Sunday, October 25, 2020
The leaked suspicious activity reports written by US-based banks to the country’s financial crime investigators reveal that Latvia was considered a high-risk jurisdiction for years. A large trove of documents has been leaked, revealing global transactions, including those flowing through Latvia, that the US-based banks flagged as suspicious to its supervisor. The documents expose that the US banks eyed with suspicion transactions totalling at least $7.6 billions wired through Latvian…
Generally, the Baltic States have chosen relatively similar support measures to overcome the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Latvian Radio reported on June 9 about the approaches taken by Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Economists stress that the effect will be worth assessing after a year and a half. Economist Pēteris Strautiņš of the Luminor bank pointed out that the objective of all countries is to reduce the decline in economic activity and to help people whose activities are…
Estonian-led financial transactions start-up TransferWise has announced expansion of its board of directors with the former chief financial officer of the American online television service Netflix, David Wells. It was announced on Thursday, July 18, by one of the firm’s founders Kristo Käärmann on the blog of TransferWise, an international money transfer provided established eight years ago. «So, I’m excited to announce that today we are appointing two independent non-executive Directors to…
It became known yesterday that Lithuania will acquire a rescue vessel for the naval forces worth about 40 million euros. “The contract with the winner of the tender for the construction of the vessel is planned to be signed in December of this year,” the ministry said. A preliminary cost – 39.4 million euros. Moreover, electricity in Lithuania went up by 23% to 47.4 euro per megawatt-hour last week. Prices…
The Estonian government at a sitting on Thursday decided to amend the Penal Code and relating laws to transpose into national legislation two directives of the European Union — one on the protection of the Union’s financial interests and the other on the rights of minors who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings. By adopting the EU directives, investigating crimes with an adverse effect on the Union’s financial…
The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains. Snuffling pigs roam dusty roads that wind through villages dotted with churches. Yet even in this far-flung island kingdom there are signs that a battle for power and influence is heating up among much larger nations — and Tonga may end up paying the price. In the capital, Nuku’alofa, government…
Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as Greece’s new prime minister Monday, a day after his resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras, who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts. Mitsotakis, 51, was elected on a pledge to cut bailout-era taxes and ease draconian budget targets set by Greece’s creditors during the years of financial rescue — commitments that could be put to…
When the Argentine peso was in trouble last month, Argentina asked the International Monetary Fund for a $50 billion loan. But the government in Buenos Aires also reached out to Beijing for help — reportedly looking for as much as $30 billion. Argentina wants Beijing to bump up an existing “currency swap” agreement between the two countries’ central banks. Currency swaps effectively act like direct lines of credit between two…
Lithuania’s Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted two women in a home birth case, in a ruling that is final and binding. The hearing was observed by several hundred supporters of home birth, who filled the courtroom and surrounding spaces. Midwife Jurgita Inga Svediene and Dalia Jakaite, having medical education, were charged with engaging in illicit economic, financial, commercial or professional activity. The case against Jakaite was dropped and the court…
