(ZH) About That Deutsche "Settlement" Rumor: Cryan Hasn't Even Started Negotiati

About That Deutsche "Settlement" Rumor: Cryan Hasn't Even Started Negotiations With The DOJ


Friday's market session was about one thing: will Deutsche Bank stock close the week ahead of a three day holiday at a record low. It did not because, as we reported, the AFP announced that based on "sources" (most likely from Twitter), the DOJ was willing to reduce the $14 billion settlement that sent DB stock on a rollercoaster ride over the past two weeks, to just under $6 billion. The news unleashed a massive short squeeze relief rally, which sent DB stock soaring on Friday, pushing the entire market up 1%.
And while repeated attempts by the likes of Reuters to get additional information from either the DOJ, the German government or Deutsche Bank itself, have proven fruitless, overnight Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung reported that Deutsche Bank executives are heading to the United States in the coming days to negotiate the $14 billion settlement over a fine the infamous $14 billion for misselling RMBS.
The FAZ did not cite any sources for its report. Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Chief Executive John Cryan's travel plans.
In other words, not only was the $5.6 billion "agreed upon" number, as "reported" by Twitter and then AFP, bogus, but the actual negotiations have not yet even begun.
It also means that the catalyst for Friday's ramp was, as we suspected, nothing but the latest attempt at media manipulation meant to push DB stock higher and prevent a concerned German population from pulling its cash out of the bank, of which DB has well over €300 billion in retail deposits.

With Germany closed on Monday and only the far more illiquid US DB stock trading on Monday, we look forward to the market's reaction to the realization that what it soared on what was nothing more than a media stunt, especially in the aftermath ofSaturday's announcement that Italy is the latest sovereign to take Deutsche Bank to task for its allegedly illegal manipulation and misrepresentation of Monte Paschi's books.

(ZH) Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean (And It's Goi

Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean (And It's Going To Get Worse)

The nuclear disaster has contaminated the world's largest ocean in only five years and it's still leaking 300 tons of radioactive waste every day.
Credit – NOAA
What was the most dangerous nuclear disaster in world history? Most people would say the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, but they’d be wrong. In 2011, an earthquake, believed to be an aftershock of the 2010 earthquake in Chile, created a tsunami that caused a meltdown at the TEPCO nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Three nuclear reactors melted down and what happened next was the largest release of radiation into the water in the history of the world. Over the next three months, radioactive chemicals, some in even greater quantities than Chernobyl, leaked into the Pacific Ocean. However, the numbers may actually be much higher as Japanese official estimates have been proven by several scientists to be flawed in recent years.
Radioactive Debris from Fukushima approaching North America’s western coast Credit – RT
If that weren’t bad enough, Fukushima continues to leak an astounding 300 tons of radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean every day. It will continue do so indefinitely as the source of the leak cannot be sealed as it is inaccessible to both humans and robots due to extremely high temperatures.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Fukushima has contaminated the entire Pacific Ocean in just five years. This could easily be the worst environmental disaster in human history and it is almost never talked about by politicians, establishment scientists, or the news. It is interesting to note that TEPCO is a subsidiary of General Electric (also known as GE), one of the largest companies in the world, which has considerable control over numerous news corporations and politicians alike. Could this possibly explain the lack of news coverage Fukushima has received in the last five years? There is also evidence that GE knew about the poor condition of the Fukushima reactors for decades and did nothing. This led 1,400 Japanese citizens to sue GE for their role in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Even if we can’t see the radiation itself, some parts of North America’s western coast have been feeling the effects for years. Not long after Fukushima, fish in Canada began bleeding from their gills, mouths, and eyeballs. This “disease” has been ignored by the government and has decimated native fish populations, including the North Pacific herring. Elsewhere in Western Canada, independent scientists have measured a 300% increase in the level of radiation. According to them, the amount of radiation in the Pacific Ocean is increasing every year. Why is this being ignored by the mainstream media? It might have something to do with the fact that the US and Canadian governments have banned their citizens from talking about Fukushima so “people don’t panic.”

