The Korea Herald

Mexico fines HSBC in laundering case

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Mexican regulators have levied a $28 million fine against the Mexico subsidiary of London-based HSBC bank for failing to prevent money laundering through accounts at the bank.Mexico’s National Securities and Banking Commission said Wednesday that HSBC has paid the fines, equivalent to 379 million pesos, or about half of the subsidiary’s 2011 annual profits.The commission, and a report by a U.S. senate investigative committee, found the bank failed to control suspicious flows o

July 26, 2012

Moody’s cuts outlook for 17 German banks

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s on Wednesday downgraded the outlook for 17 German banks after a similar move against the government’s credit rating earlier this week.Moody’s cut the outlook on a swathe of state-backed regional banks, known in Germany as Landesbank, but also included IKB Deutsche Industriebank and Deutsche Postbank.Many of the landesbank have struggled since the 2008 financial crisis and amid Europe’s ongoing economic crisis, which has seen growth slow.Moody’s noted that several of th

July 26, 2012

Moody’s cuts outlook for 17 German banks

Spain seeks French support amid debt woes

PARIS (AFP) ― Europe’s economic crisis has deepened, with a slump in German confidence, worsening British recession and a debt-wracked Spain seeking French support in the face of soaring borrowing costs.While fears grew Wednesday that Spain, the fourth largest eurozone economy, is going to need a fresh bailout, storm clouds were also gathering over Europe’s top economy.Data showed that business confidence in Germany dropped again in July as companies grow increasingly wary of fallout from the eu

July 26, 2012

Malaysia’s IHH leaps in stock market debut

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) ― Shares in Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare jumped nearly 10 percent on Wednesday as Asia’s biggest hospital operator made its stock market debut in the world’s third-largest IPO this year.IHH shares opened at 3.07 ringgit ($0.97) in Kuala Lumpur, up 9.6 percent from the 2.80 ringgit offer price set for the float which has raised $2.0 billion.The company is being dual-listed in Malaysia and Singapore. IHH’s Singapore-listed shares opened at 1.22 Singapore dollars ($0.96), or about n

July 25, 2012

Japan posts record trade deficit in first half

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan Wednesday posted a record trade deficit of about $37.3 billion in the first half of the year as soaring energy costs weighed on the world’s third-largest economy and exports to key markets slumped.The finance ministry said the country saw a shortfall of about 2.9 trillion yen ($37.3 billion) in the first six months of 2012.The huge trade deficit stemmed largely from energy costs, with the resource-poor nation seeing a nearly 50 percent jump in purchases of liquefied natural g

July 25, 2012

Apple profit jumps to $8.8 billion, but below forecasts

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Apple on Tuesday reported a rise in its quarterly profit to $8.8 billion on hot iPad sales but missed lofty Wall Street expectations due, in part, to iPhone lovers waiting for a rumored new model.The profit in the fiscal quarter to June was up 20.5 percent from a year earlier, but short of analyst forecasts. Revenues rose 22.5 percent to $35 billion, also below expectations of more than $37 billion.In a conference call, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said t

July 25, 2012

Apple profit jumps to $8.8 billion, but below forecasts

IMF says China’s economy reached ‘soft landing’

SHANGHAI (AP) -- China has achieved a “soft landing” in its economic slowdown, the IMF says while cautioning that more sweeping reforms are needed to ensure healthy growth in the longer term.　 In a report Wednesday on its website, the IMF praised China’s leaders for adjusting policies to help counter the malaise plaguing the global economy that has also slowed robust growth in China and other emerging nations. 　 “China’s economy seems to be undergoing a soft landing, though global headwinds are

July 25, 2012

HSBC compliance chief steps down after probe

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The head of compliance at Europe’s largest bank resigned from his position and apologized Tuesday after a Senate investigation found HSBC had lax controls that allowed Mexican drug cartels to launder billions of dollars through its U.S. division. David Bagley told the Senate investigations panel that he will remain at the London-based bank in a new role. Other HSBC executives also apologized at the hearing, which focused on the bank’s lapses. But all said they weren’t fully awa

July 25, 2012

HSBC compliance chief steps down after probe

Moody‘s lowers outlook on EU’s bailout fund EFSF

Ratings agency Moody‘s on Tuesday lowered the outlook on the EU’s bailout fund from stable to negative, after threatening the triple-A credit ratings of three of the eurozone‘s major guarantors.Moody’s said its decision to lower the outlook on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) reflected the changes in outlooks on Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. But it maintained the EFSF‘s triple-A rating.The ratings agency said that although outlook changes for those countries “imply an

