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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live
And here is another indication of where question time is headed:
Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.
But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.
This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W
A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.
That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.
David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.
Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.
Continue reading...The Westpac scandal has brought the role of financial institutions in enabling child sexual abuse into sharp relief
On 25 October plainclothes police barged through the red door of a family home in a dense neighbourhood in Rizal, a province two hours away from Manila.
There they arrested a mother who was allegedly sexually exploiting her own 12-year-old daughter. The 45-year-old woman was clutching her phone. Police took it and then handcuffed her.
Continue reading...