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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump held off on imposing tougher sanctions on Chinese officials blamed for a crackdown on China’s Uighur Muslim minority because of concern such measures would have interfered with trade negotiations with Beijing, he said in an interview published on Sunday (Jun 21). "Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal. And I made a great deal, US$250 billion potentially worth of purchases,” Trump was quoted as telling Axios on Friday when asked why he had not enacted Treasury sanctions against Communist Party officials linked to repression in the Xinjiang region. READ: Trump signs sanctions law over China treatment of Uighurs The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps there. The State Department has accused China of subjecting Muslims to torture and abuse. China has denied mistreatment and says the camps provide vocational training and help fight extremism. US officials previously told Reuters … [Read more...] about Trump says he held off Xinjiang sanctions due to trade talks: Report

Britain's biggest lenders will this week unveil proposals for a not-for-profit company to oversee the industry's attempt to bolster competition through a system known as 'open banking'. Sky News has learnt that UK Finance, the sector's principal trade association, will publish a report on Tuesday setting out its plans to comply with a series of requirements imposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) five years ago. City sources said the report would be an important step towards entrenching open banking as a permanent feature of the industry landscape. Known as the CMA9, banks including Barclays , HSBC and NatWest Group were the subject of a CMA order in 2016 following an investigation into the personal current account and SME banking markets. The watchdog concluded that the UK's biggest banks were not competing hard enough for customers' business and that open banking "should deliver a new, secure option for customers". Advertisement … [Read more...] about UK’s biggest lenders to unveil plans for ‘open banking’ rollout

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday placed limits on the Securities and Exchange Commission's practice of forcing defendants to surrender profits obtained through fraud as part of its enforcement of investor-protection laws in federal courts. The court reaffirmed the agency's authority to seek disgorgement, a part of its civil enforcement arsenal aimed at passing on funds acquired in fraudulent schemes to the original investors. But the 8-1 ruling, authored by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, limited the scope of what can be sought via disgorgement to no more than the net profits of the conduct at issue. The court also decided that disgorgement generally must go to investors. "Today's decision allows us to continue to strip wrongdoers of their ill-gotten gains and return money to its rightful owners," an SEC spokesperson said. The decision came in an appeal by a California couple, Charles Liu and Xin Wang, of a 2016 SEC civil action brought against them in federal … [Read more...] about US Supreme Court sets limits on SEC’s power to recover ill-gotten gains

FRANKFURT: Wirecard said on Monday (Jun 22) that €1.9 billion (US$2.1 billion) missing from its accounts was likely never there and it was looking at the sale or closure of parts of its business as it sought to avert a looming cash crunch. The former German stock market darling, which processes payments for companies including Visa and Mastercard, has seen billions of euros wiped off its value in recent days and began trading in Frankfurt down 40 per cent. Wirecard is scrambling to shore up its finances and has appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey as it seeks a deal with creditors, after seeing its credit rating slashed to 'junk' by rating agency Moody's on Friday. In a statement on Monday, Wirecard also withdrew financial statements for 2019 and said it was examining cost cuts to address the crisis which has engulfed what was once hailed as a relatively rare success story for the German technology sector. "The Management Board of Wirecard assesses ... that there is a … [Read more...] about Wirecard says missing US$2.1 billion never existed, rips up earlier accounts

WASHINGTON, DC: Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving sibling of slain President John F. Kennedy, who as US ambassador to Ireland in the 1990s played a pivotal role in the Northern Irish peace process, died on Wednesday at age 92. Kennedy Smith died at her home in Manhattan, her daughter Kym told Reuters, declining to give a cause of death "to keep it private." The eighth of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, Kennedy Smith was labelled "the shy Kennedy," long finding herself in the shadow of her famous father and brothers, including US Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy. Her husband, Stephen Smith, was himself a trusted adviser who helped run the Kennedy family's business interests, played a senior role in John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign and managed the presidential runs of her other brothers, Robert and Edward. Kennedy Smith also played family matchmaker, introducing Robert in 1945 to her Manhattanville College classmate Ethel Skakel, whom he later … [Read more...] about Jean Kennedy Smith, last surviving sibling of JFK, is dead at 92