Switzerland, on the 'grey list' of tax havens, saw a surge in suspected activities related to money laundering in 2008, with assets worth Switzerland an all-time high $ 1.65 billion involved in them.
After the world's top 20 economies resolved to crack down on tax havens worldwide at a meeting here last week, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) named Switzerland among countries not having substantially implemented international tax standards.
This classification put Switzerland on the 'grey list' of tax havens, but Switzerland reacted sharply to such descriptions and said it was not actually a 'tax haven'.
However, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) has said in a report that the number of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in connection with money laundering jumped from 795 in 2007 to 851 last year.
This included nine related to suspected terror financing and involved assets worth over one million Swiss francs ($ 884,600).
"The increase was due mainly to the greater volume of reports from the banking sector, which reached a new record high. The total value of assets involved doubled to reach an all-time high of CHF 1.87 billion Swiss francs ($ 1.65 bn)," the FDJP said in a statement.
In 2008, the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) received 851 SARs, with nearly 67 per cent of them coming from the banking sector. Among them, most were related to investment fraud.
The statement noted that third on the list of offences was bribery related to individual corruption, which, due to their complexity involving numerous businesses, generated several SARs.
"Although the acts of corruption took place abroad, the suspected bribe money was deposited in Switzerland," it added.
Interestingly, Opposition parties in India have said that assets worth about $ 1.5 trillion are stashed away in Swiss banks by Indian citizens.
The FDJP said that in the CHF 1.87 billion, three SARs totalling CHF 700 million ($ 620.5 million) are involved. Among them, two cases involved fraud while the other one was related to corruption.
This included a single report involving an asset value of 942,000 Swiss francs ($ 834,999) and the case was forwarded to the appropriate prosecuting authority, which subsequently dismissed the case.
"None of the incoming SARs relating to terrorist financing was based on the State Secretariat for Economic Affair's so-called Taliban Regulations.
"All but one SAR with an unclear economic background were based on information received from third parties (press reports, information from third persons or prosecuting authorities) indicating possible terrorist involvement.
"After careful scrutiny, MROS forwarded seven of the nine SARs to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, which has in the meantime dismissed or suspended three of the cases. Four cases are pending," the statement noted.
Agencies
Showing posts with label economies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economies. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Have 30,000 lost jobs over the past one week?
News of the US officially slipping into recession seems to have spurred another round of massive retrenchment, as the first week of December alone saw a stunning 30,000 layoffs, with more than half happening in the world’s largest economy.
The whopping numbers are just a continuation of a strained labour market as employers in America slashed 5,33,000 jobs in the month of November, the maximum downsizing in 34 years. Right from telecom giant AT&T to battered banking major Credit Suisse to steel maker ArcelorMittal, the layoffs are spread across the sectors, amid the worst financial turmoil since the great depression of 1930s.
Moreover, since the start of recession in December last year, as concluded by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1.9 million people lost their jobs and two-thirds of the losses happened in the last three months. Leaving a gloomy November, this month’s layoffs are led by AT&T which would slash 12,000 jobs or about four per cent of its total workforce.
JP Morgan is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by 21%. The move is expected to result in 4,000 employees being given the pink slip by January at Washington Mutual.
Source: Agencies
The whopping numbers are just a continuation of a strained labour market as employers in America slashed 5,33,000 jobs in the month of November, the maximum downsizing in 34 years. Right from telecom giant AT&T to battered banking major Credit Suisse to steel maker ArcelorMittal, the layoffs are spread across the sectors, amid the worst financial turmoil since the great depression of 1930s.
Moreover, since the start of recession in December last year, as concluded by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1.9 million people lost their jobs and two-thirds of the losses happened in the last three months. Leaving a gloomy November, this month’s layoffs are led by AT&T which would slash 12,000 jobs or about four per cent of its total workforce.
JP Morgan is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by 21%. The move is expected to result in 4,000 employees being given the pink slip by January at Washington Mutual.
Source: Agencies
Friday, December 5, 2008
As crisis drags on; layoffs mount globally
Credit Suisse and Nomura Holdings announced big job cuts on Thursday, further evidence the global financial crisis is unrelenting for an industry battered by heavy losses and weak markets.
The 5,300 layoffs by the Swiss bank and a further 1,000 in London by Japan’s biggest broker are the latest in the global financial sector which has now seen over 150,000 jobs culled since September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Of these, more than 50,000 were at Citigroup, which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.
While the axe had been falling for months in the industry, Lehman’s fall sparked carnage in financial markets and reshaped the industry landscape, resulting in job losses from New York to Singapore to Mumbai. “I don’t think people really know what’s next. It depends on sentiment, which will in turn drive credit markets, which in turn will weigh on banks or not,” said a London-based equities trader.
