Maersk family ousts Danske Bank chairman after scandal

Danske Bank’s (DANSKE.CO) largest shareholder, the Maersk family, has ousted the lender’s chairman after a money laundering scandal that has also forced out its chief executive. A.P. Moller Holding, which controls about 21 percent of the share capital in the bank, has nominated Karsten Dybvad, who currently heads the Confederation of Danish Industry, to replace Ole Andersen as chairman of Denmark’s largest bank.

The move is a rare example of Denmark’s Maersk family, which controls shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) through A.P. Moller Holding, openly flexing its muscles to seek change at one of its investments. “Danske Bank requires new leadership and changes to its board to strengthen its position as a leading Nordic bank,” Robert Uggla, chief executive of family-owned A.P. Moller Holding said in a statement. Andersen, who was appointed chairman seven years ago, has agreed to step down from the board at an extraordinary general meeting to be held within two weeks.

The change follows a scandal that involved 200 billion euros ($230 billion) in payments through Danske’s Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015, many of which the bank said in a report in September it thinks are suspicious. Danske is the subject of criminal investigations in Denmark, Estonia and the United States.

A new chairman is needed “to strengthen the bank’s ability to address its culture, compliance program and engagement with regulators,” the leading shareholder said. Danske Bank Chief Executive Thomas Borgen quit in September when the group published the report into the transactions. Turmoil at the bank deepened the following month when Jacob Aarup-Andersen, the board’s choice to take over as chief executive, was rejected by the country’s financial regulator because of a lack of experience. “I share the perception of the need for a new board, and as I have previously announced I also believe it is right for me to leave the chairmanship to new forces,” outgoing chairman Andersen said in a statement. Danish pension funds PFA and ATP both support the nomination of Dybvad as new chairman, A.P. Moller Holding said. Danske said on Tuesday that it was still searching for a permanent chief executive.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-danske-bank-moneylaundering-chairman/maersk-family-ousts-danske-bank-chairman-after-scandal-idUSKCN1NB1SL?il=0

Wells Fargo says internal error caused more home foreclosures than expected

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) said on Tuesday an internal underwriting error had caused it to reject home loan modifications, resulting in the bank foreclosing more homes than expected. The bank said in a filing with regulators that an expanded review found that 870 customers were incorrectly denied mortgage changes, leading to 545 of them losing their homes. This comes after the bank in August had for the first time disclosed a calculation error in an internal underwriting software had caused 625 borrowers to be incorrectly denied mortgage loan modifications under a federal assistance program, 400 of whom had their homes foreclosed upon. “We’re very sorry that the errors occurred and have assigned a single, dedicated point of contact to ensure that each customer is engaged with and assisted individually,” Tom Goyda, a spokesman for the company, said in an email.

The company said the expanded review is still under way and took into account customers who were in the foreclosure process between March 15, 2010, and April 30, 2018. Goyda said the bank had contacted a substantial majority of the affected customers to provide remediation as well as the option to pursue no-cost mediation with an independent mediator.

The revelations are an additional headache for the San Francisco-based bank which is facing numerous regulatory penalties and private lawsuits, most of which stem from a sales practices scandal that touched on all of the bank’s major business units. The bank said the issue stems from a calculation error that overstated attorneys’ fees that were needed in determining whether a customer qualified for a mortgage loan modification or repayment plan. In August, the bank said it rectified the calculation errors and had set aside $8 million to compensate borrowers. On Tuesday, the bank, however, did not update that figure.

The bank updated disclosures on issues it discovered in auto lending, saying it had increased a compensation figure to $241 million from $212 million earlier, related to a practice where it forced customers auto insurance that in some cases resulted in vehicle repossessions. The bank has since discontinued that practice.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wells-fargo-housing/wells-fargo-says-internal-error-caused-more-home-foreclosures-than-expected-idUSKCN1NB23S?il=0

>>3758225

I just bet they are, now how are they going to restore those homes and credit to those who lost their home..scum is what they are.

Putin and Trump to meet briefly in Paris: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet briefly in Paris next week, a Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday, and U.S. officials said such a meeting was likely. The two leaders, who plan to attend events in Paris to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One, would discuss possible bilateral talks at a later date, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

In Washington, U.S. officials said Trump was likely to have a brief meeting with Putin, but that a proper bilateral meeting would be held at the summit of the Group of 20 nations in Argentina at the end of the month. Trump said on Monday that he was not sure he would meet with Putin in Paris. “I’m not sure we’ll have a meeting in Paris. Probably not,” he told reporters.

Putin and Trump have not met face-to-face since a bilateral meeting in July in Helsinki that stirred concerns in the United States that Trump was cozying up to the Kremlin. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said last month the Paris meeting would be brief and more of “a base-touching exercise” during which the two leaders will discuss whether Putin would accept Trump’s invitation to come to Washington. Last week, a Kremlin aide said Putin and Trump would meet for a long session on the sidelines of the Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 G20 summit in Argentina.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china/frost-thaws-in-u-s-china-ties-ahead-of-g20-meeting-idUSKCN1NB0A0?il=0

Frost thaws in U.S.-China ties ahead of G20 meeting

The United States and China will hold a delayed top-level security dialogue on Friday, the latest sign of a thaw in relations, as China’s vice president said Beijing was willing to talk with Washington to resolve their bitter trade dispute.

The resumption of high-level dialogue, marked by a phone call last week between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, comes ahead of an expected meeting between the two at the G20 summit in Argentina starting in late November. It follows months of recriminations spanning trade, U.S. accusations of Chinese political interference, the disputed South China Sea and self-ruled Taiwan. China and the United States have both described last week’s telephone call between Xi and Trump as positive. Trump predicted he’d be able to make a deal with China on trade.

In a concrete sign of the unfreezing, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chinese politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe will take part in diplomatic and security talks later this week in Washington. China said last month the two sides had initially agreed “in principle” to hold the second round of diplomatic security talks in October but they were postponed at Washington’s request amid rising tensions over trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Mattis had been due to hold talks with Wei in Beijing in October, but those plans were upended after Washington imposed sanctions on China’s People’s Liberation Army for buying weapons from Russia. Mattis did meet Wei in Singapore on Oct. 18 and told him that the world’s two largest economies needed to deepen high-level ties to reduce the risk of conflict.

Speaking in Singapore on Tuesday, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who is close to Xi, reiterated China’s readiness to hold discussions and work with the United States to resolve trade disputes as the world’s two largest economies stand to lose from confrontation. “Both China and the U.S. would love to see greater trade and economic cooperation,” Wang told the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. “The Chinese side is ready to have discussions with the U.S. on issues of mutual concern and work for a solution on trade acceptable to both sides,” he said. “The world today faces many major problems that require close co-operation between China and the United States,” Wang said. Wang echoed comments made by Xi on Monday at a major import fair in Shanghai that Beijing will embrace greater openness.

Trump has railed against China over intellectual property theft, entry barriers to U.S. business and a gaping trade deficit, which U.S. data showed reached a record $40.2 billion in September. The trade war, which has seen both sides impose tariffs on billions of dollars worth of the other’s imports, is beginning to hurt China’s economy and has battered Chinese shares and the yuan currency. It has also brought purchases of U.S. soybeans by China to a virtual standstill. Soybeans are the largest U.S. agricultural export to China. Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Shanghai import fair that both countries understood the need to maintain their relationship. “I think both sides are optimistic … more optimistic after the call last week that took place, that some kind of a solution can be reached,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china/frost-thaws-in-u-s-china-ties-ahead-of-g20-meeting-idUSKCN1NB0A0?il=0