Author: Freedomwat.ch Staff

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German bank starts charging customers to hold their cash

"When the European Central Bank introduced a negative interest rate on lenders’ deposits two years ago, few thought things would ever go this far. This week, a German cooperative savings bank in the Bavarian village of Gmund am Tegernsee — population 5,767 — said it’ll start charging retail customers to hold their cash. From September, for savings in excess of 100,000 euros (US$111,710), the community’s Raiffeisen bank will take back 0.4 per cent. Introducing the sub-zero policy in June 2014 with a cut to the deposit rate to minus 0.1 per cent, ECB President Mario Draghi said the move was 'for the banks, not for the people.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGerman bank starts charging customers to hold their cash

Junk-Rated Borrowers Reap Rewards in a World of Negative Yields

"For investors with $12 trillion of negative-rate bonds worldwide, U.S. junk securities and their 6.9 percent average yield look like a gold mine. But with so many investors streaming into the market, the debt is now yielding almost 3 percentage points less than the average of the past two decades, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show. And they’re buying it up at the same time that junk-rated borrowers default at the fastest pace in six years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJunk-Rated Borrowers Reap Rewards in a World of Negative Yields

Bernanke Advises “Perpetual Bonds” To Japanese Government

"In April the former Federal Reserve chief warned there was a risk Japan at any time could return to deflation. He noted that helicopter money -- in which the government issues non-marketable perpetual bonds with no maturity date and the Bank of Japan directly buys them -- could work as the strongest tool to overcome deflation, according to Honda. Bernanke noted it was an option, he said. Bernanke joined central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda over lunch this Monday and on Tuesday he attended a gathering with Abe and key officials, including Koichi Hamada, another influential economic adviser. The central bank didn’t reveal what Kuroda and Bernanke discussed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBernanke Advises “Perpetual Bonds” To Japanese Government

U.S. has lost sight of $70 billion in cash sent to Afghanistan [2011]

"A blistering audit released Wednesday found that untold amounts of American taxpayer dollars are vulnerable to winding up in the pockets of insurgents, and blames both countries for a dysfunctional tracking system. How bad is it? Afghan President Hamid Karzai has barred U.S. government advisers from the Afghan central bank, according to Treasury officials who called the bank a 'hostile' environment. Nobody is writing down the serial numbers of the cash flying through customs at Kabul International Airport. And the U.S. is having trouble identifying financial crimes because Afghan officials are reluctant to prosecute." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. has lost sight of $70 billion in cash sent to Afghanistan [2011]

Millions in CIA “ghost money” paid to Afghan president’s office [2013]

"Tens of millions of U.S. dollars in cash were delivered by the CIA in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags to the office of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, according to the New York Times, citing current and former advisers to the Afghan leader. The so-called 'ghost money' was meant to buy influence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but instead fuelled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan, the newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying. 'The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan', one American official said, 'was the United States.' The CIA declined to comment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMillions in CIA “ghost money” paid to Afghan president’s office [2013]

How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish [2007]

"The US flew nearly $12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent. The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US congressional committee. In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish [2007]

US secretly sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran

"President Barack Obama approved the $400 million transfer, which was the first payment of a $1.7 billion settlement resolving claims at an international tribunal at The Hague over a failed arms deal under the time of the Shah. The Iranians were seeking more than $10 billion at arbitration. Because existing US sanctions ban American dollars from being used in a transaction with Iran, officials said the money was procured from central banks in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and an unmarked cargo plane loaded with wooden pallets of Swiss francs, euros and other currencies were flown to Iran." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS secretly sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran

Ban $100 bills to tackle crime: Ex-bank chief

"He argued that high-denomination notes in high-value currencies were little used other than for crime, with people in most parts of the world favoring cash for small payments and electronic alternatives like credit cards or Paypal for bigger ones. As such, Sands called for the elimination of the 500 euro note, £50 bill and 1,000 Swiss franc bill and the $100 note. Depending on the country, tax evasion robs the public sector of anywhere between 6 percent and 70 percent of what authorities reckon they should collect, Sands added. He said that global financial crime flows amounted to $2 trillion per year, with corruption accounting for another $1 trillion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBan $100 bills to tackle crime: Ex-bank chief

No Negative Rates Without Banning Cash, Says Former Fed Official

"I think it’s going to be hard to push the Fed Funds rate below negative 1. That’s going to be difficult. People can basically take out cash and put it in a vault and they get a zero return on it. This is supporting the ban on cash rhetoric. This is a huge social debate that we should start having. One way of doing it is to ban cash. Banning cash is a social and political debate, which is going to happen increasingly. As long as we have cash, we can’t have rates of much below negative 1 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNo Negative Rates Without Banning Cash, Says Former Fed Official

Bitcoin Exchange Loses $60M In Hack; US Regulations ‘Prevented Cold Storage Use’

"Bitfinex was previously fined $75,000 by the CFTC for failing to register as an appropriate entity for the services it offered as well as: '[F]or offering illegal off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.' These 'off-exchange' transactions could be alluding to the storage of funds offline — commonly known as cold storage — one of the best ways to keep your funds out of hackers’ reach. If this is indeed the case then the incident could undermine calls for more regulation as cryptocurrency exchanges face a dilemma between security and compliance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin Exchange Loses $60M In Hack; US Regulations ‘Prevented Cold Storage Use’