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 | Chris Powell - GATA |
| Seven banks fined in Swiss probes of rate-rigging cartels |
| Switzerland handed out about $100 million in antitrust fines against seven U.S. and European banks for participating in cartels to manipulate widely used financial benchmarks.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. was fined 33.9 million francs ($33 million) for operating a cartel with Royal Bank of Scotland Group for more than a year, with the aim of influencing the Swiss franc Libor benchmark, which is tied to the London interbank offered rate, Switzerland's competition commission said in a statement Wednesday.Wednesday, December 21, 2016 |
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 | Andy Hoffman - Miles Franklin |
| How To Win The “War On Gold” |
| Oh, the tangled web we weave, when we seek to deceive. And sometimes, when we actually want to help – particularly when referring to vote-seeking politicians.
Case in point, OPEC – which yesterday, pulled off the lie to end all lies in pretending to “cut production,” prompting the “oil PPT”-aided “market reaction it sought. Thus, enabling it to kick the can a few more months – or perhaps, weeks – before the reality of history’s most oversupplied crude oil market inevitably smashes its elaboratFriday, December 2, 2016 |
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| Bullion Vault |
| Gold Bullion Loses $10 Pop 3rd Day Running as Oil Jumps 8 on Opec 'Agreement' |
| GOLD BULLION again gave back a $10 overnight pop on Wednesday in London, falling back to last week's finishing level at $1183 per ounce for the third session running as world stock markets rose and oil prices jumped on rumors of an Opec output cut.
Western government bond prices slipped, driving
10-year US Treasury yields back above 2.34% to extend their third fastest month-on-month rise of the last decade following Donald Trump's vWednesday, November 30, 2016 |
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 | Mark O'Byrne - gold.ie |
| RBS Fail Bank of England Stress Test |
| Ulster Bank Parent RBS Fails Bank of England Stress Test
“Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)(RBS.L) will cut costs and sell assets to boost capital levels, it said on Wednesday after failing this year’s Bank of England stress test, which warned of a “challenging” outlook for Britain’s financial system.
The state-backed lender rushed out a statement following the announcement to say it would take a range of actions, including selling off bad loans and cutting costs to make up the capital shortfall idenWednesday, November 30, 2016 |
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| Chris Powell - GATA |
| Three of Fed's own primary dealers see rate hikes on hold until 2017 |
| Three of the Federal Reserve's own primary dealers are warning bond traders that a growing consensus the central bank will raise interest rates by year-end is misguided.
While none of the 23 banks that trade with the Fed expect a hike at the conclusion of Wednesday's meeting, HSBC Holdings, Royal Bank of Canada, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group remain steadfast that policy makers will choose to hold off on raising rates at the Fed's Dec. 14 meeting as well.
History would seem to be on the trio'sWednesday, November 2, 2016 |
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 | Mish - Global Economic Analysis |
| RBS Pays Negative Interest on Large Deposits Starting Monday; Negative Interest Roundup |
| In response to the Bank of England setting interest rates at a record low 0.25% at its last meeting, the Royal Bank of Scotland sent out letters informing some large depositors that negative interest start on Monday.
Postbank, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, will charge depositors €3.9 per month starting November, in response to the ECB’s negative interest rate policy.
This is more money out the window for depositors. At the end of this article I have a roundup of banks offering negative interestSaturday, August 20, 2016 |
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| Chris Powell - GATA |
| Royal Bank of Scotland's biggest trading customers face negative rates |
| By Tim Wallace
The Telegraph, London
Friday, August 19, 2016
Royal Bank of Scotland will impose negative interest rates on some of its biggest customers from Monday, as central banks’ sub-zero policies start to bite.
The 70 largest companies that are heavily involved in financial trading, including other banks and pension funds, will face the charge when trading options and futures.
Traders have to post collateral with clearing houses -- funds that cover the cost of transactions if the trader isSaturday, August 20, 2016 |
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| Sprott Money |
| Musical Chairs - Jeff Thomas |
| You’re familiar with the children’s game of
musical chairs. Ten children walk around nine chairs whilst listening to music.
When the music stops, each must quickly find a chair and sit in it. One child
is out of luck and is out of the game. Then a chair is removed and the nine
remaining children walk around the eight remaining chairs, waiting for the
music to stop again.