July 25, 2012

Moody's lowers outlook on EU's bailout fund EFSF

Ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday lowered the outlook on the EU's bailout fund from stable to negative, after threatening the triple-A credit ratings of three of the eurozone's major guarantors.Moody's said its decision to lower the outlook on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) reflected the changes in outlooks on Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. But it maintained the EFSF's

July 25, 2012

Moody’s cuts Germany outlook to ‘negative’

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s took the first step toward stripping Germany of its coveted “AAA” credit rating on Monday, cutting the outlook for Europe’s largest and most pivotal economy to “negative.”Delivering a stark warning that no one is immune from the eurozone’s rolling crisis, the ratings agency lowered Germany’s credit outlook from “stable” to “negative.”A similar move was announced for fellow “AAA” ranked economies, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.Moody’s said all three faced risks from Gr

July 24, 2012

China sees improvement in factory data

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s manufacturing activity contracted at its slowest pace in five months in July, indicating that Beijing’s easing measures were beginning to take effect, an independent survey showed Tuesday.Preliminary figures from HSBC’s closely watched purchasing managers’ index, which gauges nationwide manufacturing activity, hit a five-month high of 49.5 in July, the British banking giant said in a statement.A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 points to

July 24, 2012

Europe shaken by fear Spain will need bailout

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ― Europe is on the brink again. The region’s debt crisis flared on Monday as fears intensified that Spain would be next in line for a government bailout. A recession is deepening in Spain, the fourth-largest economy that uses the euro currency, and a growing number of its regional governments are seeking financial lifelines to make ends meet. The interest rate on Spanish government bonds soared in a sign of waning market confidence in the country’s ability to pay off its

July 24, 2012

Moody's cuts Germany outlook

Moody's took the first step toward stripping Germany of its coveted AAA credit rating on Monday, cutting the outlook for Europe's largest and most pivotal economy to "negative."Delivering a stark warning that no one is immune from the eurozone's rolling crisis, the ratings agency lowered Germany's credit outlook from "stable" to "negative."A similar move was announced for fellow AAA ranked economi

July 24, 2012

Europe shaken by fear Spain will need full bailout

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Europe is on the brink again. The crisis over too much debt in the 17 countries that use the euro flared dangerously on Monday.Fears that Spain was next in line for a full-blown government bailout intensified following a weekend of bad news about Europe's fourth-biggest economy. Madrid's borrowing costs on its 10-year bonds -- an indicator of market confidence in a count

July 23, 2012

CNOOC to buy Canada's Nexen for $15.1 billion

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Chinese offshore oil and gas giant CNOOC Ltd. said Monday it has agreed to buy Canadian producer Nexen Inc. for $15.1 billion in China's biggest-ever overseas energy acquisition.CNOOC and other big state-owned Chinese energy companies have stepped up purchases of oil and gas assets in the Americas in the past several years as part of a wider strategy aimed at securing access to re

July 23, 2012

Apple growth curbed; iPhone users await model

As iPhone fans await the release of a new model, they are delaying purchases and may cause Apple Inc., the world’s largest company by market value, to post its slowest sales and profit growth in more than two years. With a redesigned model probably arriving by October, analysts estimate that sales of iPhones ― Apple’s biggest source of revenue ― slid in the fiscal third quarter from prior periods. While analysts predict that the next iPhone will be the best-selling smartphone yet from Cupertino,

July 23, 2012

Apple growth curbed; iPhone users await model

Eurozone crisis saves Germany money

BERLIN (AP) ― Germany has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the European financial crisis.While other countries in 17-country group that use the euro have battled against investor fears that their economies are buckling under the pressure of too much debt, Germany has managed to save tens of billions of euros thanks to its reputation as a safe place for investments.The bond markets have demanded that countries such as Italy and Spain pay prohibitively high borrowing costs rates to s

July 23, 2012

China Q3 growth may slow to 7.4%

China’s growth may slide to 7.4 percent this quarter from a year earlier, an adviser to the nation’s central bank said, underscoring Premier Wen Jiabao’s warning that the economy’s difficulties may “persist for a while.” The possibility of a “short period” of deflation in the world’s second-largest economy can’t be ruled out, Song Guoqing, an academic member of the People’s Bank of China monetary policy committee, said at a forum in Beijing Saturday. China’s expansion slowed to 7.6 percent in th

July 22, 2012

German retail sector in upheaval

BERLIN (AFP) ― With a string of high-profile bankruptcies and thousands of layoffs, the German retail sector is in upheaval as it struggles with the challenges of changing customer trends and online shopping.The sector was prospering until just a few years ago, but over the last two years some of its oldest players have been forced to close or undergo deep restructuring in order to survive.Last week, the iconic mail-order chain Neckermann, set up in 1950 and employing 2,500 people, filed for ins

July 22, 2012