Tax fraud at Swiss UBS? Court judges in appeal process +++ London threatens to expel EU citizens – and further economic reports

Tax fraud at Swiss UBS? Court ruled on Monday in appeal process

Das Logo der UBS auf einer Filiale in Zürich.

The UBS logo on a branch in Zurich.

Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

(dpa) The Swiss banking giant UBS expects a decision by the court and a possible fine of billions in the new process of alleged tax fraud in France. On Monday (1.30 p.m.) the Paris Court of Appeal wants to give its verdict. The defense demanded an acquittal, the public prosecutor a fine of at least two billion euros.

In the process, the prosecutors accused UBS of having sent employees to France between 2004 and 2012 to attract wealthy customers. UBS should then have encouraged the clientele to place their money in Switzerland and thus past the French tax authorities. UBS France and six former employees of the big bank must also be responsible for the process.

Two years ago, the institute was sentenced in the first instance to a record fine of more than 3.7 billion euros. The bank appealed against it. It rejected allegations of criminal misconduct. According to its own annual report, UBS is dealing with receivables totaling 4.5 billion euros.

London threatens to expel EU citizens without a residence permit

(dpa) Great Britain has threatened to expel EU citizens who no longer have a residence permit after Brexit. Anyone who stays in the United Kingdom is illegal, said Kevin Foster, Secretary of State responsible for immigration, of the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”. “We expect people to leave the country voluntarily, but if they don’t, immigration will try to enforce their departure,” said Foster.

One of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s key Brexit promises was to end the freedom of movement. EU citizens who lived in the country before Britain left the EU customs union and internal market on January 1, 2021, could apply for a new residence status until the end of June 2021, which would give them access to the health system, the labor market and social benefits even after Brexit should secure. More than six million people did so, with 5.4 million applications approved so far. As of the end of August, 400,000 applications were still being processed.

Foster refused to relax the visa rules in order to allow urgently needed specialists back into the country. The new immigration system is not the cause of the many vacancies, explained the politician, because EU countries are also desperately looking for employees in logistics or catering. Business associations, on the other hand, have long been calling for exemptions to remedy the urgent shortage of skilled workers.

Solar and wind power from Morocco to make Britain’s energy supply more robust

msf./Bloomberg

With the Xlinks project, a team led by the founder Simon Morrish and Dave Lewis, the former boss of the British retailer Tesco, wants to strengthen the British electricity supply. According to this, Xlinks plans to conduct renewable energies from Morocco exclusively to Great Britain with a submarine cable. The electricity is to be produced in huge solar and wind parks with a total capacity of 10.5 gigawatts.

The project, which in addition to a 3800 km long power line also includes a battery with a storage capacity of 5 Gigawatts, is expected to cost around £ 16 billion (CHF 20 billion) and supply up to 7 million households. In order to accelerate cable production, at least two own production facilities are to be built. The laying of the cable is to begin in 2025. The completion of the project is planned for 2029.

If Xlinks can be implemented as planned, its capacity would exceed that of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant currently under construction. At the same time, those responsible are predicting an electricity price of 48 pounds per megawatt hour, which would be around half of what the British government has agreed with Électricité de France, the future operator of Hinkley Point C.

The British government recently spoke out in favor of massively expanding capacities for electricity from renewable energy sources in order to reduce dependence on gas. Against the background of a global gas shortage is the European reference price for gas has risen by more than 250 percent since January .

According to media reports, London approves visa exemptions for foreign truck drivers

Der britische Premierminister Boris Johnson wird laut Medienberichten voraussichtlich bald die Lockerung von Brexit-Visaregeln für Lastwagenfahrer verkünden.

According to media reports, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to soon ease the Brexit Announce visa rules for truck drivers.

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

(dpa) In view of the severe consequences of delivery problems for supply in the country, the British government is facing a U-turn. As several British media unanimously reported on Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to temporarily exempt foreign truck drivers from the strict Brexit visa rules. There should be an upper limit.

So far has Johnson exceptions strictly rejected . The trigger for the change of heart was obviously reports of problems with gasoline deliveries at gas stations. The Road Haulage Association estimates that there is a shortage of around 100,000 truck drivers in the UK. In many places there were bottlenecks and empty supermarket shelves. The energy companies BP and Esso were no longer able to supply some petrol stations with fuel due to the lack of drivers. Other sectors, such as meat producers, also complain of a blatant shortage of skilled workers. Since Brexit, EU citizens moving to the UK for work have had to obtain expensive visas.

