Centuries-old network faces government heat as authorities link it to cryptocurrency, gold smuggling and tax evasion.
Tag: banking
A week of record highs flipped to panic with new China tariff talk, exposing fragile nerves as experts warn that a fast growing $2.2 trillion private credit market with light oversight, risky PIK structures, and bank and insurer exposure could turn the next shock into a chain reaction.
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China’s Loose Credit Gambit
While other major economies are taking steps to tighten credit, China is acting to cheapen it, in order to revive its economic activity and help big firms repay their debts. But will it fuel global inflation, or worse, stagflation?
Europe’s Central Bank chief acted in past years to absorb EU bank debts and keep money flowing amid a major recession. Stable growth now depends on responsible policies by EU member states.
The proliferation of human milk banks has raised technical, religious and political concerns. Local policymakers would benefit from an international framework to help them set regulations.
–OpEd- PARIS — The year is 2050. Cash has disappeared. People now pay for their purchases with their smartphones. And as in so many other sectors, Apple and Google are the big winners — along with Microsoft, who makes a small chip, which people implant under their skin to use as an electronic wallet. For […]
In Geneva and other Swiss cities, people are cautiously optimistic that Britain’s EU-exit vote could spur investment, boost real estate and maybe even help local universities.
PARIS — Imagine securing a loan in just minutes — without having to visit a bank, fill out complicated paperwork, sit down with a loan officer. What if it could all be done with a few clicks on a smartphone? For some consumers and small businesses in the United States, China, the Philippines, Mexico and […]
Which is the greater number: $105 or $100 plus 3%? You might think this a trivial question, but about 60% of adults can’t answer it correctly — and many of them still use financial services. It’s an alarming situation. After all, smokers understand they’re taking a risk, if only because they’ve seen the health warning on cigarette packs; but bank clients, especially in poorer countries, are often clueless about money matters. Standard & Poor’s Global Financial Literacy Survey goes further than any of the previous research in examining the phenomenon throughout the world. It’s based on 150,000 interviews in more […]
Bitcoin has had its ups and downs, in both value and public trust. But some recent deals in Latin America offer signs that the online currency may be here to stay.
It is time to start asking harder questions about the world’s largest company, both how it runs its business and how it conditions our lives.
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The Downsizing Of Deutsche Bank
Major changes are afoot at Deutsche Bank, which weathered the 2008 economic storm but has been slow since then to adapt to changes in global financial markets.
Germany’s first Sharia-compliant bank wants to revolutionize the finance sector of the European economic juggernaut. Investment in businesses related to alcohol and gambling are prohibited, as is the practice of charging interest, and Muslim and non-
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Extra! SwissLeaks In The Spotlight
Geneva-based daily Le Temps features on its Monday front page an ominous-looking photo of HSBC’s Geneva headquarters together with the headline “What the Falciani files reveal,” referring to the latest developments in the giant tax evasion scheme led by the world’s second largest bank, HSBC via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank. According to a […]
The past few years have seen Switzerland forced to reveal secret banking details to national authorities. That means a brutal job for the bankers of Geneva
For Renaud Laplanche, it all began with a credit card statement that seemed all wrong. Now, after helping to bring banking into the digital era, it’s time for a major IPO for his SF-based firm.
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s “inflation effect” is being blamed for the “intensive” use of ATMs in the country. Or at least the attempts to use them, because dispensers are increasingly breaking down or spitting out receipts instead of cash. For an increasing number of customers, what they are mostly good for is putting people in […]
PARIS — After changing the way we listen to music with the iPod and kickstarting the smartphone era with the iPhone, is Apple Pay going to revolutionize how we pay? The least we can say is that the Cupertino giant has done everything to maximize its chances of succeeding in its objective: to relegate wallets […]
-Commentary- BEIJING — Seeing a strategic opportunity to dilute the global monopoly of the three major credit rating agencies, China and Russia recently announced plans to establish a joint credit rating agency. The idea is that it would evaluate Sino-Russian cooperation projects, then eventually enter the international market. But there is a deep divide between […]
Extraordinary Russian wealth has accumulated in London, much of it of questionable origins. Inevitably, it will be factored into British decisions in the showdown with Vladimir Putin.
–OpEd– BEIJING – In the past month, China’s State Council, Central Bank and Banking Regulatory Commission have all encouraged restructuring and reforming the nation’s financial institutions with private capital so that banks can take their own risks. Though the aspiration to establish private banks isn’t new, the fact that a number of top Chinese institutions […]
NICOSIA – Cyprus is in a state of shock. The banks have been closed for days and somehow, the country has to raise 5.8 billion euros to qualify for the bailout package proposed by euro zone finance ministers. The initial rejection by the Cypriot parliament to the controversial bank account levy plan, has left this […]
With his proposal to cut bonuses for European bankers, Belgian politician Philippe Lamberts has become public enemy No. 1 for Britain’s financial industry. Nothing could make him happier.
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – Freedom of speech, right to a fair trial, access to public education and … a checking account for every citizen? In the future every EU citizen should have the right to a basic bank account, according to proposed European-wide legislation, reports German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The proposed measure is […]
Top Congolese leaders say it’s time the DRC got off the US currency and returned to the local franc. But ending “dollarization” comes with risks if not done properly.
BOGOTA – If Latin America were a game of Monopoly, we would be watching as one player put all his chips in the bank. That is the big offensive of Colombian banks, which have expanded from 35 international branches in 2007 to 175 last March. In 2007, Bancolombia bought the Banco Agricola conglomerate in El […]
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Swiss Bank UBS Slashes 10,000 Jobs
LE TEMPS (Switzerland), THE FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) Worldcrunch ZURICH – Swiss bank UBS officially announced Tuesday it is cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide after losing $42 billion during the financial crisis. The Zurich based bank, which currently employs 64,500 people, is aiming to reduce its workforce by 2015, Swiss daily Le Temps reports. The bulk of […]