January, 2019

• 22 January

  Facebook scandals put US watchdog’s power at stake

  

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc’s repeated privacy scandals have infuriated users, lawmakers and data-security advocates who are clamouring for a forceful government response. That job mainly falls to Joe Simons, who is under pressure to satisfy doubters or risk sidelining his agency as the nation’s chief privacy watchdog. The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission talked tough when he took over the ...

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• 22 January

  Google mulls pulling news-aggregation service from Europe

  

  Bloomberg Lawmakers in Europe are set to test how important Google thinks its news-aggregation service really is. The European Union is working towards finalising a controversial new copyright law. The rules give publishers rights to demand money from the Alphabet Inc unit, Facebook Inc and other web platforms, when small fragments of their articles show up in news search results, ...

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• 22 January

  TomTom to sell telematics unit to Bridgestone for $1bn

  

  Bloomberg TomTom NV will sell its Telematics fleet-management business to tire manufacturer Bridgestone Corp for 910 million euros ($1 billion), freeing up resources to battle the likes of Alphabet Inc. for access to mapping technology in car dashboards. The sale is a big step in TomTom’s shift to location technology as customers ditch the personal navigation devices that made the ...

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• 22 January

  Philips to close UK factory amid Brexit worries

  Bloomberg Royal Philips NV said it will shutter a baby products factory in the UK, after concerns over the nation’s exit from the European Union intensified this week. The Dutch health-tech company will move much of its Glemsford, Suffolk-based production plant to Drachten in the Netherlands, as part of its efforts to cut plants from roughly 50 to about 30 ...

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• 22 January

  UK wage growth strongest since 2008 as labour market tightens

  

  Bloomberg Britons are enjoying the strongest wage growth since the financial crisis a decade ago as the labour market tightens. Average earnings excluding bonuses continued to increase an annual 3.3 percent in the three months through November and unemployment fell to 4 percent, matching the lowest rate since 1975, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Separate figures showed ...

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• 22 January

  Top Brazil coffee roaster eyes South American deals

  

  Bloomberg Brazil’s largest coffee roaster is on the prowl for acquisitions in less-consolidated South American markets. The Tres Coracoes venture is looking to buy coffee-roasting companies in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia, its president, Pedro Lima, said in an interview in Sao Paulo. In Brazil, Tres Coracoes accounts for 27 percent of the roasted-coffee market, ahead of Dutch giant ...

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• 22 January

  UBS warns of headwinds as clients pull $13bn in assets

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG warned that the worst may not be over after clients pulled $13 billion in assets during a market meltdown in the final months of 2018. Increased volatility, rising protectionism and geopolitical tensions are still weighing on investors, which will hit wealth and asset management revenue in the first quarter, the Zurich-based bank said on Tuesday. Withdrawals ...

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• 22 January

  Ireland’s Lane in suspense as backing sought for ECB job

  

  Bloomberg Philip Lane has staked his claim to become the European Central Bank’s (ECB) next chief economist — now he must wait to see if he has the field to himself. At a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, the Irish central-bank governor became the first nominee to replace Peter Praet on the ECB’s Executive Board in June. That puts him ...

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• 22 January

  Ex-Credit Suisse banker faces fresh investigation over forgery in Geneva

  

  Bloomberg Geneva prosecutors have opened a fresh investigation into alleged forgery by former Credit Suisse Group AG banker Patrice Lescaudron, seven weeks after his release from prison and just as appeals in the case got underway in Geneva. Swiss prosecutors in the more than three-year-old case are looking into how Lescaudron allegedly faked dozens of bank statements for one of ...

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• 22 January

  BofA’s Moynihan sees more US bank mergers

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan predicted another round of consolidation in the US that could lead to the emergence of a new competitor. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender, which controls about 13 percent of the US retail banking market, came together through the merger and acquisition of hundreds of companies, Moynihan said on a panel ...

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