MetLife has won a legal battle against US regulators over systemically important' financial institution (SIFI) status. A Washington court has rejected Financial Stability Oversight Counsil's (FSOC) attempt to classify MetLife as SIFI.
Legal & Regulatory
US does not plan to grant Iran access to US financial system
The US government doesn't seem be in favor of giving total access to Iran on its financial system. US President Barack Obama said the government is not looking to permit the use of its financial system in dollar-denominated deals with Iran.
Biggest Documents Leak in History Ties Vladimir Putin to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail
The history’s biggest confidential documents leak revealed Russian elites, mostly Mr Putin’s inner circles, as clients of an offshore law firm in Panama. The offshore money trail connected to Mr Putin’s allies is worth $2 billion.
GSK Got Positive Recommendation for Its Gene Therapy for Bubble Boy Disease, Expecting Approval Soon
A gene therapy for Bubble Boy Disease has received positive evaluation from European regulatory panel, paving a way for official approval. Currently, there’s no gene therapy for the disease, and the therapy would enhance patient’s success in survival and even recovery.
SunEdison Planning For Bankruptcy Filing, Negotiating With Creditors For Related Financing
Besides suffering from acute cash crunch SunEdison has been facing scrutiny from regulators over failed Vivint deal and other issues. Huge debt burden has led the renewable energy giant to consider for seeking bankruptcy protection and is holding negotiations for related financing. The news has caused slashing share prices by around 50% during after hours trading on Friday.
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AIG has announced in January planning for spinning off its mortgage insurer unit United Guaranty, following pressure from the shareholders. Following the announcement, Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency has downgraded its rating with specific reasoning. The mortgage insurer of AIG has disclosed through a regulatory filing that it intends to go for an initial public offering.
MetLife has announced in January planning for selling large portion of its US insurance unit. But the move has been suspended following imposition of designation as SIFI by FSOC. However, the FSOC move has been declared unlawful by a Washington court which paves the way for MetLife to go with its breakup planning.
Knesset has passed a bill that fixes maximum ceiling of executives in the financial institutions with no opposition. The bill turned law aims to reduce wage gap. However, a similar attempt in the US has backfired since the revised law allows exemptions for extraordinary performances.
The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) of Bank of England (BoE) has warned on Tuesday about possible financial outlook after Brexit. To tackle the possible lending market debacle, the committee has raised bank’s capital buffer requirement. However, the move has been criticized by the Brexit supporters whenever the referendum poll gets nearer.
Indian finance ministry has issued a new set of guidelines for regulating the online market places. The guidelines also include definition of ‘ecommerce’, ‘inventory based model’ and ‘market place model’ to bring clarity in this sector. However, clarity in segmentation of ecommerce business has been applauded by the analysts.
A group of investors led by Macquarie has reached an agreement with utility company Cleco to acquire the latter for $3.4 billion during October 2014. The acquisition proposal has previously been rejected by Louisiana PSC last month due to absence of best interest offerings to the Cleco customers. However, the deal has been approved on Monday following revised commitments from both the parties.
Hyperloop Technologies Inc. has been implementing an innovative idea of Tesla CEO Elon Musk through developing a new concept of transportation platform. The Los Angeles tech giant considers for spending $121 million to develop the full track at Apex Industrial Park. To allure the investment, Nevada state officials have waved $9.2 million sales tax applicable on the capital expenditure.
In the wake of Brussels attack, more European countries are considering making new policies that would legally require tech companies to hand over encrypted information when needed. That will affect tech companies around the world as Apple is pushing forward to fight back in the U.S. as well as in Europe.
Hawaii lawmakers are seeking to pass the bill on ivory trade ban. Thousands of African elephants and rhinoceros are being slaughtered because of their tusks and horns. Smugglers see Hawaii as their gateway to Asia to market illegal ivory and if left unregulated, the state would become the largest illegal ivory market.
