This blog was published in March 2021. Our latest analysis 2022 of the UK's implementation of Basel 3.1 can be found here.
At a glance
- The UK’s implementation of the Basel 3.1 revised bank capital standard this year will proceed very differently now that the UK has left the EU.
- With the Financial Services Bill nearing finalisation, the task will fall to the PRA to assess the likely impact of Basel 3.1 on the UK banking sector and decide how best to calibrate the framework in its consultation that we expect later this year.
- The PRA will have broad discretion to implement Basel 3.1 as it sees fit, but we believe that it will prioritise the timely and faithful implementation of Basel standards, creating a more proportional regime for smaller banks and taking measures to preserve the competitiveness of the UK as a centre for financial services.
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The UK’s implementation of Basel 3.1 will be an important regulatory development for banks in 2021. With the Financial Services Bill nearing finalisation in the UK Parliament the path to Basel 3.1 implementation is now becoming clearer and banks can have a better idea of the next steps that the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will take to finalise the UK version of these standards.
This blog provides our latest understanding of the process through which Basel 3.1, as agreed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in December 2017, will be implemented in the UK, its likely timing and our reflections on how the PRA is likely to calibrate the framework.
Basel 3.1 implementation in the UK will be very different than before
With the UK now fully outside of the EU, the task falls to the UK Parliament to implement international regulatory standards in domestic law rather than simply adopt new EU Directives and Regulations. Very practically, this means that the CRD6/CRR3 bank capital proposal expected later this year from the European Commission will not apply to UK banks, and that a separate UK regulatory process will now have to take place for the first time in decades.
The UK’s Financial Services Bill is the primary legislation that gives a legal basis for UK regulators to adopt and implement Basel 3.1. When this has been passed by Parliament, the lion’s share of the work will then fall to the PRA to determine how best to implement the BCBS standards.
Importantly, however, the Financial Services Bill does not specify in detail how the PRA should implement Basel 3.1 in the UK, and instead gives the PRA broad discretion. This marks a significant departure from the process that the UK banking industry has known in Brussels, where a legislative-led and very transparent procedure sees the European Council and European Parliament debate, negotiate at length, and vote on the finer points of the rules before a final decision is made.
While this new approach the UK will take is very different from how BCBS capital standards are adopted by the EU, it is actually more similar to the regulatory-led process seen in other major BCBS jurisdictions including the US, Canada and Australia.
With these new powers, we expect the PRA to consult on the detailed UK implementation of Basel 3.1 later this year and then finalise the rules after the consultation period has closed.
The PRA will face a difficult balancing act in its Basel 3.1 consultations
A regulatory-led process for implementing Basel 3.1 versus a legislative-led one is not a purely formal difference; regulatory-led implementations of international standards tend to be more technocratic. The PRA has traditionally been a strong supporter of applying BCBS rules in a timely and faithful way. The PRA’s recently-expressed intention to reverse the benefit  of some of the EU’s COVID-19 related bank capital support measures, particularly on the capital treatment of software assets, show us that this preference lives on. Based on the fourth quarter results of the largest six UK banks, the software measure provided a 28 basis point average uplift to their Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital and would have been welcome capital relief as banks face uncertainty in the quality of their post-COVID loan books.
The PRA’s alignment to the BCBS standards is re-enforced by strong support among broader UK policymakers for taking a more Basel-compliant approach to bank capital standards, as emphasised by the Chancellor in the proposal of the Financial Services Bill in 2020. Indeed, during the UK’s membership of the EU, HM Treasury stood out as one of the most ardent defenders of Basel-adherence among all the participants in European Council debates.
The Financial Services Bill nevertheless creates an ‘enhanced accountability framework’ that mandates the PRA to implement Basel 3.1 not only with regards to relevant international standards but also considering its impact on the medium-to-long-term financing of economic activity, and the UK’s standing relative to other jurisdictions as a centre for financial services among internationally active banks. The PRA will be required to explain how its decisions on implementation have taken these considerations into account, but the nuance in the framework will give it wide discretion in doing so, particularly where it sees higher standards as contributing to a more sustainable financial system.
