Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 November 2021

Tue Nov 2 10:26:31 CAT 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 November 2021

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ü  Squid Game crypto token collapses in apparent scam

ü  COP26: India PM Narendra Modi pledges net zero by 2070

ü  Fishing row: France delays sanctions as talks over access continue

ü  Why UK interest rates could rise this week

ü  Chinese version of Fortnite to close in November

ü  Barclays boss Jes Staley in shock exit angry at Epstein probe

ü  Ryanair set to cut winter fares to boost demand

ü  The U.S. Federal Reserve's take on greening the economy: Not our job

ü  Asian shares mixed as investors await crucial Fed decision

ü  China property firms' shares, bonds take hit after Yango debt exchange

ü  StanChart Q3 profit doubles as bad loans shrink, trade finance booms

ü  Nearly all development banks committed to cutting coal investment, data shows

ü  Taiwan to woo backers at APEC for bid to join Pacific trade pact

ü  EXCLUSIVE BlackRock raises $673 mln for climate-focused infrastructure fund

ü  Investors tell Big-4 auditors they risk AGM rebellion over climate accounting

ü  Maersk triples quarterly profit despite lower container volumes

ü  ByteDance to reorganise into six units, CFO steps down to focus on TikTok

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Squid Game crypto token collapses in apparent scam

A digital token inspired by the popular South Korean Netflix series Squid Game has lost almost all of its value as it was revealed to be an apparent scam.

Squid, which marketed itself as a "play-to-earn cryptocurrency", had seen its price soar in recent days - surging by thousands of per cent.

However, as the BBC reported, it was criticised for not allowing people to resell their tokens.

This kind of scam is commonly called a "rug pull" by crypto investors.

This happens when the promoter of a digital token draws in buyers, stops trading activity and makes off with the money raised from sales.

Squid's developers have made off with an estimated $3.38m (£2.48m), according to technology website Gizmodo.

"Play-to-earn" cryptocurrency is where people buy tokens to use in online games and can earn more tokens which can later be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or national currencies.

Last Tuesday, Squid was trading at just 1 cent. In less than a week its price had jumped to over $2,856.

Its value has now plummeted by 99.99%, said cryptocurrency data website CoinMarketCap.

Squid was billed as a token that could be used for a new online game inspired by the Netflix series - which tells the story of a group of people forced to play deadly children's games for money. The game was due to go live this month.

However, cryptocurrency experts had warned of several tell-tale signs that it was likely to be a scam.

Most telling was that people who bought Squid tokens were unable to sell them.

Critics also highlighted that its website contained many spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. The website is no longer online and social media accounts promoting the tokens have also vanished.

"It is one of many schemes by which naïve retail investors are drawn in and exploited by malevolent crypto promoters," Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad told the BBC.

Professor Prasad said buyers need to be aware when buying cryptocurrencies as there is almost no regulatory oversight.

"In fact, open pump and dump schemes are rampant in the crypto world, with investors often jumping in with eyes wide open, perhaps hoping that they can ride the wave and dump their holdings for a quick profit before prices collapse," he said.

Squid was available for sale on decentralised crypto exchanges including PancakeSwap and DODO, which allows for buyers to connect directly to sellers, without a central authority.

"Nowadays new coins can be listed on decentralised exchanges on the first day they are created, without any regulation or due diligence," said Jinnan Ouyang from Singapore-based crypto company Openmining.

"So you could be buying coins from anyone with any agenda."-BBC

COP26: India PM Narendra Modi pledges net zero by 2070

India has promised to cut its emissions to net zero by 2070 - missing a key goal of the COP26 summit for countries to commit to reach that target by 2050.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the pledge, the first time India has set a net zero target, at the Glasgow summit.

Net zero, or becoming carbon neutral, means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

China has announced plans for carbon neutrality by 2060, while the US and EU aim to hit net zero by 2050.

The Indian leader is one of more than 120 leaders to have gathered in Glasgow for the two-week conference.

Dozens gave speeches on Monday laying out goals to tackle the climate crisis, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary General António Guterres.

President Biden said that every day the world delayed in tackling climate change, the cost of inaction increased.

But he told delegates that the fight against global warming offered incredible opportunities for world economies.

India's net zero pledge

India is the world's fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the US and the EU.

But its huge population means its emissions per capita are much lower than other major world economies. India emitted 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per head of population in 2019, compared with 15.5 tonnes for the US and 12.5 tonnes for Russia that year.

Mr Modi made the pledge as one of five commitments from his country.

They include a promise for India to get 50% of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and by the same year to reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes.

While the 2070 net zero target may have disappointed activists and experts in Glasgow, Mr Modi seems to have impressed people back home.

India had "clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world" by announcing 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil electricity capacity, half of energy from renewables, a reduction of emissions by one billion tonnes and emissions intensity of the GDP by 45% by 2030, according to Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a leading climate think tank.

"This is real climate action. Now India demands $1tn (£722bn) in climate finance as soon as possible and will monitor not just climate action but also climate finance," Dr Ghosh said.

The BBC's Vikas Pandey reports that the prime minister appears to have found the middle ground for his base - he is seen as being serious about climate change but without compromising India's economic potential.

Most headlines are using words like "big" and "major" to describe the announcement, our correspondent reports.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi used most of his time in front of his fellow world leaders to underline the need for lifestyle changes as the greatest solution to climate change.

But Mr Modi saved his biggest news to the last minute.

Detailing what he termed were India's "five elixirs" for climate, Mr Modi announced that his country would adopt a net zero emissions target - by 2070.

This is quite a significant step for the world's third largest emitter, still getting more than 50% of the country's electricity from coal.

It has to be tempered by the fact that the date is far past the mid-century goal for carbon neutrality that scientists say is necessary to avert the most dangerous levels of warming.

But there has been a general welcome for the goal.

Mr Modi's address came after a strongly worded speech from UN Secretary General António Guterres. Demanding that people stop "treating nature like a toilet" he sharply criticised continued use of fossil fuels, saying "we are digging our own graves".

