Germany Gets Tax Documents From Dubai in Anti-Evasion Campaign - Bloomberg
German authorities secured a trove of tax data from Dubai, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said, marking the first time the federal government has used the technique in efforts to stem tax crimes.
The Central Federal Tax Office paid about 2 million euros ($2.4 million) to purchase the data from an anonymous source, Der Spiegel reported. German state governments have previously made such purchases to combat tax fraud.
“Tax evasion is not a trivial offense, but a criminal act,” Scholz told reporters in Berlin on Friday. “We don’t tolerate this.” He didn’t provide specifics on how the data were obtained.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s former state finance minister Norbert Walter-Borjans, now the co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party, began to buy CDs of data from Switzerland in 2010 to crack down on tax fraud. The practice triggered a wave of self-disclosures in Germany and raids of Swiss banks and their customers in the country.
Friday, 11 June 2021
Oil hits multi-year highs in third weekly gain on demand recovery | Reuters
Oil hits multi-year highs in third weekly gain on demand recovery | Reuters
Oil prices reached fresh multi-year highs on Friday, closing out a third straight week of gains on an improved outlook for worldwide demand as rising COVID-19 vaccination rates help lift pandemic curbs.
Brent crude futures settled at $72.69 a barrel, rising 17 cents after reaching their highest since May 2019. For the week, Brent was up 1%.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at$70.91 a barrel,up 62 cents, settling at their highest since October 2018. WTI was up 1.9% on the week.
"Demand is coming back faster than supply and we're going to need more supply to meet that demand," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, would need to boost output to meet demand set to recover to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022.
Oil prices reached fresh multi-year highs on Friday, closing out a third straight week of gains on an improved outlook for worldwide demand as rising COVID-19 vaccination rates help lift pandemic curbs.
Brent crude futures settled at $72.69 a barrel, rising 17 cents after reaching their highest since May 2019. For the week, Brent was up 1%.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at$70.91 a barrel,up 62 cents, settling at their highest since October 2018. WTI was up 1.9% on the week.
"Demand is coming back faster than supply and we're going to need more supply to meet that demand," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, would need to boost output to meet demand set to recover to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022.
Oil Poised for Third Weekly Gain as IEA Sees Need for More Crude - Bloomberg
Oil Poised for Third Weekly Gain as IEA Sees Need for More Crude - Bloomberg
| PRICES |
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 Oil headed for a third straight weekly gain on signs of improving demand, with the International Energy Agency warning that the market will need extra supply next year. Futures in New York have bounced around $70 a barrel this week, closing Thursday at the highest level since October 2018. The IEA said Friday that OPEC and its allies will need to lift output to keep the market adequately supplied, though the agency predicted demand won’t reach pre-virus levels until late 2022. Road traffic in the U.S. and much of Europe is largely back to levels before the pandemic, but jet fuel remains far below where it was in 2019. There are also risks to the demand outlook as parts of Asia and Latin America continue to grapple with virus cases. |
#Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to Speak at Robin Hood Forum - Bloomberg
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to Speak at Robin Hood Forum - Bloomberg
For the past year, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has fought a war of words with oil speculators. Now, he’s taking his message to the heart of Wall Street.
Prince Abdulaziz is scheduled to speak June 16 at the Robin Hood Investors Conference, a red-carpet event that brings together luminaries of the U.S. hedge-fund industry such as Paul Tudor Jones, Ray Dalio and Stanley Druckenmiller, and rising stars like Cathie Wood.
The Saudi oil minister has battled to keep short-sellers at bay for more than a year, famously warning speculators in September not to bet against him, and more recently lambasting the view that the world should stop investing in oil to protect the climate.
“I want the guys in the trading floors to be as jumpy as possible,” he said after an OPEC+ meeting on Sept. 17. “I’m going to make sure whoever gambles on this market will be ouching like hell.”
While previous Saudi ministers have spoken in private with commodity hedge funds, the Robin Hood conference -- which is held behind closed doors -- raises the relationship to a higher level. The event has seen numerous investment trends gain traction -- and in recent years, many of those ideas ran contrary to the interests of Saudi Arabia.
In 2019, for example, investors debated climate change at length, discussing “why energy and transportation will be obsolete by 2030.” And a year earlier, electric-car manufacturer Tesla Inc. was the center of attention.
La La Land
For Prince Abdulaziz, the conference will be an opportunity to talk about long-term trends in energy, just weeks after the International Energy Agency published its controversial road map to slash emissions, urging an end to new oil and gas investments. The kingdom dismissed the report, calling it a sequel to “La La Land” -- the 2016 romantic comedy movie whose lead characters break out into song-and-dance numbers.
“Why should I take it seriously?” the prince said when asked about the road map at an OPEC+ press briefing earlier this month. Rather than stop investing, Riyadh actually plans to increase the production capacity of its state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, to 13 million barrels a day from 12 million, and the minister hinted that it could go even higher.
The 2021 edition of the Robin Hood conference will also bring other raw materials under the spotlight. For the first time in at least five years, the gathering features a panel on commodity investment, a sign that rising prices for everything from lumber to coal have attracted the attention of Wall Street.
For the past year, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has fought a war of words with oil speculators. Now, he’s taking his message to the heart of Wall Street.
Prince Abdulaziz is scheduled to speak June 16 at the Robin Hood Investors Conference, a red-carpet event that brings together luminaries of the U.S. hedge-fund industry such as Paul Tudor Jones, Ray Dalio and Stanley Druckenmiller, and rising stars like Cathie Wood.
