Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 September 2020

Thu Sep 24 09:15:14 CAT 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 September 2020

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

ü  Westpac bank to pay record Australian fine over laundering breaches

ü  Covid-19: Sunak set to unveil emergency jobs scheme

ü  Trump: Major carmakers sue US government over China tax

ü  Wells Fargo's Charles Scharf apologises over race comments

ü  Coronavirus: Autumn Budget to be scrapped this year

ü  Uncle Ben's rice changes name to more 'equitable' brand

ü  Brexit: Lorry drivers will need a permit to enter Kent after transition
period

ü  Asda to crack down on shoppers without face masks

ü  Booming African crypto adoption drives concerns over regulation

ü  Mobileye signs driver-assistance deal with Geely, one of China’s largest
privately-held auto makers

ü  WeWork sells control of China unit; says unit got $200 million in funding

ü  Qantas must pass on full jobkeeper subsidy to workers, federal court
rules

ü  Tesco's Dave Lewis calls on companies and countries to tackle food waste

ü  Africa Offers Asian Business an Abundance of Investment Opportunities,
Webinar Participants Learn

ü  South Africa’s average household wealth versus the world

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Westpac bank to pay record Australian fine over laundering breaches

Australia's Westpac bank has negotiated to pay a record A$1.3bn (£0.7bn;
$0.9bn) fine for the nation's biggest breach of money laundering laws.

Last year, Australia's financial crime watchdog said the bank had failed to
adequately report over 19 million international transactions.

Some payments were potentially linked to child exploitation, officials said.

The nation's second-biggest lender has apologised for its "failings".

Westpac is the second top Australian bank to pay huge fines for breaching
anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.

If the billion-dollar fine is approved by a court, it will be the largest
civil penalty in Australian corporate history.

However, the fine could have been larger. Austrac said the transactions had
amounted to 23 million law breaches, with each carrying a maximum penalty of
A$21m.

Commonwealth Bank to pay record fine

All you need to know about FinCEN documents leak

Westpac's former chief executive and chairman left their positions last year
over the scandal.

"We are committed to fixing the issues to ensure that these mistakes do not
happen again," said chief executive Peter King in a statement on Thursday.

Westpac self-reported the breaches to the Australian Transaction Reports and
Analysis Centre (Austrac) last year. It also disclosed the investigation to
shareholders, including a forecast penalty.

Shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting in 2019

The bank said on Thursday it had reached an agreement to settle the court
case waged by Austrac.

Most of the breaches concerned the bank's failure to report international
transfers to the regulator, as required by law, in a timely fashion.

The unreported transactions amounted to more than A$11bn between 2013 and
2019, Austrac said.

It said the bank also failed to retain records and carry out due diligence
checks with potentially high-risk overseas banks.

Austrac said there were also a small number of payments on accounts that
were potentially linked to "child exploitation risks".

"The failure to pass on information... undermines the integrity of
Australia's financial system and hinders Austrac's ability to track down the
origins of financial transactions, when required to support police
investigations," said the regulator's boss Nicole Rose last year.

The cases comes amid several investigations around the world into top banks
for their alleged failures to prevent money laundering.

HSBC, Danske Bank and Rabobank have all been involved in high-profile
scandals.

In Australia, Westpac's competitor Commonwealth Bank paid an A$700m fine for
similar breaches in 2018 involving 53,000 suspect transactions.

The nation's banking sector was last year also the subject of a royal
commission - Australia's highest form of public inquiry - that exposed
widespread wrongdoing in the industry.--BBC

Covid-19: Sunak set to unveil emergency jobs scheme

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will later unveil a plan aimed at minimising further
unemployment as stricter Covid-19 restrictions come into force.

The new measures are expected to replace the furlough scheme, which is set
to expire next month.

In July, around five million workers were still receiving some or all of
their income through the scheme, many in the hospitality sector.

Pubs and restaurants have warned they will be hit hard by new restrictions.

>From Thursday, hospitality venues in England will have to shut at 22:00 BST
as the government tries to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Scotland is introducing similar measures, with pubs and restaurants having
to close at 22:00 BST from Friday, while in Wales restrictions are limited
to stopping alcohol sales at 22:00 from Thursday.

"Lots of businesses will not survive this and we are going to see more and
more people lose their jobs," said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade
body UKHospitality.

At around 12:30 the chancellor is expected to address the Commons to unveil
plans that the government hopes will stem those job losses.

It is understood Mr Sunak has been considering different forms of wage
subsidy and will announce more financial help.

He is also thought to be looking at options including a salary top-up
scheme, similar to those already operating in France and Germany.

The prime minister said Mr Sunak was working on "creative and imaginative"
solutions.

Although the Treasury has declined to comment, possible ideas are thought to
include allowing firms to reduce employees' hours while keeping them in a
job, with the government paying part of the lost wages.

Mr Sunak also announced on Wednesday that the Autumn Budget would be
scrapped this year because of the pandemic.

Cancelling the Budget is a big deal, because of what it shows about the big
picture: a government still in crisis mode, having to put off medium-term
tough decisions, on tax rises, that would have at least been signalled in
the contents of a Budget Red Box.

But we will get more spending, more support for jobs. As the chancellor told
me last week, that does not mean extending the furlough scheme endlessly,
but he has been thinking "creatively".

The discussions with business groups and unions have centred around
supporting employers with cash flow constraints to keep viable jobs. The
furlough scheme's initial purpose was to support people's wages, expressly
for them to stay at home.

