The writer is a Labour member of the House of Lords, former cabinet minister and anti-apartheid campaigner At the New Institute in Hamburg, a group of eminent jurists and lawyers will begin, on August 27, to draft a treaty to establish an International Anti-Corruption Court. The need is urgent. Money laundering causes a staggering $1.6tn
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In this time of psychobabble, of therapeutic jargon and remote diagnosis, one mental condition is worth our focus for a moment. Treasury Brain. This is a cognitive defect that is said to afflict the finance ministry of the UK. Civil servants there, it is alleged, have an irrational aversion to ideas that incur upfront cost
European stocks sold off sharply on Tuesday, after China’s central bank unexpectedly cut the rate on its one-year loans in a move to shore up the country’s stagnant economy. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 fell 1.2 per cent, extending early-morning losses, while France’s Cac 40 lost 1.5 per cent and Germany’s Dax declined 1 per cent.
UK wages grew much more than expected in the three months to June, according to official figures that are likely to reinforce policymakers’ concerns over the pressures fuelling inflation. In April to June, annual growth in regular pay, which excludes bonuses, was 7.8 per cent, the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began
If anything can be said to be trendy in the world of employment law, it is probably the “right to disconnect”. France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica and Thailand have all brought in new rules over the past six years which, broadly speaking, give employees the right to disconnect from
When one of China’s biggest property developers wanted to raise $300mn in Hong Kong late last month, JPMorgan Chase seemed to have everything ready. The Wall Street bank had lined up investors for the Country Garden share sale, and published a term sheet with a fixed price. It launched the deal on a Monday evening.
Donald Trump and 18 others were charged with meddling in the 2020 presidential elections by prosecutors in Georgia, the fourth criminal case brought against the former US president in the space of five months. Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, on Monday obtained a sweeping 98-page indictment from a grand jury against Trump on
The former Goldman Sachs economist who coined the Brics acronym has dismissed as “ridiculous” the notion that the group of emerging nations might develop its own currency, as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa prepare to discuss whether to expand the bloc. Ahead of the group’s 15th summit next week, Lord Jim O’Neill told
As 2022 drew to a close, Binance co-founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao appeared to have the world at his feet. Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of Binance’s biggest rival FTX, went to Zhao in November last year hoping the Binance chief would bail out his own exchange. Zhao declined, sealing FTX’s fate. On November 10, one
8/14/2023, 11:07:10 PM What to watch in Asia today George Russell in Hong Kong Events: Beijing’s new rules for generative artificial intelligence come into effect. The Cyberspace Administration of China said it would “promote innovation” but “attach equal importance to development and security” in the updated AI measures. Chevron and Woodside Energy Group hold talks
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are buying up thousands of the high-performance Nvidia chips crucial for building artificial intelligence software, joining a global AI arms race that is squeezing the supply of Silicon Valley’s hottest commodity. The Gulf powerhouses have publicly stated their goal of becoming leaders in AI as they pursue ambitious
Billionaire financier Leon Black has sued a law firm over explosive tweets that he says hastened his exit from Apollo Global Management, accusing the firm of smearing him with false allegations in an effort to extract “exorbitant” fees. The complaint seeks to turn the tables on the Wigdor firm, which has soared to prominence over
The writer is executive director of American Compass Last week, officials briefing reporters on President Joe Biden’s long-awaited executive order restricting American investment in China used the words “narrow” and “narrowly” no fewer than 10 times in half an hour. They emphasised that new rules would reach just three “national security sensitive technologies”: advanced semiconductors,
British audit firm Crowe UK and its chief executive Nigel Bostock have been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for failures in its audit of a music streaming company that went public on Nasdaq in the Spac boom. Akazoo, a Scotland-incorporated, Greece-headquartered company, claimed to have almost 40mn registered users and $120mn in
A computer crash at the Bank of England, involving one of its most vital payment services, delayed thousands of house purchases and other high value transactions on Monday, as the bank promised to investigate the matter. The central bank said it had been hit by “a technical issue” which prevented it opening a vital payment
One of Europe’s biggest buyout groups, CVC Capital Partners, has revived plans for a multibillion-euro stock market listing that could come before the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. The secretive firm, which owns the maker of PG Tips tea and has made major bets on rugby and Formula One,
The rouble is a petrocurrency. Crude oil is a quarter of Russian exports, the largest component. Brent, still the international benchmark for oil, has risen by a fifth in the past two months. Despite that, Russia’s currency has sunk nearly as much against the dollar. On Monday alone it lost some 2 per cent. One
Russia’s central bank said it may increase its key interest rate after the rouble fell to less than Rbs100 to the dollar on Monday, prompting policymakers to squabble over how to deal with the economic fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Nearly a year and a half after Putin ordered the invasion, Russia’s
Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family has acquired a 15 per cent stake in Dutch conglomerate Philips in a roughly €2.6bn transaction, backing the group’s effort to shift away from consumer electronics to healthcare following a costly product recall. As part of the deal announced on Monday, Exor, the Agnellis’ holding company, can increase its stake to
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rupak Ghose is a former financials research analyst at Credit Suisse. It’s time to do the unthinkable — defend a Goldman Sachs CEO. For anyone who has worked on Wall Street there is a bit
“France cannot be France without greatness,” wrote Charles de Gaulle in the opening of his memoirs. His nation, he insisted, must always be in “the first rank”. Vladimir Putin feels the same way about Russia. Back when I was still able to visit that country, Fyodor Lukyanov — a foreign policy thinker close to Putin