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said future generations "will judge us with bitterness" if they failed at the conference, while US President Joe Biden said that "none of us can escape the worst of what's yet to come if we fail to seize this moment".

But outside the conference on the streets of Scotland's largest city, activists and protesters demanded more from global leaders.

Teenage campaigner Greta Thunberg told a crowd of demonstrators that politicians at the summit are "pretending to take our future seriously".

"Change is not going to come from inside there. That is not leadership. This is leadership. This is what leadership looks like," she said to cheers.

-BBC

Fishing row: France delays sanctions as talks over access continue

France will delay retaliatory measures against the UK while talks over post-Brexit fishing rights continue, Emmanuel Macron has said.

France had threatened to stop British boats offloading catches at its ports from midnight in a row over the licensing of French fishing boats.

But the French president told reporters the sanctions would be put off as talks between officials continued.

The UK said it welcomed the move and would continue "intensive" discussions.

A government spokesman added this would include "considering any new evidence" to support the remaining French licence applications.

Brexit minister Lord Frost will also meet France's European affairs minister Clement Beaune on Thursday to discuss a range of Brexit issues.

The French government said its measures would now not come into effect before this meeting took place.

In a statement, the president's office added it expected the UK to respond to France's latest proposals on licensing by Wednesday.

The row flared up last month, after the UK and Jersey denied permits to dozens of French boats to operate in waters near their coastline.

France had threatened to take a series of measures against the UK unless more licences were granted by midnight on Monday into Tuesday.

Representatives from the EU Commission, France, the UK and the Channel Islands began talks on Monday, seeking to diffuse the row.

French media quoted Mr Macron telling reporters at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow these would now continue on Tuesday.

"It's not while we're negotiating that we're going to impose sanctions," he was quoted as saying.

"We'll see where we are tomorrow [Tuesday] at the end of the day, to see if things have really changed," he added.

Under the Brexit trade deal, the EU and UK agreed they would give licences to boats if they can show they have fished in each other's waters for years.

But there have been disagreements about how much evidence is needed, leading to anger from France when applications were denied by the UK and Jersey.

Big trawlers will routinely collect this sort of information using things like data from Automatic Identification Systems.

Smaller vessels that come from French harbours to fish around the Channel Islands, for example, would find it harder to provide this kind of proof.

The retaliatory measures threatened by France include preventing British fishing boats from offloading catches at its ports, and stepping up border checks on UK goods.

Officials in Paris have also threatened to tighten security checks on British boats, and increase checks on trucks going to and from the UK.

Barrie Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said it was important that licences "aren't just handed out like confetti" to EU vessels.

He told BBC Breakfast there needed to be a way found to identify the vessels that had historically fished in the waters.

"I think it's the intervention of probably domestic politics in France that have escalated this out of all recognition from a fisheries issue."

Speaking earlier, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused France of "unfairly" setting a deadline for issuing more fishing permits.

She rejected a French accusation that the UK had breached the Brexit trade deal over the way it had issued licences.

And she had warned the UK would be prepared to take legal action under the deal, unless France withdrew its threats.-BBC

Why UK interest rates could rise this week

Borrowing money in the UK is now as cheap as it ever was - and it's been that way for years. But perhaps not for much longer.

The country's main interest rate, set by the Bank of England, has been below 1% since 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis.

In March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic caused the biggest economic slowdown for centuries, the rate was cut to an all-time low of 0.1%.

But now the tide is turning and that era of ultra-cheap money could be coming to an end.

The first in a series of rate rises could come as early as this week, with the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) due to pronounce on Thursday.

If it does lift interest rates many people with a mortgage will face higher repayments, since lenders will seek to increase their rates in line with the Bank's decision.

However, savers will be hoping for a better return on their money.

So why are interest rates expected to rise and how high could they go?

What would an interest rate rise achieve?

The main point of making it more expensive to borrow money is to curb inflation - the rate at which prices are rising.

As the UK economy recovers from the impact of Covid, consumers have more money to spend. That pent-up demand is pushing up the cost of a whole range of goods, some of which are in short supply because of the way in which factors such as the pandemic and Brexit have disrupted supply chains.

That's bad news for the Bank, which has a mandate to keep the annual rate of inflation at 2%.

If it goes as high as 3% or as low as 1%, the Bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, has to write a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to explain why and what he is going to do about it.

We are already in that territory, since inflation is currently at 3.1%. And the Bank expects it to rise further, hitting 4% or even 5% before subsiding again.

If the Bank puts interest rates up, the effect is to persuade people not to borrow and spend. Instead, consumers will tend to save, because returns from savings are higher.

With less disposable income being spent, the economy slows and inflation goes down again. That's the theory, at least.

What are the drawbacks?

Interest rates can be a bit of a blunt instrument. If they go up too far and too fast, that can choke off economic recovery and even cause a recession.

The Bank has been sitting on its hands in recent months, taking the view that the burst of inflation will be short-lived and will fix itself without the need for intervention.

And to be fair, other countries are seeing a similar price surge, yet neither the US Federal Reserve nor the European Central Bank has so far stepped in to raise rates.

But markets now expect the UK's main interest rate to rise from 0.1% to 0.25% in the first instance, with further increases to follow, perhaps reaching the pre-Covid level of 0.75% by the middle of 2022.

Those expectations are already having a direct impact on the mortgage market, with borrowers trying to lock in a low rate on five-year fixed deals while they still can, while some of the best deals are already disappearing.

Mortgage experts say they are expecting a "slow and measured" increase in the cost of home loans.-BBC

Chinese version of Fortnite to close in November

Fortress Night, the Chinese version of the popular game Fortnite, is to close later this month.

Epic Games, which owns Fortnite, has so far provided no reason for the decision to close the online shooter game.

An announcement said the game, which has been available in China as a "test" for two years, would come to an end on 15 November.

China sets strict limits on the time children can spend playing online games.