The new scheme is likely to take inspiration from continental Europe, by
subsidising "short time" work, that is to say, helping top up pay for
workers given fewer hours of work in the crisis.

The furlough scheme is regularly lauded by the prime minister, and has
undoubtedly been one of the most competently executed policy responses of
the Covid crisis. Throw in the fact that the Tory "red wall" is more
comfortable with use of state spending, and some Tory thinkers advocate a
permanent scheme of wage support, such as occurs in Germany.

We also expect extensions by weeks or months of the various loan guarantee
schemes offered by the Treasury. Already banks are fretting about having to
call in some of these loans. Now significant swathes of the economy remain
under the shadow of the pandemic and of ongoing social restrictions meant to
defeat it.

It is difficult to see how a full Spending Review over four years could
occur. The Treasury can not calculate the size of the pie to be sliced up.
Having a one year review, like last year, also avoids some corrosive
internal politics over winners and losers.

So more spending, and more jobs support, as infection rates rise, and
restrictions look likely to be strengthened rather than loosened, but not
yet accounting for how it is all to be paid for, at a time of high and
rising public borrowing.

Furlough winding down

The government has been under mounting pressure to extend or replace the
furlough scheme, which will wind down next month.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was introduced in March and paid 80% of
the wages of workers placed on leave, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Since then, employers have been asked to pay 10% of the wages of those on
furlough, plus their National Insurance and pension contributions.

Furloughed workers can also now return to work part-time with the government
paying for any remaining hours not worked.

During the weekly Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson
faced calls from MPs from all sides to act quickly to help those businesses
hit hardest by the new restrictions on economic and leisure activity.

Citing Whitbread's announcement that it planned to cut up to 6,000 jobs in
the UK, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the threat to employment was
"not theoretical".

"The CBI, the TUC, the Federation of Small Business, the British Chamber of
Commerce and the Governor of the Bank of England are all calling on the PM
to stop and rethink and don't withdraw furlough," he said.

In a televised response to Tuesday's prime ministerial broadcast, Sir Keir
called for a "Plan B" for the economy - "because it makes no sense to bring
in new restrictions at the same time as phasing out support for jobs and
businesses."

What are the possible options?

Germany's Kurzarbeit: The employer cuts workers' hours and the government
pays them a percentage of the money they would have lost as a result. It is
a long-established scheme, but it has been revised during the pandemic. It
can now run for up to 21 months and the percentage of lost wages paid by the
government can now be as high as 80%.

France's "chômage partiel": The French scheme, known as "partial
unemployment" or "partial activity", also pre-dates the coronavirus
pandemic. Firms are allowed to cut employees' hours by up to 40% for up to
three years. Employees still receive nearly all their normal salary, with
the government paying a percentage of the cost.

The CBI's suggestion: A wages top-up from the government should be available
provided that employees can work at least 50% of their normal hours. The
firm would pay the actual hours worked in full, but the employee would get
paid for two-thirds of the lost hours, with the cost shared between the
company and the Treasury. The subsidy would last up to a year.

The TUC's suggestion: A more generous version of the above. Employees could
work a smaller proportion of their normal hours and still be eligible, while
they would be guaranteed 80% pay for the hours lost, or 100% if they are on
minimum wage.

--BBC

Trump: Major carmakers sue US government over China tax

Major carmakers are suing the US government over import taxes it has imposed
on Chinese parts.

Tesla is the latest auto firm to object to customs duties introduced by the
Trump administration and is demanding refunds.

The US and China have imposed border taxes on each other's goods and
services as part of a trade war.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have rapidly escalated in recent
weeks, mainly concerning technology firms.

A number of lawsuits are reported to have been filed by carmakers in the
past few days in the New York-based Court of International Trade.

Mercedes-Benz in its filing accused Washington of "prosecution of an
unprecedented, unbounded, and unlimited trade war impacting over $500bn in
imports from the People's Republic of China".

Tesla in its filing called the tariffs "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse
of discretion".

Founder Elon Musk wants the tariffs cancelled along with a "refund, with
interest" of import taxes paid, according to the filing.

Trade war

The trade war began in 2018 between the world's two biggest economy.

US President Donald Trump has long accused China of unfair trading practices
and intellectual property theft.

In China, there is a perception that America is trying to curb its rise as a
global economic power.

Early this year the two signed their "phase one" deal that partially ended
the dispute. Washington backed down on tariffs on $160bn in Chinese goods,
particularly consumer electronics.

However, tensions between the two nations have massively ramped up since.

Earlier this month the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that tariffs the
US imposed on Chinese goods were "inconsistent" with international trade
rules.

The WTO said the US did not provide evidence that its claims of China's
unfair technology theft and state aid justified the border taxes.

But the US retaliated saying that the WTO was "completely inadequate" to the
task of confronting China.

Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, America's top trade negotiator, said the US
"must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices".--BBC

Wells Fargo's Charles Scharf apologises over race comments

The head of US bank Wells Fargo has apologised for remarks that attributed
the lack of diversity in the bank's top ranks to a shortage of qualified
minority candidates.

The comments, made in a June call with employees and reiterated in a memo,
had drawn widespread criticism after being reported on Tuesday.

Bank chief Charles Scharf said he had made an "insensitive comment
reflecting my own unconscious bias".

"I apologise," he said.

The apology, in a message to employees shared by the bank, followed an
earlier statement, in which Mr Scharf said was "sorry" his comments had been
misinterpreted.

