More than 600 Brands have withdrawn from Russia. How are Russians coping?

Hundreds of foreign companies from Pepsi to Apple to IKEA have pulled back operations in Russia as the West has hit the country with sweeping sanctions. Here’s how Russians are living with the economic fallout from Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.

War in Ukraine: how far will Putin go?

Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is devastating the country and its people. How far will he go? The Economist's experts discuss the threat of escalation, from the use of nuclear weapons to attacks beyond Ukraine.

War in Ukraine: are sanctions working?

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted an unprecedented response from the West: economic warfare. The Economist's experts, Patrick Foulis and Matthew Valencia, weigh in on whether sanctions will be enough to stop further aggression from Russia.

Crypto exchanges refuse to block Russian users

Amid a wave of firms cancelling services in Russia, cryptocurrency exchanges are standing by what they call "financial freedom". This as the conflict in Ukraine continues to weigh heavy on markets causing stocks to slump in the beginning of the week. We'll break it all down. And China is facing mounting pressure as the world's second-most powerful economy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and trade woes.

Swift Sanctions on Russia: How Cutting Off Banks Applies Pressure

A powerful coalition of democracies have announced that they will cut off some Russian banks from the global payment system Swift.

Here’s how Swift works, and how the move could ramp up pressure on Russian President Putin.

"Thieves of State": Sarah Chayes on Afghanistan

Afghanistan is in the new once again. With the lightning collapse of the Afghanistan Government and the return of the Taliban we offer you a replay of this podcast, originally published in June 2017 on Bribe, Swindle or Steal.

Sarah Chayes, author of Thieves of State, draws on her time in Afghanistan to explain the systemic corruption that contributed to the rapid crumbling of the state. 

Click HERE to access this Podcast.

Bribe, Swindle or Steal explores the world of financial crime—corruption, fraud, money laundering and sanctions—and what motivates people to break the law, how wrongdoers cover their tracks and what can be done to put a stop to the looting through interviews with experts in the field.

Moneyland, Kleptopia & On Corruption - How the corrupt operate

Oliver Bullough, Tom Burgis and Sarah Chayes, authors of three of the best books on global corruption, gather for a panel at the Annapolis Book Festival for a fascinating discussion about how the corrupt operate, often with impunity, and what can be done to slow the pace of looting.

Banks Absent From UK Trade Trip to Iran Amid Sanction Concerns

From Bloomberg Businessweek –

“Twenty-five British companies were in Tehran this week on a trip organised by the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce

Major British and European banks want greater clarity on how sanctions on Iran will be lifted before they investigate openings in the country, the head of a recent UK delegation to the Islamic Republic said.

Twenty-five British companies were in Tehran this week on a trip organised by the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. But leading banks weren’t among them, Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador to Iran and chamber president, said in an interview in Tehran. Nor were oil majors BP and Shell, he said, though both have said they’ve visited Iran in recent months.”

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Sealed HSBC Report Shows U.S. Managers Battling Cleanup Squad

From Bloomberg Business –

“HSBC Holdings Plc, smarting from a $1.9 billion fine for providing banking to money launderers and sanctions-dodgers, promised U.S. officials it would clean up its act.

Within a year, its reform efforts met resistance from leaders of HSBC’s U.S. investment-banking unit - some of whom mounted a campaign of bullying, footdragging and discrediting against in-house watchdogs, according to previously unreported details from a report by the bank’s court-appointed monitor.

HSBC agreed to submit to the monitor’s oversight in late 2012, as part of a pact with the U.S. Justice Department that required it to bolster its in-house controls. Armed with that directive, HSBC compliance officers singled out a half-dozen clients whose activities could put the London-based bank at risk --including a Saudi bank that had been linked to Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers - and advised the U.S. investment-banking division to consider dropping those relationships.”

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The hapless ways that foreign banks have tried to skirt US sanctions

From Quartz –

“The banter and slang used by traders can make it hard for outsiders to tell what they are doing, much less whether they’re up to no good. But there are telltale patterns and keywords that signal trouble—and systems that can sift through chat logs and transaction records looking for them.

Some of the more colorful expressions unearthed in recent investigations (for example, “Betty on the mumble,” where a betty is short for the British pound) come from investigations into market manipulation. But rigging the markets for interest rates, foreign exchange, and commodities, to name a few, is only one type of misdeed that have landed big banks in legal hot water of late. ‘

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German Bank will pay $1.45 Billion to settle Sanctions, Money Laundering Charges

From Forbes –

“The international dollars keep rolling in. Yet another bank has agreed to pay a fine in response to ongoing investigations into foreign accounts. Commerzbank AG, headquartered in Frankfurt, and its U.S. branch, Commerzbank AG New York Branch (called Commerz New York), have agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement which calls for, among other things, the payment of a $79 million fine within five days. That amount is said to be equal to twice the value of the transactions raised during the investigation and is “appropriate given the facts and circumstances” of the case. The bank further agrees that it will not use any part of the fine as a deduction or credit for federal, state, local, or foreign tax purposes. ‘

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