The last-player-standing style combat game stopped new sign-ups on 1 November, the announcement said, two weeks ahead of the planned shutdown.

The game was originally launched in China in 2018 in co-operation with Chinese tech giant Tencent. Many Western games need to be significantly altered for the Chinese market, both for regulatory reasons and cultural ones.

Fortress Night includes a number of changes from the original Fortnite, including measures aimed at limiting the time players spend on the game, as well as having no "microtransactions" to buy extra in-game items with real money.

In August, China's video game regulator announced that under-18s would be restricted to only an hour of online gaming on Fridays, weekends and holidays.

The government has long been concerned about the time young people spend playing games. For example, a state media outlet branded online games as "spiritual opium" earlier this year.

In announcing the closure Epic Games wrote: "Thank you to all the Fortnite China players who have ridden the Battle Bus with us by participating in the Beta."

The firm declined to comment beyond the announcement of closure.

Even though Fortnite took nearly a year to arrive in mainland China, it was hugely anticipated. Hugely successful overseas games rarely make it into the country.

There are lengthy terms and conditions set by China's strict regulators that stop games if they are seen as too violent, pornographic, or as painting the country in a negative light.

Many modern video games are not on a "blacklist" so to speak, but lengthy checks from the regulators mean that many overseas games are left waiting in a years-long queue to be authorised.

First, games companies have to secure contracts with local Chinese firms to get their games recognised. Then they are launched on to standalone Chinese servers.

This means that mainland-based users can play with each other, but they can't interact with international players.

For a while, Fortnite occupied a rare position in the Chinese market: a foreign game that cleared all those hurdles while still relatively new.-BBC

Barclays boss Jes Staley in shock exit angry at Epstein probe

Barclays boss Jes Staley is "shell-shocked, angry and upset" at the conclusion of a probe into his links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein which has led to his sudden exit from the bank.

Insiders close to Mr Staley said he was surprised by City regulators' findings.

They have been investigating if Mr Staley's links with the dead financier were closer than first thought.

Barclays said it had been made aware of the conclusions of the probe and "Mr Staley's intention to contest them".

At the heart of Mr Staley's departure is apparently a perceived inconsistency between his account to his own board of his relationship with Epstein and evidence seen by the regulators.

Mr Staley insists that while Epstein was an important client of JP Morgan, where Mr Staley worked for a number of years and as such they were in contact regularly, their dealings were well within the grounds that could be described as professional.

The BBC understands the regulator took the view that the volume and tone of the emails between the two suggested a closer relationship than the purely professional. But Barclays has stated that the report makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Epstein's crimes.

The relationship between a US high net worth individual and his private banker is not like your average relationship with the bank manager. In fact, it would be quite odd if Mr Staley had not visited Epstein at home or indeed vice versa.

Nevertheless, the board of Barclays clearly felt that the perceived disconnect between the accounts of the relationship would mean an extended and distracting wrangle with the regulator.

Having accepted Mr Staley's promise that he had been totally transparent about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the board described itself as "disappointed", but accepted that it would not be possible for Mr Staley to run the bank while being in open dispute with the regulator.

This is not the first time the board of Barclays has been blindsided by Mr Staley.

In 2018, he was fined £642,000 and Barclays £15m after Mr Staley took it upon himself to instruct the bank's own security unit to track down a whistleblower who had raised concerns about the suitability of the appointment of a former colleague of the chief executive. That could have been a straight red card but he escaped with a yellow.

The board will also be disappointed because Mr Staley's strategy for the bank seemed to be paying off. He saw off an activist shareholder challenge to split the investment and retail banks, the investment bank had started delivering good returns and the profits were beating analyst estimates.

But ultimately, boards don't like surprises - particularly ones that are perceived to tarnish a reputation and culture they have spent many years trying to rehabilitate.

Regulators began investigating the Barclays boss after getting a cache of emails between the men from Mr Staley's former employer.

Before joining Barclays the married father-of-two was an executive at US bank JP Morgan, where Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while in prison, was already a client.

Over many years, Epstein, who was convicted of trafficking a minor for prostitution in 2008 and served 13 months in custody, cultivated contact with the rich and powerful, including former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

Who was Jeffrey Epstein?

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has spoken of his "huge mistake" in spending time with Epstein, while the equally super-rich Leon Black stood down from US private equity firm Apollo Global Management over his links.

Although Mr Staley, 63, has characterised his relationship with Epstein as professional, with contact starting to "taper off" from about 2013, regulators wanted to know whether the emails pointed to a friendlier connection.

Mr Staley had already admitted he maintained contact with Epstein for about seven years after his 2008 conviction. And it is also known Mr Staley visited Little St James, a retreat owned by Epstein in the US Virgin Islands in 2015, months before taking the top job at Barclays.

Who is Jes Staley?

In fairness to Mr Staley, he is not the only boss of Barclays to have fallen from grace in recent times.

In fact, he is the bank's fifth chief executive in seven years - following in the footsteps of men such as Bob Diamond, who resigned over an interest rate-rigging scandal, and Antony Jenkins, who was sacked after falling out with the board over the bank's cost-cutting and profitability.

During the pandemic, Mr Staley spoke out against the culture of working from home, saying it was "not sustainable".

At a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum, he said: "It will increasingly be a challenge to maintain the culture and collaboration that these large financial institutions seek to have and should have."

Now Barclays faces the task of maintaining its culture without him - and he may prove a hard act to follow.

Mr Staley said last year: "Obviously I thought I knew him well and I didn't. For sure, with hindsight with what we know now, I deeply regret having any relationship with Jeffrey."

He has yet to comment publicly on Monday's news, but Reuters reported it had seen an internal memo from him indicating he did not want plans to contest the investigation's findings to be a distraction.

"Although I will not be with you for the next chapter of Barclays' story, know that I will be cheering your success from the sidelines," the memo reportedly said.