Credit – AP
Further south in Oregon, USA, starfish began losing legs and then disintegrating entirely when Fukushima radiation arrived there in 2013. Now, they are dying in record amounts, putting the entire oceanic ecosystem in that area at risk. However, government officials say Fukushima is not to blame even though radiation in Oregon tuna tripled after Fukushima. In 2014, radiation on California beaches increased by 500 percent. In response, government officials said that the radiation was coming from a mysterious “unknown” source and was nothing to worry about.
However, Fukushima is having a bigger impact than just the West coast of North America. Scientists are now saying that the Pacific Ocean is already radioactive and is currently at least 5-10 times more radioactive than when the US government dropped numerous nuclear bombs in the Pacific during and after World War II. If we don’t start talking about Fukushima soon, we could all be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

>>> ABB activist Cevian rejects speculation it has held power grids sale talks w

ABB activist Cevian rejects speculation it has held power grids sale talks with competitors (translated)
02 OCT 2016
ABB investor Cevian has denied holding talks with potential buyers for parts of ABB’s grids unit, Schweiz am Sonntagreported.
The Swiss weekly cited a Cevian spokesperson who said rumours in the Swedish press are absurd, noting that as it only holds 6% it is not in the position to hold talks. The spokesperson added that competitors would not enter talks, and claimed the rumours are only a distraction from the real topic which is the advantages of breaking up the unit. The spokesperson said talks had been held before and after investing ABB with over 200 industry representatives which may have included former ABB members and representatives of ABB competitors.

>>> Euronext eyes EUR 400m bid for LSE LCH SA clearing house - report

Euronext eyes EUR 400m bid for LSE LCH SA clearing house - report

Euronext [EPA: ENX], the operator of several European bourses, is examining a EUR 400m bid for the London Stock Exchange [LON:LSE]’s LCH SA clearing house in Paris, The Sunday Times reported, citing City sources.
The LSE hopes to sell the French clearing house operation to get its GBP 21bn (EUR 24bn) merger with Deutsche Boerse[ETR:DB1] past regulators, the report noted. Although Euronext has been vocally opposed to the merger, it has started internally to look at moving on LCH SA, according to the sources.
Analysts believe LCH SA might have a value of EUR 400m-EUR 500m but would be worth less in a sale as the LSE is under pressure to make the disposal, the item reported.

NYT : Deutsche Bank Troubles Raise Fear of Global Shock

LONDON — Germany’s largest bank appears in danger, sending stock markets worldwide on a wild ride. Yet the biggest source of worry is less about its finances than a vast tangle of unknowns — not least, whether Europe can muster the will to mount a rescue in the event of an emergency.
In short, fears that Europe lacks the cohesion to avoid a financial crisis may be enhancing the threat of one.
The immediate source of alarm is the health of Deutsche Bank, whose vast and sprawling operations are entangled with the fates of investment houses from Tokyo to London to New York.
Deutsche is staring at a multibillion-dollar fine from the Justice Department for its enthusiastic participation in Wall Street’s festival of toxic mortgage products in the years leading up to financial crisis of 2008. Given Deutsche’s myriad other troubles — a role in the manipulation of a financial benchmark, claims of trades that violated Russian sanctions and a generalized sense of confusion about its mission — the American pursuit of a stiff penalty comes at an inopportune time.
It heightens the sense that Deutsche — whose shares have lost more than half their value this year — needs to secure additional investment, lest it leave itself vulnerable to some new crisis.

The biggest worries center on what happens if Deutsche falls apart to the point that it threatens the globe with a financial shock — and whether new rules and buffers put in place since the last crisis will keep the pain from spreading.
Regulations that took effect this year in the European Union standardize how member countries are supposed to handle the potential implosion of a large financial institution. Banks, too, have put aside more money to deal with potential losses.
Deutsche could pose the first test of the new arrangement. Recent challenges have underscored concerns about the limits of solidarity in Europe.

From the chaos of the sovereign debt crisis to the acrimony over an influx of refugees, European authorities have proved something less than an exemplar of coordinated government action. The European Union has become a focus of populist anger, further constraining options. And Germany has opposed bailouts for lenders in other lands, making a Deutsche rescue politically radioactive.
All of which adds to worries that Deutsche amounts to a fire burning, one that might yet become an inferno, while the fire department is consumed with existential arguments over its purpose. If the alarm sounds, no one can be sure what, if anything, will happen.
In the worst case — now highly unlikely — the bank could collapse, inciting a scramble to pull money from markets around the globe. Institutions that trade with Deutsche would feel an urge to collect their cash immediately. Given the scale of the bank’s balance sheet — 1.8 trillion euros, or more than $2 trillion — that inclination is likely to spread to every crevice of finance. Economies would grind to a halt. Jobs and fortunes would disappear.