"There are many talented diverse individuals working at Wells Fargo and
throughout the financial services industry and I never meant to imply
otherwise," Mr Scharf said in Wednesday's message.

"Across the industry, we have not done enough to improve diversity,
especially at senior leadership levels."

'Limited pool'

Mr Scharf's comments come as the corporate world faces scrutiny for its
handling of diversity issues.

Wells Fargo's own record on race has also been in the spotlight, as the firm
has paid millions to settle investigations into discriminatory lending and
hiring.

In June, the bank announced diversity initiatives, following global protests
over police brutality and racism.

In the memo announcing the plans, which was reported by Reuters, Mr Scharf
said: "While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that
there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from."

The comment drew criticism from politicians such as liberal New York
congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as business leaders.

"Perhaps it's the CEO of Wells Fargo who lacks the talent to recruit Black
workers," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet.

Mr Scharf, who started at Wells Fargo last year, listed a handful of
appointments the bank has made recently - including adding two black staff
to its operating committee - as evidence of its commitment to diversity.

He has also pledged to double the number of black leaders over the next five
years and tied executive compensation to reaching diversity goals, among
other changes.

"Anyone who's open to re-evaluating their position, their perspective and
taking into consideration a new set of facts, you have to give him the
benefit of the doubt," Teri McClure, a former executive with United Parcel
Service, who had been among those criticising Mr Scharf, told Reuters.

"The Wells Fargo team should use that as an opportunity to move forward,"
she added.--BBC

Coronavirus: Autumn Budget to be scrapped this year

The Treasury has scrapped plans for an Autumn Budget this year because of
the coronavirus pandemic.

"As we heard this week, now is not the right time to outline long-term plans
- people want to see us focused on the here and now," the Treasury said.

"So we are confirming today that there will be no Budget this autumn."

There will however be a spending review to set out the overall shape of
government spending, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg reported.

Typically, the government outlines the state of the country's finances in
the Budget and, crucially, proposes tax changes.

But any such decisions will now be put on hold until next year. Instead, the
government will reveal how much each department is allowed to spend.

A Treasury source told the BBC: "No-one wanted to be in this situation but
we need to respond to it.

"The chancellor has shown he has been creative in the past and we hope that
people will trust us to continue in that vein."

The source said that "giving people reassurance and businesses the help they
need" was "uppermost" in the chancellor's mind.

Another source said that "jobs, jobs, jobs", have always been the
chancellor's priority.

'No surprise'

The decision to scrap the Budget comes as no surprise, according to
Genevieve Morris head of corporate tax at accountancy firm Blick Rothenberg.

"It would have been difficult for the chancellor to announce tax changes in
the autumn which are aimed at recouping the costs of the pandemic, whilst
the country is still in the grip of a second wave," she said.

"What we need from the chancellor now is a promise that there will not be
overnight tax changes announced in the autumn, or reforms which put
additional burden on individuals and businesses."

News of the decision to cancel the Budget came just hours after Chancellor
Rishi Sunak said he would unveil his "winter economy plan".

"As our response to coronavirus adapts, tomorrow afternoon I will update the
House of Commons on our plans to continue protecting jobs through the
winter," he tweeted on Wednesday.

The chancellor has been facing mounting pressure to say what will happen
after the government's furlough scheme expires at the end of October.--BBC

Uncle Ben's rice changes name to more 'equitable' brand

Uncle Ben's Rice will change its name to Ben's Original and remove the image
of a smiling, grey-haired black man from its packaging.

The change follows through on a pledge its owner Mars Food made in June to
review the brand amid global protests over police brutality and racism.

Uncle Ben's entered the market in the 1940s and was for decades the
best-selling rice in the US.

Its marketing has been criticised for perpetuating racial stereotypes.

Titles such as uncle and aunt were used in southern US states to refer to
black people, instead of the more formal and respectful "Miss" or "Mister".

The name Uncle Ben's was supposedly inspired by a Texas farmer known for his
high-quality rice. The company asked the head waiter at a fancy Chicago
restaurant, Frank Brown, to pose as the face of the brand, which launched in
1947.

In 2007, the company sought to update its marketing with a campaign that
cast Ben as chairman of the board, a move away from the previous, more
servile presentation.

"We understand the inequities that were associated with the name and face of
the previous brand, and as we announced in June, we have committed to
change," Mars said.

The new packaging is expected to begin reaching shops in 2021.

Mars said it would also work with the National Urban League in the US to
support black chefs with a $2m donation toward scholarships and invest $2.5m
in Greenville, Mississippi, where the rice is made.

"The brand is not just changing its name and image on the package. It is
also taking action to enhance inclusion and equity and setting out its new
brand purpose to create opportunities that offer everyone a seat at the
table," the company said.

Mars was one of several food giants that promised to review brands in the
wake of the protests triggered by George Floyd's murder.

Earlier this year, Pepsi said it would overhaul the marketing for its
popular Aunt Jemima line of syrups and foods, acknowledging the brand was
based on a racial stereotype.--BBC

Brexit: Lorry drivers will need a permit to enter Kent after transition
period

Truck drivers will need a permit to enter Kent after the Brexit transition
period ends, the government has said.

The announcement comes after a letter from cabinet minister Michael Gove
warned that queues 7,000-trucks-long could clog up roads around the port of
Dover and Channel Tunnel.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Gove said the Kent Access Permit system would be
enforced by police and ANPR cameras.

It is intended to ensure drivers have all the paperwork they need, he said.

Drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to apply for the
permits online and show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry
goods to Europe.

Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, responsible for no-deal
planning, wrote to logistics groups with the government's "reasonable
worst-case scenario" planning for when the UK leaves the EU's single market
and customs union rules on 1 January.

In that scenario, he said just half of big businesses and 20% of small
businesses would be ready for the strict application of new EU requirements
at the border.

"In those circumstances that could mean between only 30% and 60% of laden
HGVs would arrive at the border with the necessary formalities completed for
the goods on board," he told MPs.

"They'd therefore be turned back by the French border authorities, clogging
the Dover to Calais crossing."

He said it could lead to delays of up to two days for drivers waiting to
cross the Channel. Although he said those queues were likely to subside
after businesses learned from seeing their cargo denied access to the
continent.

The transition period is due to expire at the end of the year but only a
quarter of businesses are "fully ready" for the post-Brexit arrangements, Mr
Gove said.

Imports will also be disrupted in January, according to the letter sent to
the freight industry by Mr Gove.

It also raises the prospect of a winter spike in Covid-19 leading to
absences of port and border staff.

Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves, said:
"It is incredible that ministers are only now admitting to their plans to
arrest British truckers for entering Kent without new travel passports.

With just over three months to go, how are businesses meant to prepare amid
this Conservative carnival of incompetence?'"

The picture of chaos at the border might be familiar from a similar set of
projections made for no-deal Brexit a year ago as part of what was known as
Operation Yellowhammer.

The government says this is not a prediction but an illustration of what
could be reasonably expected.

Moreover, Mr Gove told parliament on Wednesday the government was
"absolutely determined to do everything that we can to secure a deal".

'Disrupted'

According to the Cabinet Office document, without a free trade deal and in
its reasonable worst-case scenario, there may be "maximum queues of 7,000
port-bound trucks in Kent and associated maximum delays of up to two days".

"Both imports and exports could be disrupted to a similar extent," it says.

The EU is expected to impose full goods controls on the UK, stopping all
freight without the correct documentation at the end of the transition
period on 1 January.

The disruption is assumed to build in the first two weeks of January, and
could last three months, or longer should France rigorously apply Schengen
passport checks on hauliers at Dover and the Channel Tunnel.

The purpose of this stark communication is to try to get traders to act now
to get ready for new border formalities that could help mitigate the
disruption.

Mr Gove told the industry that this needs to happen irrespective of whether
or not there is a deal in the UK-EU trade negotiations.

In response the freight industry says putting in place the measures needed
to avoid border delays will be "a huge challenge for government and
industry".

Logistics UK, representing road, rail, sea and air haulage firms says it is
urging businesses to quickly install and understand the new processes they
will need to use.

But firms need early access to both UK and EU systems so that they can
conduct testing and training before 1 January, it says.

'Fraught' relationship

A recent meeting between the industry and government was described as a
"washout", with insiders describing the relationship as "fraught" and
hauliers fearful that they were being cast as the "fall guys" for delays and
disruption likely in January.

There are further issues should there be no trade deal agreed. Hauliers
would have to rely on special permits rationed by the Department for
Transport, though a mutually beneficial deal here is possible.

But discussions on these issues await settlement of the impasse in
negotiations on state aid and fisheries.

Industry sources have raised the possibility that the UK would have to sign
up to EU rules limiting driver hours, in order to get access to EU roads.

And there is a specific new reference to France imposing strict passport
checks at the "juxtaposed controls" currently designed to offer seamless
travel across the Channel.

"There also remains a risk of continuing disruption caused by Schengen
controls being applied rigorously at the juxtaposed controls at the Port of
Dover and Eurotunnel," the document says.--BBC

Asda to crack down on shoppers without face masks

Supermarket Asda is set to enforce rules on face coverings more strictly
across its shops amid the pandemic.

Customers who do not have a covering when they enter a store will be offered
a pack of disposable masks that they can pay for at the end of their trip.

"We know that safety remains a key priority for our customers," its chief
operating officer said.

Face coverings must be worn by customers in shops, supermarkets and shopping
centres around the UK.

Those who fail to do so can be fined by the police - up to £100 in England
(soon to rise to £200), or £60 in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Asda announced on Wednesday that it will create 1,000 new "safety marshal"
roles across its 639 UK stores.

Dedicated staff will remind shoppers to wear face coverings in-store and
provide customers with sanitised shopping baskets on arrival.

The supermarket chain said it will also install extra hand sanitiser
stations in the busiest sections of its shops.

Anthony Hemmerdinger, chief operating officer at Asda, said: "We know that
safety remains a key priority for our customers and we will continue to do
all we can to keep them and our colleagues safe in store, as we have since
the start of the pandemic.

"These additional measures will make our stores an even safer place to shop
and work during the coming months."

Following a recent change in government guidance, face coverings are now
also compulsory for shop workers in England.

Asda confirmed all of its staff across England, Wales and Scotland will now
wear a covering while at work - unless they have a medical exemption.

Asda's announcement on Wednesday followed on from the news that Morrisons
has reinstated marshals on the doors of its 497 supermarkets to better
monitor shopper numbers and remind those entering to wear a face covering.

Morrisons has also created 2,420 new cleaning roles across its shops. Each
one of its supermarkets will also undergo a "deep clean" every three weeks.

Jayne Wall, operations director at Morrisons said: "The hygiene within our
stores has become more important than ever due to the impact of Covid-19.