This expanded mandate might not mean much for the regulatory policymaking process in normal times, but as the UK recovers from the economic shock of COVID-19, scrutiny of any adverse impacts of the PRA’s proposed rules on banks’ ability to lend to support the economic recovery will be very high. Given that the UK has also now begun to forge its own path outside of the EU Single Market for financial services, there will also be pressure to ensure that the UK’s implementation maintains, and where possible enhances, the competitiveness of the UK financial system. In this regard, we expect all stakeholders to take a close interest in any aspects of the PRA’s Basel 3.1 implementation which go beyond the BCBS standards . For further analysis from us read our recent piece: Ruling the waves or waiving the rules? on potential pathways for the UK’s post-Brexit prudential regulatory regime.
The PRA will need to assess the likely impact of Basel 3.1 on UK banks
The latest assessment by the European Banking Authority (EBA) of the capital impact of implementing Basel 3.1 in the EU is an increase of 18.5% in minimum required capital with the impact for some national banking sectors forecast to be much higher . However, there has not yet been a published impact assessment of the likely capital increase that Basel 3.1 implementation could mean for UK banks. Neither the EBA’s 2019 nor 2020 impact assessments included the UK banking sector due to the UK’s imminent departure from the EU.
The PRA is required to undertake a cost/benefit assessment of the likely impact of all the rules it produces and industry representatives have called for the results of this exercise for Basel 3.1 to be released at the consultation stage to allow for informed debate about the rules before they are finalised . The PRA will face the challenge of assessing how a capital increase from Basel 3.1 implementation could coincide with downward pressure on bank capital levels driven by the financial consequences of COVID-19, in the same way as the EBA had to do in the December 2020 update to its impact assessment.
Some priorities for the PRA in Basel 3.1 implementation can be anticipated today:
While the PRA will have to consider its new Basel 3.1 mandate in the Financial Services Bill and the challenging environment the UK banking sector will face from 2021 onwards, we believe it is likely to prioritise several items in its upcoming consultation:
Timing of implementation: the UK government and the PRA have always maintained their commitment to implementing Basel 3.1 on time, by 1 January 2023. They have re-stated this commitment as recently as late-2020 in the context of the proposal of the Financial Services Bill. We have said before that the EU is likely to miss this target [see our earlier blog] due to the substantial political negotiations that will have to take place. In the UK, however, the PRA’s simpler, regulatory-led process for implementation could proceed in a shorter timeframe. This does not mean that the UK will accelerate every deadline, as its December 2020 decision to delay the implementation of certain components of the CRR2 by a full year demonstrates. Generally, however, we believe that the PRA’s ability to move more quickly with its policymaking process will be paired with a greater desire to meet internationally agreed timelines provided it is practical to do so.
Proportionality for smaller banks: the PRA has been signalling that it would like to develop a simpler – but equally stringent – prudential regime for smaller banks than currently exists under the EU’s CRD/CRR rules. Sam Woods, Chief Executive of the PRA, recently noted that, in the PRA’s view, many BCBS capital metrics are more effective for large banks, whereas for smaller banks it is more important to have strong supervision of their governance  . This approach may feature first as a separate initiative or Discussion Paper instead of being a part of the Basel 3.1 CP. The design of the regime, particularly the thresholds for proportionality that are established and the extent to which capital, reporting, Pillar 2 or other requirements are simplified under a new approach, will be critical.
The competitiveness of the UK financial sector: finally, we expect the PRA to consider how it can use its implementation of the Basel 3.1 framework to help enhance the standing of the UK financial sector as a place for all banks to do business – in line with its new mandate under the Financial Services Bill accountability framework. While the PRA has made clear that it is likely to adhere to BCBS minimum standards, it will have a freer hand to determine how it will meet those standards than it did under the CRD/CRR. There may be cases where the PRA feels it is appropriate to propose simpler prudential rules that may be less operationally burdensome on banks (large or small), but which still achieve the aims of Basel 3.1. In some areas, the PRA may feel that a principles-based approach, accompanied by strong supervision of banks’ risk management and governance may be equally as effective as the more prescriptive, rules-based approach set out in the CRD/CRR framework.