From the United States to Asian export giant Japan to European powerhouse Germany, the world’s top economies are now in recession as the global crisis deepens.
They are not the only ones with Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong also joining in. The losses at banks are increasing. Credit Suisse said on Thursday it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.
It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. “Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction,” the bank said.
Credit Suisse’s shares jumped 8% in European trade in a broader market up 1.6%.
In Asia, Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, said the decision to cut as much as 22% of its London staff followed an internal review after the purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman Brothers.
Nomura had said the purchase of parts of Lehman Brothers would help the Japanese brokerage achieve its profit target despite poor financial market conditions. “This is a natural move,” said Azuma Ohno, a brokerage analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Japan.
“Once Nomura bought Lehman, it cannot continue Japanese-style life-time employment. It needs to be flexible in costs to be profitable.”Australia’s top investment bank, Macquarie Group, is cutting 10 to 15% of its jobs in Asia, two sources said last week.
Banks are axing jobs across Asia and even in countries such as India, where investment bankers were snapped up feverishly in the last few years in anticipation of strong initial public offerings and M&A markets. “The layoffs will come in phases and will stretch into 2009,” said Singapore-based Will Tan of Webbe International, an executive search firm specializing in the financial sector.
The job cuts from Nomura and Credit Suisse came a few hours after a report of layoffs at Bank of America. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said the bank is in the “final stage of our analysis” for planned job cuts following its purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte observer said on its website on Wednesday. Layoffs have also gathered pace at fund management firms.
State Street, one of the world’s biggest institutional money managers, said on Wednesday it plans to lay off as many as 1,800 people, or 6% of its staff, in the first three months of 2009. Private equity firm Carlyle Group is cutting about 100 jobs — around 10% of its staff — a source familiar with the situation said. The reductions are the first major cuts made by a large US private equity firm since the global economic crisis hit.
Middle market investment bank Jefferies Group will slash nearly 15% of its employees worldwide and close offices in Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo as it contends with heavy losses for 2008.
Source: Reuters
The 5,300 layoffs by the Swiss bank and a further 1,000 in London by Japan’s biggest broker are the latest in the global financial sector which has now seen over 150,000 jobs culled since September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Of these, more than 50,000 were at Citigroup, which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.
While the axe had been falling for months in the industry, Lehman’s fall sparked carnage in financial markets and reshaped the industry landscape, resulting in job losses from New York to Singapore to Mumbai. “I don’t think people really know what’s next. It depends on sentiment, which will in turn drive credit markets, which in turn will weigh on banks or not,” said a London-based equities trader.
From the United States to Asian export giant Japan to European powerhouse Germany, the world’s top economies are now in recession as the global crisis deepens.
They are not the only ones with Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong also joining in. The losses at banks are increasing. Credit Suisse said on Thursday it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.
It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. “Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction,” the bank said.
Credit Suisse’s shares jumped 8% in European trade in a broader market up 1.6%.
In Asia, Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, said the decision to cut as much as 22% of its London staff followed an internal review after the purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman Brothers.
Nomura had said the purchase of parts of Lehman Brothers would help the Japanese brokerage achieve its profit target despite poor financial market conditions. “This is a natural move,” said Azuma Ohno, a brokerage analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Japan.
“Once Nomura bought Lehman, it cannot continue Japanese-style life-time employment. It needs to be flexible in costs to be profitable.”Australia’s top investment bank, Macquarie Group, is cutting 10 to 15% of its jobs in Asia, two sources said last week.
Banks are axing jobs across Asia and even in countries such as India, where investment bankers were snapped up feverishly in the last few years in anticipation of strong initial public offerings and M&A markets. “The layoffs will come in phases and will stretch into 2009,” said Singapore-based Will Tan of Webbe International, an executive search firm specializing in the financial sector.
The job cuts from Nomura and Credit Suisse came a few hours after a report of layoffs at Bank of America. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said the bank is in the “final stage of our analysis” for planned job cuts following its purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte observer said on its website on Wednesday. Layoffs have also gathered pace at fund management firms.
State Street, one of the world’s biggest institutional money managers, said on Wednesday it plans to lay off as many as 1,800 people, or 6% of its staff, in the first three months of 2009. Private equity firm Carlyle Group is cutting about 100 jobs — around 10% of its staff — a source familiar with the situation said. The reductions are the first major cuts made by a large US private equity firm since the global economic crisis hit.
Middle market investment bank Jefferies Group will slash nearly 15% of its employees worldwide and close offices in Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo as it contends with heavy losses for 2008.
Source: Reuters
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