"We want to make sure our customers feel as safe as possible when doing
their grocery shopping with us. So we've made this multi-million-pound
investment to introduce first-class hygiene procedures."

'Abuse is not part of the job'

Some industry figures have warned, however, that staff enforcing rules on
face coverings may be subject to abuse from customers.

Trade union Usdaw called on shoppers to "respect retail workers and follow
the necessary in-store safety measures to keep us all safe".

General secretary Paddy Lillis said: "We are deeply worried about safety
measures not being followed and the impact that has on the safety of staff.

"Usdaw members in food retail are key workers delivering an essential
service and have worked extremely hard in stressful environments to ensure
that the nation remains fed.

"Despite this, during the height of the first wave of the outbreak, violence
and abuse toward shop staff doubled. It is clear that such behaviour is
unacceptable: abuse is not part of the job."

Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at the British Retail
Consortium, said: "Retailers are working hard to keep their customers and
staff safe throughout this pandemic. They have spent hundreds of millions of
pounds on coronavirus safety measures including perspex screens, social
distancing measures and additional hygiene measures.

"Retailers support all necessary safety measures including the use of face
coverings for all staff."

In March, UK supermarkets were forced to take steps to prevent shoppers from
panic-buying around the height of the pandemic. Many introduced limits on
the number of certain items that customers could buy, such as flour, pasta
or toilet roll.

Enhanced measures introduced in recent weeks have not triggered stock-piling
by customers, according to several supermarkets approached by the BBC.

Asda said it still had good availability in-store and online, while Tesco -
the UK's largest grocer - is not experiencing any product shortages either.

Waitrose said it had "good levels" of stock and that it had also looked at
the items people bought early in lockdown and planned ahead accordingly.

"We would like to reassure customers that there is no need to worry about
buying more than they need," a spokesperson said.

An Iceland spokesperson said: "There are no shortages and there will be no
shortages so long as people continue to shop responsibly for what they
actually need."--BBC

Booming African crypto adoption drives concerns over regulation

2020 has seen an acceleration in African crypto adoption, with the continent
emerging as the second-largest region for peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, and
two African nations ranking in the top eight of the Chainalysis crypto
adoption index.

However, the booming growth has caught the attention of Africa’s financial
regulators, sparking concerns that a rush to introduce heavy-handed
oversight could quell innovation in the local crypto industry.

Nigeria has led the continent’s growth in 2020, posting weekly P2P volumes
of between $5 million to $10 million, followed by Kenya and South Africa
with between $1 million and $2 million a week each.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a representative of top P2P exchange Paxful
stated that Africa has been its strongest growing region in 2020, noting
there was also dramatic growth in smaller economies like Ghana, and
Cameroon.

Centralized exchanges have also reported a spike in trade activity, with
Luno reporting $549 million worth of combined volume from Nigerian and South
African customers last month — a 49% increase compared to the start of 2020.
The exchange also notes that new customer sign-ups have increased by 122%
from the fourth quarter of 2019 until Q2 of 2020.

Marius Reitz, Luno’s general manager for Africa, told business publication
Quartz that the increasing demand for crypto is being driven by the benefits
that virtual currency offers over the notoriously exclusive local banking
sector.

Reitz notes that crypto assets are seeing increasing popularity among
Africa’s large community of workers who live away from their home countries,
with the steep fees on foreign exchange across the continent driving these
migrants to explore crypto assets.

“The demand we see now is a result of the challenges that people experience
across Africa.”

Lagos-based BuyCoins exchange has also noticed growth in “people trying to
move money in and out of the country” with the exchange hosting $110 million
in crypto volume this year, up from $28 million during the entirety of 2019.

However, the increasing popularity of crypto has also brought greater
regulatory scrutiny — with African lawmakers analysts appearing divided on
how to best respond to the crypto phenomenon.

In April, South African regulators proposed regulations that would impose
strict licensing and monitoring requirements but do not recognizeng crypto
assets as legal tender. Last week, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) proposed guidelines that would treat all crypto assets like
securities by default.

Stephany Zoo of the Kenya-based exchange Bitpesa welcomed the consumer
protections that will come from increased regulation. “It is important that
the space is regulated and properly guided by the financial authorities to
ensure confidence and protection of the consumer,” he said.

But Reitz warned that hasty, heavy-handed regulation could crush innovation
within the sector:

“What we’d like to see is a phased approach. It can be very easy for
regulators to want to regulate the entire industry from the onset but it
could stifle innovation. Once governments regulate better, there’s more
chance of opening up integration with traditional financial infrastructure
and there would be more mass adoption as well.”-cointelegraph

Mobileye signs driver-assistance deal with Geely, one of China’s largest
privately-held auto makers

Mobileye’s computer vision technology will be used in a new premium electric
vehicle called Zero Concept from Geely Auto Group, one of China’s largest
privately-held automobile manufacturers. Mobileye’s owner Intel made the
announcement today at the Beijing Auto Show. Zero Concept is produced by
Lynk & Co., the brand formed as a joint venture between Geely Auto and Volvo
Car Group, and uses Mobileye’s SuperVision driving-assistance system.

Intel  also announced that Mobileye and Geely Auto have signed a long-term,
high-volume agreement for advanced driver-assistance systems that means more
Geely Auto vehicles will be equipped with Mobileye’s computer vision
technology.

In a post, Mobileye chief executive officer and Intel senior vice president
Amnon Shashua wrote that the deal is the first time “Mobileye will be
responsible for the full solution stack, including hardware and software,
driving policy and control.”

