RTC Director

Euro strength to top finance ministers' meeting

France is set to voice concerns about the strength of the euro at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers later.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici is worried that the rising single currency is making the country's goods less competitive.

The euro has risen by 6% against a basket of other currencies in the past six months.

But with other countries also wanting to weaken their exchange rates, there are renewed fears of "currency wars".

Japan has also moved to force down the value of the yen.

Last week, Mr Moscovici called for the European Central Bank (ECB) to consider setting a target for the single currency - steering it lower when the value got too high.But both Germany and the ECB are against such a move, arguing that the central bank's mandate is to ensure price stability and not to manage currency markets.

However, ECB President Mario Draghi was widely thought to be trying to talk down the euro at his interest rate press conference last week.

"The exchange rate is not a policy target but it is important for growth and price stability," Mr Draghi said in response to a question.

"We will closely monitor money market developments."

Daragh Maher, a senior currency strategist at HSBC, told the BBC that France was probably more "twitchy" because numbers were showing its competitiveness to be declining.

Today's Eurogroup meeting - attended by eurozone finance ministers - is the first to be hosted by the Netherlands. Financial aid to Greece and Cyprus is also likely to be discussed.

Source-BBC

by RTC Director

Barclays misled shareholders about source of £3bn

Barclays misled shareholders and the public about one of the biggest investments in the bank's history, a BBC Panorama investigation has found.

The bank announced in 2008 that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour had agreed to invest more than £3bn.

But the BBC found that the money, which helped Barclays avoid a bailout by British taxpayers, actually came from the Abu Dhabi government.

Barclays said the mistake in its accounts was "a drafting error".

Investor changed

Unlike RBS and Lloyds TSB, Barclays narrowly avoided having to request a government bailout late in 2008 after it was rescued by £7bn worth of new investment, most of which came from the gulf states of Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Half of the cash was supposed to be coming from Sheikh Mansour.

But Barclays has admitted it was told the investor might change shortly before shareholders voted to approve the deal on 24 November 2008.

But instead of telling shareholders, the bank remained silent until the change of investor was confirmed a few hours later.

The bank said it subsequently provided "appropriate disclosure" in three prospectuses that were issued the following day.

But the disclosure was buried deep in the small print and said that Sheikh Mansour "has arranged for his investment…to be funded by an Abu Dhabi governmental investment vehicle, which will become the indirect shareholder".

Barclays still used the phrase "his investment", even though it knew Sheikh Mansour was not actually investing in the bank at the time.

The bank continued to mislead shareholders in its annual reports of 2008 and 2009, both of which identified Sheikh Mansour as the investor.

Barclays said the mistake in its accounts was "simply a drafting error" and that the information provided in the prospectuses was "entirely appropriate in all the circumstances".

The bank also said: "The shareholders meeting had already taken place and there was therefore no need to issue press releases or additional formal communications to shareholders/other market participants."

Offshore

Professor Alistair Milne, an expert on financial regulation in the City, said banks are expected to release accurate information about major deals.

"Any discrepancy of that kind is serious because it raises questions in the minds of investors. Every bank is well aware the annual report is a critical document and a huge amount of time and attention is put in to trying to get all the details correct."

The Abu Dhabi government investment vehicle that provided the funding, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), was not mentioned in any Barclays' announcements until six months after the deal.

The chairman of IPIC is Sheikh Mansour. Although the Sheikh did not invest any of his own money in Barclays at the time, a company he controlled was initially issued warrants to buy 758 million shares in the bank.

The warrants gave the owner a valuable option to buy the shares at a fixed price at any point over the following five years.

If Sheikh Mansour profited personally, then Barclays may have breached anti-corruption laws aimed at preventing payments to government officials.

Jeremy Carver, a lawyer for Transparency International, said Barclays may be at fault if government officials benefitted from the deal.

"You have to worry not because Sheikh Mansour may or may not be doing something wrong, you have to worry because you may be doing something wrong as a bank.

"You may be committing a crime, you may be paying a bribe if you have not got it straight as to which capacity the person you are dealing with is acting."Barclays issued the warrants to a Jersey company called PCP Gulf Invest 3, which represented the beneficial interests of Sheikh Mansour.

Control of the company was then transferred from the Sheikh to IPIC, then from IPIC to an Abu Dhabi official and then eventually back to Sheikh Mansour.

It is impossible to tell who benefited from the warrants, because all of these transactions took place offshore.

However, the 758 million shares associated with the warrants were bought at significantly below the market price and they now belong to Sheikh Mansour.

Barclays said the change in ownership of the offshore company had no bearing on the transaction or required approvals.

The bank said in a statement that it had "repeatedly demonstrated to Panorama why the allegations which have been put to us are not justified".

"The Board of Barclays took the decision on capital raising in 2008 on the basis of the best interest of shareholder and its other stakeholders, including UK taxpayers," it said.

"Barclays performance relative to other UK banks which accepted government funding, especially on key measures such as lending growth, demonstrates unequivocally that it was the correct decision for Barclays, its shareholders, its customers and clients, as well as the UK."

Neither Sheikh Mansour nor IPIC responded to questions raised by Panorama.

Source-BBC

by RTC Director

Apple, Microsoft and Adobe summoned by Australia

Technology giants Apple, Microsoft and Adobe have been called by the Australian parliament to appear before a committee looking at pricing levels.

The House of Representatives launched a probe in July last year to see if some goods were more expensive in Australia than in other parts of the world.

Consumer bodies have often complained that Australians are overcharged.

