Category Archives: Banking

South African police make arrests over notorious bank corruption scandal

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VBS Mutual collapsed in 2018 with £100m of debts allegedly looted in ‘pattern of racketeering’

A number of people have been arrested by police investigating one of South Africa’s most notorious corruption scandals, the looting and collapse of VBS Mutual Bank.

VBS, which held the savings of many disadvantaged people and local municipalities, collapsed with more than £100m in debts in 2018. Much of the money had been siphoned into private bank accounts and some spent on property or luxury cars, investigators found.

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UK Finance boss resigns as Amanda Staveley high court case continues

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Ex-Barclays executive Stephen Jones says he apologised over alleged sexist remarks referred to in court documents

The boss of the banking lobby group UK Finance has resigned just weeks before his alleged sexist remarks about the financier Amanda Staveley are due to be revealed in the high court.

Stephen Jones, a senior Barclays executive during the financial crisis who became the first chief executive of UK Finance in 2017, said he had also apologised to Staveley and the body’s staff about the comments, which were made as the bank scrambled to save itself from nationalisation in 2008.

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Children of former Azeri security chief acquired luxury UK properties

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Investigation into hacked bank files reveals £100m business empire owned by family of former Azerbaijan minister Eldar Mahmudov

 A string of luxury properties, including a £17m home near Harrods, were acquired by the children of Azerbaijan’s former security chief, an investigation has revealed.

Eldar Mahmudov was dismissed as national security minister by a presidential order in 2015. No official explanation was given for his removal.

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Westpac admits it broke law over customers’ transactions allegedly linked to child exploitation

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Bank files its defence to an Austrac lawsuit that accuses it of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws

Westpac has admitted to breaking the law by failing to monitor whether a dozen customers were making transactions consistent with child exploitation.

The admission is contained in Westpac’s defence to a lawsuit brought by Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, in which the bank is accused of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws.

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Coronavirus bank loans: what’s on offer for Australian home owners and small business

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Here’s how the banks are doing their bit to help while businesses are closed and people are out of work due to Covid-19

All the banks are offering a similar menu of relief for retail and business customers, although details of what’s available differ between institutions.

What’s set out below is as up-to-date as possible, but what’s on offer changes frequently and you should always check with your bank before making any financial decisions.

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Former London bankers convicted after Germany’s ‘greatest tax robbery’

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First case of its kind sheds light on complex fraud known as cum-ex trading

Two former London bankers were handed suspended jail terms and one a €14m fine for tax fraud in a landmark trial that is likely to unleash dozens of similar cases across Germany.

The ruling is the first criminal conviction for what the judge, Roland Zickler, called “a collective case of thievery from state coffers”.

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ECB U-turn shows it fears coronavirus could destroy eurozone project

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Bank now realises Europe will sustain grievous economic damage from Covid-19

Weak. Clumsy. Behind the curve. The European Central Bank took stick for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic – and rightly so.

Those accusations can no longer be levied after the ECB used an emergency meeting to launch a gigantic new package of quantitative easing (QE) – the electronic money creation device that has become a key tool for central banks since the financial crisis of 2008.

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Peacetime constraints ditched in the war for economic survival | Larry Elliott

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The Covid-19 outbreak is forcing politicians and central bankers to set aside ideology and orthodoxy to prevent a global collapse

It is as if the lights have been switched off. The global economy has been plunged into darkness as countries hunker down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most recessions develop gradually over time. When the last one started in 2008 it took the Bank of England six months to spot it. This time it is different. Then it was a financial virus, this time it is the real thing. Commentators often say the economy is hitting the wall or is falling off a cliff on the weakest of evidence. Today the cliches are horrifyingly true.

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Study: global banks ‘failing miserably’ on climate crisis by funneling trillions into fossil fuels

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Analysis of 35 leading investment banks shows financing of more than $2.66tn for fossil fuel industries since the Paris agreement

The world’s largest investment banks have funnelled more than £2.2tn ($2.66tn) into fossil fuels since the Paris agreement, new figures show, prompting warnings they are failing to respond to the climate crisis.

The US bank JP Morgan Chase, whose economists warned that the climate crisis threatens the survival of humanity last month, has been the largest financier of fossil fuels in the four years since the agreement, providing over £220bn of financial services to extract oil, gas and coal.

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Budget 2020: chancellor plans to finally end tampon tax

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The 5% rate on sanitary products will end. Rishi Sunak also plans to ensure banks keep circulating cash

The chancellor will announce the abolition of the “tampon tax” in next week’s budget, marking the successful conclusion to a 20-year campaign by women’s rights activists.

