Denmark
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FILE PHOTO: European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager attends the weekly College of Commissioners meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Februray 6, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
March 21, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s top antitrust regulator Margrethe Vestager on Thursday joined the fray for the presidency of the next European Commission, a post up for grab after EU parliamentary elections in May 23-26.
A former finance minister of Denmark, Vestager has gained a reputation as a tough enforcer of the bloc’s competition rules, slapping big fines on large corporations, like Google and Apple, and blocking a rail merger between Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alstom despite Berlin and Paris’ pressure to authorize the deal.
EU Competition Commissioner, Vestager was put forward in a team of lead candidates by the European liberal party, alongside six other prominent politicians from the centrist group, which include Belgium’s former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt and the EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc.
Polls show the liberals will be the third force in the next European Parliament, where the influence of the two traditional leading groups, the conservatives and the socialists, is set to dwindle.
With the expected rise of eurosceptic parties, the liberals could play a crucial role to form a pro-EU majority in the next assembly, giving Vestager and other candidates from the group a chance to win the commission’s top job, which is now held by Luxembourg’s former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
Under an election method backed by the EU parliament and some EU states, the president of the EU executive should be the leading candidate of the party that wins the European elections.
Polls show that the conservatives, whose candidate is German lawmaker Manfred Weber, are set to remain the main grouping in the next parliament.
But to win a majority of the seats, they will need the backing of their traditional socialist allies, whose candidate is EU commission’s vice-president Frans Timmermans, and other pro-EU parties, including the liberals.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Francesco Guarascio, Editing by William Maclean)
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FILE PHOTO: Danske Bank sign is seen at the bank’s Estonian branch in Tallinn, Estonia August 3, 2018. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
March 20, 2019
By Teis Jensen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Foreign investors sold Danish shares worth almost $14 billion in 2018 following a money laundering scandal at the country’s largest lender Danske Bank, Denmark’s central bank governor said on Wednesday.
Danske Bank is under investigation in the United States, Denmark, Estonia, France and Britain over 200 billion euros ($226 billion) in payments from Russia, ex-Soviet states and elsewhere that were found to have flowed through its Estonian unit between 2007 and 2015.
Non-residents sold Danish equities worth 91 billion crowns ($13.85 billion) last year, including 21 billion crowns’ worth of banking shares, a report from the central bank showed on Wednesday.
The divestment of bank equities may reflect a loss of confidence in the Danish banking sector in the wake of Danske Bank’s money laundering case, it said.
“The trust from international investors has certainly been reduced,” governor Lars Rohde told reporters in Copenhagen.
He said political initiatives to combat money laundering were paramount to restore foreigners’ trust in Danish banks.
He said Danish politicians should consider new rules to force banks to block payments if they are suspected of being related to money laundering, similar to current rules governing payments suspected of being linked to financing terrorism.
Danske Bank’s annual report shows shareholders from the United States and Canada cut their holdings in the bank during 2018 to 17 percent of Danske’s shares by the end of that year from 24 percent by end-2017.
British investors also reduced their holding in Danske Bank over 2018 from 16 percent to 12 percent, while Danes and other Europeans increased their holdings of Danske Bank shares.
(Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Catherine Evans and Jan Harvey)
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FILE PHOTO: Protesters wearing yellow vests walk down the Champs Elysees during a demonstration by the “yellow vests” movement in Paris, France, March 9, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
March 19, 2019
By Leigh Thomas
PARIS (Reuters) – A strong majority of people in wealthy countries want to tax the rich more and there is broad support for building up the welfare state in most countries, a survey conducted for the OECD showed on Tuesday.
In all of the 21 countries surveyed, more than half of those people polled said they were in favor when asked: “Should the government tax the rich more than they currently do in order to support the poor?” The OECD gave no definition of rich.
Higher taxation of the rich has emerged as a political lightning rod in many wealthy countries, with U.S Democrats proposing hikes and “yellow vest” protesters in France demanding the wealthy bear a bigger tax burden.