Financial centers: New York and London top – Zurich loses

Zürich muss im Ranking der Finanzzentren Einbussen hinnehmen.

Zurich has to accept losses in the ranking of financial centers.

Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

tsf. New York remains the most important financial center in the world. Despite Brexit, London holds second place. Chinese centers are falling behind. Zurich also has to accept losses.

The thirtieth edition of the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI 30) published on Friday brings some surprises. In this ranking of the London think tank Z / Yen Group in cooperation with the Chinese think tank “China Development Institute”, the competitiveness of 116 financial centers is assessed.

The service sectors of New York (762 points in the rating) and London (740) have managed to maintain their performance despite radical changes in economic life in the last 18 months, according to the GFCI -Message from Friday . London in particular should be pleased with the assessment, as it lost access to the European Union’s financial market because of Brexit. However, the Paris and Amsterdam financial centers clearly benefited from the Brexit turmoil.

In third and fourth place are Hong Kong (716) and Singapore (715) with a relatively large gap to New York and London. The race is very close after these front runners. Only 5 points separate the centers in places three to eight.

The Swiss financial centers developed very differently. Geneva has overtaken Zurich and is in 20th place with 692 points. Zurich follows right behind in 21st place with 690 points. A year ago, Zurich was still in 10th place. Especially in the fintech assessment, Zurich with 30th place and Geneva (35th place) lag behind.

The Brexit helps Paris and Amsterdam

Rating agency Fitch sees risks at Credit Suisse

Die Credit Suisse erhält zwar ein gutes Rating, die Agentur Fitch sieht aber Probleme in der Risikosteuerung.

Credit Suisse receives Although a good rating, the Fitch agency sees problems in risk management.

Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

tsf.

The rating agency Fitch confirms the previous good assessment of the two major Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse. At UBS, the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) is included Graded “A +”, the subsidiaries UBS AG and UBS Switzerland continue to be graded “AA-”. The financial strength rating (Viability Rating, VR) was left at “a +” for all three units. The outlook is still rated as “stable”.

For Credit Suisse, Fitch has the long-term publisher rating (IDR) confirmed with “A-” and the viability rating with “a-”. The affirmation of the rating reflects the Group’s improved capitalization, reduced risk exposure and the expectation that the Group’s asset management and domestic banking operations will continue to support profitability. These factors mitigate the company’s serious deficiencies in risk management, according to Fitch. However, Credit Suisse began to correct the deficiencies in the second quarter.

The outlook for Credit Suisse remains ” negative”. Fitch justifies this negative assessment with the risk that earnings could decline. The bank has benefited greatly from the investment bank’s (IB) performance since 2020. This could make it difficult for the group to increase profitability. A higher urge to take risks to increase profitability or an inability to improve risk management could, under certain circumstances, lead to a downgrade of the rating, continues Fitch.

Deutsche Bank is upgraded

(Reuters)

The rating agency Fitch has the credit rating Deutsche Bank upgraded from “BBB” to “BBB +” due to progress in the Group’s restructuring. The outlook remains positive, the agency said on Thursday.

The exchanges slide back into the red

tsf./(awp ) On Friday morning, the European stock exchanges gave up a large part of their profits from the previous day. After the price increase of the past few days, some investors are likely to cash in. Or they sell because they are not comfortable with the current uncertain climate, because risks abound. In Germany, the DAX was in the red at almost 0.9 percent one hour after the start. On a weekly basis, it is heading towards a plus of almost half a percent due to the previous day’s profits.

The Swiss stock market also gave way on Friday morning. The mood is still not bad: the market is only consolidating the profits of the previous days, according to the market. In addition, there was a lack of new impetus.

On the currently good mood Above all, the US Federal Reserve, which is sticking to its very loose monetary policy for the time being, is contributing. In addition, growth in the major industrialized countries is above trend, and it will probably stay that way, according to a Credit Suisse comment. In contrast, the Chinese real estate group Evergrande, which is stuck in huge financial problems, continues to cause uncertainty. Evergrande has agreed with creditors on an upcoming interest payment. However, the company did not comment on another due date

The SMI was down around 0.5 percent at 10 a.m. The biggest discount was booked by the blue chips Geberit (-1.9%) – the only share in the SMI that was already weaker the day before. According to traders, the broker Exane has lowered the rating from «Neutral» to «Underperform».

