简体中文
"I hope these findings spur urgent action from policymakers to enact needed reforms."
That was a strong call for action from Tim Adams, chief executive of the trade group Institute of International Finance, after what was a bad day for several global banks which found themselves embroiled in allegations of moving dirty money.
The banks, including HSBC, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and BNY Mellon were implicated in leaked suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by banks and financial firms with the U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen). The reports detailed the movement of more than $2 trillion worth of allegedly illicit funds between 1999 and 2017, despite the origins of the money being flagged as suspicious.
The SARs, which were obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), numbered more than 2,100, but the ICIJ warned there was a lot more where those came from, saying the leaked documents were just a tiny fraction of the reports filed with FinCEN.
"The impacts of financial crime are felt beyond just the financial sector – it poses grave threats to society as a whole," Adams added, explaining the severity of the leaks which will likely continue to dominate financial and business news, with shares in HSBC and Standard Chartered already falling to their lowest since 1998 on Monday.
However, in the latest twist, Germany's finance ministry has said the cases with a German connection are not new and "have been dealt with and the necessary consequences have been drawn."
In other news, in the spirit of Climate Week NYC, which launches virtually today hosted by the United Nations and the City of New York, several global companies have backed calls for governments to do more to tackle the climate emergency.
Some companies have even drawn up plans to overhaul their businesses and invest more in renewable energy, which you can read more about below. In keeping with this theme, our graphic for today shows what share of the EU27's gross energy consumption comes from renewables, and how much this has changed over the years.
Enjoy reading,
Arij Limam
Digital correspondent
**P.S. Did someone forward this to you? **
Sign up here
The ICIJ reported that among the types of transactions highlighted by leaked documents reportedly showing global banks moved illicit funds were: funds processed by JPMorgan for potentially corrupt individuals and companies in Venezuela, Ukraine and Malaysia; money from a Ponzi scheme moving through HSBC ; and money linked to a Ukrainian billionaire processed by Deutsche Bank .
More than 560 of the world's biggest companies , including Walmart and Microsoft, have signed up to a statement calling on governments to do more to reverse the accelerating destruction of the natural world and support broader efforts to fight climate change over the next decade.
TikTok Global is planning to launch a pre-IPO in which Bytedance will retain an 80 percent stake in the company, Bytedance has said in a statement, two days after TikTok confirmed that it had reached a proposed deal with U.S. companies Oracle and Walmart. Bytedance stressed that it will not hand any algorithm or technologies to the U.S. company , but noted that Oracle has the authority to conduct security checks on TikTok's source code in the U.S. President Donald Trump initially indicated he supported the deal but has told Fox News he may not approve it if the US companies don't have "total control" of the app.
American multinational conglomerate, General Electric ,has said it plans to stop making new coal-fired power plants and focus more on renewable sources of power generation. The company warned this could mean site closures and job cuts.
EU antitrust regulators will decide by 26 October whether to clear French luxury goods giant LVMH's $16 billion acquisition of U.S. jeweler Tiffany , in an ongoing legal battle between the two companies over the state of the deal. Tiffany accused LVMH of deliberately stalling antitrust proceedings , an accusation LVHM said it wanted to counter.
Shell is looking to slash up to 40 percent off the cost of producing oil and gas in a major drive to save cash so it can overhaul its business and focus more on renewable energy and power markets, according to Reuters.
U.S. electric-truck maker Nikola's founder Trevor Milton has stepped down as executive chairman as the company battles scathing allegations from short-seller Hindenburg Research that it misled investors and automakers by making false statements about possessing proprietary technology.
Shares in Britain's best known engineering name, Rolls-Royce , sunk to their lowest level since 2004 after the aero-engine company confirmed it was considering a rights issue of up to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.23 billion), following months of speculation about its finances .
British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever's CEO has said the company would press on with plans to unify despite a Dutch opposition party proposal calling for an "exit tax" on the firm if it moves to a single British parent company and headquarters as planned. Chief executive Alan Jope believes the tax proposal would violate international law .
France's Iliad has moved to become Europe's sixth-largest mobile phone operator with plans to purchase Poland's Play in a 3.5 billion euro ($4.2 billion) deal. This would be the company's third move outside France after buying a minority stake in Ireland's****eir and launching in Italy in 2018.
The demand for cobalt is expected to be significantly boosted over the coming years due to the need for larger rechargeable batteries and more energy storage for 5G technology , potentially pitting the sector against electric vehicle makers.
WATCH: Data show how air pollution rose again in several major cities across Europe as lockdown measures were eased across the continent. But how do they compare to pre-pandemic levels?
01:27
**Arnold Ma, a China marketing specialist and CEO of digital agency Qumin, spoke to CGTN Europe's **
**The Agenda with Stephen Cole **
program about the latest news surrounding the future of TikTok.
TikTok has been given a one-week extension to finalize the Oracle deal. How different will the TikTok Global be?
I think TikTok on the face of it will be very much exactly the same for the users. But I guess behind the scenes, I think it's clear that this is a very political and business-driven decision in the sense that Oracle and Walmart will be hosting the data, and the revenue from TikTok is where the user data is.
So, I believe it's a case where the U.S. companies will have access and indeed storage for the data, thus, the ad revenue probably split between Bytedance and Walmart and Oracle. But I suspect that the Chinese government will not allow Oracle and Walmart access to the IP and the source code.
We've also seen a court victory for WeChat. I wonder if you can describe its significance for American consumers, is it important?
Yes, I think it's very important and I was discussing it with my colleagues last week, that the people who will be affected the most by the WeChat ban will actually be the users, the American and Chinese expats, when they struggle to keep in touch with family and friends.