Support was highest in Portugal and Greece, both emerging from years of economic crisis, at nearly 80 percent compared with an average of 68 percent, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
The Paris-based forum’s survey of 22,000 people about perceived social and economic risks also found deep discontent with governments’ social welfare polices, which many people said were insufficient, the OECD said.
On average, only 20 percent said they could easily receive public benefits if needed while 56 percent thought it would be difficult to get benefits, the survey found.
People were on average particularly concerned about access to good quality, affordable long-term care for the elderly, housing and health services.
Not only did people say they were not getting their fair share given what they paid into the system, people in all countries except Canada, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands did not think that their governments were heeding their views.
“These feelings spread across most social groups, and are not limited just to those deemed ‘left behind’,” the OECD said in an analysis of the survey’s results.
The feeling of injustice was even higher among the highly educated and high-income households, it added.
In light of the high level of discontent, a majority of people wanted their government to do more in all countries except France and Denmark, whose welfare systems are among the most generous in the world.
Most people said the top priority should be better pensions with 54 percent saying that would make them feel more economically secure.
Healthcare followed in second place at 48 percent while nearly 37 percent were in favor of a guaranteed basic income benefit, which has attracted international interest from policymakers but has yet to be tried at the national level.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Richard Lough and Janet Lawrence)
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FILE PHOTO: General view of the Danske Bank building in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/File Photo
March 19, 2019
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Two U.S. law firms have filed a lawsuit on behalf of institutional investors against Danske Bank over a 200 billion euro ($227 billion) money laundering scandal.
Shareholder law firms Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. and DRRT filed the lawsuit in Copenhagen on behalf of investors from 19 countries, “asserting fraud claims stemming from a massive Russian money-laundering scheme and multi-year cover-up by Denmark’s largest bank and its senior leadership.”
The group seeks $475 million in damages, Grant & Eisenhofer said in a statement dated March 18.
Danske Bank was not immediately available for a comment
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Louise Heavens)
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FILE PHOTO: General view of the Danske Bank building in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/File Photo
March 18, 2019
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Last year was a low point for Danske Bank due to the massive money laundering scandal linked to its Estonian branch, but also a turning point for the Danish bank, its chairman told investors at an annual general meeting in Copenhagen on Monday.
“2018 became a low point for Danske Bank. But I also see it as a turning point,” Karsten Dybvad said, adding the bank began an internal dialogue about its role in society.
(Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Mark Potter)
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FILE PHOTO: U.S. Navy safety swimmers stand on the deck of the Virginia class submarine USS New Hampshire after it surfaced through thin ice during exercises underneath ice in the Arctic Ocean north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska March 19, 2011. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
March 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to attend the May 6-7 Arctic Council meeting in Finland in a show of Washington’s commitment to the region amid growing U.S. concern about China’s interests there, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States are members of the Council, which coordinates Arctic policy and is gaining clout as sea ice thaws to open up new trade routes and intensify competition for its oil, gas and mineral resources.
Asked if Pompeo was expected to attend the May gathering in Rovaniemi, Finland, the senior Trump administration official said: “We do … unless he gets pulled off to one of his many other issues.”
“We want to show that we are committed to being an Arctic nation, an Arctic power,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told a small group of reporters. “Chinese action has really focused everyone’s minds, including the Russians.”
China became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013 and last year it outlined its ambitions to extend President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming.
Asked if Pompeo would attend the meeting, a State Department spokesman said he had no travel to announce.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Tom Brown)
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FILE PHOTO: Danske Bank sign is seen at the bank’s Estonian branch in Tallinn, Estonia August 3, 2018. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
March 12, 2019
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The board of scandal-hit Danske Bank’s has nominated Bente Avnung Landsnes, the CEO of Oslo Bors ASA, as candidate for the board to be elected at the annual general meeting on March 18.
