EU solicits bank data in rate-rig probe
The European Union is stepping up its currency-rigging investigation more than a year after U.S. and British regulators issued multibillion dollar fines to global banks, people familiar with the investigation said.
The European Commission asked banks to gather sales data that could be used to calculate eventual penalties, said two people who asked not to be named because the case is confidential. The move signals that regulators may be gearing up to either open settlement talks or issue a statement of objections in the next few months, the people said.
The EU wants answers before its summer break at the end of next month, but this time frame may slip, one of the people said.
While the EU has lagged behind, authorities in the United States, the U.K. and Switzerland issued about $10 billion in penalties to a group of banks including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase and Barclays for what U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called a "brazen display of collusion" to game markets.
-- Bloomberg News
JPMorgan CEO: Presidents don't bicker
JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the next president of the U.S. should collaborate with other nations and avoid assigning blame for problems.
"What doesn't work is finger-pointing, scapegoating, blaming people, denigrating people or anything like that," Dimon told bank staff at a townhall meeting in Bournemouth, England, on Friday, when asked what he thought of the economic policies of presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. "What does work, particularly in democracies, is collaboration. Work together. Solutions may not be easy but they're always there."
Dimon, the chief executive of the largest U.S. bank by assets, was speaking alongside British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and cautioning voters against leaving the European Union as polls suggested the U.K. government is struggling to get its message across. JPMorgan could eliminate as much as a quarter of the 16,000-person staff it employs in the country if voters opt to exit the EU, Dimon warned.
Dimon, whose comments echoed similar remarks he made in the bank's last annual letter to shareholders, hasn't publicly supported either presidential candidate. In 2012, he said he was still "barely" a Democrat and criticized the economic views of some politicians in Clinton's party.
-- Bloomberg News
Kay Jewelers owner denies gem swaps
Signet Jewelers Limited, owner of the Kay, Zales and Jared chains, denied systematically switching customers' gems for lower-quality stones after reports alleged that the company repeatedly did so.
"We strongly object to recent allegations on social media, republished and grossly amplified, that our team members systematically mishandle customers' jewelry repairs or engage in 'diamond swapping,'" the Hamilton, Bermuda-based jeweler said in a statement. "Incidents of misconduct, which are exceedingly rare, are dealt with swiftly and appropriately."
The remarks follow a BuzzFeed story about customers complaining that their diamonds had been replaced with lesser-quality gems.
The BuzzFeed story focused on a Maryland woman who said her $4,299.99 engagement ring -- purchased at a Kay Jewelers -- had its diamond swapped out for a man-made stone while it was being serviced.
In its statement on Friday, Signet said it hasn't received an unusual number of complaints about jewelry under its care. The company said its design and service centers handle more than 4 million service and repair transactions every year, and more than 99 percent have no negative feedback. Signet has a total of about 3,600 stores.
"Signet has in place vigorous product quality procedures that are consistently monitored," the company said.
-- Bloomberg News
Exxon: Argentine shale has $10B scope
Exxon Mobil Corp. may invest more than $10 billion as it transplants the U.S. shale-drilling model to Argentina's Vaca Muerta region in the next few decades, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson said Thursday.
The oil giant has so far invested $200 million in the world's second-largest shale gas deposit and plans to invest another $250 million in coming months on a pilot project, Tillerson said after meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires.
Unlike the mega-projects that have been Exxon's hallmark for more than half a century, the shale developments the company began pursuing in 2010 have involved drilling hundreds of individual wells and installing thousands of miles of pipes to squeeze crude and natural gas from deep, dense onshore fields.
If the pilot project is successful, the company will start full development during a period of 20 to 30 years that could involve additional investment "that would be well in excess of $10 billion," Tillerson said.
-- Bloomberg News
Valeant's late filing draws default notice
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. received a notice of default from some bondholders Thursday because of the delay in filing its quarterly financial results with regulators.
The company has 60 days to file its statement for the three-month period that ended March 31 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it said in a news release on Friday. Valeant, which received similar notices from other bondholders last month, said again that it expects to make the submission on or before June 10.
The notice of default "does not result in the acceleration of any indebtedness of Valeant or any of its subsidiaries," according to the statement. Valeant disclosed in a May 10 filing that it wouldn't be able to submit its first-quarter report on time "without unreasonable effort or expense" because it was focused on restating prior financial statements going back to 2014.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 06/04/2016