Barclays said in a announcement on Monday that it was "made aware on Friday evening of the preliminary conclusions from the FCA and the PRA of their investigation into Mr Staley's characterisation to Barclays of his relationship with the late Mr Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays' response to the FCA".

"In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley's intention to contest them, the board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down.

"It should be noted that the investigation makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Epstein's alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays' support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019."

Barclays praised Mr Staley's success at the bank, but added that "the regulatory process had still to run its full course and it was not appropriate for Barclays to comment further on the preliminary conclusions".

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) announced an investigation last year into Mr Staley's "characterisation to the company of his relationship" with Epstein.

Barclays said last year that following Epstein's death in 2019, Mr Staley had "volunteered and gave to certain executives, and the chairman, an explanation of his relationship with Mr Epstein".

The probe's conclusions are yet to be made public, but Hargreaves Lansdown's senior investment analyst Susannah Streeter said it seems clear they are critical of Mr Staley.

"Although detail is limited, it appears regulators believe there was a distinct lack of transparency over this relationship," she said. "It's understood Mr Staley will contest the conclusions, and clearly the board want to distance Barclays from what could be a long drawn out process."

Mr Staley has faced regulatory scrutiny before during his six years at Barclays.

In 2018, he was fined £642,430 by the FCA and PRA for trying to unmask a whistleblower who had raised concerns about a senior executive appointment at the bank's US operation. Many commentators thought the chief executive was lucky to stay in his job.

Under the terms of his contract with Barclays, Mr Staley will receive 12 months' pay, totalling £2.4m, as well as his pension allowance of £120,000 for the year, and any other benefits.

He will be replaced as chief executive by Mr C.S. Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, subject to regulatory approval.

The board said Venkat had been identified as its preferred candidate for the role over a year ago.

Reuters said it had seen another internal memo, from Venkat, telling staff Mr Staley's strategy at Barclays was the "right one", although he added he would announce changes to the organisation in the coming days.

In a statement, the FCA and PRA said they "do not comment on ongoing investigations or regulatory proceedings beyond confirming the regulatory actions as detailed in the firm's announcement".-BBC

Ryanair set to cut winter fares to boost demand

Ryanair says it is expecting to cut fares this winter to help boost passenger demand.

While the airline has seen business picking up recently, it warned it was still recovering from the Covid-related collapse in air travel.

Ryanairreported a narrowing of half-year losses, but warned its annual deficit could hit €200m (£170m).

Boss Michael O'Leary told the BBC the industry was seeing a "very strong recovery" across Europe.

However, he said heavy price discounting would be needed to fill aircraft this winter.

Keeping prices low and passenger numbers high would "set us up strongly for a very strong recovery", he said.

Mr O'Leary added that the number of empty seats per plane would shrink from around 20% to under 10% by next summer. The airline expects to return to profitability in the year ending March 2023.

"We're seeing very strong recovery in short-haul travel across Europe and it is being led by Ryanair," he told the BBC's Today programme.

He said there had been a "dramatic" recovery in passenger numbers, from eight million in the three months to June to 31 million in the following three months.

The recent school holidays had seen Ryanair "full to the gills as people got a last bit of sun", Mr O'Leary said. But that did not mean the hit to the industry from the coronavirus pandemic was over, he added.

The carrier reported an after-tax loss of €48m for the six months to September, which compared with a loss after tax of €411m a year earlier.

Ryanair carried 39.1 million passengers in the six months to the end of September, 54% fewer than in the same period of 2019.

The airline is expecting to make of loss of between €100m-200m for the full year, but Mr O'Leary said the guidance could not be more specific because there was still "little visibility" on ticket prices and recovery.

But he said the post-pandemic recovery offered the best growth opportunities of his three-decade career. In September, Ryanair lifted its passenger growth target. The airline now expects to fly 225 million passengers a year by 2026, up from 200 million previously forecast.

The airline reiterated it expects to return to pre-Covid profitability in the year ending March 2023.-BBC

The U.S. Federal Reserve's take on greening the economy: Not our job

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve trails other major central banks in tackling climate change, even as President Joe Biden pledges a "whole of government" approach and fights to salvage his ambitious climate agenda as global leaders meet in Glasgow to hash out responses to rising world temperatures.

In recent years the Fed has only begun to look at how changing weather patterns impact its ability to do its job, which includes safeguarding the financial system through bank regulation, and combating economic shocks through monetary policy.

And while it is devoting more effort to studying climate-related impacts, it treats climate risk as just another element that affects the economic and financial landscape, like trade or childcare policy, rather than as anything the Fed might try to shape.

That puts it well behind its peers who are gearing up to buy green assets, crack down on fossil-fuel lending, and push companies toward lower-carbon choices.

The hesitance to prioritize action on climate risk at the world's most powerful central bank will have consequences, analysts and activists say, not just for the U.S. economy but for a global financial system whose largest actors are in New York.

"If [the U.S.] are laggards, it won't be good for our markets, it won't be good for our companies," said Sanjay Patnaik, a Brookings Institution fellow specializing in climate policies. "The U.S. doesn't want to fall behind, or our financial system will be more vulnerable to climate risk."

Fed policymakers could catch up relatively quickly "if they engage fully," he said, particularly by implementing stress tests to gauge banks' vulnerability to climate risks such as higher temperatures or exposure to loans financing fossil fuel. The Bank of England has already started such testing, with a view to using the results to nudge banks to be better prepared.

Such tests could fall under the Fed's own remit for financial stability and Fed officials have said they will explore the possibility. But, leery of blowback on what is a fraught U.S. political issue, they maintain it's up to Congress, not them, to incentivize businesses to go green.

As Fed Chair Jerome Powell summed it up this summer: "We are not and we don't seek to be climate policymakers as such."

LETTING OTHERS LEAD

In the past year, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank have released comprehensive plans to help manage the transition to a greener economy, including using their asset-buying clout to selectively benefit less-polluting companies.