Despite murmurings in pundit quarters that this sort of situation may be unfolding, provoking comparisons with the catastrophic bankruptcy of the American investment banking giant Lehman Brothers eight years ago, most economists dismiss such talk as overwrought and overblown.
Deutsche is sitting on cash reserves worth €240 billion, or about $269 billion. It has sold bonds that can be converted to equity should the need arise. The Justice Department’s proposed fine of $14 billion is viewed as the opening of a negotiation that could cost Deutsche a fraction of that amount — thinking that sent the stock surging on Friday.
Not least, Deutsche Bank is a classic example of the species of financial animal known as Too Big To Fail.
“We saw what happened with Lehman,” said Nicola Borri, a finance professor at LUISS, a university in Rome. “It’s impossible that the authorities would let something like that happen again. It has ties with all the banks in the world. It is highly leveraged. A disorderly default would be very, very difficult for the entire financial system.”
On both sides of the Atlantic, the financial crisis prompted the construction of new regulatory authorities and requirements that banks set aside more funds in reserve against troubles.
“The system is much more robust and resilient because of the buffers,” said Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a research institution in Brussels. “There are pockets of fragility, but broadly speaking, the system is better prepared.”
But the markets do not appear to fully buy that the defenses are secure.
Deutsche is heavily involved in the trading of derivatives, the exotic financial instruments that were at the center of the 2008 crisis. Derivatives can be so mind-bendingly complex that no one fully grasps who owes what to whom until someone big enough to rattle markets suddenly cannot pay.
Then, fear takes over, and investors dump holdings indiscriminately. This lowers the value of even solid assets on bank balance sheets, giving rise to further cause for concern.
Because Deutsche has been dominated by its investment banking operations — meaning it is not sitting on a large pile of plain deposits as a cushion — it is especially vulnerable to such volatility.
Fear, in other words, is not just a symptom of trouble but also a cause.
This makes Deutsche’s problems the world’s problems. Not for nothing did the International Monetary Fund in June declare Deutsche to be “the most important net contributor to systemic risks” on earth.
A collapse may be exceedingly unlikely. Yet the beginning would probably feel something like recent days.
Thursday brought reports that hedge funds were quietly extracting their money from Deutsche’s coffers. The bank’s shares plummeted to a new low.

Friday morning, Deutsche’s chief executive officer, John Cryan, released a letter to his staff offering assurances that the bank boasted “strong fundamentals.” The stock recovered slightly on those comments, but the sense remained that the need for reassurance attested to concerns.
The biggest form of insurance against panic is confidence that larger players — in this case, European authorities — stand at the ready to mount a rescue, should one be required.
But confidence is not something Europe has proved terribly skilled at instilling. Its abilities to marshal a bailout are dubious. New rules introduced to discourage reckless investments by large financial institutions bar taxpayer-financed bailouts.
Germany has been adamant that these strictures be applied, rebuffing a recent attempt by the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to secure an exemption allowing him to inject taxpayer money into the Italian banking system. The optics of Germany seeking a way around the rules for its largest lender would be especially problematic.
The Deutsche chief and the German government both shot down a reportthat the bank had asked that a bailout be prepared.
More broadly, Germany has been the most fervent voice that reckless economic pursuits should be punished, no matter the human toll.
As Athens has negotiated with European authorities and the International Monetary Fund for a series of bailouts, Germany has demanded deep cuts to Greek public spending, sharply cutting pension payments to retirees. The Greek government used much of the bailout money to pay back debts to German banks.
Against this backdrop, a German bailout of its largest bank would reinvigorate accusations that it uses the European Union as a cover to pursue its own national interests.
This dynamic has force in the markets, presenting another factor that investors must absorb as the evaluate they risks of holding Deutsche’s debts and shares.
“The fact that we don’t know the reaction of the authorities is a factor of uncertainty,” said Mr. Veron of Bruegel.
Here is a feedback loop that amplifies the risks. The likelihood that Deutsche needs a rescue appears small, yet the possibility that a rescue could be forged seems close to nil. That tightens the pressure on Deutsche.
And yet Deutsche’s stature may provide the decisive form of insurance. In event of emergency, the authorities might have to act, whatever the politics.
“Deutsche Bank is so big and so systemically important that the rules will be bent,” Mr. Borri said. “If I were an investor, I would assume that the rules would be bent.”

