November’s revelation that the bitcoin giant FTX was nothing but a Ponzi scheme has contributed to the fears. Where were the regulators? Last Friday’s revelation that Silicon Valley Bank didn’t have enough capital to pay its depositors has added to the anxieties. Where were the regulators?
as many times as federal officials repeat that they’re not bailing anyone out, it still won’t be true. Are there differences between these bailouts and those during the 2008 crisis? Certainly. But none of those differences change the fact that depositors with more than $250,000 are being bailed out.
Source: It’s Still a Bank Bailout, Even If You Don’t Want to Call It One
In addition, the U.S. and China issued a joint declaration on enhancing climate action with specific focus on reducing methane emissions.
As China seeks to reduce reliance on Australian coking coal in the long term, much will depend on the steel technology path chosen in countries such as India, where steel demand is set for continued growth. India is already a significant user of DRI technology using gasified domestic thermal coal as the reductant but it is also a major importer of Australian coking coal for its blast furnaces.
However, the Indian Government is now eyeing steps to increase the domestic supply of coking coal and reduce dependence on imports while also aiming to diversify imports away from Australia.
Given ongoing resource security concerns and advancing alternative technologies, the days of coking coal being protected from the kind of investor and financier pressure on emissions faced by thermal coal look increasingly like they are over.
Source: Twilight of the coal boom as banks run out of excuses to fund coking coal – Michael West Media
What their boards pledge and what they actually do needs examination,and transparency because past behavior has shown just how corrupt they are. It seems the LNP put on some Royal Comissions for show then do the Morrison nothing.
Despite pledging support for climate action, it’s possible one of Australia’s big four banks is coming to the financial rescue of pollution giant AGL, writes David Ritter. A REAL-TIME “whodunnit?” is playing out across the Australian banking industry. At least one of Australia’s big four banks is considering loaning $800 million to the nation’s worst domestic climate polluter, AGL. The question is, who is involved? And why?
Why is the Coalition trying to abolish a valuable safeguard for consumers? | Australian economy | The Guardian
The LNP is the jettisoning of responsible lending obligations (RLOs). The proposal to remove RLOs for much of consumer lending from the relevant legislation, under the guise of supporting economic recovery, and unsurprisingly supported by the banks, has provoked widespread opposition.
Why is the Coalition trying to abolish a valuable safeguard for consumers? | Australian economy | The Guardian
The promise to change irresponsible lending practices force the LNP to draw up a bill to put the reins on payday lending so that people aren’t simply caught up in the debt trap the LNP in their wisdom are cancelling that bill. Australians already carry am inordinate amount of personal debt an the government are about to increase that. Yes the talk about the abstract but divide peoples lives.
Customers will be promised faster access to loans under simpler rules that aim to free up credit and lift the economy by ending confusion over lending obligations for banks and finance companies.
Simpler lending rules for home loans and credit to free up the economy
Outgoing Westpac chief Peter King has asked regulators if it would be ok to settle their impending $1.3 billion fine for money laundering and child exploitation with a half dozen briefcases filled with $100 notes.
Westpac To Pay $1.3 Billion Money Laundering Fine Using Unmarked 100 dollar Notes | The Shovel
In September 20th, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) –the reporters who brought us the “Panama Papers” and the “Paradise Papers” — released the “FinCEN Files,” in collaboration with Buzzfeed News. The FinCEN Files are the result of a U.S. leak of 2,100 “Suspicious Activity Reports” (SARs) – covering over 18,000 transactions — filed by banks when they believe a transaction may involve fraud, corruption, or other criminal activity. SAR reports are not public. A former U.S. Treasury official leaked the documents to expose corruption.
FinCen Files Shine Spotlight on Suspicious Bank Transfers | The Smirking Chimp
Trump’s biggest creditor is Deutsche Bank, which in the late 1990s took a gamble on the real estate developer whose history of corporate bankruptcies made him untouchable by most other lenders. Although Trump and the Frankfurt-based bank pulled off several profitable deals, eventually Deutsche’s commercial lending division learned the hard way one reason why other banks considered him persona non grata: If pushed by his creditors on payments, Trump shoves back. In 2008, after he defaulted on a loan for his Chicago hotel and condo development, he filed a multibillion-dollar suit accusing Deutsche Bank and others of contributing to the recent financial meltdown, which he blamed for his inability to repay the loan.
The RIGHT of INCREASED DEBT & THE SECOND COMING OF THE GFC = BAILOUT THE BANKS AFTER THEY HAVE TAKEN THEIR PROFIT.
via Small Business Owners Sign PPP Loans Without Clear Terms
Irresponsible lending created the GFC (ODT)
The Morrison Government’s emergency measures to protect the economy are another massive subsidy from embattled taxpayers to Australia’s largest corporations. They are a failure of government to govern. Michael West reports.