By contrast, the Fed, central bank to the largest greenhouse-gas producing country, remains stuck near the starting gate. It was the last major central bank to sign up to the Network for Greening the Financial System when it joined in December 2020, and has only just begun an effort to analyze financial-stability risks from climate change, but so far embracing no new policies to address it.

"When I think about why are other banks ahead of us really – and they are – it's because in those governments, they decided some years back that these are critical risks," San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said recently. Her bank has several economists leading the charge at the Fed on climate-change research.

Others such as the ECB and People's Bank of China have started green bond programs -- purchasing debt to finance environmentally friendly projects -- to nurture a transition toward alternative energy. The Fed views such policies as beyond its economic and financial stability mandates.

Daly acknowledged that as fire seasons lengthen, droughts deepen, and severe weather disrupts more economic activity, the Fed may need to respond more assertively.

"If climate effects occur and they are bridling the growth of our economy and putting us below our potential, then it would be our job to lean against the risks," she said, although she added that's different to mitigating climate risk directly.

The Fed's role is "not to even pull levers that would do that. It's really to be students of it so we are well prepared," Daly said.

CALLS FOR ACTION

Last Friday, activists demonstrated at many of the regional Fed banks and at the Fed Board in Washington, demanding more action and the replacement of Powell with a leader more focused on climate. Powell awaits Biden's decision on whether to nominate him for a second term, with critics seeing his assertion of climate change as a "longer-term issue" as a black mark against him.

"What we are pushing for is an aggressive level of regulation that we don't think he has the appetite for," said Kathleen Brophy, senior strategist at the Sunrise Project, a youth environmental activist group helping to organize the protests. "They have definitely stepped up on this issue for sure – but it doesn't match the urgency."

Others point out the Fed remains caught between an administration with a much bolder climate change agenda than in the Trump era and a Congress where Republicans and a few Democrats oppose action on climate change.

Even the small steps taken so far have drawn some rebukes.

In a letter to Daly, Republican Senator Pat Toomey called the bank's climate-change research "politically charged" and asked the Fed to abandon what he termed mission creep.

"Such activities are inconsistent with its statutory responsibilities; only Congress has the authority to reform the Federal Reserve or modify its mission," Toomey said.

But while the Fed's mandate is fairly narrow, its responsibilities are wide, and this is where it can take a stand on climate, analysts say.

"I think the Fed can and should be ahead, in the sense of that it's their job to supervise banks," said Paul Fisher, a former policymaker at the Bank of England who coordinated its climate initiatives. "Climate change is clearly a material threat to the banks and they have to supervise that... supervisors ought be getting on with this quietly in the background. Most of the banks recognize it's a financial risk. It shouldn't be that controversial."

And the Fed is forging ahead on its exploratory path. In October it signed on to a report on climate-related financial risk with other U.S. regulators that, for the first time, framed global warming as a financial risk.

"That's the major contribution of the...report," Patnaik said. "How do you get people to care about something? You tell them it's a risk to their livelihood and their assets."

Asian shares mixed as investors await crucial Fed decision

(Reuters) - Global shares idled just below record highs on Tuesday and currencies held tight ranges as nervous investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, one of several central bank decisions this week that could set the tone for risk appetite.

The Reserve Bank of Australia was the main focus on Tuesday, as it took a step toward unwinding extraordinary pandemic stimulus policies by abandoning an ultra-low target for bond yields. The spotlight now swings to the Fed and then the Bank of England, which also have meetings this week. read more

Asian shares were mixed with the MSCI's gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) holding steady at 0435 GMT, Japan's Nikkei (.N225) edging 0.4% lower and futures pointed to a weaker European and U.S. open.

The MSCI's world equities index (.MIWD00000PUS) was down a marginal 0.02%, with Pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures 0.25% lower and E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index down 0.21%.

In Asia, the RBA defied investor expectations for a more hawkish pivot, pushing the Aussie and kiwi dollars lower and drove short-term bonds higher.

"The market was pricing way more," said GSFM investment strategist Stephen Miller. "They thought that the RBA would take bigger steps to remove monetary accommodation given the upside risks to inflation and I think the RBA have made the minimum adjustment possible."

The Aussie was 0.25% lower to be within its two-week range at $0.75 while the kiwi moved 0.1% lower to $0.7172 . Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (.AXJO) was down 0.5%.

Australian 3-year benchmark bond yields were 6 basis points lower at 0.98%, compared with their recent 1.267% high on Oct. 29, while 10-year bonds pared earlier losses to push yields to 1.958%.

U.S. 10-year yields held steady and 2-year treasury yields were one basis point lower to 0.491%.

Chinese shares (.SSEC) fell 0.6%, dragged by financials and consumer firms even as the country's cabinet pledged more support for the consumer services sector, while tech stocks drove Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HSI) 0.6% higher.

South Korea's KOSPI index (.KS11) gained 1.50%.

Overnight, Wall Street advanced to record highs helped by gains for energy shares and Tesla.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 0.26%, after eclipsing 36,000 points for the first time during intraday trading. The S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 0.18% while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 0.63%.

The yen was 0.31% weaker at 113.65 per dollar and the euro also edged 0.07% lower to $1.15995.

The Fed on Wednesday is expected to approve plans to scale back its $120 billion monthly bond-buying programme, while investors will also focus on commentary about interest rates and how sustained the recent surge in inflation is. read more

"The elephant in the room is headline and underlying inflation, which are higher than the (Fed) was anticipating," said Standard Chartered's head of G10 FX, Steve Englander.

"We expect the (Federal Open Market Committee) to state that the Fed is ready to act decisively if inflation is not moving towards target levels when tapering ends, but it still expects inflation to fall as supply constraints ease. We think investors will see this as advancing the likely timing of Fed rate hikes," he said.

In commodities markets, a further 4% drop in Chinese coal prices on Tuesday pushed them 50% below last month's record high. read more

Oil prices were little changed as expectations of strong demand and a belief that a key producer group will not turn on the spigots too fast helped reverse initial losses caused by the release of fuel reserves by No. 1 world energy consumer China. read more

U.S. crude was 0.08% lower at $83.98 per barrel and Brent was trading at $84.76, up 0.03%.