>>> Boscolo attracts 12 binding offers; exclusivity to be awarded next week

Boscolo attracts 12 binding offers; exclusivity to be awarded next week – report (translated)
01 OCT 2016
Boscolo, the Italian hotel group, has attracted 12 binding offers, Italian language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The report cited sources close to the operation who said that exclusivity is likely to be awarded next week. The report cited the sources as saying that the offers are attractive.
Most of the offers are from private equity firms, including Northwood, Blackstone and Starwood Capital, the report said.
The Boscolo family is ready to entertain offers for the entire chain, including the real estate, if the price is right, the report noted.
As previously reported, Boscolo is expecting an EBITDA of EUR 35m in 2016 and EUR 38m in 2017.

TheDailyBeast : The Dangerous Business of Working For Saudi Royalty

The Dangerous Business of Working For Saudi Royalty
The case of a Parisian decorator who claims he was beaten, bound and forced to kiss a Saudi princess’s feet shows the lamentable track record of Arabic royal families when it comes to abusing their servants.

Working for the patriarchs and matriarchs of Middle Eastern royal families and their mercurial offspring has never been regarded as an employment opportunity without its drawbacks.
Known risks include being murdered, raped and imprisoned, so perhaps the Parisian decorator who turned up to paint the apartment of a Saudi Arabian princess—and who then alleges he was bound, beaten and made to kiss the Princess’s feet before being kicked out of the apartment without pay—should count himself lucky.
He had enraged the princess, according to Le Point by taking some photographs of the room at the apartment on the Avenue Foch, an expensive road that runs off the Arc de Triomphe, where he was carrying out some decorating work.

He said taking pictures was standard practice, and that the snaps were shot simply so he would know where to put back any furniture he had moved, but the unidentified princess accused him of scheming to sell the photographs to the press, and told an armed bodyguard: “You have to kill this dog, he doesn't deserve to live.”
Le Point reports that, in the course of what became a four-hour ordeal, the bodyguard, “struck him a blow to the head before tying his hands”, after which the craftsman was ordered to kneel and kiss the feet of the princess.
Abuses of staff appear to be a troublingly regular phenomenon among the wealthy Gulf families that populate Europe’s capital cities during the summer months. Migrants’ rights organizations consistently highlight appalling treatment dished out to staff, but the fact that many staff are foreign workers on tied visas combined with the diplomatic immunity many of these minor royals enjoy means meaningful interventions rare.
Last year, Majed Abulaziz al-Saud, a 29-year-old Saudi prince, allegedly sexually accosted five women at a Beverly Hills compound.
He was arrested after neighbors spotted a naked, bleeding woman frantically trying to scale the 8-foot fence around Al-Saud’s Beverly Hills compound. They helped the woman escape and called police.
A few days later Al-Saud—subsequently revealed to be a son of Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah—was free on $300,000 bail.

He allegedly told his victims: “I am a prince and I do what I want. You are nobody!”
Sheikh Rashid, the fast-living eldest son of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, fell into disfavor with his father—and was stripped of his order in the succession in 2008—after he apparently murdered a worker at his father’s office.
The alleged homicide was revealed in a confidential memo sent from the U.S. consulate in Dubai back to Washington published by Wikileaks.
Acting consul general David Williams wrote: “It is alleged that Rashid killed an assistant in the Ruler’s office, thereby forfeiting his opportunity to be heir.”
The astonishing claim was never proved.
Some foreign domestic servants working away from their native lands for foreign princes have suffered astonishing levels of abuse.

A United Arab Emirates’ambassador to Ireland was ordered to pay three Filipina workers a total of €240,000 for breaching their employment rights.
Ambassador Khalid Nasser Rashed Lootah and his wife Mehra Metad Alghubaisi had paid the women less than $2/hour to perform housework and other tasks for 15 hours a day, seven days a week, a tribunal heard.
The staff were constantly on call, had their passports confiscated and were never given a day off.
One of the women, Jennifer Villaranda, told Irish website thejournal.ie that she and her colleagues were treated “like slaves.”
Racial abuse has also allegedly been a fact of life for some employees. One black man working in the British household of a Gulf Sheikh alleged he was referred to as, ‘black slave’ by other staff members.
Another Saudi Princess, Buniah al-Saud, was arrested and thrown in the town jail in Orlando after it was alleged she hit her Indonesian maid and pushed her down the stairs of her Orlando townhouse. The princess, who denied the charges, was reported to be a niece of King Fahd.
In 2013, a Saudi princess named Meshael Alayban was arrested in Irvine, California on charges that she imprisoned and abused a Kenyan house servant. However, the charges were eventually droped.
The most shocking case of domestic abuse to be widely publicized however came in 2010, when Saudi Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir Al-Saud was jailed for life in the UK after bludgeoning his manservant Bandar Abdulaziz to death in London.
During Nasir Al-Saud’s trial it came to light that the man he murdered was also his sexual partner. The BBC noted that the 34-year-old prince spent more of his time in court arguing that he wasn’t gay than he did denying the murder.
It all makes the ordeal suffered by the Parisian decorator seem a rather trifling affair.
As a British businessman with extensive knowledge of Saudi and Gulf life told the Daily Beast despairingly of the alleged incident, “It’s not particularly a ‘royal’ thing. It’s the same culture as ISIS, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, and Assad destroying Aleppo. So this poor decorator had to kiss a princess’s feet? He got off lightly.”