He added “it also marks the first time that an OEM has publicly noted
Mobileye’s plan to provide over-the-air updates to the system after
deployment. While this capacity has always been in our repertoire, Geey and
Mobileye want to assure customers that we can easily scale their
driving-assistance features and keep everything up to date across the car’s
lifetime.”

Based in Israel, Mobileye was acquired by Intel in 2017 for $15.3 billion.
Its technology and services are used in vehicles from automakers including
BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda and General Motors, and includes
features that warn drivers about issues like blind spots, potential lane
departures, collision risks and speed limits.

Geely Auto’s parent company is Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, also the parent
company of Volvo Car Group. In 2019, Geely Auto Group says its brands sold a
total of more than 1.46 million units. China is one of the fastest-growing
electric vehicle markets in the world, and even though sales were hurt by
the COVID-19 pandemic, government policies, including consumer subsidies and
investment in charging infrastructure, are expected to help its EV market
recover.-techcrunch

WeWork sells control of China unit; says unit got $200 million in funding

(Reuters) - U.S. office-sharing firm WeWork on Thursday said it will sell
control of its China division to one of its investors - private equity firm
Trustbridge Partners - as it steps back from a competitive market where it
has suffered low-occupancy rates.

The deal effectively offloads the China unit away from the parent, which has
faced fundraising issues since a failed attempt to go public in 2019.

WeWork said it will maintain a minority stake and “participating interest”
in WeWork China and that it will receive an annual fee from the unit for use
of the WeWork brand.

Concurrent with the deal, the division has received $200 million in funding
from existing investors, WeWork said. Michael Jiang of Trustbridge Partners
will serve as WeWork China’s acting chief executive officer.

Trustbridge and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd held
talks with WeWork’s Chinese unit over increasing their stakes and taking
majority ownership, Reuters reported in January.

WeWork shelved its initial public offering in 2019 after investors grew wary
of its losses, business model and corporate governance, leading to the
resignation of co-founder and former chief executive officer Adam Neumann.

It has since undergone significant management change yet remains enmeshed in
lawsuits over a $3 billion tender offer to existing shareholders.

Last month, the New York-based startup said it had almost halved its
cash-burn rate from the end of last year and obtained a $1.1 billion
commitment in new financing from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.

SoftBank, meanwhile, has been steadily offloading assets to raise money
after a spending spree late last decade. This month, it said it would sell
chip designer Arm Ltd, purchased in 2016, to semiconductor giant Nvidia Corp
for $40 billion.

Qantas must pass on full jobkeeper subsidy to workers, federal court rules

Unions have won a landmark federal court case over jobkeeper against airline
Qantas, with the federal court ruling companies have to pass the full wages
subsidy on to workers.

If Qantas does not successfully appeal it will be required to make backpay
to hundreds of workers, each of which unions estimate could be due thousands
of dollars.

Other companies across the economy could also be forced to make similar
payments.

A group of unions, including the Transport Workers Union and the Australian
Services Union, publicly accused Qantas of manipulating shifts to avoid
paying workers anything on top of the $1,500 a fortnight jobkeeper payment.

But while the unions accused Qantas of wage theft, allegations that Qantas
deliberately manipulated rosters for company gain at the expense of workers
or taxpayers were not put before the court.

During the legal proceedings, Qantas argued that payments made during a
fortnight for work done previously should count against jobkeeper payments.

But on Thursday judge Geoffrey Flick found that the jobkeeper law “means
what it says” and refers “only to the monies an employee is contractually
due to receive during any given fortnight for work performed during that
same fortnight”.

“If the consequence of the interpretation now given 
 is that idiosyncrasies
arise in respect to the quantification of amounts that an employee is to
receive – including the prospect that employees may benefit from a
“windfall” – so be it,” he said.

“It remains a matter for the legislature to “tweak” or adjust the scheme if
it sees fit.”

He said the ruling potentially affected all employers and workers receiving
jobkeeper.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said workers at Qantas “have endured
systematic wage theft at the hands of an out of control management”.

“This is an important win for Qantas workers who have had their pay raided
by senior management in a disgraceful abuse of the jobkeeper scheme,” he
said.

Assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union, Linda White,
said Qantas’s behaviour was “the clearest example of wage theft we’ve seen
in the aviation sector”.

“Qantas have a legal and moral responsibility to pay workers their
penalties, but it used tricky legal manoeuvres to dodge that
responsibility.”

A Qantas spokesman said it was “misleading of unions to suggest employees
should expect a sudden windfall out of today’s judgement”.

“Qantas has based all of its decisions on jobkeeper on the legislation and
guidance provided by the ATO and made sure all employees receive a ‘safety
net’ payment of $1,500 per fortnight,” he said.

“That ‘safety net’ assurance is a central part of the government’s jobkeeper
policy. Today’s judgement appears to cut across that principle.”

He said Qantas was “carefully considering” whether to appeal.

“The judgment will likely have adverse implications for all companies
receiving jobkeeper, who are already reeling from the impacts of Covid,” he
said.-theguardian

Tesco's Dave Lewis calls on companies and countries to tackle food waste

The boss of Tesco has called on companies, and countries, to take a
“once-in-a-generation opportunity” to tackle food waste as the coronavirus
pandemic focuses minds on global supplies.

Dave Lewis, who steps down next week, called on companies to regularly
report on the food waste in their business and supply chain and take action
to meet the UN’s sustainable development goal, set five years ago, to halve
food waste by 2030.

