Law

Danske can deflect pitchforks with bonus clawbacks

21 September 2018

CEO Thomas Borgen may have resigned after the Danish bank’s money-laundering scandal. But if he’s allowed to keep bonuses awarded during the time in question, Danske’s reputation will fall further. Its board has powers to claw back unjustified variable pay – it should use them.

Danske mea culpa will only partly calm U.S. wrath

19 September 2018

The Danish bank’s CEO has quit after an internal report said it ignored 200 bln euros in potentially suspect Estonian payments. With the threat of a hefty U.S. fine, pre-emptive head-rolling makes sense. Danske’s problem is it still doesn’t know how bad the problem really is.

Review: A land of milk and (plenty of) money

7 September 2018

"Moneyland" takes a trip to the world of super-rich super-crooks, where borders are for wimps, taxes for little people and laws don't matter. Oliver Bullough's urgent polemic is deeply reported and engaging, even if it spends more time on the problem than on potential solutions.

Holding: Top U.S. judges are fairer than they seem

6 September 2018

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he’ll act like a baseball umpire, making calls based on rules. That’s a bit facile. Recent research suggests, though, that jurists are mostly objective, while differing in interpreting laws. Congress and the public may never believe it.

Time breathes life into America’s mortgage zombies

5 September 2018

It’s 10 years since Washington took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, injecting $187 bln to render them undead. Reforms have not touched the supposedly temporary fix. A functioning home-loan market, revenue for the Treasury and inertia suggest taxpayers may be stuck with them.

U.S. creeps into EU’s money-laundering blind spot

30 August 2018

A new anti-money laundering directive seeks to plug holes in Europe’s leaky banks. But the rules don’t address the core problem of relying on local supervision. Until the EU can establish an independent AML authority, the U.S. will continue to act as the bloc’s de facto top cop.

Holding: Lawyers have a case for a free education

28 August 2018

NYU Medical School's new free-tuition policy allows graduates to avoid loans that keep many from entering low-paying yet vital fields. The logic could also work for the law. Relieved of debt, more legal eagles might choose public-interest work – to the benefit of U.S. justice.

Hadas: Shareholder value is a hard habit to kick

22 August 2018

Elizabeth Warren remembers when companies served the common good as well as investors. But the U.S. senator is wrong to hope that the old days can be restored with a few tweaks to governance. Renewed corporate responsibility requires big changes in five entrenched practices.

Warren tries out for swamp drainer-in-chief

21 August 2018

The liberal U.S. senator wants to prohibit lawmakers and cabinet members from owning individual stocks and permanently ban them from lobbying. Some of the ideas are over the top but her targets are entirely valid. Laying them out also strengthens Warren’s 2020 presidential pitch.

Viewsroom: Turkey’s financial crisis may spread

16 August 2018

The feud between President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump over steel tariffs threatens to turn other emerging markets cold. Breakingviews columnists discuss the global impact of Turkey’s currency meltdown. Plus: A bad bank in China gets whacked by political risk.

Bayer’s cancer scare makes a bad deal worse

13 August 2018

The German group's market value fell nearly $10 bln after a court awarded $289 mln to a user of weed killer made by U.S. division Monsanto. That may overstate the likely losses, but the verdict undermines a deal that already destroyed value, and left shareholders without a say.

Holding: U.S. fraud prosecutors miss more than hit

9 August 2018

A likely skewering of Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort won’t erase flubs against ex-Jefferies and Cantor traders or sharp drops in white-collar cases. Watchdogs were rightly scolded for pursuing too few financial-crisis miscreants. They haven’t yet learned their lesson.

Trumponomics flirts with more debt and inequality

31 July 2018

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wants to cut capital-gains tax bills by accounting for inflation. It’s sensible to assess the true value of costs and profit. But it’d mostly benefit the wealthy and add to what may be a $1.1 trln deficit in 2019. It also smacks of self-interest.

Holding: M&A lawsuit cures could turn toxic

24 July 2018

Delaware’s efforts to cut frivolous U.S. deal litigation have pushed cases from state to federal courts, a new study shows. There, too, marginal suits that benefit only lawyers should be discouraged, but cracking down runs the risk of letting dodgy transactions off the hook.

UK seeks awkward balance between M&A and security

24 July 2018

New plans to screen foreign purchases of British companies echo moves by countries such as France and are fairly sensible. However, they also increase politicians’ scope to meddle. That won’t make it any easier for the government to tout its open-market credentials post-Brexit.

Danske tries to cauterize money-laundering wound

18 July 2018

Giving away gross profit from suspicious Estonian transactions could cost the Copenhagen-based lender up to $234 mln, or 8 pct of forecast earnings for 2018. The pledge may draw the sting of punishment from Danish authorities. But the bigger financial threat comes from the U.S.

Europe airlines show strike pain is for passengers

18 July 2018

EasyJet expects a 45 pct rise in pre-tax profit in 2018 thanks to more passengers and charges on checked bags. The limited damage that French air controllers’ strikes inflicted on the company and its peers reveals such disruptions are more a problem for customers than carriers.

AT&T throws bone to antitrust watchdogs

13 July 2018

The U.S. Justice Dept faces high hurdles in appealing a harsh ruling that cleared the $85 bln purchase of Time Warner. But since the deal closed, AT&T is raising some customer prices. The hikes came after the DOJ lost its case, but could still sway the court of public opinion.

Viewsroom: Trump’s Supreme Court pick

12 July 2018

The U.S. president has chosen a friend of big business in Brett Kavanaugh. But he faces bigger questions from Senate democrats about executive power. Plus: Commodity giant Glencore faces mounting risks in Washington, and what’s behind the Chinese yuan’s downward slide.

Holding: Brett Kavanaugh means business on speech

12 July 2018

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick would allow public companies to cut back on disclosure, internet service providers to discriminate against certain content and cable firms to block rivals’ programming. It’s a First Amendment message investors and consumers won’t want to hear.