Question: why would a bank lend money to a business with no customers?
Answer: it wouldn’t.
Question: who will benefit from the Reserve Bank’s massive loan and money-printing program?
Answer: banks, bond traders and corporate customers.
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Scott Morrison voted against the Royal Commission into Banks 26 times. He continued to do little or nothing since, and even after the release of the Panama Papers were banks were found to be party to money laundering and tax evasion. He’s allowed the banks to to create an industry that simply ran riot over the Australian public farming profits for itself with little and no service provided in return,and now he’s allowing that system to continue. Australia has slid 6 places on the global corruption index since 2013 (ODT)
Five of the biggest investment banks in the world, including UBS, Barclays and Citibank, have been accused in an Australian class action lawsuit of operating a foreign exchange cartel using secret chat rooms titled “the Cartel”, “the Bandits Club” and “the Mafia”.
The banks, including JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary NatWest, have been accused of colluding to fix interest rates to the financial benefit of their own banks and to the detriment of other market participants including individual investors and businesses.
via Hunting ‘the Mafia’: Big investment banks face Australian cartel claim
has anyone been charged or will this process be put aside like the GFC, the Panama Papers and allow everyone to keep the spoils? (ODT)
While the scale of illegality and unethical behaviour in the Australian financial sector might be news to many Australians, the scale of fee-gouging, profiteering and the terrible treatment of customers should be no surprise to our regulators or politicians.
What s likely to remain, as a primary cause of the decade-old malpractice governing the industry and surrounding collaborators – as eloquently shown by K. Lee is ‘The incestuous relationship between government, the financial sector, the regulators, and the legal firms the use’, theaimn.com, 3 October 2018).
via Five pillars of financial crime (part 3) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Paladin corruption allegations;
Royal Commission findings on banks;
no charges laid over questionable tip-offs on AFP’s union raid from Michaelia Cash’s office; and
Northern Territory’s public service corruption charges.
The Commonwealth Bank has spent seven years denying and covering up the role of its staff in a $76 million loan fraud that has left unwitting customers homeless.
via CBA still in denial as fraudsters sentenced to a decade in jail
Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, “businesses are expected to undertake human rights due diligence to identify and mitigate contributions to human rights violations of not only their own activities but also activities to which they are directly linked by their business relationships,” Human Rights Watch notes.
“None of the seven Israeli banks contacted responded to questions regarding any steps they have taken to implement” the UN Guiding Principles, according to Human Rights Watch.
But there is no way to limit the harm that comes from doing any business related to Israel’s colonies.
“Settlements inherently contribute to serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” Human Rights Watch states. “Companies, including banks, that conduct business in or with settlements cannot mitigate or avoid contributing to these abuses, because the activities they conduct take place on unlawfully seized land, under conditions of discrimination, and through a serious violation of Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.”
The group urges banks to completely “cease doing business in or with Israeli settlements” because “in Human Rights Watch’s view, these activities inherently contribute to serious abuses.”
This report builds on one Human Rights Watch published last September debunking claims by Israeli banks that Israeli law requires them to provide services that aid the theft and colonization of Palestinian land.
via How Israeli banks finance theft of Palestinian land | The Electronic Intifada
Authorities are searching for a bank that is alleged to have been involved in a spate of robberies spanning several years.
Tabcorp was fined $45 million in March for breaching money laundering laws 108 times over five years. AUSTRAC boasted at the time that the ruling was the largest civil penalty in Australian corporate history. Applying the same standard to the 53,760 breaches Commonwealth Bank is accused of would see it staring down the barrel of a $22 billion penalty.
Source: Süddeutsche.de
A massive leak of documents has blown open a window on the vast, murky world of shell companies, providing an extraordinary look at how the wealthy and powerful conceal their money.
Source: Panama Papers leak exposes how Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping’s friends hide money
Chris Bowen said the government’s changes to the FoFA regulations had scored a ”daily double” by reducing consumer protections from unscrupulous financial planners and increasing red tape.
”They’ve emasculated the requirement to work in the best interests of the client,” he said.
Now, independent Senators Nick Xenophon and John Madigan have introduced two amendments to tackle the worst and arguably most potentially dangerous aspects of the Coalition’s reforms – namely general advice and changes to the best-interests duty.
Considering the banks and AMP own or control up to 80 per cent of the financial planning industry, as Nick Xenophon put it,
“The financial services industry is big enough and ugly enough to look after itself and … consumers are the ones government should be providing with certainty and adequate protections.”
But hey…we’re open for business. Caveat emptor.
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