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A bill that would force the central bank to consult with the government and report to the parliament on a regular basis, has been rejected by the Czech Senate. The bill also stipulated that the government would take over from the central bank’s governor the responsibility for nominating the bank’s board. This was viewed by the Senate as an unjustified infringement of the bank’s independence and an affront to the constitution.
07/08/2000
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Konsolidacni Banka, the Czech state factoring bank, has today announced that it has cancelled an agreement made in June with U.S. Ayres Corp. A reason for the cancellation has been given by a spokesman for the Czech bank, who said that Ayres had failed to meet a contractual requirement by not bringing operating capital to their Czech unit in Let Kunavice. The spokesman, Jiri Pekarek, went on to say that “Let’s management had not been strengthened and …operating finances were not provided.”
07/08/2000
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In spite of the introduction of laws this year to protect minority investors and to eliminate capital controls, levels of investment and trade volumes have remained low in Chile in recent months. It is thought that global stock market uncertainty and high rates of interest in the US have contributed to Chile’s economic distemper.
07/08/2000
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France’s second and third largest factors (by turnover and market share) have merged to create Eurofactor, which claims to be the European leader in international factoring.
Les Brown of Credit Lyonnaise Commercial Finance maintains that the newly merged entity is “Europe’s largest integrated factoring network” and that the presence of the Euler Group, as a joint shareholder, will see further enhancements and benefits to Credit Lyonnaise Commercial Finance’s Introducer base for all of their clients.
07/08/2000
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07/08/2000
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A report on 3 August 2000 has revealed that there has been a 2.2% increase in consumer price inflation for July. This has come as a blow to the government of Turkey which is aiming to bring last year’s figure of 60% down to 25% this year, with a view to being in single figures by 2003.
Financial Times
04/08/2000
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There were worries that recent strong rates of growth would lead to the Bank of England raising the rate of interest, but following yesterday’s announcement, (which held the rate constant at 6% for the sixth month in a row), there are hopes that the next move in interest rates will be downward rather than upward. Ian Peters, of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce has called on the Bank of England to “resist further rate rises unless there is clear evidence of significant inflationary pressures.”
Financial Times
04/08/2000
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There has been a sharp increase in the money market rates in Sri Lanka during the last month and a half which has seen a rise from a stable average of 15% per annum to 17%. This instability has had an impact on the Sri Lankan factoring industry in terms of a correspondingly sharp increase in the cost of funds for factors.
BCR Publishing
04/08/2000
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Euro Sales Finance plc, the pan European factoring and invoice discounting company, has reported record profits for the year ended 30 June 2000, following their expansion into the French and German markets. The following table illustrates this impressive growth:
03/08/2000
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After a year long struggle for control over Poland’s BIG Bank Gdanski, Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) has succeeded in taking a majority of seats on the Polish bank’s advisory board. Deutsche Bank had launched a hostile takeover bid for BIG earlier in the year, but sold its holding in the Polish bank to BCP following the threat of lawsuits from BIG’s other shareholders. Following the resignation of nine of the members of BIG’s supervisory board (announced on 31 July), three further seats were gained by BCP.
Financial Times and Newswire
03/08/2000
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The Serious Fraud Office have issued a press release stating that they are to conduct an investigation into the business activities of the trade finance group Versailles. The decision follows an inquiry into Versailles in 1999 by the Department of Trade and Industry. The information provided to the SFO following this inquiry has been deemed sufficient reason for the investigation to be authorised. The SFO press release states that there is a possibility of “serious and complex fraud at Versailles.”
Serious Fraud Office
03/08/2000
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After last week’s British Virgin Islands hearing, a court ruling has been made that promises to reveal more about the reasons behind the collapse of the trade finance group, Versailles, in January of this year. The group of investors that funded Versailles are effectively split into two camps, one championed by Mr Moseley and the other by Carl Cushnie, Versailles’ chief executive and majority shareholder.
02/08/2000
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Two members of the group of wealthy individuals that helped fund the trade finance group Versailles (which went into receivership in January), have launched a court action in an attempt to recover their money and to discover the reasons for the group’s failure. Accountants found that the disgraced company had logged a series of false transactions estimated to amount to Ј69m. The claim has been made in a court in the British Virgin Islands. Versailles’ chief executive, Carl Cushnie, has tried and failed to have the action thrown out of court.
02/08/2000
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According to The Guardian, Versailles, the trade finance company which went into receivership in January 2000, owing its banks approximately Ј60m, is known to have made deals totalling Ј495,209 with Carl Cushnie Jr, the son of the company’s founder.
02/08/2000
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Two members of the group of wealthy individuals that helped fund Versailles, the trade finance group which collapsed in January, will go to court in the British Virgin Islands on Thursday 27th July. They are hoping to recover their investments and to discover the reasons for the group’s collapse. It is understood their plan will be opposed by representatives of Versailles’ chief executive, Carl Cushnie, who will argue for an alternative proposal supported by the majority of the investor group.
02/08/2000
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