Dutch bank fined $80 million by US regulators
U.S. regulators on Monday fined ABN Amro, the Dutch banking heavyweight, $80 million for violating U
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Google discrimination lawsuit
/0 Comments/in Google /by ceadminA former Google sales executive has filed a lawsuit against the search giant, alleging it engaged in job discrimination while she was pregnant with quadruplets.
Christina Elwell, who was promoted to national sales director in late 2003, alleges her supervisor began discriminating against her in May 2004, a month after informing him of her pregnancy and the medical complications she was encountering, according to the lawsuit filed July 17 in a U.S
Marsh pays $850m to end charges
/0 Comments/in Marsh & McLennan /by ceadminUS insurance broker Marsh & McLennan is to pay $850m (£451m) to settle charges that it conspired with insurance providers to rig the marketplace.
Under the agreement with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, Marsh said it “neither admits nor denies the allegations”.
It will pay the money back over four years to affected policyholders
Fannie Mae in government probe
/0 Comments/in Fannie Mae /by ceadminShares of Fannie Mae fell again on Friday, capping a three-day slide of more than 13 percent, as investor concerns widened after a government regulator accused top executives of the mortgage giant of mismanagement and serious accounting misdeeds.
Regulators at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight who investigated Fannie Mae’s books said the problems they found, at least in a key area of accounting, were more serious, far more complex and wider in scope than previously thought.
The fallout could eventually reach millions of Americans if they have to pay higher rates for new mortgages for home purchases or refinancings, analysts say
Shells pays £80m to settle fraud inquiry
/0 Comments/in Shell /by ceadminOil giant Shell has agreed to pay more than £80m in penalties to settle inquiries by US and UK regulators into the firm’s restatement of reserves.
The company slashed its reserves by 20% in January, a move which cost three top executives their jobs.
News of the settlement came as the company unveiled second-quarter net income of $4bn (£2
United Airlines to stop paying into Pension plans
/0 Comments/in United Airlines /by ceadminUnited Airlines said it would not contribute to its employee pension plans while it remains under bankruptcy protection. That move could save it more than a billion dollars in cash over the coming year, but pension experts said it signaled the likelihood that United would terminate some or all of the plans.
A full-blown default by United on all four of its pension plans would send tens of thousands of current and future retirees, and billions of dollars in unfunded obligations, to the government’s pension insurance program, dealing the program its biggest blow since the government began insuring pensions in 1974
Pentagon suspends Halliburton payments
/0 Comments/in Halliburton /by ceadminUnder intense scrutiny over billing and contracts related to the war in Iraq, Houston-based Halliburton Co. has once more come under the watch of the U.S
Adecco delays results again
/0 Comments/in Adecco /by ceadminThe worlds largest employment agency, Adecco, has again delayed the release of its 2003 results, saying an independent audit has yet to be completed.
Adecco gave no new date for the release of the figures, which had been due out on Tuesday.
The company repeated in a statement that bookkeeping problems discovered earlier this year had had little impact on its finances
UBS fined $100m
/0 Comments/in UBS /by ceadminSwitzerland’s largest bank, UBS, has been fined $100m by the United States Federal Reserve for violating US trade sanctions.
UBS admitted “very serious mistakes” had been made and said it would now quit the banknote trading business outside Switzerland.
The Fed had accused the bank of supplying US dollars to countries such as Cuba, Libya, Iran and Yugoslavia
GlaxoSmithKline faces antitrust investigation
/0 Comments/in GlaxoSmithKline /by ceadminA drug manufacturer being investigated for possible antitrust violations because it cut off shipments to Canadian mail-order pharmacies has to turn its records over to the Minnesota attorney general’s office, a judge has ruled.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Albrecht also gave a boost to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s drug-importation Web site, ruling that not all drug importation is illegal