Tampons and other women’s sanitary products currently have 5% VAT added to their price, but this will be scrapped, saving the average woman £40 over her lifetime. The tax will end when Britain leaves the EU at the end of December.

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JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human race

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Leaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says Earth is on unsustainable trajectory

The world’s largest financier of fossil fuels has warned clients that the climate crisis threatens the survival of humanity and that the planet is on an unsustainable trajectory, according to a leaked document.

The JP Morgan report on the economic risks of human-caused global heating said climate policy had to change or else the world faced irreversible consequences.

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HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs worldwide as profits plunge

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Bank warns of ‘meaningful’ job losses in UK and of impact of coronavirus outbreak in Asia

HSBC has said it will slash 35,000 jobs over three years as part of a major shake-up as it issued a warning over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Asia.

The interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, confirmed on Tuesday that plans to cut $4.5bn (£3.5bn) worth of costs would involve slashing about 15% of the group’s global workforce. “We would expect our headcount to decrease from the current level of 235,000 to be closer to 200,000 in 2022,” Quinn said.

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Portugal freezes bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos after Angolan request

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Africa’s richest woman suspect in criminal investigation into misappropriation of funds

Portugal has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts of the billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who is currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Angola.

The public prosecutor’s office in Lisbon confirmed reports that dozens of personal and corporate accounts belonging to Dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, were the subject of a seizure order.

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Harry and Meghan attend exclusive JP Morgan event in Miami

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Sussexes appear in one of their first engagements since stepping down as senior royals

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended an exclusive JP Morgan event in one of their first engagements since stepping down as senior royals, a palace source has said.

It is unclear whether the couple, who have pledged to become more financially independent, were paid for their roles as speakers at a summit the banking giant hosted in Miami on Thursday.

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Tidjane Thiam: the man who traded politics for finance after military coup

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Ousted Credit Suisse chief transformed Prudential before City regulator censured him

Tidjane Thiam is the scion of an influential family whose political connections and history spread across two West African countries: Ivory Coast and Senegal.

The 57-year-old came to prominence in the UK when he was named as the head of Prudential in 2009, making him the first black chief executive of a major British company.

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Credit Suisse chief Tidjane Thiam ousted after spying scandal

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The 57-year-old loses boardroom battle with Thomas Gottstein set to replace him

The Credit Suisse chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, has been ousted in the wake of a saga involving corporate espionage, an alleged car chase and personal vendettas that has sent shockwaves through Switzerland’s famously discreet banking community.

Thiam, widely seen as one of the finance world’s leading lights, resigned after losing a boardroom battle that erupted when the bank admitted to having hired private detectives to spy on former staff.

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Labor attacks Josh Frydenberg for failing to meet banking royal commission deadline

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Labor claims that although six of the recommendations have been implemented, the government has fallen behind their set timeframe

Labor has attacked treasurer Josh Frydenberg for falling behind on the government’s promised timetable for turning the recommendations of the banking royal commission into law.

On Friday, to coincide with the first anniversary of royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s final report, Frydenberg said the government was “on track to meet the accelerated timetable” to implement royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s 76 recommendations.

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Protesters who demanded Huawei CFO’s release revealed to be paid actors

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More than a dozen people outside Vancouver courtroom with ‘Free Meng’ signs were promised C$100 for two hours’ work on a movie

Protesters calling for the release of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive arrested in Canada have admitted they were paid actors, in the latest twist in a closely watched extradition case that has chilled relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

More than a dozen people joined a demonstration on Monday outside a Vancouver courtroom where the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is fighting extradition to the US for alleged fraud related to sanctions against Iran.

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Goldman Sachs to stop financing new drilling for oil in the Arctic

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US bank becomes the first to establish a no-go zone in the oil and gas sector

Goldman Sachs has ruled out future financing of oil drilling or exploration in the Arctic and said it would not invest in new thermal coal mines anywhere in the world.

The new environmental policy, which was released by the US bank on Sunday, was praised by environmentalists, though many warned that it was only a first step.

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Australian paedophiles pay as little as $15 for online abuse of children in Philippines

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Australian federal police say livestreaming of children performing sexual acts marks ‘alarming shift’


Australian paedophiles are paying as little as A$15 for children to perform sexual acts online while being filmed in the Philippines, according to the head of the Australian federal police team in Manila.

Senior officer Andrew Perkins told Guardian Australia there was an “alarming shift” from previously more common types of “sex tourism” to “convenient and low-risk” online abuse of children which can be customised to the specific requirements of customers.

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