“I have broad experience of both banks and the capital markets over several years, also in working together with the FSA,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview, referring to Denmark’s financial watchdog.
Danske is under investigation in the United States, Denmark, Estonia, France and Britain over some 200 billion euros ($226 billion) in payments from Russia, ex-Soviet states and elsewhere that were found to have flowed through its Estonian unit.
(Reporting by Teis Jensen, editing by Louise Heavens)
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A Nordea bank sign is seen at its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
March 11, 2019
By Stine Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Tattooed models in mustard robes replaced the usual gray-suited bankers at Nordea Bank’s Copenhagen headquarters recently, as the Danish bank strutted out its latest attempt to woo young talent.
Hosting a fashion show is just one way companies like Nordea, the largest financial group in Nordic countries, are trying to attract twentysomething and thirtysomething employees. As financial services have moved online, banks have to battle with tech giants like Google and Amazon, which boast offices with features like massage rooms, to sign up tech-savvy millennials skilled in areas like artificial intelligence and programming.
“Banks today are not really banks like they were years ago,” Danske Bank’s head of real estate, Christian Ronn Osteraas, said in an interview. “Banks are more and more IT companies, so the fact that we compete for the same talents also means that we have to offer the same or better physical benefits and services.”
Workplace ambience is becoming increasingly crucial for banks in the quest for talent among youth who care about the environment and not just a juicy paycheck.
“Seventy-seven percent of millennials say that the workspace is more important than salary,” said chief operating officer Troels Bjerg at ISS, a top facility services firm whose customers include most of Europe’s 25 biggest banks.
Chief executives see attracting and retaining talent as their No. 1 challenge, according to data from ISS World, a Danish provider of facilities management, security, catering and other support services to companies globally.
“It has moved from being on the janitor’s agenda to the CEO’s agenda,” Bjerg said.
THAT START-UP FEELING
Nordea is also looking at places like Disney and Silicon Valley for inspiration to shed banking’s dusty image.
“It is important that you have something you can talk about when you get home,” said Trine Thorn, Nordea’s head of workplace management in Denmark. “We have to create something attractive and different. I want to have this start-up feeling.”
At Danske Bank in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital where it has 700 IT employees, you can nap in a booth in ‘The Library’ relaxation area or challenge colleagues at ping pong or PlayStation in another room.
Danske’s shared services center in Vilnius will stay when the bank pulls out of the Baltic countries and Russia in the wake of one of the largest-ever money laundering scandals.
Video games and flexible seating may not suit everyone, though.
“Everybody wants an inspiring workplace and the challenge might be that millennials have been highlighted so much lately,” Osteraas of Danske said. “It is important to attract talents of the future, but it should not remove focus from other types of employees.”
FROM CLEANER TO EXPERIENCE MANAGER
Nordea has been working closely with ISS to create a workplace that feels both like a bank and a tech start-up.
ISS, mainly known for its cleaning and catering services, said its new business for workplace experiences has been one of its fastest-growing areas in recent years. “Experience managers” create initiatives like a pop-up car wash in an office parking lot or a tour around the company to support knowledge sharing.
“My role is to help create a culture that’s more relevant to generation Z,” said Dino Portelli, an ISS experience manager contracted by a big global bank in New York.
Portelli is behind initiatives like a shuttle bus to the bank’s remote site, with a host onboard who can help employees book a meeting room, provide replacement pantyhose if needed, or pre-order coffee to be ready upon arrival.
“Banks are very corporate, but here it feels like you are in a Google (office),” he said of the site, which also includes a manicure salon and works with a local farm to supply greens.
“They arrive in their suits on Monday. By Wednesday they’re in slacks. And by Friday they’re playing ping-pong.”
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Lauren Young and Richard Chang)
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FILE PHOTO: LEGO House in Billund, Denmark, March 6, 2018. Scanpix Denmark/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS/File Photo
February 27, 2019
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Harry Potter and Star Wars building sets helped Lego return to growth in 2018, along with strong sales in China, where the privately-owned Danish toymaker plans to open new stores.