The Saudi oil minister has battled to keep short-sellers at bay for more than a year, famously warning speculators in September not to bet against him, and more recently lambasting the view that the world should stop investing in oil to protect the climate.
“I want the guys in the trading floors to be as jumpy as possible,” he said after an OPEC+ meeting on Sept. 17. “I’m going to make sure whoever gambles on this market will be ouching like hell.”
While previous Saudi ministers have spoken in private with commodity hedge funds, the Robin Hood conference -- which is held behind closed doors -- raises the relationship to a higher level. The event has seen numerous investment trends gain traction -- and in recent years, many of those ideas ran contrary to the interests of Saudi Arabia.
In 2019, for example, investors debated climate change at length, discussing “why energy and transportation will be obsolete by 2030.” And a year earlier, electric-car manufacturer Tesla Inc. was the center of attention.
La La Land
For Prince Abdulaziz, the conference will be an opportunity to talk about long-term trends in energy, just weeks after the International Energy Agency published its controversial road map to slash emissions, urging an end to new oil and gas investments. The kingdom dismissed the report, calling it a sequel to “La La Land” -- the 2016 romantic comedy movie whose lead characters break out into song-and-dance numbers.
“Why should I take it seriously?” the prince said when asked about the road map at an OPEC+ press briefing earlier this month. Rather than stop investing, Riyadh actually plans to increase the production capacity of its state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, to 13 million barrels a day from 12 million, and the minister hinted that it could go even higher.
The 2021 edition of the Robin Hood conference will also bring other raw materials under the spotlight. For the first time in at least five years, the gathering features a panel on commodity investment, a sign that rising prices for everything from lumber to coal have attracted the attention of Wall Street.
#SaudiArabia reiterates warnings over insider trading | ZAWYA MENA Edition
Saudi Arabia reiterates warnings over insider trading | ZAWYA MENA Edition
Saudi authorities have issued a renewed warning against insider trading, with a legal expert saying the clampdown will strengthen confidence in the Kingdom’s capital markets.
In a post on its official Twitter account, Saudi Public Prosecution said the regulations are designed to encourage transparency in the trading of securities, and a breach of the rules is a criminal matter.
The authority said that if a person acquires confidential, internal knowledge through a family, business or contractual relationship, that person is prohibited from acting on that information and trading securities related to the specific company.
The rule also applies to third parties and the person is not permitted to pass the confidential information to others or to allow them to trade on their behalf.
Saudi-based legal consultant Rabih Joudi told Arab News that the rules are in place to protect private information related to traded companies.
“This will raise penal responsibility for those who intentionally or negligently disclose confidential information on a company, even if they do not work in the company and are not bound by contract with the company, but they got such information from a relative or friend who works in the company or is bound by obligation of confidentiality toward the company,” Joudi said.
“The main criteria is that an average adult knows, or should have known, the importance of such information and that the disclosure of such information will affect the company, its activities, its shares, and securities,” he added.
Joudi said that the direction taken by the Saudi Public Prosecution will give a boost to the capital markets in the Kingdom and “will suppress to a large extent the issue of trading based on internal information.”
“This development will raise the bar for companies’ boards in relation to governance,” he added.
In a post on its official Twitter account, Saudi Public Prosecution said the regulations are designed to encourage transparency in the trading of securities, and a breach of the rules is a criminal matter.
The authority said that if a person acquires confidential, internal knowledge through a family, business or contractual relationship, that person is prohibited from acting on that information and trading securities related to the specific company.
The rule also applies to third parties and the person is not permitted to pass the confidential information to others or to allow them to trade on their behalf.
Saudi-based legal consultant Rabih Joudi told Arab News that the rules are in place to protect private information related to traded companies.
“This will raise penal responsibility for those who intentionally or negligently disclose confidential information on a company, even if they do not work in the company and are not bound by contract with the company, but they got such information from a relative or friend who works in the company or is bound by obligation of confidentiality toward the company,” Joudi said.
“The main criteria is that an average adult knows, or should have known, the importance of such information and that the disclosure of such information will affect the company, its activities, its shares, and securities,” he added.
Joudi said that the direction taken by the Saudi Public Prosecution will give a boost to the capital markets in the Kingdom and “will suppress to a large extent the issue of trading based on internal information.”
“This development will raise the bar for companies’ boards in relation to governance,” he added.
Oil dips, but heads for third weekly rise on demand recovery | Reuters
Oil dips, but heads for third weekly rise on demand recovery | Reuters
Oil prices slipped on Friday but were set for their third weekly rise on expectations of a recovery in fuel demand in Europe, China and the United States as rising vaccination rates lead to an easing of pandemic curbs.
Brent crude futures edged down 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $72.48 a barrel to 0658 GMT, after closing at its highest since May 2019 on Thursday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also slipped 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $70.25 a barrel, after climbing 0.5% on Thursday to its highest close since October 2018.
Brent is set for a weekly rise of 0.8% while WTI is set to gain 0.9%.
Oil prices slipped on Friday but were set for their third weekly rise on expectations of a recovery in fuel demand in Europe, China and the United States as rising vaccination rates lead to an easing of pandemic curbs.
Brent crude futures edged down 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $72.48 a barrel to 0658 GMT, after closing at its highest since May 2019 on Thursday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also slipped 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $70.25 a barrel, after climbing 0.5% on Thursday to its highest close since October 2018.
Brent is set for a weekly rise of 0.8% while WTI is set to gain 0.9%.