Business News

March 2 – Boeing (BA.N) suspends support and technical support for Russian airlines and US energy company Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) has said it will leave Russia, joining a growing list of Western companies rejecting Moscow because of its invasion of Ukraine.

US technology giant Apple (AAPL.O) has said it has stopped selling iPhone and other products in Russia, while Ford Motor (FN) has joined other carmakers by shutting down operations in the country.

Western countries have steadily tightened sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine last week, including the exclusion of some Russian banks from the global financial network SWIFT.

The measures hit the ruble and forced the central bank to raise interest rates as Moscow responded to the growing exodus of Western investors by temporarily restricting sales of Russian assets by foreigners.

Meanwhile, Russian companies are feeling increasingly pressured. Sberbank (SBER.MM), Russia’s largest lender, said on Wednesday it was leaving the European market as its subsidiaries face large cash flows. In addition, it is said that the safety of employees and their property is endangered. Read more

Signaling that there will be no concessions from the West, US President Joe Biden said in a statement on the state of the Union on Tuesday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “has no idea what lies ahead” as he joined European countries and Canada in closing of US airspace to Russian aircraft. Read more

As international freight forwarders such as Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), Hapag Lloyd (HLAG.DE) and MSC suspend reservations to and from Russia, the country is becoming increasingly excluded from world trade. Sanctions are also putting pressure on Russia’s aviation sector.

Boeing said on Tuesday it was suspending operations as other airlines faced growing European and US restrictions on relations with Russian customers, affecting leasing aircraft, exporting new aircraft and providing parts.

CHOIR OF CONVICTION

Exxon has said it will not invest in new developments in Russia and is taking steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas plant after similar actions to dump assets from Britain’s BP, Russia’s largest foreign investor, and Shell Plc ( SHEL.L).

However, the French company TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) stopped saying it would leave Russia, only saying it would not deposit new money. Read more

Apple, which has stopped sales in Russia, said it was making changes to its Maps app to protect civilians in Ukraine.

He also joined a growing chorus of Western companies that openly condemned Russia’s actions.

“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and are with all the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” Apple said.

“We deplore Russia’s military action, which violates Ukraine’s territorial integrity and threatens its people,” Exxon said, while Ford said in his condemnation: “The situation has forced us to re-evaluate our operations in Russia.”

Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc has stopped deliveries of its bicycles to Russia.

The growing focus of investors on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has added pressure on companies to act quickly to sever ties with Russia and Russian businesses.

“The only way for many to act is to sell,” said TJ Kistner, vice president of Segal Marco Advisors, a major U.S. retirement consultant.

Major Western technology companies have said they are continuing their efforts to stop Russia from taking advantage of their products.

Apple says it has blocked the download of applications from some state-sponsored news services outside Russia.

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O), said it had blocked mobile apps linked to Russian state-owned publisher RT from its news-related features, including Google News search.

Google has also banned RT and other Russian channels from receiving money for ads on YouTube websites, applications and videos, reflecting a move made by Facebook (FB.O).

Microsoft (MSFT.O) has said it will remove RT’s mobile apps from its Windows app store and ban ads in Russian-sponsored media.

Report by Paresh Dave in Auckland, Ross Kerber in New York, Dawn Khmelevsky in Los Angeles; Writing by Peter Henderson and Sayantani Ghosh; Edited by Lincoln Fest and Edmund Blair

Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.

The logo of the Russian bank Sberbank Europe AG is visible at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, February 28, 2022. REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger

VIENNA / SARAJEVO, March 1 – Sberbank’s European arm (SBER.MM), Russia’s largest lender, has been shut down by order of the European Central Bank, which has warned it is facing failure due to leaking deposits after Russia. invaded Ukraine, the Austrian Financial Markets Service said.

The European Central Bank’s Single Restructuring Board (SRB) ruled earlier this week that Sberbank Europe, based in Vienna, has failed or is likely to fail. This prompted the Austrian FMA on Monday to impose a moratorium on the bank’s operations.

The FMA’s announcement late Tuesday that it was ordering the bank to close came just over an hour before the moratorium expired.

“By order of the European Central Bank (ECB), the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (FMA) today issued a decision prohibiting the licensed credit institution Sberbank Europe AG … from continuing to operate in their entirety with immediate effect,” the FMA said in a statement. statement at 22:45 (21:45 GMT). Read more

The European Union and the United States have responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a series of sanctions, including a ban on major Russian banks from SWIFT, the main global payment system.

As a result, Sberbank Europe said on Monday that several of its banks had “suffered a significant outflow of customer deposits in a very short period of time”.

The SRB has ordered a moratorium to determine whether the case should be dealt with under European rules on bank restructuring and decided it should not, the FMA said.

The FMA said it had appointed an administrator to determine if and when the insolvency criteria were met. Meanwhile, the closure triggered Austria’s deposit guarantee scheme, which covers deposits of up to 100,000 euros ($ 111,240) per customer, the FMA said.

The central banks of Slovenia and Croatia have announced that Sberbank’s operations in their countries will be taken over by Slovenia’s largest banking group, NLB, and the Croatian Post Bank (HPB), which is the majority owner of the government.

