October, 2016

• 13 October

  Wells Fargo CEO steps down amid sales scam

  

    NEW YORK / AP Wells Fargo’s embattled CEO John Stumpf is stepping down as the nation’s second-largest bank is roiled by a scandal over its sales practices. The San Francisco bank said Stumpf is retiring effective immediately and also relinquishing his title as chairman. He won’t be receiving severance pay and the bank announced earlier that he will forfeit ...

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• 13 October

  UniCredit raises €552mn with asset sale

  

    Milan / AFP UniCredit said on Thursday it had raised over half a billion euros as part of its latest asset sale, part of Italy’s largest bank’s effort to boost its funds without raising capital from shareholders. The 552 million euros ($609 million) from the sale of 20 percent of its online banking subsidiary Fineco will be used to ...

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• 13 October

  Bank of Russia sees bigger challenge than rates for lenders

  

    Bloomberg Preoccupied by ultra-low interest rates in much of the industrialized world, the financial industry risks being blindsided by an even bigger challenge, according to Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina. “Banks could fall into a trap,” Nabiullina said at a conference in Kazan, capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan. “What do they mostly complain about now? Low interest ...

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• 13 October

  ‘Brexit doom misplaced as opportunities knock’

  

    Bloomberg Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said predictions of “doom” for the British economy following the decision to leave the European Union are misplaced and “will continue to be proved wrong” as the U.K. negotiates its departure from the bloc. Britain will get a good deal from the remaining member states because it is in the interests of those ...

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• 13 October

  Marmite taken off UK shelves as Brexit bites

  

    London / AFP British staple Marmite was taken off the virtual shelves at supermarket Tesco on Thursday, following a reported row with supplier Unilever over pricing after the pound plummeted on fears over the UK’s Brexit plans. Jars of Marmite were “currently not available” in the online store of Tesco — the world’s third biggest supermarket chain — after ...

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• 13 October

  Maduro bypasses Venezuelan legislature on country’s budget

  

    Caracas / AFP Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro can pass his 2017 budget without the approval of the opposition-majority legislature, the Supreme Court ruled, triggering an outcry from the leftist leader’s opponents. Maduro and the National Assembly have been at each other’s throats since the center-right opposition took control of the legislature in January, ending the left’s 17-year monopoly on ...

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• 13 October

  German court gives govt green light for Canada-EU trade deal

  

    Berlin / AFP Germany’s top court on Thursday gave the government the go-ahead to approve a planned EU-Canada free trade deal, in a setback for activists who had sought to block the agreement. The Constitutional Court did set certain conditions however, stipulating that Germany may only commit to the so-called CETA deal if it wins assurances that it can ...

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• 13 October

  EU misspent €5.5bn, needs to regain trust, warns watchdog

    Brussels / AFP The EU misspent 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) in 2015, the bloc’s financial watchdog said Thursday, warning that Brussels needed to regain the trust of European citizens shaken by Brexit and other crises. Badly spent funds went on paying overcharged personnel costs for developing cloud computing services, it said. Another example included aid earmarked for small- ...

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• 13 October

  Coke, Pepsi fund health groups… but fight them too

    New York / AFP Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the two major US soda giants, have given millions of dollars to health organizations while quietly fighting anti-obesity measures such as taxes on soft drinks, a new study shows. The Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo, from 2011 to 2015, sponsored 96 national health organizations battling public health problems such as obesity, diabetes and ...

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• 13 October

  Trump disaster lets GOP slide on tax policy

  

    In a kinder, gentler, alternate universe, Ohio Governor John Kasich is the Republican nominee for president. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is out stumping for Kasich and plotting the education and immigration policies that he’ll pursue in the vice president’s office. (Substitute Senator Marco Rubio in the veep slot if you prefer; I went with the Floridian who demonstrated ...

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