Panama Papers: Major banks deny claims they helped clients avoid tax
International banking giants have denied allegations that they are helping clients to avoid tax by using complicated offshore arrangements. HSBC, Credit Suisse and the Royal Bank of Scotland-owned Coutts Trustees all feature in the leaked Panama Papers. The leak has revealed that more than 500 banks, including their subsidiaries and branches, registered nearly 15,600 shell companies with Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The papers name institutions alleged to have helped firms that were subject to international sanctions. For instance, in 2008 the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. The Panama files show the Swiss branch of HSBC provided financial services to a firm fronted by Mossack Fonseca for Mr Makhlouf, with an internal email suggesting that HSBC’s compliance department “know about Mr Makhlouf and confirm that they are comfortable with him”. (BBC)
PayPal scraps North Carolina expansion plans over transgender bathroom law
PayPal is scrapping plans to build a $3.6 million operations centre in Charlotte, North Carolina, extending the fallout from legislation passed last month that requires people to use public bathrooms or locker rooms that match the gender on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. The law, which also prohibits local governments from enacting certain anti-discrimination protections, was widely interpreted as an attack on LGBT rights. “The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture,” said PayPal chief executive Dan Schulman. Paypal’s reaction is the most concrete example of the financial consequences to North Carolina brought about by passage of the law. Last week, more than 80 CEOs and business leaders sent a letter urging the state to repeal the law, saying it was bad for business. (Boston Globe, Reuters)
Data Security
Whatsapp switches on encryption for a billion people
Facebook-owned instant messaging service Whatsapp has announced it will encrypt communications for all its billion users. Using end-to-end encryption, messages are rendered unreadable if they are intercepted, for example by criminals or law enforcement. Whatsapp said promoting private communications was one of its “core beliefs”. Encryption was recently thrown under the spotlight by the battle between the FBI and Apple. Whatsapp’s move is likely to irk law enforcement agencies, particularly the US Department of Justice which has recently expressed concern over “unreachable” information contained in devices. Amnesty International called the move a “huge victory for privacy and free speech”, and a “major boost for people’s ability to express themselves and communicate without fear”. (BBC)
Environment
Half of world heritage sites threatened by development, says WWF
Close to half of the sites around the world designated for special protection as areas of outstanding importance for nature are at risk from mining and other activities, a new survey has shown. The sites are supposed to be protected under the United Nations’ designated world heritage status. But encroachments from industries, including fossil fuel exploration and illegal logging, are threatening to destroy the valuable habitats, the conservation charity WWF says. At least 114 of the 229 world heritage sites are now subject to fossil fuel extraction concessions, or are under close threat from other industrial activities, according to the report. Critics have suggested that the UN has not done enough to ensure the protection of the sites that it designates as worthy of special conservation. The UN is considering providing armed forces to protect sites in particular danger, chiefly from war. (Guardian)
Kerry says climate change may flood lower Manhattan by 2100
US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that rising seas could devastate coastal cities if nations do not aggressively adopt renewable energy to reverse the damage fossil fuels are inflicting on the environment. If greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, he said, the total rise of the sea could reach five or six feet by the year 2100. “Much of lower Manhattan could be flooded by the end of this very century, during the life span of babies born today,” Kerry said at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York. Kerry said the pace of change in the energy business needs to accelerate, and suggested support for more rigorous rules about accounting for the costs of using fossil fuels. When considering the price of adopting solar and wind, Kerry said business and political leaders need to look beyond simple cost comparisons with oil and natural gas. Rather, they should also include the toll of rebuilding from floods, hospital bills for asthma sufferers and the millions of deaths linked to air pollution. (Bloomberg)
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