Coutts, the 320-year old private bank famous for handling the finances of the Queen, has been fined £8.75m late on Monday by the FSA for money laundering violations in its dealings with high risk customers. The RBS-owned bank, which specialises in private banking and wealth management, was found to suffer “serious and systematic” failings, which were “allowed to persist for almost three years,” according to the FSA. Investigators found issues in almost three quarters of the client files it scrutinised. The problems discovered included lack of information gathering to establish the source of the money and failing to closer inspect cus...
Spanish lender CaixaBank, the Barcelona-listed arm of La Caixa, and smaller competitor Banca Civica SA have both suspended trading on Monday, said stock market regulator CNMV. The move is in anticipation of a deal announcement that could see CaixaBank take over Banca Civica in an all-share deal that will value the bank at €1.1bn or €2.2 a share, reports showed. According to local media, CaixaBank is planning to slash the combined workforce by about 3,000 to 3,500 employees, or 10 percent, and shut down around 15 percent of its branches. Banca Civica shares on Friday closed at €2.22 while CaixaBank, which is worth an estimated €12bn, c...
Federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro late on Wednesday filed criminal charges against 17 Chevron and drill rig operator Transocean’s executives and the companies for an oil leak in the Atlantic off the coast of Brazil in November. According to Chevron, the leak was stopped within four days and none of the oil that leaked into the Atlantic actually reached the shore or affected any of the marine life. Chevron has already been fined an estimated $110m for the spill after the $11bn civil lawsuit was brought in November. In a statement the company said: “These charges are outrageous and without merit. Once all the facts are fully examined, t...
China has raised fuel prices for the second time this year as it tries to get to grips with the rising cost of crude oil. Gasoline and diesel are to be subject to 6.4 point and 7 point cost increases respectively. On Monday, China’s primary economic planning institution, the National Development & Reform Commission, announced that the price on both retail fuels would be raised by ¥600 apiece, raising the cost of diesel to ¥9,130 a tonne, and gasoline to ¥9,980. The move represents significant progress in both domestic energy and economic policy, and suggests the political establishment is getting increasingly comfortable with the co...
The end of Game appears to be in sight as the beleaguered video game retailer’s shares were suspended from trading on the LSE, with company directors admitting the company “had no equity value left”. The first quarter of the year has been an increasingly rough ride for GAME; the group recorded £18m in losses in January, earlier this month suppliers refused to supply the group with new products, and on Monday shares fell by 76 percent to below 1p – as of 2.39pm on Tuesday, shares are closed. Game is said to be trying to raise £180m this week in order to stay afloat, as the very real threat of administration looms on the immediate hor...
Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday announced that it has reached an agreement on a proposed joint venture in China with Chery Automobile Company. The union, which will manufacture and sell vehicles in China, will be a boost for the luxury British brand in its endeavours to expand even further into the world’s largest automotive market. Both companies will hold an equal stake in the merger company, which will set up a research and development facility and an engines manufacturing plant. In a joint statement JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth and CEO of Chery Automobile, Yin Tongyao, said: “Working together on this proposed joint venture is a...
Chancellor George Osborne delivering his third budget speech on Wednesday said that his budget was “fiscally neutral” with “a modest reduction in both taxation and spending.” Osborne believes that Britain is in need of a “simple and transparent” tax system which “businesses can easily navigate.” The key points outlined by the chancellor in his budget statement to the House of Commons focused on cutting the top 50 pence tax rate to 45 pence from April 2013. Osborne said: “No chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing, it is as simple as that.” In addition the personal tax allowance...
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has launched a $1bn fund with the Chinese government with the intention to invest in the Caribbean and Latin America, said the bank’s President Luis Alberto Moreno late on Monday. It is believed the move will help China strengthen its ties to prominent institutions in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The main target for the fund, which is to commence before the end of 2012, will be “sustainable economic development,” according to Moreno. Additionally, the IADB confirmed that it is to create a separate contingency fund for the region, which will focus on helping various nations deal with the effect...
After a controversial struggle with mining corporations which spanned two years, parliament has passed a law imposing a 30 percent tax on coal mine profits. The tax will affect any company that makes $75m in profits, and with 30 Australian mining companies breaking the barrier, the government believes it will raise somewhere in the region of $10.6bn in its first three years. The levy is also designed to gradually increase employer payments into worker pension funds from 9 to 12 percent in seven years, and generate $6bn of infrastructure funding. The tax was originally touted in May 2010. The scheme sparked a furious reaction from the Associat...
Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer by volume, said on Monday that adjusted net profit results for 2011 showed a plunge of 91.7 percent due to high debt servicing outgoings and lower aluminium prices. The group posted a net profit of $237m compared to $2.87bn the year before largely because of a write-down in the value of its share in miner Norilsk Nickel. Figures were well below expectations, with Thomson Reuters’ analysts predicting $2.04bn. Revenues for 2011 increased 12 percent to $12.29bn from $10.98 year on year. The company also announced it has replaced executive director Tatiana Soina with Maxim Sokov. The news comes ju...