FT : Brexit divorce lawyers eye up EU’s wine list (big matter for Junker)

Brexit divorce lawyers eye up EU’s wine list

Britain is planning to claim a share of the EU’s 42,000-bottle cellar of wine, cognac and other spirits, its art collection and its €8.7bn property portfolio as the government gears up to haggle over Brexit with Brussels.
As in any divorce, untangling EU-UK financial affairs is expected to be one of the most difficult part of the negotiations. Any exit deal must settle complex liabilities including the UK share of guarantees on €60bn of Eurocrat pensions and almost €20bn of European Investment Bank loans.

As it seeks to minimise any financial hit, Britain is eyeing the other side of the EU’s balance sheet, which includes assets ranging from land and office space to dozens of space satellites, the European Parliament’s art collection, the wine and spirits stock — and Margaret Thatcher’s old Conservative party citadel in Westminster.
“Of course we will go for the assets,” said one British official involved in preparations.
The ratio for divvying up the value of assets with Britain is likely to be highly contentious. But on the basis that Britain makes around an eighth of net EU budget contributions, its claim would cover roughly 5,000 bottles of wine, 250 bottles of spirits, €2.25m worth of art from the European Parliament’s collection, and around €10m from the book value of the European Court of Justice building.
Much of the financial detail of the divorce deal will be handled by Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister who officially takes up his post as the commission’s chief Brexit negotiator on Saturday, some 100 days after the EU referendum.
The EU’s consolidated accounts from 2015 show property and equipment of €8.7bn, valued at the price paid when the buildings were purchased, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s. Britain would be expected to press for a survey to find the current market value on the assets.

Among these assets are more than 1.6m square metres of office space in Brussels alone, covering the European Parliament’s main buildings, the new “Europa” summit building for European leaders, and some 60 Commission buildings. This includes the Berlaymont headquarters, which the commission leases but presents as an asset in accounts because it can exercise an option to buy the building from Belgium for €1 in 2031.
Most tantalising for Brexiters may be the potential to reclaim 32 Smith Square, the former home of Conservative Central Office and backdrop to three Thatcher election victories. Bought for £26m and renovated in 2010, the Westminster property was rebranded “Europe House” and serves as a base for the commission and European Parliament in Britain.
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader who as an MEP still has use of an office in the building, said Britain should take back the landmark. “I think they should make it a monument to Mrs Thatcher and to Brexit, Mr Farage said. “They should turn it into a museum.”
Along with extensive properties in Luxembourg and Strasbourg, the EU maintains a network of agencies, delegations and offices around Europe, with prized buildings such as its Paris representation on Boulevard Saint-Germain.
As the EU has expanded its presence around the world, it has built a network of more than 300 properties in 138 countries. A fifth are owned by the bloc, with EU properties as far afield as Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

WSJ : China’s Richest Man, Dalian Wanda’s Wang Jianlin, Makes His Move on Hollyw

China’s Richest Man, Dalian Wanda’s Wang Jianlin, Makes His Move on Hollywood
The former PLA commander is on a push to extend Chinese cultural influence through movie production, cinemas and theme parks; a $1 billion bid for Dick Clark Productions

Wang Jianlin is buying Hollywood, one piece at a time.
China’s richest man has gone on a shopping spree aimed at positioning his Dalian Wanda Group in every stage of the entertainment life cycle: cinemas, movie production, TV, marketing and more.
His latest target, Dick Clark Productions, would stretch Mr. Wang’s empire into Hollywood’s red-carpet glamour zone, giving him the company that puts on the Golden Globes, the American Music Awards and other shows brimming with celebrities and promotional opportunities.