As we noted at the beginning of this year in our Financial Markets Regulatory Outlook for 2021, we believe that EU-UK regulatory divergence will be an important regulatory theme going forward. The proposals to implement Basel 3.1 that we will see later this year from the European Commission and the PRA may include some substantial indications of where this divergence is first likely to arise and how significant it is likely to be. Until we see those proposals, however, it is important to understand just how different the Basel adoption process will be this time around, given the UK’s departure from the EU, and what that different process might mean for the kind of rules that we are likely to see adopted.
 Prudential Regulation Authority, Statement on the EU requirement on prudential treatment of software assets, 30 December 2020: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/prudential-regulation/publication/2020/statement-prudential-treatment-software-assets
 The Basel III standard is expressly defined by the BCBS as a minimum standard only and the BCBS has said that jurisdictions are free to implement more conservative requirements and/or accelerated transitional arrangements and still be considered compliant with the Basel framework (Para 8): https://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d424.pdf
 European Banking Authority, Base III reforms: Updated impact study https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/documents/files/document_library/Publications/Reports/2020/961423/Basel%20III%20reforms%20-%202019Q4%20update%20and%20Covid%20impact.pdf
 UK Parliament, Financial Services Bill (Second Sitting), 17 November 2020, testimony by Adam Farkas and Constance Usherwood, Association for Financial Markets in Europe: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-11-17/debates/0ade4d23-7c36-4a01-9a53-d019186d2c14/FinancialServicesBill(SecondSitting)
 Prudential Regulation Authority, Strong and Simple, Speech by Sam Woods, 12 November 2020: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2020/strong-and-simple-speech-by-sam-woods.pdf


Export of coconut and coconut products reached a record Rs 1,050 crore in 2012-13.
This is a landmark in coconut exports. Last fiscal, coconut exports other than coir and coir products registered a growth of 26 per cent in value and 32 per cent in the quantum.
Some 58,000 tonnes of activated carbon worth Rs 550 crore, making up over 50 per cent of the total export value of coconut products, were exported.
Quality, shell-based activated carbon is in demand from markets such as the US, eastern Europe, South-East Asia and West Asia .
In view of the economic revival and trade increase, India’s trade with the US is increasing, in addition to the traditional markets, officials in the Coconut Development Board said.
Coconut shell based activated carbon is notified under Focus Product Scheme and is eligible for 2 per cent export incentive with effect from January 1.
Since the Union Government notified the Board as an Export Promotion Council for all coconut products from April 1, 2009, a sizeable quantity of coconut and coconut products is being exported. Shipments have registered an average growth of 35 per cent in the last four years.
The board currently has around 1,000 registered exporters. It aims to achieve Rs 5,000 crore worth coconut product exports by the end of the 12th five-year Plan.


World shares mixed… US House to vote on more business help…Vegas mayor criticized for wanting to reopen casinos
TOKYO (AP) – Shares are mixed in Europe and Asia today following a rally on Wall Street Wednesday and a slight recovery in oil prices. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1% in early trading while Germany’s DAX fell 0.7%. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged less than 0.1% lower. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished 1.5% higher while South Korea’s Kospi rose nearly 1.0%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite inched down 0.2%. Wall Street is expected to open lower today with Dow and S&P futures almost unchanged.
UNDATED (AP) – The U.S. House is expected to vote today on a $483 billion proposal to deliver more loans to small businesses and aid to hospitals after the Senate approved it on Tuesday. The new bill would come on top of more than $2 trillion in aid that Congress has already approved. That, plus massive support for markets from the Federal Reserve, has helped the S&P 500 rise 25% since a low in late March. The index has roughly halved its loss from its record set in February.
