The United States is suing former MoneyGram chief compliance officer Thomas Haider as prosecutors wish to hold him personally responsible for the fact that telemarketing scammers managed to at some point receive payments through MoneyGram's services. The suit was announced by Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Manhattan and FinCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. Continue reading
Category Archives: Banks
Australian "Big Four" Attempt To Build Real Time Payment Network.. Again
The National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ, which make up Australia's "Big Four" banks and an additional eight financial institutions have announced their intention to build a new payments network that will enable real time payments. The network is to be built by Belgium based company SWIFT who today signed a 12 year contract to build and operate the infrastructure. Continue reading
Bitcoin Blackmailer Given Four Year Jail Sentence
Last month, Qntra reported on Lewys Martin, a UK citizen who attempted to blackmail Halifax Bank, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, to the tune of 2,800 BTC. Martin had previously been given a two year jail sentence for ddosing the websites of Oxford and Cambridge university. Continue reading
HSBC Cuts Ties with GABI
HSBC has reportedly cut ties with the "regulated" Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund (GABI) over concerns related to "money laundering" risks. Notably in 2012 HSBC settled with the United States for $1.92 billion related to assistance it allegedly provided drug cartels in laundering money in Mexico and Columbia, likely making the money laundering issue a very sore subject for the bank.
Citigroup's Buiter: Gold a Shiny Bitcoin
According to Marketwatch Citigroup's "Global Chief Economist" William Buiter has some thoughts on Gold, Bitcoin, and other currencies in response to a Swiss referendum on how much gold the Swiss central bank should be keeping in reserves and where. Among those thoughts: Continue reading
Netherlands Repatriates Some Gold
There are reports that the Netherlands has repatriated a substantial portion of its gold holdings from the Federal Bank of New York to their own physical custody. This move changes their allocation of gold held at home from 11% to 31%, and the portion held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 51% to 31% while the remainder of their holdings are split between the Bank of England and Canada. There is no news yet as to whether they've drilled the bars and found tungsten.
Ben Bernanke & Mervyn King Share Their Thoughts On Bitcoin
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and ex-Bank of England Governor Mervyn King both spoke at the CME Group conference held in Florida this past Monday through Wednesday where they were asked by an audience member what they thought about Bitcoin. Continue reading
David Woo Of Bank Of America Merrill Lynch: Don't Invest In Bitcoin
In a continued attempt to compartmentalise Bitcoin, David Woo, the global rates head at Bank of America Merrill Lynch appeared on an episode of "Bloomberg Surveillance" where he espoused the use of Bitcoin the payment system while writing off bitcoin the unit of account as something one should not invest in. Continue reading
Bank of Canada: Bitcoin Poses No Risk But We'll Watch It Closely Anyway
With her feet standing upon the shores of beach fiat, Carolyn Wilkins, the senior deputy governor for Bank of Canada stated on Thursday that the incoming Bitcoin tsunami does not currently pose a risk to stability in Canada. Conceding that the tsunami will indeed reach the shore, she continued by saying that Bitcoin must be watched closely for any threat it poses to the financial system. Continue reading
BNP Paribas: Five Ways Bitcoin Could Shake Up Finance
French bank BNP Paribas has published an article titled "Cryptomania" in the latest edition of their in-house magazine. The article, authored by Johann Palychata, a research analyst for BNP Paribas Securities Services, discusses five benefits that Bitcoin could bring to the banking and financial services industry. Continue reading