Category: Business & Economy

The trend of banks increasing their net interest margins and channeling their efforts into loan refinancing has raised concerns that it will reduce competition in the lending market. This shift could have significant implications for borrowers and the broader economy, according to Peter James (pictured above), director of non-bank lender Mortgage Ezy. “Banks are notorious for fattening their net interest…

JERUSALEM — Elbit Systems will supply the Swedish BAE Systems Hägglunds with its Iron Fist Active Protection System for CV90s in a deal worth $109 million, the Israeli firm announced Tuesday. Elbit noted the systems are intended for a European country, but declined to identify it. Based on previous publications by BAE, it is likely the client is Slovakia. BAE…

  JPMorgan Chase is in a protracted legal battle in a federal district court in Manhattan over highly credible allegations that it “actively participated” in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking of minors. The lawsuit has been brought against JPMorgan Chase by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands where Epstein owned a private island compound that was a frequent venue of…

Following concerns raised by the government of the United Kingdom (“UK”) about freedom of expression and the provision of banking services, the UK’s financial watch dog, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), recently commenced an investigation into bank account closures.  This action follows in the wake of recent reports of banks allegedly closing customer accounts based…… Continue Reading
The post FCA Investigates Bank Account Closures, Including for PEP Customers appeared first on Global Investigations & Compliance Review.

  The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has taken legal action against Paypal Australia Pty Limited, alleging that the company’s standard form of contracts with small business owners contains an unfair term. According to ASIC, business account holders are given 60 days to notify Paypal of any errors or discrepancies in fees that Paypal has charged them, or else…

The DOJ charged JPMorgan Chase with engaging in “tens of thousands of instances of unlawful trading in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium…as well as thousands of instances of unlawful trading in U.S. Treasury futures contracts and in U.S. Treasury notes and bonds…”

The U.S. Treasury market is essential to the United States being able to pay its bills; raise money efficiently; and maintain the trust of our allies in our sovereign debt instruments. Rigging the Treasury market is about as close to financial treason as a Wall Street firm can get; especially when JPMorgan Chase’s securities unit is one of the Fed’s primary dealers and is contractually bound to bid in Treasury auctions.

But instead of prosecuting the bank, the DOJ handed JPMorgan a deferred-prosecution agreement (its third in six years) and put it on probation.

Ukraine’s ongoing confrontations with Russia have captivated international attention, moving beyond mere territorial disputes. Ukrainian Defence Minister Alexey Reznikov had indicated a notable shift in these standoffs, which now double as a significant platform, not just for geopolitical engagements but also for the rigorous examination of cutting-edge military innovations. Western allies gauge their armament efficacy against Russia’s formidable array, while…

  An organization under the financial umbrella of outspoken billionaire George Soros is mounting a brazen bid to implement a perilous cap on free speech in America’s digital public square. Today, the battle lines are being drawn with Common Cause, a group bankrolled by Soros, gleefully trumpeting its success in nurturing a potent alliance with Big Tech to quash election…

PARIS – French prosecutors announced on Friday that they had opened an investigation into Binance, adding to the legal woes of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The probe, led by the Paris prosecutor’s office, will look into allegations that the French arm of Binance traded illegally in digital assets as well as a separate charge of “aggravated money laundering”, a…

NEW YORK – United States federal prosecutors are looking into Tesla performance claims after Reuters reported the electric carmaker exaggerated the potential driving distance of its vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Reuters reported in July that Tesla cars often fail to achieve their advertised range estimates and projections reported by the cars’ own equipment, citing experts who…

  Last July, we noted how media reform activists had petitioned the FCC to revoke Fox News’ local broadcast license in Philadelphia. More specifically, the group argued that Fox News’ rampant election fraud propaganda technically violated the “character clause” embedded in the Communications Act the FCC is supposed to use to determine whether an organization should hold a broadcast license. To be…

China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to support Cuba’s defence of its national sovereignty, opposing foreign interference and a U.S. economic blockade, and will expand strategic coordination with Havana. Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign…

The two founders behind Tornado Cash, a Russian cryptocurrency mixing service, have been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement on Wednesday. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were officially charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business,…

(AP) — A private jet crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, emergency officials said. Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was on board. Prigozhin’s fate has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June….

from the pick-a-lane,-guys dept This is just so painfully obnoxious. The legacy news media, spurred on by a welfare system that pretend free market supporter Rupert Murdoch dreamed up and convinced governments to implement, whereby the government would force internet companies, which had innovated and created new business models that worked, to suddenly be required to pay for sending traffic…

A European spy agency told the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) it knew of an Ukraine special operations team plan to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipeline three months before explosions damaged the undersea system last year, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper cited US intelligence allegedly leaked earlier this year by a low-level US Air National Guard computer technician who had access to large amounts of highly classified materials.

The leaked documents indicated that an unnamed European intelligence body told the US spy agency in June 2022, four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, that Ukraine military divers reporting directly to the country’s military commander-in-chief were planning the attack.