FINMA ends Credit Suisse & Lex Greensill case
28 February, 2023
Switzerland’s financial markets authority, FINMA, said Tuesday that it has concluded enforcement proceedings opened two years ago against Credit Suisse after bank partner Greensill Capital went bankrupt. At the time, Credit Suisse closed four funds linked to the partnership, in which bank clients had invested about $10 billion.
It would be up to prosecutors to pursue more severe penalties or fines if warranted.
In Greensill’s “supply chain finance” model, his firm positioned itself between businesses and their suppliers, paying invoices that suppliers gave to their customers for a fee. The claims against those customers to recover the payments were then turned into securities that could be sold. The financial products over time became far riskier than first indicated.
[July 20 2020 UBS fined for bond flippers ]
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that UBS Financial Services Inc. has agreed to pay more than $10 million to resolve charges that it improperly allocated bonds intended for retail customers to parties known in the industry as “flippers,” who then immediately resold or “flipped” the bonds to other broker-dealers at a profit. Washington D.C., July 20, 2020 ]
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-159
[September 27 2018 CSGN.S, MS.N, UBSG.S, GS.N, JPM.N conspired to stifle competition in $2 trillion stock lending market? ]
The plaintiffs accused units of Goldman, JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) of conspiring since 2009 to keep the stock lending market “in the stone age” by boycotting the startup platforms AQS, Data Explorers and SL-x. But in her 93-page decision, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla found sufficient “direct evidence” from the plaintiffs to suggest an illegal conspiracy and let them continue their proposed class-action case.
Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-06221.
Russia: sanctioning the nuclear sector
26 February, 2023
Ihe whole question of sanctioning the nuclear sector … was basically killed before there was ever a meaningful discussion,” said a diplomat from one EU country who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The most vocal opponent has been Hungary, one of five countries — along with Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland and the Czech Republic — to have Russian-built reactors for which there is no alternative fuel so far.
“There are 18 Russian-designed nuclear power plants in [the EU] and all of them would be affected by sanctions,” said Mark Hibbs, a senior fellow at Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program. “This remains a deeply divided issue in the European Union.”
ECB not satisfied with ‘Project Teal’ study by Deutsche Bank
19 February, 2023
The European Central Bank (ECB) and German financial supervisor BaFin have told Deutsche Bank that they’re “not satisfied” with the German lender’s internal review that found that some employees deliberately circumvented controls to make big profits by mis-selling foreign-exchange derivatives,
Deutsche Bank has been looking at dozens of deals in Spain for more than two years after clients started complaining that derivatives sold to them as cheap hedging products blew enormous holes into their bottom lines when exchange rates took an unexpected turn. The internal probe has since led to settlements with affected clients worth tens of millions of euros and resulted in the departure of several employees and executives.
Other banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BNP Paribas SA have faced similar accusations of mis-selling derivatives in Spain, with wine exporter J. Garcia Carrion SA filing a complaint against Goldman with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority in 2021.
Nominees luncheon. The 95th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be held Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
[Januaty 30 2022]
Pundits were put out by the nod for Michelle Williams, who some felt was taking a slot in the leading actress race when her character in the Fabelmans was arguably a supporting role.
[January 24 2023\
Some thought she had outsmarted herself by submitting her performance for Best Actress. But Michelle Williams got the last laugh, as Michelle Williams often does.
[January 22 2023]
there are secretly machinations to nominate her pivotal mother role to the Supporting category whether she likes it or not.
What about The Fabelmans’ Michelle Williams? While she was snubbed by both SAG and BAFTA, I’m still predicting she gets nominated … just in the Supporting Actress category, where voters will slot her despite her campaign as a lead. A reverse Reader!
[January 21 2023]
Michelle Williams surprisingly missed out on a SAG nomination, but expect the academy (which has nominated Williams four times before) to remedy that.
[January 20 2023]
Bravo to Williams for insisting on a Best Actress push, even if her chances at the gold hardware might have been better in the other category. As of now, about a week away from the Oscar nominations announcement, she is not considered a lock to be nominated. She missed out on a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, a key precursor. But her decision marks a refreshing, wonderful resurrection of common sense in Oscar campaigning. If Williams is not nominated next week, she deserves even more credit.
[January 19 2023]
British Academy snubs Michelle Williams,missing out on a BAFTA nomination days after she missed a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.
[January 15 2023]
Williams, 42, received a nomination at this year’s Golden Globes show for best actress in a drama for her role as Mitzi Fabelman in the Steven Spielberg-directed film The Fabelmans, and also for the same role at Critic’s Choice.
[December 18 2011 Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh get SAG, Golden Globe Nods ]
Golden Globe Nominees
Nominations for the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
Best Leading Actress
Michelle Williams, ‘My Week With Marilyn’
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, ‘My Week With Marilyn’
Golden Globes
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
MICHELLE WILLIAMS MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
KENNETH BRANAGH MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Private ownership of the Rothschild group
13 February, 2023
The Wertheimer family, along with Giammaria Giuliani of Italy will back the offer by the Rothschilds’ holding company Concordia of €48.0 per share, reflecting a valuation of about €3.7 billion for the historic firm. They will also be joined by the Maurel family, who were shareholders in the bank stemming from its previous merger with their finance company, and other members of the Rothschild clan.
[February 8 2023]
“According to our informations, the Peugeot and Dassault families are ready to help the banking dynasty fund its plan to delist the prestigious bank Rothschild & Co,” Les Echos said, without citing its sources.
A spokesperson for the Peugeot family declined comment. A spokesperson for the Dassault family couldn’t be reached out of office hours.
[February 6 2023]
Rothschild & Co., announced that its main shareholder plans a tender offer valuing the firm at about €3.7 billion ($4 billion).It marks a further step in the family’s efforts to cement control, after a 2012 reorganization effectively brought the French and British businesses under one roof and simplified the organization structure.
The Paris-based firm generates the majority of its revenue from providing financial advisory, though it also has a wealth and asset management unit as well as merchant banking business. Led by Alexandre de Rothschild since 2018, the bank has been expanding in the US and managed to sidestep much of the slump in the market for deal advisory, ranking 6th by the number of mergers and acquisitions last year.
Concordia, a holding company for the family expects to offer €48 a share, a premium of 19% over the closing price on Friday. Concordia already owns 38.9% of the firm’s shares and 47.5% of the voting rights.
In 2018, the firm settled a long-running disagreement with wealth manager Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA, which is managed by a different branch of the family, over the use of the name. As part of that deal, the two companies agreed to unwind their cross-shareholdings
Latvia: fire in drone factory
8 February, 2023
A US-owned drone factory near Riga airport in the Baltic nation of Latvia reported a fire. On Twitter, the fire service said, “A high-risk fire has occurred in the production building, sparking a lot of smoke.”
The facility delivers unmanned systems technologies to academic, commercial and government clients in 70 countries, including Ukraine and NATO allies. According to the company website, the California-based company produces long-range unmanned aircraft for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
The company was founded in 2009.
Hue and Cri 