LONDON (AP) – A closely watched survey of economic activity across the 19-country eurozone suggests that the single currency bloc is contracting at a quarterly rate of 7.5% as a result of the lockdowns meant to get a grip on the pandemic. Financial information firm IHS Markit said Thursday that its purchasing managers index for the eurozone – a broad gauge of economic activity – plummeted to an all-time low of 13.5 in April from the previous record low of 29.7 in March. The firm has been compiling data for more than 20 years. Anything below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Increased sales of cleaning and hygiene products helped compensate falling demand for foods like ice cream amid the coronavirus crisis as consumer products giant Unilever recorded first-quarter sales unchanged from the same period a year ago. Underlying sales growth was flat, with a 0.2% rise in sales volumes offset by a 0.2% decline in price. Turnover amounted to 12.4 billion euros ($13.4 billion).
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Nevada officials are condemning comments from Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who called for the state’s casinos and other nonessential businesses to reopen. Goodman said in a Wednesday interview on CNN that she wants everything back open, and she suggested that the residents of Las Vegas become “a control group” to see how relaxing closures and restrictions would affect the city. Elected officials are calling her comments reckless and embarrassing.


I didn’t learn anything about either Mitt Romney or President Obama by watching their dueling appearances last night on 60 Minutes. But now I know for sure why Mr. Romney avoids getting into specifics–on his tax policies, his spending priorities, his foreign policy and so on. When he does get specific, he doesn’t make much sense.
On TV last night, he said he would cut everyone’s tax rates by 20 percent, including really rich people like him who are already paying too little. Simultaneously, he would limit deductions and exemptions, “particularly for people at the high end,” while “eliminating the tax for middle-income families on interest, dividends, and capital gains.”
As a result of this shakeup, while rates would go down everyone would pay roughly the same in taxes each year, except middle-income people who “will probably see a little break, because there’ll be no tax on their savings.”
The Romney campaign asserts that his plan will not add to the deficit, because of the above-mentioned limits on deductions and exemptions. What are those deductions and exemptions, exactly? How will they affect “people at the high end” more than in the middle? Mr. Romney would only say “that’s something Congress and I will have to work out together.”
The Tax Policy Center has already looked at Mr. Romney’s proposals and called them “not mathematically possible.” The Center concluded that despite Mr. Romney’s assurances to the contrary, his plan would result in tax increases for middle-income earners.
But it doesn’t take a PhD in economics to see that there’s something fishy here. If a President Romney fiddles with taxes on capital gains, people with robust stock portfolios will benefit immensely, while Americans who live off their salaries will not. Eliminating taxes on interest will only result in a substantial break for those with substantial income from interest.
Moving on, the 60 Minutes interviewer, Scott Pelley stated that Mr. Romney “paid fourteen percent in federal taxes,” the capital gains rate, and asked “is that fair to the guy who makes fifty thousand dollars and paid a higher rate than you did?”
Mr. Romney answered “Yeah I think it’s the right way to encourage economic growth, to get people to invest, to start business, to put people to work.”
Never mind that Mr. Romney would have paid even less in taxes if he hadn’t kept his rate artificially high by declining to count $1.8 million in charitable contributions. (He can always revisit his deductions in a future year.) The important fact here is that there’s little evidence supporting the idea that lower capital gains rates will lead to more investment and more growth, or vice versa.
Mr. Romney was even less coherent on foreign policy than he was on domestic issues. One particularly hilarious moment came when he criticized Mr. Obama for failing to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. It’s true that Mr. Obama botched the debate over the camp, but it was Republicans in Congress who pushed a law against transferring prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States.
And Mr. Romney does not actually favor closing the camp.
He tried valiantly to find some disagreement with Mr. Obama on Afghanistan, but ended up fumbling around. He said he agrees that most American combat forces should be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. But he said it’s a bad idea to say when you plan to withdraw troops. Obama timeline bad. Romney timeline good.