Spot gold was 0.1% higher to $1,793.24 an ounce. Bitcoin was 0.7% higher at $61,365.2.

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China property firms' shares, bonds take hit after Yango debt exchange

(Reuters) - Shares and bonds of Chinese property developers stumbled on Tuesday as worries over spreading financial contagion worsened following a debt exchange from one of the country's top 20 homebuilders that triggered a flurry of credit warnings.

Yango Group Co Ltd (000671.SZ) on Monday offered to exchange some U.S. dollar bonds for new notes personally guaranteed by its chairman to avoid defaulting on upcoming debt payments. read more

Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday that it considered the offer a distressed debt exchange, downgrading Yango's rating to "C" from "B-". Moody's Investors Service earlier cut Yango's corporate family rating to Caa2 from B2, citing liquidity risk.

"Yango may not be able to mobilise all of its cash holdings to repay its maturing debts, given that most of it resides in its project companies. In addition, Yango's exposure to its joint ventures is significant, which could limit its ability to control its cash flow," Moody's said in a statement.

China Chengxin International, a domestic agency, said it had placed the company on a watchlist for possible downgrades, while Dagong Global Credit Rating Co on Monday cut its outlook on Yango to negative due to uncertainty over funds for debt repayments.

Yango Group did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The downgrades and warnings weighed on market sentiment on Tuesday, pushing Hong Kong's mainland properties sub-index (.HSMPI) down more than 4%, taking its losses since an Oct. 22 peak - when China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) narrowly avoided a $19 billion default - to nearly 17%.

The CSI300 real estate index of A-shares (.CSI000952) fell more than 3%, while Yango's own shares fell as much as 9%.

Yango Group's bonds fell sharply for a second day, with Duration Finance quoting its 12% March 2024 bond down almost 58% on the day to less than 13 cents, yielding nearly 160%. Its Shenzhen-traded April 2024 bond fell more than 15%.

November 2022 and 2023 bonds issued by Evergrande unit Scenery Journey fell more than 12% to about 20% of their face value ahead of coupon payments totaling $82.5 million this weekend.

Bonds issued by developers Yuzhou Group Holdings Co (1628.HK), Ronshine China Holdings (3301.HK) and Zhenro Properties Group (6158.HK) also fell more than 10%.

Evergrande narrowly avoided a catastrophic default for the second time in a week on Friday, making a last-minute payment on an overdue dollar bond coupon. On Tuesday its shares (3333.HK) gave up early gains to fall 2.5%. read more

Evergrande's woes have brought collateral damage to China's property sector, with some Chinese developers forced into formal default on their dollar bonds last month and others proposing extended payment schedules.

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

StanChart Q3 profit doubles as bad loans shrink, trade finance booms

(Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L) rode a recovery in pandemic-hit markets to post a stronger-than-expected pre-tax profit for the third quarter on Tuesday, aided by lower credit charges and growth in trade finance.

Statutory pretax profit for the bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, jumped to $996 million in July-September, from $435 million a year earlier and better than the $942 million average estimate of 16 analysts as compiled by the bank.

The beat comes amid a push by CEO Bill Winters, who took charge in 2015, to restore growth while creating a portfolio of digital assets in the last few years, after repairing the bank's balance sheet and slashing thousands of jobs in his early years.

Still, StanChart's London-listed shares have underperformed rivals since then, and are up 8% this year versus a 18% rise for HSBC (HSBA.L) and 37% surge for Barclays (BARC.L).

Its shares in Hong Kong edged up 0.2%.

The London-headquartered bank's overall quarterly income rose 7% to $3.8 billion from a year earlier.

StanChart, which bases its business on capturing trade flows between its key markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, said trade income rose 13% to the highest since early 2018.

The bank has suffered more than most rivals in recent years from rising geopolitical tensions, including between the United States and China, which have subdued global trade flows.

StanChart reported credit impairment charges of $107 million in the third quarter versus $353 million a year earlier and said it expects these to remain at low levels in the fourth quarter.

The bank said it had $4.2 billion in exposure to China's real estate sector, where China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) is grappling with a $300 billion debt pile and stoking worries of further defaults and contagion risks. read more

"We continue to monitor the potential second order impacts of recent developments," StanChart said, stating an overall exposure of $18.5 billion to commercial real estate, a fraction of its total group customers loans and advances of $302 billion.

Like larger rival HSBC (HSBA.L), StanChart has been betting on the world's second-largest economy to help drive its growth amid sluggish prospects in western markets.

Last month, HSBC beat quarterly estimates and announced a $2 billion share buyback. read more

Winters faces a challenge to convince investors of StanChart's prospects as, according to Refinitiv data, the bank trades at 0.44 times book value for 2022 versus 0.62 times for HSBC and 0.55 for Barclays.

He is by far the longest-serving CEO at a major British-based bank. The shock departure of Barclays CEO Jes Staley on Monday means it along with HSBC, Lloyds (LLOY.L) and NatWest have all seen change at the top in the last two years. read more

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nearly all development banks committed to cutting coal investment, data shows

(Reuters) - Nearly all internationally available development financing is now committed to reducing or ending investment in coal-fired power after moves by China and the G20 to stop supporting new projects overseas, new research showed on Tuesday.

Just before a new round of climate talks began in Glasgow, the G20 nations pledged on Sunday to end finance for all coal-fired power plants overseas. It followed a similar commitment made by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United Nations General Assembly in September.

According to new research from Boston University's Global Development Policy Center, the G20 pledge means that 99% of all development finance institutions are committed to cutting coal investment and raising support for renewables.

"If these institutions live up to their commitments, it will be easier for developing countries to find official finance for renewable energy and coal power phase-out than for building new coal-fired power plants," said Rebecca Ray, senior researcher at the GDP Center and one of the study's authors.