Lewis is chair of a coalition of companies, food experts and campaign groups
from around the world that have pledged to support the implementation of the
UN target known as 12.3. They include leaders from the food groups
Kellogg’s, Unilever, Nestlé, the retailers Ikea, Kroger, Walmart and Metro
and environmental charity WWF.

Ten retailers in the Champions 12.3 group, which meets for its annual summit
on Thursday, have worked with 200 of their major suppliers to commit to
halving food waste in line with the target.

They say urgent action is needed because a third of the world’s food is
thrown out, and production of this wasted food generates 8% of all
greenhouse gas emissions, more than any country bar the US or China. And yet
the role of this waste is not recognised or reported on by many countries or
companies. Meanwhile, one in nine people are going hungry.

Writing in the Guardian on Thursday, Lewis said: “Covid-19 has brought this
issue into sharp focus in every country around the world. Governments are
thinking about how to make supply chains more resilient and consumers are
rethinking the value of food.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tackle food waste and, in
doing so, help to change the course of the global climate emergency.
Companies and countries talk about building back better. Now is the time to
put that into action.”

The Champions 12.3 group is calling on food producers and retailers to
collaborate to cut the amount of food wasted in the system or to redirect it
to those in need.

They say governments should include food loss and waste reduction in their
national commitments under the Paris agreement on climate change. Likewise,
companies should include food loss and waste reduction in their emission
reduction strategies, which should also be science based.

Lewis said a failure to take action would “fatally undermine our ability to
tackle the climate emergency”.

A concerted effort in the UK, led by government-backed waste and recycling
body Wrap, has cut food waste by 27% since 2007, saving about £4.7bn a year.
A number of companies already have achieved reductions greater than 25%.

Tesco has reduced its food waste by 45,000 tonnes globally since it first
began publishing the relevant data in 2013, according to figures published
on Thursday. The supermarket has also worked with 71 suppliers, which have
collectively cut 155,000 tonnes of waste from their operations in three
years.-theguardian

Africa Offers Asian Business an Abundance of Investment Opportunities,
Webinar Participants Learn

The African Development Bank today held a workshop to convey the continent's
immense investment and partnership opportunities to Asian business leaders,
particularly as the continent seems poised to return to economic growth in
2021 following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two-hour virtual event, held in English, Korean, and Chinese, offered
participants an opportunity to learn more about the Bank and its operations.
The webinar comes on the heels of the recently launched African Economic
Outlook 2020 -Asia Supplement, which revised growth projections and outlook
for Africa for 2020 and 2021.

"I take this opportunity to strongly encourage Asian private sector entities
gathered here today, to partner with the Bank to take advantage of the
multiple investment opportunities that exist on the continent," said Samuel
Higenyi Mugoya, the Bank's Director for Syndication, Co-financing and Client
Solutions Department, which co-organized the event, together with the Bank's
Asia External Representation Office.

In introducing the Bank, Takashi Hanajiri, Head of the Asia External
Representation Office, provided an overview of the Bank and its history and
components before providing a summary of its flagship Africa Investment
Forum initiative and the opportunities it offers. Referring to the AIF event
held in Johannesburg in 2019, he said "So far the largest deal was a LNG
project in Mozambique with a total cost of $24.6 billion," adding, "many
Asian institutions, both public and private, are sponsoring the project."

Following a discussion of the Bank's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic,
Hanajiri concluded on a positive note, noting "Africa's growth will rebound
to 3% in 2021 from -3.4% in 2020."

Bank staff presented on the Bank's non-sovereign operations and financial
product offerings. Other sessions covered Africa's immense potential in
energy, particularly renewable energy, as well as agriculture, which remains
the continent's most important economic sector.

Director Mugoya praised Asian countries' ongoing support for the Bank and
Africa's development. "There are four Asian member countries in the Bank,
namely China, India, Japan, and Korea, that have been long-standing and
strategic partners for almost 40 years. The Asian member countries have
consistently contributed to the Bank's capital requirements and supported
the African Development Fund's successive replenishments." The African
Development Fund is the Bank's concessional window.

The webinar, which drew around 300 participants, closed with a question and
answer session. Queries addressed such issues as the Bank's representation
in India, trade financing offerings and access to financing for women.
Participating corporations and institutions included Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation,
Export-Import Bank of India, JICA, Korea Eximbank, Korea Trade-Investment
Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban
Development Corporation (KIND).

Africa's huge and highly diverse continent has the second-largest population
in the world and the second-largest land mass after Asia, offering
tremendous investment opportunities for the Asian private sector. The Bank
views Africa's private sector as a critical engine of economic growth and
development but Asian companies often lack information about the business
climate.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa was the second-fastest growing continent
outside Asia. Over the past decade, the continent has experienced the
longest period of unbroken growth in per capita incomes since the
1960s.-afdb

South Africa’s average household wealth versus the world

Financial services provider, Allianz has published the eleventh edition of
its Global Wealth Report, which puts the asset and debt situation of
households in almost 60 countries under the microscope – including South
Africa.

It should be noted that global wealth was calculated before the arrival of
Covid-19, which has had a dramatic impact on the world economy.

Allianz found that globally, gross financial assets grew by 9.7% in 2019,
clocking the strongest growth since 2005. “This performance is astonishing
given the fact that 2019 was marred by social unrest, escalating trade
conflicts and an industrial recession,” it said.

