, which were last month worth 432 trillion yen (US$3.6 trillion), according to the BOJ.
Unlike Japan's top three "megabanks," which have offset weak domestic demand for loans with an aggressive buildup of overseas lending, most regional banks only compete domestically, mainly extending low-risk loans to small and mid-sized businesses.
Loan interest rates have been falling amid fierce competition among lenders.
Japan's Financial Services Authority has been encouraging regional banks to consolidate since 2014, as a response to falling demand caused by Japan's greying population.
However, only three regional banks have consolidated in the past three years.
The BOJ's Kuroda said on Friday at a news conference following the decision that while negative interest rates may have a short-term impact on financial institutions, he did not expect a major impact.
Germany considers US$5,500 incentive for electric cars
German politicians and auto executives will discuss creating incentives worth up to 5,000 euros (US$5,500) to boost sales of electric and hybrid cars, a senior ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[FRANKFURT] German politicians and auto executives will discuss creating incentives worth up to 5,000 euros (US$5,500) to boost sales of electric and hybrid cars, a senior ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
Germany has set itself a goal of bringing 1 million electric cars onto its roads by 2020, but has so far made little progress in encouraging drivers to switch from more polluting - but also generally cheaper - diesel and petrol vehicles.
The heads of the three parties in Merkel's ruling coalition have discussed introducing a subsidy for electric car buyers, said Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
He added the government was looking into whether car companies could co-finance the new incentive and that Merkel would discuss the issue with company executives next week.
Asked whether he was backing proposals to introduce an incentive of up to 5,000 euros, Seehofer said: "Bavaria is very much in favour of the buyer's premium." Seehofer is state premier of Bavaria, the southern German state where carmaker BMW is based.
A spokeswoman for Germany's Economy ministry said: "Talks within the German government are constructive. We are counting on arriving at a good solution to help achieve our goals." In 2015, 23,500 electric and plug-in vehicles were registered in Germany. Of these, only 12,300 were pure electric cars, according to Stefan Bratzel at the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach.