Sales at Lego, known around the world for its colorful plastic bricks, dropped for the first time in a decade in 2017, but it ended 2018 stronger after gaining market share.
A Lego version of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon space ship was last year’s best seller, while four Harry Potter-themed Lego sets were among the firm’s top-10.
Lego, which competes with toymakers such as Barbie maker Mattel Inc and Hasbro, said on Wednesday that global sales rose by 3 percent last year, while total revenue rose 4 percent to 36.4 billion Danish crowns ($5.5 billion).
“We had aimed to stabilize the business in 2018, but have actually returned to moderate growth on all parameters in a very tough environment,” chief executive Niels B. Christiansen said as operating profit grew by 4 percent to 10.8 billion crowns.
Efforts to combine physical bricks with the digital world, including programming a Lego set to move and augmented reality, had also paid off in 2018, Christiansen told Reuters..
While Lego’s sales increased in all key markets, China was most notable with strong double-digit growth, while the United States and Western Europe returned low-single digit growth.
In China, which still accounts for less than 10 percent of sales, the toymaker plans to more than double the number of stores to 140 this year.
“Right now we’re not really limited by how private consumption is developing in China. It’s more our ability to develop our brand and expand to more Chinese cities that’s driving growth,” Christiansen said.
While online and e-commerce sales continued to grow at the expense of physical stores, Christiansen said these remained key in order to expand the brand’s presence in new markets and give children “that magic experience”.
Lego, which has no shops in India but sells via third party stores, has begun a push into the Middle East and North Africa.
“India is the next big journey for us. It begins now and over the coming three years we’ll begin to invest heavily in India,” Christiansen said.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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FILE PHOTO: Israeli Air Force F-35 flies during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel December 26, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
February 27, 2019
By Jamie Freed
AVALON, Australia (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp expects it will take around 15 to 20 years to bring the cost per flight hour of the F-35 below fourth-generation fighter jets such as the F-16, the head of the F-35 program said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Air Force, the largest global customer for the F-35, has launched a push to drive down the cost of flying and servicing F-35s to the same levels as current fighters without stealth capabilities.
Lockheed Martin Vice President and General Manager F-35 Program Greg Ulmer said there was an effort to lower the cost per flight hour to $25,000 by 2025 but further savings would take longer.
“Today it is different customer by customer but I think $35,000 per flying hour is a good number,” he told Reuters in an interview at the Australian International Airshow.
“If we project that out based on the initiatives we have in place, we believe as we move out to the 2035-2040 timeframe we can get that cost down to under what a fourth gen is today,” in the range of $20,000-25,000 per flight hour.
Initiatives involved in lowering the cost to $25,000 an hour include reducing the number of mechanics needed to support each plane, Ulmer said.
Lockheed is also looking to refine diagnostic systems to reduce false alarms as well as to ensure there are proper spare parts available for maintenance and repairs.
Lockheed Martin Vice President and General Manager Training and Logistics Services Amy Gowder said the United States had been late to install enough capacity for F-35 repairs due to delays in funding approvals.
“The U.S. has been very slow to fund that in the depots specifically like Hill Air Force Base,” she said. “They should have started those projects a few years ago.”
That was becoming increasingly problematic as more planes were added to the fleet, Gowder said.
“When you have 180 aircraft it is probably okay. Now we have 300. It is the scale of the volume increases which is why there is a concern,” she said.
“That is putting more pressure on the supply chain in the near term.”
The U.S. Air Force did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside usual business hours.
Operating costs were a big issue when military officials from the United States, Israel and F-35 user nations in Europe – Britain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, the Netherlands – met in Germany in September last year.
Experts say the U.S. Air Force could cut back its planned purchases of the aircraft unless it can lower the flying costs.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; additional reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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