Customers will be able to withdraw money as usual from Wednesday after the restrictions for the last two days.

Sberbank Europe said in November that it had reached a deal to sell its subsidiaries in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to a group that includes Serbia’s AIK Bank and Slovenia’s Gorenjska Bank.

Serbian regulators agreed on Monday, but Gorenjska said it was no longer viable to proceed with the acquisition of the Slovenian subsidiary.

Sarajevo-based ASA Banka has acquired Sberbank Sarajevo, the banking agency of the Bosnian Croat Federation announced late Tuesday, while the government of the Republic of Serbia acquired Sberbank Banja Luka on Monday.

(1 dollar = 0.8990 euros)

Report by Francois Murphy; Additional reports by Kirsten Donovan in London; Edited by Leslie Adler, Kirsten Donovan

Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.

Ilker Aiji was an adviser to Tayyip Erdogan in 1994, when the Turkish president was mayor of Istanbul.

New Delhi / Istanbul: Turkey’s Ilker Aiji said on Tuesday that he would not take on the role of chief executive of Tata Group’s Air India, days after announcing his appointment led to opposition in India over his previous political ties.

Tata last month (February 14th) announced the appointment of Ayci as CEO of the former state-owned Air India after taking on the debt-ridden airline in January in a $ 2.4 billion shareholding and debt deal.

But last week, Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor, called on the government to block Aichi’s appointment, citing his previous political ties to Turkey, which have strained relations with New Delhi.

Aiji, a former chairman of Turkish Airlines, was an adviser to Tayyip Erdogan in 1994, when the Turkish president was mayor of Istanbul.

Aichi said in a statement that at a recent meeting with Tata President N Chandrasekaran, he refused to take office after reading about attempts to “color my appointment with unwanted colors” in some parts of the Indian media.

“As a business leader who has always given priority to the professional credo … I have come to the conclusion that it would not be a feasible or respectable decision to take a position in the shadow of such a story,” Aichi said.

A spokesman for the Indian Tata confirmed the development without giving further details.

The move comes as a setback for India’s Tata, which will have to resume its search for a CEO to reverse the losing carrier. Although the airline has lucrative landing slots, each new boss faces the difficult task of upgrading Air India’s aging fleet and changing its financial and service levels.

The appointment of a foreign national as the CEO of an airline in India requires permission from the government before it can continue.

A government source told Reuters last week that India was conducting tougher than usual checks in the case of Ayci and Air India, as security agencies expressed concerns about its ties to Turkey.

Broker reacts while trading at its computer terminal at a brokerage firm in Mumbai, India, February 1, 2020. REUTERS / Francis Mascarenhas

SHANGHAI, March 2 – Asian stocks came under renewed pressure on Wednesday as oil prices jumped above $ 110 a barrel as investors worried about the impact of aggressive sanctions against Russia on invading Ukraine.

European stock markets were set to open weakly after Tuesday’s crash, with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.13% and German DAX futures down 0.17% in early deals. FTSE futures rose 0.34%.

In the latest tightening of restrictions on Moscow, the United States has banned Russian flights using US airspace following similar actions by the European Union and Canada.

US President Joe Biden announced the ban during a speech on the state of the union on Tuesday, in which he also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “pay a long price” for the invasion of Ukraine. Read more

MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific stock index outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 0.56% and China’s blue chip index CSI300 (.CSI300) fell 1.12%.

Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) fell 1.68%.

In Australia, the base index ASX 200 (.AXJO) rose 0.28% despite the risk-averse risk aversion elsewhere as rising commodity prices boosted miners’ shares.

“The Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to continue to dominate markets for the foreseeable future. Yesterday’s announcement that Russia will not pay coupons to foreign holders on its sovereign debt should push investors further to asylum,” ING analysts said in a note. .

“Support for the start of the EU membership process for Ukraine shows the unity of support for Ukraine from Western Europe, but is unlikely to help ease tensions.”

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 (.SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) closed about 1.6% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell nearly 1.8%.

Global sanctions against Russia have prompted a number of large companies to announce the suspension or exit of their business in the country.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) said on Tuesday it would leave operations in Russia, including oil fields, following similar decisions by British oil giants BP PLC and Shell and Norway’s Equinor ASA. (EQNR.OL) read more

Exxon’s announcement comes as the price of oil continues to rise. On Wednesday, global oil Brent exceeded $ 110 a barrel, rising more than 5.8% to $ 111.09, the highest level since early July 2014.

US crude oil West Texas Intermediate jumped nearly 6% to $ 109.30, the highest level since September 2013.

The rise came despite a global agreement to release 60 million barrels of crude reserves to try to contain rising prices and rising inflationary pressures.

“We believe there is still room for oil prices to continue to rise,” said Carlos Casanova, senior economist for Asia at UBP in Hong Kong. “So much depends on political factors and ensuring that some of the supplies coming from Russia are offset by (not only) more oil than American shale, but also from Iran.”

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar rose 1.88% against the ruble to 107.01 after reaching a record high of 117 days earlier.

