February, 2016

• 17 February

  Disquiet swells in Spain’s veggie gardens

  

  AlmerIa / AFP In a vast sea of plastic greenhouses in southeastern Spain, dubbed “Europe’s vegetable garden”, discontent is growing among farmers who complain large supermarket chains do not pay enough and farm workers live in poverty. Since the 1980s, one of the largest concentrations of greenhouses in the world has developed on a coastal plain near the city of ...

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• 17 February

  Pakistan: What stands in CPEC’s way?

  

  When Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the blueprint for the enormous $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project last year, Pakistan was understandably pleased. The Pakistani government considers the project a game changer for its fragile economic structure. This exhilaration partly stems from the country’s wobbly economic performance in recent years, which has seen it fall short of GDP and ...

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• 17 February

  Stacks of $100 bills aren’t just for drug dealers

  Peter Sands, the former chief executive officer of Standard Bank, is among those who want to abolish high-denomination currency notes, “the preferred payment mechanism of those pursuing illicit activities.” In the wacky world of negative interest rates, though, pallets of hundred- dollar bills and 500 euro notes are poised to become a fashionable store of value for any cash-rich company ...

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• 17 February

  How USA approached 2012 Senkaku, Diaoyu tensions

  

  Kurt Campbell, then-assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, e-mailed then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on October 2, 2012 – less than a month after the Japanese central government nationalized the islands – it was revealed in the latest batch of emails released by the U.S. State Department. Campbell wrote, “We assess ...

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• 17 February

  China banks hiding losses in ‘opaque’ receivables accounts

  

  Bloomberg Chinese lenders are reacting to a regulatory crackdown on shadow financing by increasing activity in their more opaque receivables accounts, a practice Commerzbank AG estimates may result in losses of as much as 1 trillion yuan ($153 billion) over five years. Banks are increasingly using trusts or asset management plans to lend and recording them as funds to be ...

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• 17 February

  OCBC rallies on earnings surprise as Singapore Bank rivals fall

  

  Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) rallied after fourth-quarter profit rose more than analysts anticipated. Shares of its two large Singapore rivals fell. The bank’s stock surged on Wednesday by the most in almost six months following the release of an exchange statement showing net income climbed 21 percent on higher interest and trading income as well as gains from life ...

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• 17 February

  ABN Amro reports big jump in 2015 net profit

  

  AMSTERDAM / AP ABN Amro, the Dutch bank that began a phased return to the market last year, says its 2015 net profit soared 70 percent to 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), despite rising regulatory costs. Chairman of the bank’s managing board Gerrit Zalm said Wednesday that “2015 was a good year for the bank.” Operating income rose 5 percent ...

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• 17 February

  Fed official calls for breaking up big banks

  

  Washington A Federal Reserve regional president called for the dismantlement of big banks whose failure could pose serious risk to the global financial system. Neel Kashkari, who took office as president of the Minneapolis Fed on January 1 and was a top Treasury official during the 2008 financial crisis, said in a speech that “bolder, transformational options” must be considered ...

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• 17 February

  ANZ Bank warns of Asia volatility as cash profit goes up

  

  Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said bad debt charges will be higher than analysts expect in the first half amid a slowdown in Asia and increased market volatility, even after profit rose in the first quarter. The lender expects a first-half group credit charge a little above A$800 million ($568 million), compared to the current market consensus ...

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• 17 February

  Bankia SA to return retail investors IPO money plus interest

  

  BLOOMBERG Bankia SA is starting a process to reimburse retail investors for losses they suffered in a public offering of shares in Spain’s fourth-biggest bank in 2011, a year before it need a European bailout. Retail investors will recover 100 percent of their investment plus 1 percent annual interest, the Valencia, Spain- based bank said in a filing to regulators ...

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