The shares of Straumann (-1.4%), Schindler (-0.6%) and ABB (-0.8%) gave part of the previous day’s gains away. The bank stocks UBS (-0.2%) and Credit Suisse (+/- 0%) weakened slightly after the recovery of the previous days. However, according to CEO Ralph Hamers, UBS’s exposure to Evergrande is “insignificant”. The big bank had to make some additional demands on customers with secured loans, as Hamers explained at a conference of the “Bank of America” ​​according to the Bloomberg news agency. At CS, too, the commitment of the CS funds is limited.

Delivery Hero apparently wants to invest a billion in the startup Gorillas

tsf. The German Food delivery company Delivery Hero apparently wants to invest 1 billion dollars in the Berlin food startup Gorillas Technologies as part of a financing round. This means that gorillas will be valued at around $ 3 billion after the deal is concluded, writes the Bloomberg news agency, citing sources not mentioned. It is still unclear whether the deal will really come about. Company spokespersons were initially unavailable to comment.

Recovery of Wall Street continues – Calming around Evergrande

(dpa)

On Wall Street, investors were again willing to take risks on Thursday. The most important stock indices increased their previous day’s profits significantly. One of the factors contributing to this was that the situation around the Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, which is plagued by financial problems, has recently calmed down somewhat. As the group announced, an agreement has been reached with creditors on an upcoming interest payment. In addition, investors continued to react relieved that the US Federal Reserve is sticking to its very loose monetary policy for the time being.

The leading index Dow Jones Industrial rose by 1.48 percent to 34,764.82 points and is now heading towards a weekly plus to. On Monday, worries about Evergrande had sent stock exchanges worldwide downhill.

For the broader S&P 500 it went up 1.21 percent to 4448.98 points on Thursday. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 0.92 percent to 15,316.58 points.

As was already announced in late trading on Wednesday, the US key interest rate remains unchanged and the purchases of securities to support the economy will also be for the time being continued. However, at the next meeting in early November, a decision could be made to curb monthly bond purchases from the current $ 120 billion, said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. At the same time, new forecasts point to an interest rate hike in the coming year. But even this prospect hardly scares investors at the moment, since a tighter monetary policy also means that the US economy is fundamentally robust, according to experts as a justification.

The US Federal Reserve has taught another lesson in this , “How to gently massage the markets into accepting that a tightening is imminent,” wrote analyst Neil Wilson of trading house Markets.com.

Meanwhile, market participants were still waiting for a concrete timetable for the planned one Reduction in bond purchases, noted analyst Birgit Henseler from DZ Bank. This wish has not yet been fulfilled. “Ultimately, it is only clear what was already known: The bond purchases will be reduced at some point, but you do not know when and at what speed.”

With a view to the individual values, the software company brings Salesforce to the Takeover of the office messenger Slack in competition with the German competitor SAP is currently continuing. Salesforce moderately raised its sales forecast for the current fiscal year. The shares soared by a good seven percent and thus clearly placed themselves at the top of the Dow.

The FDA had corona booster vaccinations with the agent from Biontech / Pfizer for the elderly and risk groups approved. Biontech papers rose 4.1 percent, Pfizer papers rose 0.6 percent.

The PC manufacturer Dell Technologies had a share buyback program as well as the payment of a dividend from first fiscal quarter 2023 announced. Here, investors could look forward to a price increase of three and a half percent at the end, after the shares had climbed a record high in between.

US Treasuries came under significant pressure in view of the strong stock market. The futures contract for ten-year paper (T-Note-Future) fell by 0.53 percent to 132.28 points. The yield on ten-year paper rose to 1.43 percent. The euro benefited from the friendly investor sentiment and last cost 1.1741 US dollars. The European Central Bank had previously set the reference rate at 1.1715 (Wednesday: 1.1729) dollars. The dollar cost 0.8536 (0.8526) euros.

In Fort Smith im amerikanischen Gliedstaat Arkansas, stehen Menschen, die ihren Job verloren haben, Schlange für Arbeitslosenhilfe.

In Fort Smith, Arkansas, people who have lost their jobs are queuing for unemployment benefits.

Nick Oxford / Reuters

In the US, initial jobless claims are increasing faster than expected

(dpa) On the American labor market, the situation surprisingly deteriorated last week. Initial jobless claims – a leading indicator for the labor market – rose by 16,000 to 351,000 over the week, as the Department of Labor announced in Washington on Thursday. Analysts had expected an average of only 320,000 applications.

