BANKING
US requests Deutsche data
The US government has requested that Deutsche Bank provide information on transactions potentially linked to Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The request is part of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election that brought Trump to office, the paper said. Flynn has pleaded guilty in a deal under which he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this week, two sources said that Germany’s biggest bank had been subpoenaed for records.
EUROPEAN UNION
Leaders seek banking union
EU leaders on Friday set the completion of a banking union and expansion of the role of the eurozone bailout fund as priorities for eurozone integration. “In the next six months, the work of our finance ministers should concentrate on areas where the convergence of views is the biggest,” summit chairman Donald Tusk told reporters after a summit of the 27 countries that are to remain in the EU after Britain leaves in 2019. Tusk said discussions would continue on other ideas, such as a eurozone budget, finance minister, parliament or sovereign insolvency mechanism, but they needed more time to “mature.”
ITALY
Amazon to pay settlement
Amazon.com Inc has agreed to pay the Italian taxman 100 million euros (US$117.5 million) to settle a dispute over suspected tax fraud, the Italian Agency of Revenue said on Friday. Italian authorities have been investigating Amazon for tax evasion in the period between 2011 and 2015, but the deal means that the case is now closed, it said in a statement. Italy has previously forced other US Internet giants to pay up for taxes owed, including Apple Inc, which in December 2015 agreed to pay 300 million euros to end a tax fraud investigation. In May last year, Google agreed to pay 306 million euros.
RUSSIA
Key rate drops to 7.75%
Russia’s central bank on Friday reduced its key interest rate to 7.75 percent, the sixth reduction this year as inflation hits a record low. The bank said in a statement it had trimmed its main interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, a quarter of a percentage point more than most analysts had predicted. The bank said inflation holds at 2.5 percent and will gradually draw near 4 percent by late next year. The bank also said it would continue its “gradual” monetary policy as medium-term inflation risks persist.
MASS MEDIA
AT&T chief leaves Boeing
AT&T Inc’s chief executive Randall Stephenson stepped down from the boards of Boeing Co and Emerson Electric Co to shield both companies from any fallout as he battles the US government to win approval for the takeover of Time Warner Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter. Stephenson, 57, thought it wise to sever ties with the companies, both federal contractors, so they would not face any repercussions, the person said. Both companies announced his departure in separate filings on Friday, saying he told them he needed to focus on the pending litigation over the Time Warner transaction.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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