Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
MAJOR CLOTHING COMPANIES FACE GLOBAL COUNTDOWN TO FORMAL SUSTAINABILTY REPORTING STANDARDS
Clothing and textile companies are facing a major change in how they report their performance in future, with international and national initiatives pushing them to generate and declare data on their social and environmental performance. Draft mandatory requirements are being consulted upon in the European Union (EU) and the United States, with optional reporting rules being developed by an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).…
SEC CHARGES 11 IN USD300 MILLION CRYPTO PYRAMID SCHEME
The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 1 charged 11 individuals with fraud offences over their roles in creating and promoting Forsage, a fraudulent online crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme that raised more than USD300 million worldwide. Millions of retail investors inside and outside the US invested in what was claimed to be a decentralised smart contract platform using the Ethereum, Tron and Binance blockchains.…
INDIAN CLOTHING SECTOR PREDICTS MAJOR SALES GROWTH FOLLOWING ANTICIPATED EU TRADE DEAL
The Indian garment manufacturing industry is optimistic about the impact of a free trade agreement (FTA) between its country and the European Union (EU), which it thinks could be concluded next year (2023).
“It would be a game changer,” Gautam Nair, chairman of the export promotion committee of India’s Apparel Export Promotion Council told Just Style, highlighting how an anticipated “9.6 to 12 percent duty [reduction] makes a big difference in our competitive business.”…
CAMBODIA MAINTAINS STRENGTH AS CLOTHING CUT AND SEW CENTRE – BUT UNDERLYING WEAKNESSES PERSIST
Cambodia’s clothing sector may continue to face challenges over its weak backward linkages and pressure to increase wages – balancing reasonable pay with international competitiveness in price sensitive markets – but its apparel export receipts remain healthy. The country’s clothing export earnings were not seriously damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, which had a relatively light impact on Cambodia.…
MEAT-LOVING GERMAN CONSUMERS ALSO RECEPTIVE TO VEGETARIAN MEAT ALTERNATIVES
GERMANY, a market known for meat consumption, is increasingly trying out plant-based alternatives and has developed one of the largest and fastest-growing meat substitute markets in Europe. As a result, German producers are largely focused on growing the domestic market, with limited exports to other European Union (EU) countries.…
US CONGRESS TO ADOPT ENABLERS ACT IN AML AND GRAFT CRACKDOWN
The US Congress is gearing up to adopt the ENABLERS Act (1) that would extend anti-money laundering requirements (AML) in the Bank Secrecy Act (2), such as customer due diligence and reporting suspicious transactions, to cover professional service providers including certain lawyers and accountants, third-party payment services and people who form or register companies or trusts.…
CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD DECLINING AMID FALL IN CURRENCY PRICES SAYS NEW REPORT
Rates of cryptocurrency fraud are running at 65% less than a year ago, according to a new report (1) from blockchain data platform Chainalysis.
The New York-based company said total scam revenue for the first seven months of 2022 sits at USD1.6 billion in a dip apparently linked to declining prices across different currencies. …
UK OVERSEAS ENTITIES REGISTER ‘RIDDLED WITH FLAWS AND LOOPHOLES’
The UK’s new register of overseas entities (ROE) run by registrar Companies House, that went live August 1, has come under fire over loopholes that could mean beneficial owners of property can still hide their identity. Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for anti-corruption and responsible tax, tweeted that the ROE “is not a silver bullet for tackling money laundering in UK real estate.…
AIRBUS PAYS OUT EUR15.9 MILLION TO SETTLE FINAL BRIBERY CHARGES
Aircraft giant Airbus has been fined nearly EUR15.9 million to settle the final vestiges of the massive bribery scandal that initially saw EUR3.6 billion (USD3.79 billion) in fines paid to British, French and United States authorities in January 2020. A Paris court (tribunal judiciaire du Paris) November 30 cleared a November 17 accord between the French financial prosecutor, the Parquet National Financier (PNF) and Airbus.…
PWC FINED GBP1.75 MILLION FOR AUDIT FAILINGS OVER BT ITALY FRAUD
The British accountancy regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), has fined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) GBP1.75 million (USD2.11 million) and PwC partner, Richard Hughes, GBP42,000 (USD50,681) for failings in auditing GBP513 million (USD619 million) in adjustments that telecoms giant BT made in its 2017 accounts to allow for a massive fraud discovered in Italy in July 2016. …