He said the troops sent in for the surge should not be coming out until November, rather than September. He tried to sound military-savvy by saying, “I don’t think you try and bring back troops during the fighting season.” But does he really think two more months would make a difference?
At least Mr. Romney had a succinct, clear answer to the question “What’s your big idea?” He responded: “Freedom. I want to restore the kind of freedom that has always driven America’s economy. And that’s allowed us to be the shining city on the hill.”
His Big Idea is freedom. And quoting Ronald Reagan.


On Monday, January 19th the new Nanaimo Council will receive the Draft 2015 – 2019 Financial Plan.
If this budget is adopted it will mean 3.9% increase in taxes for 2015.
The proposed five year financial plan will increase Nanaimo property taxes by 12.8%. This amount will be more because it doesn’t include the taxes for water, sewer, garbage, RDN, schools and local hospital.
City of Nanaimo tax increases 2015-2019
In 2015 Nanaimo residents will pay 14.5% more for the following core services:
- Water rates 7.5%
- Sewer 5%
- Garbage 2%
What is causing the tax increases? Staffing is the largest cost including wage and benefit increases for:
- City of Nanaimo
- Vancouver Island Regional Library
- RCMP (3 additional members)
- Fire Station staff (4 additonal staff in 2016)
- (The City of Nanaimo eliminated 3 management positions savings $359,000) *price of settlements not included
Other reasons for tax increases are because of asset management, debt repayment and inflation.
For a single family home assessed at $350,000 that would mean an increase of $60.84 in taxes. This increase doesn’t include schools, hospital and RDN.
Also, don’t forget the other rate hikes for 2015 such as:
- BC Ferries 3.9%
- BC Hydro 6%
- ICBC 5%
- MSP 4%
- CPP 1.8%
- EI 1.2%
That would bring the total tax increases to approximately 50% for 2015.


The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) two years ago warned Ghanaians of facing prosecution for failing to honour their tax obligations.
Commissioner General of GRA, Emmanuel Kofi Nti during the launch of a Prosecution Policy stated that the new rule formed part of measures put in place to mobilise revenue for national development
“We encourage the general public, especially income-earning persons, to be well-acquainted with their obligations under the tax laws; and the prosecution policy document to be well-guided to prevent any infractions,” he pledged.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has served a strong notice to take on existing and potential taxpayers who fail to honour their tax obligations with the launch of a ‘Prosecution Policy’ document, after employing a number of strategies to encourage voluntary tax compliance.
The new prosecution policy outlines the circumstances under which tax and Customs offenders may be prosecuted, while also standardising the processes and procedures for prosecution by the GRA.
According to the Commissioner General of GRA, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the move forms part of measures to fulfil the Authority’s core mandate of mobilsing revenue for national development. The policy is intended to be used by all GRA officers who are expressly mandated to enforce the laws governing taxes and duties in the country.
Mr. Nti observed that all income earners, potential and existing taxpayers have the opportunity to amend their ways and become tax-compliant or be dealt with, with the coming into force of the policy.
The GRA over the past two years, he noted, has intensified its public education and sensitisation programmes nationwide to deepen awareness of various topical tax issues and the need to be tax compliant to avoid any infractions of the laws which may lead to prosecutions.
“We encourage the general public, especially income-earing persons, to be well-acquainted with their obligations under the tax laws; and the prosecution policy document to be well-guided to prevent any infractions.”
He stated that the GRA desires to see a more tax-compliant society, and isopen to assist the public to gain a better understanding of the tax laws.
The Commissioner General of GRA, who was speaking at the launching of the Prosecution Policy in Kumasi, said after a lot of persuasion through public education programmes on the importance of tax to the economy, the prosecution of selected cases will act as an effective deterrent to evasion, non-compliance, and tax and Customs fraud.
He however revealed that certain principles and factors underlie the prosecution policy. To decide whether prosecution action is the most appropriate remedy for dealing with compliance, the GRA will consider seven principles spelt out in the policy document.