The dollar was also stronger against the yen, rising 0.12% to 115.03, while the euro fell to $ 1.1112. Against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, the dollar strengthened 0.15% to 97,464.

The rise in greenbacks came as US government bond yields recovered after falling to an eight-week low on Tuesday. The changing outlook for global growth has prompted investors to cut bets that the Federal Reserve will aggressively raise interest rates in the coming months.

The 10-year reference yield in the United States rose to 1.7309% from 1.711% late on Tuesday, and the politically sensitive 2-year yield rose to 1.3205% from 1.305%.

Fed funds futures markets now value only a 5% chance of an increase of 50 basis points at the Fed meeting in March, although a smaller increase of 25 basis points is seen as virtual security. FEDWATCH

In a speech Tuesday, Biden called on companies to produce more cars and semiconductors in the United States so that Americans can rely less on imports as a way to fight inflation.

Gold, which peaked at an 18-month high last week and rose nearly 2 percent on Tuesday amid a worsening crisis in Ukraine, returned 0.57 percent to $ 1,932.11 an ounce as the dollar strengthened.

Bitcoin, which rose nearly 15.5 percent on Tuesday due to the strengthening of identity data for a conflicting currency, read more, was 0.23% lower at $ 44,341.68.

Report by Andrew Galbraith; Edited by Sam Holmes

Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.

Cryptocurrency experts say the concerns expressed by high-ranking politicians about Russia’s avoidance of economic sanctions with the help of cryptocurrency are “completely unfounded.”

They say the crypto market is not big enough or deep enough to sustain the volume Russia needs, and that the country’s digital asset infrastructure is minimal.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and current European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde are among high-ranking officials worried that the cryptocurrency could provide a means for Russia to circumvent the heavy financial sanctions imposed on its invasion of Ukraine.

The country is largely cut off from the SWIFT cross-border transaction system, and businesses in the United States and other Western countries are banned from doing business or doing business with Russian banks and the National Welfare Fund.

The head of the policy in the promoter of the crypto policy of the Blockchain Association in the USA Jake Chervinsky published a long Twitter the end on March 2, explaining how “Russia cannot and will not use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions.”

1 / Russia cannot and will not use cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions.

Concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions are completely unfounded. They are fundamentally misunderstood:

– how sanctions work
– how crypto markets work
– how Putin is actually trying to ease sanctions

I will explain

– Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) March 1, 2022

Chervinsky cited three reasons why Russia is unlikely to use cryptocurrency to circumvent US sanctions. The first is that sanctions are not limited to US dollars, and it is now illegal for any American business or citizen to make deals with Russia. He said“It doesn’t matter if they use dollars, gold, seashells or bitcoins.”

The second reason is that the financial needs of a nation like Russia far exceed the current capabilities of the crypto markets that Chervinsky Called “Too small, expensive and transparent to be useful to the Russian economy. In other words, even if Russia had access to sufficient liquidity, it would still not be able to hide its transactions in such a market.

Finally, the country spent years trying to “prove sanctions”, but failed to build any significant crypto infrastructure or even finalize crypto regulations. Chervinsky says cryptocurrency simply does not appear to be part of Russia’s plans to mitigate the effects of the sanctions.

“The reality is that Putin’s years have been trying to protect Russia from sanctions, and cryptocurrency is not part of his plan. His strategy included diversifying Russia’s reserves into yuan and gold (not cryptocurrencies), redirecting trade to Asia (not the blockchain), bringing production to land, and so on.

However, Roman Bieda, head of fraud investigations at the Coinfirm blockchain research platform, told Al Jazeera on March 1st that it was generally possible to use crypto to “avoid sanctions and hide wealth,” as has been done. from North Korea, Venezuela, and Iran.

But other experts told the publication that Russia’s case is different due to the scale of sanctions, its slow pace of cryptocurrency adoption and lack of market depth.

Ari Redboard, head of legal and government affairs at cryptocurrency investigator TRM Labs, said blockchain transparency was a natural deterrent to sanctioning the avoidance of sanctions in this case.

“Russia cannot use cryptocurrency to replace hundreds of billions of dollars that could potentially be blocked or frozen.

Cointelegraph reported on 25 February that ECB President Lagarde was eager for the cryptocurrency markets (MiCA) bill to be passed by the European Parliament as soon as possible to give the European authorities funds so that “cryptocurrencies can actually be captured. Lagarde called for urgent policies to prevent Putin from evading cryptocurrency sanctions.

In an interview with Rachel Madow on MSNBC this week, Hillary Clinton called on US President Joe Biden to ban Russia from trading in cryptocurrencies. She and Madou discussed threats to national security that could exist with regard to cryptocurrency, and Clinton said:

“I was disappointed to see some of the crypto exchanges, not all, but some of them refuse to stop transactions with Russia by some philosophy of libertarianism.”

Related: European Parliament postpones vote on cryptocurrency bill due to proof of work

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren also took the opportunity on March 1 to condition that US financial regulators should check digital assets because they risk “allowing Putin and his associates to avoid economic pain.”