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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks gained on Wednesday and the U.S. dollar slid after the Federal Reserve repeated its pledge to keep its target interest rate near zero for years to come.
FILE PHOTO: The Wall Street sign is pictured at the New York Stock exchange (NYSE) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury note, whose surge has roiled markets in recent weeks, fell back after hitting its highest level since January 2020 ahead of the highly anticipated statement from the central bank.
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LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Britain’s financial regulator on Thursday censured Premier FX, a now defunct company that once operated in Portugal, Spain and Dubai, for “seriously misleading” customers, failing to safeguard their money and for misusing its payment accounts.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it would have imposed a substantial fine on the company if it had not already been in liquidation or owed its 136 creditors - most of which are consumers - roughly 9.2 million pounds ($13 million).
Premier FX was regulated by the FCA for money transfers. But it misled customers into believing it could also hold their funds indefinitely in secure, segregated client accounts, protected by Britain’s financial services compensation scheme.
By Reuters Staff
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MADRID, March 17 (Reuters) - Spain’s largest hotel chain Melia Hotels has filed a complaint against the government with an administrative court seeking 116 million euros ($138 million) in damages incurred due to last year’s COVID-19 restrictions, the company said.
A spokeswoman for the group said on Wednesday the claim was related to losses suffered as a result of the government-imposed lockdown between mid-March and late June of 2020, confirming a report by the newspaper Expansion.
More than 400 Spanish bars, restaurants and hotels have already filed claims seeking compensation from the government for losses linked to the restrictions, said Humberto Calderon, a lawyer from the firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, which is advising them.
By Reuters Staff
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Wednesday to form a new cabinet immediately or else make way for someone who can.
FILE PHOTO: Lebanon s President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon March 17, 2021. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Hariri responded by saying that he would meet with Aoun yet again to discuss names that he had submitted “weeks ago” for the cabinet, but that if Aoun was then unable to approve them he should then call for early presidential elections.
The exchange was the latest round in an almost five-month-old dispute between Aoun and Hariri over government formation, leaving the country rudderless as it sinks deeper into financial collapse.
By Reuters Staff
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FILE PHOTO: Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell listens during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on The Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2020. Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank will share an update on a bank liquidity rule in the “coming days.”
An exemption on the “supplemental leverage ratio” was put in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to encourage big banks to lend and support bond and short-term funding markets. The exemption, which reduced the amount of capital banks must hold against Treasurys and some deposits, is currently set to expire on March 31.