For instance, it said: an offence may not proceed to prosecution where an administrative response is more appropriate; a prosecution case will not commence where there is insufficient evidence; and any prosecution action should have a deterrent effect on both the offender and the wider taxpaying community among others.
It must be noted that the law which establishes the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791), and others including the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, and the Revenue Administration Act among others give powers to the Authority to ensure compliance with the tax laws.
Through these and laws other laws, GRA is mandated to enforce compliance to ensure that all persons earning income, and for that matter taxpayers, fully comply with their obligations and that revenue is correctly assessed and collected.
Mr. Kofi Nti emphasised that one important tool made available by the various laws to elicit compliance is the prosecution of tax offenders; however, he said the powers to prosecute must be guided by a documented policy made known to the public to ensure consistency in application. Hence the development of this policy.
The Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori Atta, said to successfully achieve the purpose of this prosecution policy, the Legal Department should ensure that not only staff of the GRA are sensitised on the policy but the larger public too.
He noted that this will lead to helping obtain total adherence to the principles and procedures. “I believe that there is a significant number of people willing to be compliant if they know and understand the implications of non-compliance.” He thus urged GRA not to take lightly their own procedures.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, also added that efficient implementation of the Policy, as a means to fight against tax and Customs fraud, will determine GRA’s ability to rake in the needed revenue from recalcitrant businesses and tax fraudsters for accelerated national development.


BEIRUT, Lebanon — The king and queen of Jordan had secret Swiss financial institution accounts value masses of tens of millions of greenbacks, consistent with a significant information leak from certainly one of Switzerland’s biggest banks. So did the sons of Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president of Egypt, and industry tycoons who thrived all through his 30-year rule.
Different accounts have been related to secret agent chiefs from Egypt, Jordan and Yemen who cooperated with the USA and feature been accused of human rights abuses.
Voters around the Heart East have lengthy lacked details about the funds in their international locations’ elites rather then what they may glean from peering over palace partitions.
Now, the data leak from the bank Credit Suisse has opened a peephole into the personal wealth of a spread of potentates, elevating new questions in regards to the talent of elites to show public posts into non-public benefit in international locations the place the loss of transparency creates openings for corruption.
“What you have got is an excessively subtle, corrupt elite this is very built-in into the worldwide monetary machine,” mentioned Nadim Houry, the manager director of the Arab Reform Initiative.
Enabling the politically hooked up to counterpoint themselves, he mentioned, is the failure of many states to create obstacles between the rulers’ and the state’s property.
“It looks as if a state, it appears like a state, however in the end with regards to the property of the rustic,” he mentioned, most of the potentates “act like absolute monarchs getting rid of private belongings.”
The name of the game banking data from Credit score Suisse was once leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and made to be had to The New York Instances and different information organizations via the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
The information comprises account data over various many years and comprises account holders’ names, the hole and cut-off dates in their accounts, and their most and shutting balances. The leaked information does now not come with details about the money glide during the accounts, the supply of the price range or the level of any financial institution inquiries into whether or not the cash was once most likely tainted.
Many of the account holders named within the leak are both out of energy or lifeless, reducing the probabilities that the revelations will encourage responsibility efforts. However little means that officers in energy now have fewer avenues for personal acquire than their predecessors did, Mr. Houry mentioned, regardless of strikes via some international locations to extend oversight of presidency spending after the mass protests in opposition to corruption and autocratic rule all through the Arab Spring, which unfold around the Heart East in 2011.
“Frankly, they have got all been window dressing for the reason that energy dynamics have now not modified and no state controller is in a position to grasp the tough to account,” Mr. Houry mentioned.
Within the years sooner than President Mubarak of Egypt was once ousted all through an Arab Spring rebellion in 2011, a circle of businessmen just about him received huge fortunes as Mr. Mubarak privatized state property and made different efforts to liberalize the rustic’s financial system. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, additionally were given wealthy.
The Mubarak brothers held six accounts at Credit score Suisse, together with a joint account that swelled to about $196 million in 2003, consistent with the leaked information.
