December, 2019

• 7 December

  PG&E to pay $13.5b for wildfire victims

  Bloomberg PG&E Corp has reached a $13.5 billion settlement with victims of wildfires ignited by its power lines, a major step towards resolving the biggest utility bankruptcy in US history. The settlement will cover claims stemming from some of the worst fires to hit Northern California, including the 2017 wine country fires and the 2018 Camp Fire, the company said ...

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• 7 December

  US high court temporarily keeps Trump financial records private

  

  Bloomberg A US Supreme Court justice temporarily blocked subpoenas that would force Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to turn over years of President Donald Trump’s financial documents to two House committees. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put the subpoenas on hold until December 13. The justices are already scheduled to discuss at a private conference that day whether ...

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• 7 December

  Reddit bans accounts for suspected Russia meddling in UK elections

  

  Bloomberg Reddit said it was banning 61 accounts over suspected Russia-led meddling in the run-up to the UK’s December 12 election involving leaked trade documents.The social platform said the accounts violated its policies against vote manipulation and platform misuse. Reddit said its investigation occurred after Facebook discovered a Russian campaign on its network earlier this year dubbed “Secondary Infektion.” More ...

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• 7 December

  Trump doesn’t understand the currency wars, either

  

  What a difference a decade makes. Back in September 2010, Guido Mantega, Brazil’s then-finance minister, was complaining bitterly about “currency wars,” and claiming the Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy of the time was unfairly hurting his economy. “We’re in the midst of an international currency war, a general weakening of currency,” he said then. “This threatens us because it takes ...

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• 7 December

  Don’t blame ECB for negative rates

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) has infuriated bankers because of its policy of negative interest rates. It now looks like some euro zone governments are unhappy too. Christine Lagarde, the ECB president, would be wise to keep calm and carry on. Her bank is meant to be independent of political interference and its only objective must be to fulfill its ...

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• 7 December

  UniCredit bides its time with an $8.9 billion gift

  Jean Pierre Mustier’s new four-year plan for Italy’s UniCredit SpA marks a victorious milestone for the chief executive officer. He’s managed to turn a sprawling European bank laden with bad loans into a simpler entity that promises to improve its returns to shareholders. It leaves him well-placed to plot his biggest move yet (should he so choose): cross-border M&A. The ...

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• 7 December

  Climate-friendly banking might be a risky thing

  As part of Europe’s promise to become the first “climate-neutral” continent by 2050, the region is emerging as a leader in creating standards for green investments. But the push to get its banks to back sustainable assets needs careful scrutiny. At the core of the European Union’s project is the creation of a single set of definitions to determine what ...

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• 7 December

  India’s economy needs Modi to reinvent himself

  

  It’s now official: The Indian economy is suffering through a major slowdown, and one that shows no immediate sign of easing. The only surprise is that the estimate for growth in gross domestic product last quarter isn’t even lower than the announced 4.5%. When the Narendra Modi-led government presented its first budget after being re-elected, it expected growth in 2019-20 ...

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• 7 December

  Cebu is most typical place in the world

  

  I’ve long wondered what might be the most typical place in the world, and I believe I now have an answer. It is Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, from which I have just returned. What do I mean by the world’s most typical place? On a variety of measures — economic, demographic and cultural, to name a ...

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• 7 December

  Stock sell-off is infact a wake-up call for investors

  

  The three-day sell-off in US stocks, which has wiped nearly 2 percent off the value of the S&P 500 Index, is a timely reminder to investors that they need to temper a bias towards short-term optimism with the recognition of unusual uncertainties stemming from the global system. It also raises interesting questions as to the best tactical response to what ...

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