Economics is a bit like musical chairs. In a
recession, the economy takes a hit and there are some casualties. Some players
faFriday, August 19, 2016 |
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| Mark O'Byrne - gold.ie |
| Irish Banks Most Vulnerable In Stress Tests – Banking Contagion In EU Cometh |
| – Irish banks vulnerable in stress tests: AIB/ BofI amongst worst 5 banks in EU – Ulster Bank’s parent Royal Bank of Scotland emerged as 2nd worst bank – AIB, Banca MPS especially vulnerable & ‘failed’ in adverse scenario (see table) – Impairment of financial assets was the largest negative contributor to results – Bad loans continue to pose risks to Irish financial system – Diversification of deposits & allocation to gold prudent for individuals & companies – Experts advise diversifying into goMonday, August 8, 2016 |
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| Mark O'Byrne - gold.ie |
| Gold In Sterling 2.2 Higher After Bank Of England Cuts To 0.25 and Expands QE |
| Gold in sterling was 2.2% higher yesterday and was marginally higher in dollar terms after the Bank of England cut interest rates to all time, 322 year record low at 0.25% and surprised markets by renewing and aggressively expanding quantitative easing or QE.Sterling fell sharply on markets and gold rose from £1,014/oz to over £1,036/oz where it remains this morning. Ultra loose monetary policies are now even looser after the BOE cut interest rates for the first time in more than seven years andFriday, August 5, 2016 |
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 | Alasdair Macleod - Finance and Eco. |
| Market Report: PMs appear to be breaking out |
| Gold and silver drifted this week, continuing last Friday’s end-of-week profit-taking, until the FOMC announced on Wednesday afternoon EST that there was to be no change in the Fed Funds Rate.This was the signal for gold to gain some $20 and silver 75 cents. These moves represented an apparent break-out from the last month’s consolidation, and prices for both metals could now be on course to challenge the highs of early July.Yesterday was a day of consolidation with a fall for gold limited to $2Friday, July 29, 2016 |
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| Alasdair Macleod - Finance and Eco. |
| Brexit post-mortem |
| It is a month after Britain’s surprise vote to leave the EU.A new Conservative Prime Minister and Chancellor are in place, both David Cameron and George Osborne having fallen on their swords. The third man in the losing triumvirate, Mark Carney, is still in office. Having taken a political stance in the pre-referendum debate, there can be little doubt the post-referendum fall in sterling was considerably greater than if he had kept on the side-lines.This article takes to task the Treasury’s estiThursday, July 28, 2016 |
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| Andy Hoffman - Miles Franklin |
 The Biggest Financial Iceberg In History – Is Dead Ahead |
| THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL ICEBERG IN HISTORY – IS DEAD AHEAD
If you didn’t listen to the “Emergency Audioblog” I scripted Tuesday night, on essentially zero hours of sleep; or my powerful podcast with Kerry Lutz 12 hours later; you’re in for a treat. As today, you will get my streaming consciousness in full force, given my staunch belief that, per the title of said Audioblog – and podcast – the END GAME, of the powers that be’s’ control over financial markets; and history’s largest, most destructiveFriday, July 8, 2016 |
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 | Wolf Richter |
| ECB Blows €400bn on “Brexit Black Friday” for Bank Bailouts |
| Dealing with a Financial Crisis under cover of Brexit Chaos
Remember TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program that the US Congress approved to bail out banks and other companies during the Financial Crisis? $700 billion were authorized, later reduced to $475 billion. The Treasury eventually dispersed $432 billion. I bring this up because the ECB bailed out the European banks with more than TARP, in just one day: on Brexit Black Friday.
The ECB saw what was happening to the shares of the largest bMonday, June 27, 2016 |
|
| Wolf Richter |
| What the Heck’s Going on in Global Stocks |
| The NIRP Rout
In Japan, the Eurozone, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland, where central banks, in their infinite wisdom, have imposed negative interest rates supplemented with harebrained bond-buying schemes, bond prices have soared to where many government bonds and even some corporate bonds are trading with negative yields. Given this amount of liquidity and the free-for-all in corporate borrowing, stock markets in those countries should be booming, which had been part of the plan.
Alas, they’veMonday, June 20, 2016 |
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| 24hGold - Publicnow |
| RBL Redetermination Completed |
| Ithaca Energy Inc. (TSX: IAE, LSE AIM: IAE) ('Ithaca' or the 'Company') announces that it has successfully completed its planned semi-annual reserves based lending ('RBL') facilities review and continues to maintain in excess of $100 million of funding headroom ahead of planned first hydrocarbons from the Greater Stella Area in the third quarter of 2016.
The Company commenced deleveraging the business in 2015 with net debt reducing from a peak of over $800 million in the first half of 2015 to Tuesday, May 3, 2016 |
|
| Mish - Global Economic Analysis |
| RBS Goes to Robo-Advisors, Fires Hundreds; Real Advisor Requires £250,000 |
| The Royal Bank of Scotland fired 220 advisors and instead will use robots to answer customer’s investment questions. To talk to a real person you need £250,000. That’s about $362,000. RBS says this is what customers want.
RBS Fires 220 Advisors
Please consider RBS Cuts Hundreds of Jobs as FCA Approves ‘Robo-Advisers’.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced that it will be switching customer advice services over to automated ‘robo-advisers’ as it cuts 220 face-to-face positions.
The new onliThursday, March 17, 2016 |
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| 24hGold - Publicnow |
| Appointment of Non-Executive Director |
| Released 07:00 29-January-2016
Stratex International Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: STI / Sector: Mining
Stratex International Plc
('Stratex' or 'the Company')
Appointment of Non-Executive Director
Stratex International Plc, the AIM-quoted exploration and development company with a significant share in a producing gold mine, is pleased to announce that is has appointed Chris Worcester to its Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director, with effect from 1 February 2016.
Chris began his CFriday, January 29, 2016 |
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| 24hGold - Yahoo |
| 5:23 pm Vertex Pharma: Health Canada approves PrORKAMBI |
| 2:40 pm Major averages slip under initial post Fed lows, Nasdaq Comp -70 sets new session low -- Dow -146, S&P -12 (:TECHX) : 2:31 pm Currency Market Summary (:FOREX) : FOMC Has Little Effect on FX RatesThe U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.34% to 99.02 today as the Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep the main policy rates unchanged but took a slightly more cautious tone on the economy than Treasury investors had expected. The decline in the dollar came long before the release of the decision anTuesday, January 26, 2016 |
|
| 24hGold - Yahoo |
| 4:46 pm Vaalco Energy Board provides operational update, forms strategic committee to explore a range of strategic ... |
| 9:50 am Opening Market Summary: Indices Open Lower (:WRAPX) : The major averages have started their day in negative territory with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.5%) trailing the Nasdaq (-0.5%) and the S&P 500 (-0.1%).Technology (-1.0%) sits well behind the other sectors as energy (-0.2%) trimmed its opening loss courtesy of WTI crude climbing above the 31.00/bbl price level. Meanwhile, most sectors trade close to their flat lines as countercyclical consumer staples (+0.3%) and health careTuesday, January 26, 2016 |
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