Each and every of the son’s fathers-in-law additionally had accounts on the financial institution value tens of millions of greenbacks, as did different businessmen related to the Mubaraks, whom the Egyptian government attempted on corruption fees.
Because the Arab Spring stepped forward around the Heart East, the Swiss government introduced that that they had frozen masses of tens of millions of greenbacks of property related to Mr. Mubarak and his executive in addition to property of other people related to governments in Syria, Libya and Tunisia. However main points on precisely what was once frozen have remained scarce.
Via their legal professionals, Gamal and Alaa Mubarak instructed The New York Instances that every one in their property have been received legally via their “a success skilled industry actions” and correctly declared to the essential government.
They mentioned the leaked account data may comprise “some subject material inaccuracies” however didn’t elaborate.
The one sitting head of state within the leaked information was once King Abdullah II of Jordan, a detailed United States spouse whose kingdom has won billions in army and financial support from the USA through the years. That support totaled $22 billion as of 2018.
In keeping with the leaked information, King Abdullah had six Swiss accounts, together with one who held greater than $224 million in 2015. His spouse, Queen Rania, had an account that exceeded $40 million in 2013. The ones accounts have been closed in 2015 and 2016.
Jordan’s Royal Hashemite Court docket mentioned in a remark that there have been no “illegal or mistaken behavior” on the subject of the financial institution accounts.
Many of the cash within the king’s biggest account was once from the sale of an plane in Might 2015 for $212 million, the remark mentioned. The remainder was once his “private wealth,” inherited from his father, the former monarch, and invested since.
Queen Rania’s account held a portion of the king’s private wealth put aside for the couple’s 4 youngsters, who have been minors on the time, the remark mentioned. The stability leaked was once erroneous, it mentioned, however it didn’t supply an alternative determine.
The price range have been used to shop for a smaller plane, for investments, private bills and social and financial initiatives for Jordanians and to deal with the Islamic holy websites in Jerusalem which are below the king’s custodianship, the remark mentioned.
The previous president of Algeria, Abdulaziz Bouteflika, had a shared account with various kinfolk that held $1.1 million in 2005, the leaked information confirmed. He was once ousted after two decades in energy in 2019 and died in 2021.
Sultan Qaboos bin Stated of Oman, who dominated for almost 5 many years till his death in 2020, had two accounts, one who held just about $126 million in 2003 and some other that held $57 million in 2015.
The accounts held via the heads of intelligence companies or their kinfolk incorporated figures who labored intently with the Central Intelligence Company on covert operations and counterterrorism and a few who’ve been accused of overseeing torture and different human rights abuses.
In 2003, shut kinfolk of Omar Suleiman, Mr. Mubarak’s long-serving intelligence leader and a key interlocutor with the C.I.A., opened a joint account whose stability would develop to $52 million a couple of years later, the knowledge confirmed.
Mr. Suleiman died in 2012, however the account survived Mr. Mubarak’s fall and remained open till 2016. Efforts via the reporting mission to succeed in his kinfolk have been unsuccessful.
From 2000 to 2005, Saad Kheir led the Jordanian intelligence company, a key U.S. counterterrorism spouse that human rights organizations say interrogated terrorism suspects for the USA. In 2003, he opened an account whose stability would upward push to $21.6 million sooner than it was once closed after his dying in 2009.
Whilst it was once conceivable that the cash held via the intelligence chiefs was once for covert executive actions, that the boys stored it in their very own or their kinfolk’ names instructed it was once for private use, mentioned Douglas London, a retired senior operations officer within the C.I.A.
“Those have been the appropriate fingers and henchmen for the autocrats, in order that they have been smartly sorted for his or her loyalty and their provider,” he mentioned. “This is simply, for higher or for worse, how issues perform in those international locations.”


- What Time Do Options Expire? - Power Cycle Trading
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- Learn how and when to remove this template message In finance, the expiration date of an option contract represented by Greek letter tau is the last date on which the holder of the option may exercise it according to its terms.