Since the beginning of the year, the situation had initially become noticeable Lich improved. Recently, however, the development was more bumpy.

The weekly requests for aid are still at a higher level than before the pandemic at the beginning of 2020. Back then, pro Week only a good 200,000 initial jobless claims made. However, before the crisis, the job market was in an unusually good state, close to full employment. The labor market plays a major role in the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve.

Chip shortage costs the automotive industry billions

( dpa) The lack of microchips and other important electronic components continues to affect the automotive industry. Due to a lack of semiconductors, the industry is likely to lose a total of $ 210 billion in revenue this year, the consulting firm Alix Partners estimated in an analysis presented in Munich on Thursday. In May it was still assuming significantly lower global losses ($ 110 billion).

It is unclear how long the delivery problems with chips will last . Faltering supply is currently one of the greatest risks for the automotive industry – vehicles that have been ordered often cannot be completed, and many suppliers also remain under pressure. The lighting and electronics specialist Hella, which will soon belong to the French supplier Faurecia, has cut its business forecast.

The loss of production in the entire industry According to Alix, with 7.7 million vehicles, it will be almost twice as large as previously assumed. In May, a failure of 3.9 million cars was forecast. Experts from the British research institute IHS Markit also lowered their latest estimate for the global annual production of cars last week.

The Japanese auto giant Toyota announced in mid-September that it would be able to produce 300,000 fewer units in the fiscal year that ended in March 2022. Daimler CEO Ola Källenius does not expect the situation in the industry to ease significantly until 2023.

While car manufacturers suffer from failures in production for Alix Partners’ Marcus Kleinfeld explained that it would be more difficult for suppliers to compensate for part of this with higher vehicle prices. Therefore, the lack of chips affects them more than the car manufacturers themselves. The suppliers depend in particular on the production volume of the manufacturer.

So the cut Headlight and electronics specialist Hella also made his forecast. Because car manufacturers can build fewer vehicles due to the chip shortages, sales in the current financial year should only reach € 6 to 6.5 billion by the end of May 2022, announced the MDax company in Lippstadt. So far, the Hella management board had assumed a figure of € 6.6 to € 6.9 billion. Currency effects and the purchase and sale of parts of the company are excluded.

In addition, a smaller part of sales should be considered as adjusted operating profit get stuck at Hella: Management is now reckoning with 5 to 7%, previously it had targeted around 8%.

The auto supplier and Continental rival Faurecia also depressed its annual targets. The French are just about to take over Hella. At 15.5 billion euros, their sales will be around one billion euros lower than previously thought, according to Nanterre. Faurecia also expects the profit in day-to-day business at a lower level: instead of 7%, according to the updated forecast, only 6 to 6.2% of sales should remain as operating income.

Due to a shortage of truck drivers, BP closes petrol stations in Great Britain

(dpa) Due to the enormous shortage of truck drivers, the energy giant BP has to close some petrol stations in Great Britain. “We have problems with the fuel supply at some of our locations and can therefore unfortunately temporarily not operate a handful of locations due to a lack of both unleaded petrol and diesel,” said a BP spokesman for the ITV broadcaster.

According to this, there is sufficient fuel overall – but the group has problems getting it to the filling stations. Most locations would then receive no delivery for around one and a half days a week. Motorway rest areas should be given priority. The government expressed concern.

According to the Road Haulage Association, at least 100 are missing in the UK 000 truck drivers. The reason is the consequences of the corona pandemic, a lack of offspring and tough immigration rules after Brexit. The result has been for weeks supermarket shelves empty again and again. Other industries are also suffering from a severe shortage of skilled workers.

As reported by ITV on Thursday BP informed the government of the problems days ago. The situation was “bad, very bad,” said the responsible BP manager Hanna Hofer at a meeting with government officials. Hofer has stated that the group only has two thirds of the normal tank inventory, “which is necessary for smooth operation” – and that this value is declining “very quickly”. Therefore, the company is preparing to restrict deliveries «very soon».

Maschinen der südafrikanischen Fluggesellschaft South African Airways am Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Aufnahme vom Januar 2020.

Machines of the South African airline South African Airways at Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Recording from January 2020.