The study said only three major "holdouts" remain - the Development Bank of Latin America, the Islamic Development Bank and the New Development Bank - though many of the major shareholders in those institutions were part of the G20 pledge.

Xi's September announcement that China would no longer be involved in overseas coal projects was the most significant change so far, depriving coal-fired power of its biggest financial backers, including the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, the study said.

The decision appears to have had an immediate effect on the country's financial institutions, with the Bank of China vowing to end new overseas coal mining and power projects starting in October. read more

One expert involved in drawing up guidelines to decarbonise China's Belt and Road investments said Chinese financial institutions were aware of the waning demand for coal-fired power, making it easier for Xi's order to be implemented.

"They are quite serious about it," said the expert, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. "They are not looking for excuses to continue the projects; they are looking for reasons not to continue."

With coal already struggling to compete with renewables - and many analysts forecasting that the sector will eventually consist of billions of dollars worth of "stranded assets" - China's decision to pull out represented a rare alignment of political, economic and climate interests, analysts said.

"The economics have changed, and their experience with financing coal with the Belt and Road Initiative wasn't good - there are already issues with host countries defaulting on debt," said Matt Gray, analyst with the climate think tank TransitionZero. "I think they now have the political signals (to stop investing) that they have been crying out for all along."

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Taiwan to woo backers at APEC for bid to join Pacific trade pact

(Reuters) - Taiwan will seek support for its bid to join a trans-Pacific trade pact when it attends a meeting of economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific group APEC next week, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday.

China, which has also applied to join the pact, opposes Taiwan's membership and has increased military activities near the island which Beijing claims and has not ruled out taking by force. read more

Taiwan and China both applied in September to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Economic leaders from the Asia-Pacific trade group APEC, which includes the United States, China and Japan, will meet virtually next week to discuss a path forward for the region to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'd like to ask envoy Chang to use this meeting to gather support from more APEC members for Taiwan to join CPTPP," Tsai told reporters, referring to Taiwan's representative for the meeting, chip giant TSMC (2330.TW) founder Morris Chang.

"Envoy Chang will express Taiwan's support and insistence for free trade."

Speaking at the same event, Chang said he will use his six-minute speech to emphasise Taiwan's qualification to reach CPTPP's high standards, as well as the island's already "very high" trade contribution to the major pan-Pacific free trade pact. He did not elaborate.

Joining CPTPP has become the latest in a string of tensions between Beijing and Taipei, which is excluded from many international bodies because of China's insistence that it is part of "one-China" regardless of Taiwan's claim that it is an independent country.

In an interview with Reuters in September, Taiwan's economy minister questioned China's suitability for the Pacific trade pact, citing restrictive trade practices by the world's second-largest economy, and feared "obstruction" made by Beijing. read more

Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer, is a member of the World Trade Organization and the APEC grouping.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated sharply in recent weeks as Beijing raises military pressure that has included repeated missions by Chinese warplanes in Taiwan's air defence identification zone. read more

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

EXCLUSIVE BlackRock raises $673 mln for climate-focused infrastructure fund

(Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) told Reuters it has raised a target-beating $673 million for an infrastructure fund with backing from the French, German and Japanese governments to invest in climate-focused projects such as renewable energy in emerging markets.

The world's largest money manager hopes the fund, to be announced on Tuesday and dubbed the Climate Finance Partnership, will show how to mobilize private capital in developing countries to tackle climate change, a sticking point at United Nations climate talks under way in Glasgow. read more Investors have been wary of investing in risky projects without more certainty they will get a return.

State-owned development banks from France, Germany and Japan and philanthropic institutions such as the Grantham Environmental Trust and the Quadrivium Foundation are providing 20% of the fund's capital and have agreed to take losses before other investors.

While a number of multibillion-dollar renewable energy funds have been raised over the last year to help build out solar, wind and other projects, the vast bulk has been spent in richer countries offering investors lower risk.

in emerging economies, excluding Countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America will need around $1 trillion a year out to 2050 to help them transition to a low-carbon economy, BlackRock said. In 2020, just $150 million was invested China.

BlackRock and the fund's other backers are trying to muster more support for such emerging markets-focused initiatives at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. The new fund could help developed nations meet a target of mobilizing $100 billion a year to help poorer countries tackle climate change. read more

Among the fund's 22 backers were French energy company TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and institutional investors including AXA (AXAF.PA) and Dai-ichi Life Insurance. The fund comfortably beat its fundraising target of $500 million, BlackRock said.

"This partnership is proof that governments, philanthropic organizations, and institutional investors can come together to mobilize capital at scale into emerging markets, which are most exposed to the impact of climate change," BlackRock Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Fink said in a statement. Fink has previously called for linking public and private finance to address climate change.

The fund has a typical 10-year lock-up with a five-year investment period, with the average equity investment likely to be in the $25 million-$75 million range, David Giordano, global head of renewable power at BlackRock Alternative Investors, told Reuters.

"One of the key things that we talked about with our partners back in 2018, when we started down this path, was really coming up with something that was simple but did provide that sense of de-risking the emerging markets," Giordano said.

Kenya, Morocco and Egypt were all attractive for investment, as were Peru and Vietnam, where the government was "really committed" to the energy transition, Giordano said.

Renewable energy in non-OECD countries is expected to represent 49% of global energy capacity by 2050, Edwin Conway, global head of BlackRock Alternative Investors, said.

"Now, that's huge ... I think we're talking about decades, with regard to the opportunities that are ahead," Conway said.

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Investors tell Big-4 auditors they risk AGM rebellion over climate accounting

(Reuters) - Major investors have warned the world’s top four audit firms they will vote to stop the firms working for the companies they invest in at AGMs from next year if audits do not integrate climate risk.

The challenge, laid out in letters from an investor group managing around $4.5 trillion that were seen by Reuters, marks an escalation in the group's efforts to ensure investors were armed with robust information.

The investors have been pushing auditors to improve for several years amid concern they were misrepresenting the true health of companies by not factoring in potential hits from the impact of climate change and associated policy changes.