- Key takeaways The expiration date is the specific date and time an options contract expires.
Summary The Importance of Knowing When Options Expire Since you can no longer trade an options contract once it has expired, knowing when options expire is super important for all option traders. Once the contract reaches the end of the set time its expiration dateunless the buyer of the contract chooses to exercise the right, the contract expires and becomes worthless.
But for expiration of options buyer of options, an overlooked option expiration can equate to trading losses. Do Options Expire at Open or Close?
Options Expiration | Everything You Need To Know
Public holders of options contracts, however, must indicate their desire to trade no later than PM on the business day preceding the option expiration date. Most exchange-traded options contracts follow a predetermined expiration system. Equity stock option contracts listed on the US exchange will always expire on the Saturday that follows the third Friday of the month. An exception occurs in the case of a market holiday, in which case the expiry is on the Thursday right before Friday.
Expiration Date (Derivatives)
For holders who need to notify the exchange of their intent to exercise a trade, it is important to know that the notification limits how late you can notify vary based on where the product trades. Most traders do not hold an options contract until its expiration date; they will move out of the position rather than exercise expiration of options or let it expire.
Traders should consult their broker regarding expiry, as some brokers will have different notification limits. When Do Weekly Options Expire?
Weekly options contracts are shorter than regular monthly options. They expire every week, generally at market close on Fridays.
Options Expiration Calendar 2021
Similar to regular options, exceptions include market holidays, in which case the weekly contract option would close on Thursday instead of Friday. Can Options be Exercised Automatically? What About Index Options? American-style index options contracts, like equity options, can be exercised any time before expiration, up to and including the third Friday of its expiration month. Some options expire in the morning, however, so it is important to be aware of this and know your expiry times when trading European-style index options.
Most monthly index options contracts expire in the morning, while weekly options expire in expiration of options afternoon.
As with other options contracts, notifications of intent to exercise must be done the day before.
Summary Experienced traders have a keen awareness of when the options they have bought or sold will expire. Share via:.


The Department of Energy is going to award up to $60 million to researchers focusing on ways to improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines for light- and heavy-duty engines through technological advances in combustion and waste heat recovery. The solicitation outlines the two primary topics of interest:
Enabling High Efficiency Clean Combustion
Exhaust Energy recovery
The first deals with areas such as HCCI, the latter with areas such as EGR. (Earlier posts on these areas.)
The solicitiation is fuel-neutral. The fuel does not have to be gasoline or diesel, it only has to be liquid at ambient conditions.
The baseline goals are to improve engine efficiency by 10% or more in each topic. Proposals are due in 26 July, and it will be very interesting to see where this goes.
Also of interest is the way the DOE articulates the market context for this work:
Americas energy security is dependent largely on the efficiency and fuel choices made for the transportation system. The transportation sector, in turn, has a significant influence on the nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Our highway vehicles use more petroleum products than our country produces domestically. As transportation energy use continues to grow, the situation will only worsen. Domestic oil production has been steadily declining for over two decades and oil imports are expected to reach 70% by 2025. Oil imports have been a growing problem, because petroleum resources are distant from most of the worlds consumers, unevenly distributed globally, and concentrated in regions with political or environmental sensitivities. Not only is the U.S. demand for oil growing, but the global demand in both industrialized and developing countries is increasing rapidly, especially in countries such as China and India where the growth in motor vehicles is far outpacing that of the U.S.
The Presidents FreedomCAR and Hydrogen Fuel Initiative are designed to reverse Americas growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles by the middle of the next decade. Before fuel cell vehicles become a commercial reality and a hydrogen infrastructure is in place, vehicle efficiency improvements are needed for the transition from current internal combustion engines to fuel cell vehicles. The Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (OFCVT), in conjunction with its industry partner, the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) is leading the effort, through the FreedomCAR Partnership, to develop the technologies that improve vehicle efficiency in the interim and simultaneously facilitate the transition ultimately to hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.