“But as central banks reversed course and embarked on broad-based monetary
easing, stock markets decoupled from fundamentals and soared by 25%, lifting
financial assets in the process. The asset class of securities increased by
a whopping 13.7% in 2019; never was growth faster in the 21st century.”

The growth rates of the other two main asset classes were lower – but still
impressive, Allianz said. Insurance and pensions reached a plus of 8.1%,
mainly reflecting the rise of underlying assets, and bank deposits increased
by 6.4%.

All asset classes clocked growth significantly above their long term
averages since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), Allianz found.

Another peculiarity of 2019: through all the years, the regional growth
league table used to be dominated by emerging markets. Not so in 2019.

“The regions that saw the fastest growth were by far the richest: North
America and Oceania where the gross financial assets of households increased
by a record 11.9% each. As a consequence, for the third year in a row,
Emerging Markets were not able to outgrow their much richer peers. The
catch-up process has stalled,” said the financial service provider.

Financial assets include cash and bank deposits, receivables form insurance
companies and pension institutions, securities (shares, bonds and investment
funds) and other receivables

South Africa ranked 38th in the ranking of the richest countries with net
financial assets per capita of $8,385 (R140,200) according to the 2020
edition of the report.

The gross financial assets of South African households rose by 6.7% in 2019,
after declining by almost 4% in the previous year.

The recovery was mainly driven by the rebound in insurance, pensions,
securities and bank deposits, Allianz said.

The growth of liabilities, on the other hand, slowed down further in 2019,
to 4.8% against 6.9% in 2018. While households in other emerging markets –
notably in Asia – embarked on a borrowing binge, South African households
showed restraint.

Last year’s recovery was mainly driven by the rebound in insurance and
pensions as well as in securities, both swinging from -3.4% to 5.0% and from
– 9.4% to 8.1%, respectively.

“Growth in bank deposits, on the other hand, continued to be very robust at
8.7%. This asset class, however, remains the least popular in South Africa,
its portfolio share is a mere 15.6%, compared with 52% of insurance and
pensions and around 30% of securities.

“Thus, the savings behaviour of South African households diverge
considerably from that seen in other Emerging Markets where on average bank
deposits account for almost half of all financial assets,” the German
company said.

The growth of liabilities, on the other hand, slowed down further in 2019,
to 4.8% against 6.9% in 2018. Accordingly, the debt ratio (liabilities in %
of GDP) remained almost flat at 44.7%, more or less in line with the average
in emerging markets (42.9%).

Just before the GFC, it was still 10 percentage points higher in South
Africa and almost three times the average in emerging markets at that time.
“While households in other emerging markets – notably in Asia – embarked on
a borrowing binge, South African households showed restraint,” Allianz said.

Net financial assets, finally, increased by 7.4% in 2019, after falling by
7.3% in the previous year. With net financial assets per capita of EUR 7,112
(R139,300), South Africa remained 38th place in the ranking of the richest
countries – financial assets per capita.

Crisis? What Crisis?

Allianz said that the same story is about to repeat itself in 2020 – but
only in extreme. “As Covid-19 plunged the world economy to its deepest
recession in 100 years, central banks and fiscal authorities around the
world fired up unprecedented monetary and fiscal bazookas, shielding
households and their financial assets from the consequences of a world in
disarray.

“We estimate that private households have been able to recoup their losses
of the first quarter and recorded a slight 1.5% increase in global financial
assets by the end of the second quarter 2020 as bank deposits, fuelled by
generous public support schemes and precautionary savings, increased by a
whopping 7.0%,” the group said.

Very likely, private households’ financial assets can end 2020, the year of
the pandemic, in the black. “For the moment, monetary policy saved the day,”
said Ludovic Subran, chief economist of Allianz. “But we should not fool
ourselves. Zero and negative interest rates are a sweet poison.

“They undermine wealth accumulation and aggravate social inequality, as
asset owners can pocket nice windfall profits. It’s not sustainable. Saving
the day is not the same as winning the future. For that, we need more than
ever structural reforms post Covid-19 to lay the foundations for more
inclusive growth.”

Trend reversal

The wealth gap between rich and poor countries has widened again, the report
found. In 2000, net financial assets per capita were 87 times higher on
average in the Advanced Economies than in the emerging markets; by 2016 this
ratio had fallen to 19.

Since then, it has risen again to 22 in 2019. This reversal of the
catching-up process is widespread. For the first time, the number of members
of the global wealth middle class has fallen significantly from just over 1
billion people in 2018 to just under 800 million people in 2019, Allianz
said.

It said that despite progress among emerging markets, the world remains a
very unequal place.

The richest 10% worldwide – 52 million people in the countries in scope with
average net financial assets of EUR 240,000 – together own roughly 84% of
total net financial assets in 2019; among them, the richest 1% – with
average net financial assets of above EUR 1.2 million – own almost 44%.

The development since the turn of the millennium is striking. While the
share of the richest decile has fallen by seven percentage points, that of
the richest percentile has increased by three percentage points. So the
super-rich do indeed seem to be moving further and further away from the
rest of society.

“It is quite worrying that the gap between rich and poor countries started
to widen again even before Covid-19 hit the world,” said Michaela Grimm,
co-author of the report.

“Because the pandemic will very likely increase inequality further, be set
back not only to globalisation but also disrupting education and health
services, particularly in low-income countries. If more economies are
turning inwards, the world as a whole will be a poorer place.”-businesstech

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2020

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

Bindura Nickel Corporation

Padenga Holdings

Delta Corporation

Meikles Limited

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
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