Ahead of the COP26 climate talks in Scotland, the group had called for governments to force companies and auditors to file accounts in line with the world's goal of limiting global warming by mid-century. read more

The letters dated Nov. 1 and sent to Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC by the investor group pointed to recent research showing more than 70% of assessed 2020 audits had fallen short. read more

The group includes asset managers Sarasin & Partners, Pictet and Aviva Investors (AV.L) and pension schemes including RPMI Railpen. The investors said that after three years of discussions with the firms, they "cannot afford to wait another three years" for audits to improve.

At the next season for corporate annual general meetings, the auditors could "increasingly expect to see" investors vote against their reappointment if they failed to meet expectations, the letters said.

In the letter to Deloitte, for example, the group said the auditor was responsible for 19 of the companies assessed in the research, including oil major BP (BP.L), miner Glencore (GLEN.L) and building materials company CRH .

"While we have identified some welcome signs of leadership, notably at BP, based on our analysis overall these audits have not met our expectations," the letter said.

"Outside the UK, the picture is worse. Of the remaining 16 audits undertaken by Deloitte, only three mention climate risk. None provides the visibility we seek on the potential financial implications of a 1.5C pathway, which global leaders have committed to delivering."

Paul Stephenson, managing partner audit & assurance at Deloitte, said the auditor agreed that "climate-related risks should be accounted for and disclosed appropriately in annual reports and financial statements.

"We are clear that along with investors, professional bodies, regulators, standard setters and audited entities we have an important role to play in enhancing confidence in the information provided to markets,” he said.

CHALLENGING

Cath Burnet, Head of Audit at KPMG UK, said the firm had trained all its auditors last year on the impact of climate change risk on companies, in addition to the accounting and reporting implications.

"Our role as auditors includes challenging the recognition and measurement that climate has on the financial statements, as well as challenging narrative where it is misleading or inconsistent," she said.

A PwC spokesperson said that "to increase transparency in this area, our future audit opinions on larger UK listed companies will further explain how material climate-related risks have been addressed.

“We welcome investor engagement in this area which will help drive company disclosure and the setting of clear climate related goals."

EY said in an emailed statement that the firm's audit teams "continue to consider the risks that climate change brings to the companies we audit, where it relates to financial reporting.

"We are actively involved in developing standards and are supportive of ongoing work to establish a framework that companies and auditors can report against which would provide more consistent reporting for investors."

The world's leaders meet in Glasgow this week aiming to accelerate climate action in an effort to cap global warming at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial norms by mid-century. read more

After first writing to the Big Four audit firms in 2019, the investors said structural changes linked to climate change and associated policy action were accelerating, citing a recent United Nations report that issued "code red for humanity" over climate change.

"This is driving a more robust policy response globally," the latest letters said.

"Auditors that fail to test accounting assumptions taking these structural shifts into account are, in our view, failing in their duty to shareholders."

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Maersk triples quarterly profit despite lower container volumes

(Reuters) - Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Tuesday said record-high freight rates boosted quarterly earnings despite lower container volumes due to congestion at ports.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a shortage of container ships and logjams at ports at a time of high consumer spending, pushing the cost of transporting freight to record levels.

Maersk said its main Ocean business is now expected to grow by an amount below that of global container demand, which is seen at 7-9% in 2021 versus previous guidance of 6-8%.

It also said it will buy freight-forwarder Senator International, whose largest business is within air freight, along with two Boeing aircraft for an enterprise value of around $644 million. read more

Maersk's ongoing transformation from a container shipping giant into an integrated logistics company has accelerated following its strong performance during the pandemic.

It said final third-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) tripled to $6.9 billion compared with a preliminary figure of close to $7 billion issued on Sept. 16, when the company also lifted its 2021 forecasts. read more

It also said it would extend its existing share buy-back programme by an additional $5 billion over the years 2024 and 2025.

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ByteDance to reorganise into six units, CFO steps down to focus on TikTok

(Reuters) - TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will step down as its parent ByteDance's chief financial officer (CFO) to focus on running the short video platform full time, according to an internal memo the company shared with Reuters.

The memo, which was sent by ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo to staff on Tuesday, also outlined a major reshuffle at the Beijing-based company to create six business units (BUs).

This is the biggest organizational change since ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming said in May he would step down as CEO. Zhang remains chairman and has more than 50% of voting rights. Liang will officially take over from Zhang as CEO in December.

Chew's shift comes after ByteDance said in April that it did not have any imminent plans for an IPO. It had been looking at a Hong Kong or New York listing, sources previously told Reuters.

One of the world's largest private companies, ByteDance had a valuation of about $300 billion in recent trades.

Chew joined ByteDance as CFO in March and was appointed as TikTok CEO in May. Liang did not elaborate on replacement plans for the CFO role, but a person familiar with the matter said the company was not rushing to seek candidates to fill the position.

ByteDance will also be reorganised into six units - TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, work collaboration unit Lark, business services unit BytePlus, gaming unit Nuverse, and education tech unit Dali Education, Liang said in the memo.

This will help ensure "business lines and teams that work closely together are grouped as BUs", he added.

The TikTok unit will support operations of the short video app and its expansion into areas such as global e-commerce.

ByteDance's Chinese products, including Douyin, news aggregator Toutiao, video-streaming platform Xigua, will be folded into the Douyin unit, which will take over all "information and service" operations in the Chinese market.

The bulk of ByteDance revenue, totalling $34.3 billion in 2020, was generated in China, sources have said.

Liang also said that Dali, which has undergone layoffs and product closures after China issued rules barring curriculum-based tutoring for profit, would provide services for education stakeholders such as artificial intelligence-powered learning, education for adults and smart hardware.

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

National Unity Day

December 22

Christmas Day

December 25

Boxing Day

December 26

Public Holiday in lieu of Boxing Day falling on a Sunday

December 27

Companies under Cautionary

ART

PPC

Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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