Sumaya Hisham / Reuters

South African Airways flies again

(dpa) After a month-long rescue procedure, the badly battered South African Airways (SAA) flew again for the first time in 18 months. In June, the then insolvent airline, which is a Lufthansa partner in the Star Alliance, was restructured and partially privatized. The domestic route Johannesburg-Cape Town was resumed on Thursday. In addition, SAA wants to start regional connections to Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo next week, it said.

SAA, once the second largest airline in Africa after Ethiopian Airlines, last posted a profit in 2011 and has been reliant on state aid and guarantees since then. The Takatso consortium, which launched the domestic airline Lift at the end of last year, has been a 51 percent majority shareholder since June, while the state still holds 49 percent of the shares. In the rescue plan of the administrators, a sum of 10.1 billion rand (583 million euros) was deemed necessary for a successful realignment.

Expert opinion sees illegal thermal windows in VW cars

(dpa) Volkswagen threatens in legal dispute over allegedly breach of contract defeat devices a defeat at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In a report published on Thursday by the highest European court, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos takes the view that so-called thermal windows can represent a shutdown device that is illegal and therefore contrary to the contract. VW had argued that these were used to protect the vehicle. According to the ECJ, the software allowed higher nitrogen oxide emissions if it was colder than 15 or warmer than 33 degrees Celsius or the car was driven at an altitude of more than 1000 meters.

Norwegian central bank raises key interest rate at

(dpa) The central bank of Norway has raised its key rate for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The key interest rate will rise from zero to 0.25 percent, as the Norges Bank announced in Oslo on Thursday. Economists had expected the increase. The central bank last raised interest rates in September 2019. During the pandemic, the key interest rate was reduced to zero in May 2020.

Bachem plans capital increase to expand production

jal.

The pharmaceutical company Bachem plans to significantly increase its own production capacity. Investments of more than CHF 500 million are planned over the next five years. 9.) announced. In order to finance this expansion, the capital is to be increased. At an Extraordinary General Meeting in mid-October, the Board of Directors intends to propose that the shareholders issue 1 million new shares, which corresponds to around 7% of the currently outstanding share capital. With this, Bachem wants to obtain the necessary financial means to open an additional production site in Switzerland, among other things. The corresponding location search is already in progress, according to the message.

Die Art Basel ist am Mittwoch begonnen. Im Bild eine ab der Schau ausgestellte Plastik des Künstlerduos Elmgreen und Dragset.

Art Basel started on Wednesday. In the picture, a sculpture by the artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset exhibited from the show.

Georgios Kefalas / EPA

Art Basel starts with sales of millions

(dpa)

After a corona-related interruption of over a year, the world’s largest art fair, Art Basel, is taking place again physically. And the desire to buy seems great. According to the organizer, many of the gallery owners are again reporting sales in the six-figure range. David Zwirner, who was born in Cologne and has offshoots in Paris, London, New York and Hong Kong, sold Dan Flavin’s installation “Untitled” for 3 million dollars. Lelong & Co (Paris, New York) was also busy, where several works changed hands on the first day, including a Tapiès, three works by Etel Adnan and a bronze sculpture by Jaume Plensa. The Hauser & Wirth gallery is also said to have sold a Philip Guston for $ 6.5 million. A study published just a few weeks ago by the Art Basel art fair and the Swiss bank UBS found that the average spending by wealthy collectors rose by 10 percent in 2020. The first half of this year saw a further increase of 42 percent.

European companies view China’s economic course with concern

(dpa) European companies view the new economic course of the Chinese leadership with great concern. “At first glance everything seems to be fine in the Middle Kingdom,” said the President of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, Jörg Wuttke, in Beijing on Thursday.

So many companies had record numbers again last year Sales and profit achieved, which is unlikely to change in the near future. In the short term, too, the outlook for European companies operating in China remained positive overall. However, there are “worrying signs” that China is increasingly turning inward.

“This tendency raises considerable doubts about the future growth path of the country,” said Wuttke when the EU Chamber of Commerce presented the annual position paper. This referred to the new five-year plan adopted in March at the Beijing People’s Congress, which clearly stated the course “to reduce dependence on the rest of the world and ultimately to achieve a high degree of self-sufficiency”.

China is expected to be further reduce the role foreign companies are currently playing in its economy – particularly in the high-tech sectors. “The members of the European Chamber of Commerce are very concerned about the extent to which they will be able to contribute to China’s future economic growth,” said Wuttke.

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