Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has asked a U.S. federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the firm gave inaccurately high ratings to risky mortgage investments, deepening the battle over who bears responsibility for losses suffered by investors during the financial crisis.
A United States proposal to force foreign banks to hold more capital is costly, unfair and potentially damaging to the global economy, said EU commissioner Michel Barnier, who warned of “potential retaliation” against U.S. banks.
Under the Federal Reserve’s proposal, which could come into effect later this year, foreign lenders would be forced to organise that their U.S. subsidiaries under a locally regulated holding company, with its own reserves of capital and easy-to-sell assets that can be accessed in crises.
The population of Spain fell by 206,000 people last year amid record high unemployment and weak economic growth, reported the National Statistics Institute on Monday, marking the first time Spain has seen a population decline since official records began in 1857.
Scotland may not be allowed to use the Pound Sterling as its currency in the event that its voters opt for independence next year, said the U.K. Treasury on Tuesday, citing the recent tumult in the euro area as a warning to the challenge of sustaining a formal currency union.
Unveiling a report prepared by a group of non-partisan civil servants and independent economists, the Treasury warned that “even with constraints in place, the economic rationale for the U.K. to agree to enter a formal sterling union with a separate state is not clear.”
Nigeria’s oil companies are battling a surge in crude oil theft, with estimates suggesting that the oil-rich country loses some $6 billion annually in revenues due to bunkering. Oil theft is a lucrative black market in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil exporter, as well as neighbouring countries.
Bunkering, as oil theft is commonly known in Nigeria, involves siphoning crude from pipelines into makeshift vessels and has turned into huge a business that is damaging the country’s investment profile as well as international oil companies operating in Nigeria.
After the G20 meetings in Washington last week, Europe was forced to make growth a higher priority. This Friday, the United States releases its Q1 GDP data and preliminary estimates show the world’s largest economy growing at 3 percent in the first three months of 2013 – a remarkable rate at least by the standards of advanced economies.
Monday, April 22
The U.S. is finalising a record $10 billion deal to sell advanced weaponry to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, announced Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday, aiming to send a “very clear signal” to Iran that a possible nuclear programme would not be tolerated.
At a meeting of the World Bank’s Development Committee on Saturday, global finance officials from around the world, alongside the IMF, endorsed the bank’s goal to end extreme poverty by 2030, calling the initiative a “historic opportunity” to make a difference, reported Reuters.
Five global trade bodies have appealed to the G20 to overrule the European Union’s controversial financial transaction tax, arguing that it would have “unprecedented extraterritorial impacts, contrary to G20 principles”. The tax, also known as the “Robin Hood Tax”, is likely to be levied at 0.1 percent on the value of financial transactions and 0.01 percent on derivatives when it comes into effect next year.
The eurozone will slow its pace of fiscal belt tightening to help reinvigorate growth, said EU Commissioner Olli Rehn, highlighting a policy shift that the United States and the International Monetary Fund have long been pressing for.
The pace of fiscal tightening around the globe is set to dominate talks by leaders of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies who have gathered in Washington for a two-day meeting.
