Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that Europe will start getting gas again through a key pipeline, but warned that unless a spat over sanctioned parts is resolved, flows will be tightly curbed. Europe is on tenterhooks, waiting to see whether gas flows resume on Thursday when maintenance on the Nord Stream pipeline is set to end. Putin gave the ...
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African Union needs a permanent seat at G-20, ministers say
Bloomberg The African Union should have a permanent seat at the Group of 20 leading economies to give the continent more say as it struggles with the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, according to three ministers from the region. Representation at the G-20 will bolster the continent’s engagement with the group at a time when soaring energy ...
Read More »Bank relief from ECB rate hike spoiled by threat of windfall tax
Bloomberg Europe’s banks waited more than a decade for higher interest rates to make lending more profitable again. Now some governments are threatening to spoil the party. As the European Central Bank (ECB) prepares to raise rates on Thursday, politicians from Madrid to Warsaw are calling for mortgage holidays and bank taxes to shield consumers from higher borrowing costs and ...
Read More »Santander UK raises pay for 60% of workforce
Bloomberg Santander UK became the latest bank to help staff with the cost of living squeeze, saying it would give more than 11,000 employees a 4% pay rise. All staff earning less than £35,000 ($42,039), representing 60% of the workforce, will be eligible for the raise from August, the company said in a statement. Santander UK will also increase ...
Read More »Lenders are thwarting digital currency’s adoption in Nigeria
Bloomberg Nigerian lenders are impeding the use of the nation’s digital currency because they are concerned about losing revenue from traditional banking services, according to central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele. Only about 700,000 customers have created an e-naira wallets since its introduction in October last year, the central bank said early this year. There are about 55 million bank ...
Read More »IMF agrees $236m for Kenya, urges to keep reform program
Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the disbursement of a $235.6 million loan to Kenya as the East African nation met the lender’s targets and made progress in addressing debt vulnerabilities. The approval brings the IMF’s total disbursements to Kenya to $1.21 billion, out of a total of about $2.34 billion available under a 38-month program approved in ...
Read More »UK audit watchdog slams firms for ‘quality of work’
Bloomberg The UK’s accounting watchdog blasted Mazars and BDO for the “unacceptable†quality of their audits after carrying out an annual review of the industry’s seven largest firms. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said that four of the eight audits reviewed at Mazars and five of the 12 audits reviewed at BDO required more than limited improvements. The regulator added ...
Read More »â€˜New crypto bill unlikely to get Senate vote’
Bloomberg A sweeping piece of legislation that would overhaul how the cryptocurrency industry is regulated by Washington is unlikely to be voted on this year by the US Senate, according to one of the lawmakers driving the effort. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said that the full bill she released last month with Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand would probably not be ...
Read More »Barclays joins peers in targeting German firms for growth
Bloomberg Barclays Plc aims for a bigger slice of the business with German companies after adding employees and hiring a new country head. The London-based lender, which gets the majority of its revenue in Germany from retail clients, wants to double its market share in investment and corporate banking to around 6%, Ingrid Hengster, who took over as country ...
Read More »US equity futures drop with stocks as haven bid returns
Bloomberg US equity futures fell with stocks amid rising concern that Europe will lose access to Russian gas, sending the region into a recession that could have global repercussions. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 turned lower, reversing earlier gains, along with the Stoxx 600 Index as the European Union (EU) laid out preparations for a ...
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