Search Results for: Switzerland

International and Switzerland-based mining major Glencore has settled UK bribery cases brought by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), accepting a GBP280.9 million (USD314.5 million) penalty ordered by Southwark Crown Court, London.

This followed an SFO investigation revealing that Glencore Energy UK had paid USD29 million in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in Africa between 2011 and 2015.…

WHEN European energy experts consider the future of hydrogen as an energy source, assessments sound remarkably like comments made about wind or solar power in the late 1990s – it is a great idea, but it would help if production and processing were less expensive.…

An African garment and textile sector rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic has seen strong export growth in the first three-quarters of 2022 start to sputter through a tightening of retail demand in Europe and the United States. These remain Africa’s two primary export markets and their consumers are reducing spending as inflation and recession concerns grow.…

The African knitwear manufacturing sector has been regaining ground lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, with established manufacturing hubs capitalising on the growing demand for nearshoring in Europe and to a lesser extent the USA. There are major investments under way in developing production capacity, particularly in West Africa.…

Egyptian knitwear manufacturers have profited from strong international demand over the past two years, being able to tap into the diversification and nearshoring trend of US and European buyers wanting to avoid over-reliance on Asian sourcing, especially in China. However, export sales have slowed since the summer as consumer sentiment has weakened in key overseas markets, which has caused a hiatus in further investment by some manufacturers.…

High value banknotes remain of concern to AML regulators, even though they are increasingly being withdrawn from circulation. Despite the growth of electronic payments, the amount of physical cash in circulation remains huge. The USD remains the currency that circulates most widely in the world, with the US Currency Education Programme (a Federal Reserve scheme) saying that there was USD2 trillion in circulation by the start of 2021 (December 31, 2020).…

The list of Russian assets seized by its European and north American opponents grows ever larger, with super yachts joining bank accounts and expensive properties being sequestered. But could they be sold? Should they be sold? And should the money be spent on rebuilding Ukraine, if it drives out the Russian invader?…

Times might be tough in Italy, with annual inflation at 9.4% (in September) and sluggish growth of 2.5% projected for 2022 (OECD data), but Italians are drinking more coffee, including supermarket sales for home-brewed drinks.

In 2021, Italian roasted mass market retail coffee sales exceeded EUR1.3 billion overall, said IRI, up 1.1% year-on-year, driven by the single-serving pods and capsules and grains segments.…

Enforcement action to tackle foreign bribery in compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (1) declined from 2018 to 2021, according to Transparency International (TI), after reviewing 47 leading export economies. These were 43 convention signatories plus China, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.…

The exchange of intelligence is a key element of AML/CFT, with FATF’s recommendations 36 to 40 focusing on international cooperation. The Egmont Group of FIUs also continues to hone how it securely delivers exchanges of sensitive AML/CFT information between its 167 members.…