The firms have previously made written submissions to the committee but have so far declined to appear in person.

They are now scheduled to appear before the committee on 22 March.

The Australian newspaper quoted Ed Husic, a member of parliament, as saying that according to some estimates the price of some of goods in Australia were as much as 60% higher than in the US.

"Given the widespread use of IT across businesses and the community, the prices paid for hardware and software can have a major commercial and economic impact," the politician was quoted as saying.

"Getting downward movement on IT prices and easing the bite of price discrimination should be an important micro-economic priority - so I'm looking forward to hearing from these firms about their pricing approaches," he added.

by RTC Director

Venezuela devalues currency by 32% against the dollar

Venezuela has cut the value of its currency against the US dollar by 32%, in an effort to boost its economy.

The widely expected measure ramps up the official exchange rate of the bolivar from 4.3 to 6.3 per US dollar.

It was announced after Vice-President Nicolas Maduro's return from Cuba, where he said President Hugo Chavez gave him instructions on the economy.

The leader has not been seen or heard in public since December, when he went to Havana for cancer treatment.

This is the fifth devaluation of the bolivar since Hugo Chavez' administration started controlling the exchange rate, in 2003.

The previous devaluation was in 2010.As oil exports are calculated in US dollars, a weaker bolivar should mean more cash for the government.

Strict controls to prevent currency going out of the country mean that dollars are normally hard to get in Venezuela, but in recent times this situation had become acute, says the BBC's Sarah Grainger, in Caracas.

Dollars have been trading at four times the official rate on the black market.

'Campaign money'

In a country that largely depends on food imports, the scarcity of dollars also led to shortages of products such as sugar and flour.

The new exchange rate is expected to address this situation.

But the measure is also expected to have an impact on the inflation, which has already been climbing.

The leader of the opposition, Henrique Caprilles, criticised on Twitter the fact that the government announced the devaluation on Carnival Friday in South America.

The opposition says the government has waited until after the elections to take the necessary steps in the economy.

"They've spent the money on the campaign, corruption and presents overseas," wrote Mr Caprilles, who lost the presidential elections to Mr Chavez last year.

Mr Chavez went to Cuba on 8 December to treat an undisclosed cancer and has not been seen or heard from since.

Mr Maduro recently said the president was "battling on" and had entered a new stage of treatment, after successfully finishing the post-operative phase.

by RTC Director

EU leaders agree 3% budget cut deal in Brussels

EU leaders have reached an agreement on the budget for 2014-20 after lengthy talks in Brussels.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced the deal and said in a statement it was "worth working for".

The new budget ceiling amounts to 960bn euros (£812bn; $1.3tn). It is the first time the EU's multi-annual budget has been reduced.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who had been pressing for cuts, hailed it as a "good deal for Britain".

"I think the British public can be proud that we have cut the seven-year credit card limit for the EU for the first time ever," Mr Cameron said.

French President Francois Hollande, who had argued against big spending cuts, said it was a "good compromise".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also welcomed the deal, which represents a 3.3% reduction from the previous seven-year budget.

From my point of view this agreement is good and it is important because it gives us the ability to act in Europe in the coming years," she said.

"It gives us the ability to plan for important projects and with a view to growth and employment".

The agreement came after all-night talks.

Countries such as France and Italy had sought to protect spending, while others pressed for cuts at a time of national austerity.

The budget must still be approved by the European Parliament.

The four biggest political groups in parliament have said they "cannot accept it as it stands because it is not in the interests of Europe's citizens."

Responsibilities

Mr Van Rompuy said the deal amounted to a cut of roughly 34bn euro in both commitments and payments.

He said EU leaders had met their responsibilities by overcoming sharp differences, and he hoped the European Parliament would meet its responsibilities by passing the budget.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he would have preferred a budget closer to the Commission's original proposals.

But he said he recognised that the deal was "the highest possible level of agreement that heads of government could reach with unanimity".While Mr Cameron has claimed a significant overall cut as a victory, the UK's contribution is likely to go up.

The UK's rebate is shrinking from its current annual level of about 3.5bn euros.

The reduced rebate was negotiated by former Prime Minister Tony Blair to help fund the EU's eastward enlargement.

Mr Cameron said he had resisted attempts to further reduce the rebate.

"I fought off attempts to undermine the British rebate and the rebate is safe," he said.

Source-BBC

by RTC Director

Boeing warns customers of 787 Dreamliner delays

Boeing has warned customers awaiting delivery of new 787 Dreamliners to expect delays, amid a continuing investigation into their safety.

Deliveries of the planes in the near future have either been delayed or are at risk of postponement, the airliner manufacturing giant said.

Customers expecting delivery of 787s soon include the UK's Thomson Airways and Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Investigations are continuing into the safety of the 787s batteries.

The entire fleet of 787s was grounded last month after a battery on one plane caught fire, while a malfunction forced another to make an emergency landing.

Contingency plans

On Thursday US regulators said they would allow Boeing to carry out test flights of 787 Dreamliner planes to test battery performance.

Both Thomson Travel and Norwegian Air Shuttle, a budget airline, have been told to expect delays and are making contingency plans.

Thompson was due to receive its first 787s at the end of February.

The airlines said they had not been given new delivery dates for the planes, which Boeing has touted as its most energy-efficient and economical airliner to date.

So far 50 Dreamliners have been delivered to airlines by Boeing, but all are currently grounded while safety checks are carried out.

A further 473 have been ordered by at least 44 different airlines around the world.

by RTC Director