This is all a prequel to his dream prize, one of Hollywood’s six major film studios. He was in talks to buy 49% of Paramount Pictures until the deal was scotched amid a shake-up at the studio’s parent company, Viacom Inc.
Other Chinese tycoons have invested in Hollywood, but Mr. Wang’s interests go far beyond buying access to glitzy premieres and lavish after-parties. After making a fortune in property development, Mr. Wang has publicly stated that he is on a mission to make China a dominant global force in entertainment.
The mogul’s current bid to buy Dick Clark Productions for about $1 billion would follow his 2012 purchase of theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. for $2.6 billion and production company Legendary Entertainment this year for $3.5 billion. AMC, meanwhile, has announced plans to buy rival Carmike Cinemas Inc. for $1.2 billion, a deal that would make Mr. Wang’s holdings the biggest film exhibitor in the U.S., and the world.
The aggressive deal making is starting to draw attention from U.S. government officials and industry executives, who see both Mr. Wang and China as threats to Hollywood’s dominance in entertainment as a business and a cultural force.
Leonardo DiCaprio arrives for the opening night of the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis in Qingdao, China.PHOTO: VCG /GETTY IMAGES
On Sept. 15, 16 members of the House of Representatives wrote a joint letter asking the Government Accountability Office to consider expanding the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. so it could review Chinese acquisitions of U.S. media companies under the same national-security rules it uses for sectors such as aerospace.
Dalian Wanda’s recent acquisitions, the representatives wrote, have heightened “concerns about China’s efforts to censor topics and exert propaganda controls on American media.”
China has proven adept at influencing the movie business even without splashy takeovers. China’s box-office market is expected to surpass the U.S. in the next few years, and the country’s ticket sales already weigh heavily on Hollywood decision-making. Sequels to movies like “Pacific Rim” are sometimes greenlit largely due to success of the earlier version in China, even if they disappointed in North America.
Producers and writers say studios are already nixing plot points in their big-budget films that might offend Chinese sensibilities, by, for example, avoiding topics such as homosexuality or the undead. They are increasingly looking to cast Chinese actors in supporting roles to broaden appeal—and win one of the 34 slots China’s government keeps open for foreign theatrical releases.
In September, Sony Pictures Entertainment struck a marketing pact with Wanda’s film subsidiary that gives Wanda the opportunity to take equity stakes in some Sony films. The move was widely seen as Sony’s play to win better access to Chinese consumers and Wanda’s chance to use its big real-estate footprint to have a stronger hand in marketing movies playing in its Chinese theaters. The companies called the deal a “strategic alliance.”
Sony had the lowest China box-office sales of any major Hollywood studio last year, and it is developing several coming titles such as “Jumanji” with Chinese moviegoers in mind.

Dalian Wanda declined to comment for this article, and Mr. Wang wasn’t available.
Mr. Wang’s ambitions appear to align with China’s strategy of encouraging its companies to seize the world stage. Recent deals include Haier Group’s $5.6 billion deal to buyGeneral Electric Co.’s appliance business; the $4.7 billion purchase by Shuanghui International Holding Inc., now called WH Group, of Smithfield Foods Inc.; and Lenovo Group Ltd.’s $2.91 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Still pending is China National Chemical Corp.’s proposed $43 billion purchase of Swiss seed company Syngenta, which would be the biggest overseas acquisition to date by a Chinese company.
Beijing has smoothed the way for such forays by giving its corporate champions easier access to financing and streamlined regulatory approvals for acquisitions. In Wanda’s case, there is an extra boost: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said its entertainment industry can be a means to promote core socialist values and China’s viewpoint on history, nationality and culture.
For this role, the 61-year-old Mr. Wang seems perfectly cast.
A former People’s Liberation Army commander whose father trudged across China withMao Zedong during the Long March, Mr. Wang made his fortune as a developer, building the shopping plazas, office buildings and apartment complexes that helped fuel China’s economic expansion.
His business career began after he retired from the army and took a job with the provincial government in Dalian, a seaport city on China’s northeast coast. He turned around a failing property development unit and never looked back, completing increasingly ambitious projects including a series of “Wanda Plazas” that feature retail shops, cinemas and offices.
In a question-and-answer session with students at Harvard Business School last year, Mr. Wang was asked whether Dalian Wanda’s rapid growth had been aided by friends in high places. Corporate filings in China show that Deng Jiagui, who is married to President Xi’s sister Qi Qiaoqiao, owned shares in Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties before it went public in 2014.
“Wanda has no political affiliation,” Mr. Wang replied, according to a transcript of the Oct. 15, 2015, event. He said Mr. Deng “sacrificed the opportunity to realize a huge return in investment” by selling his stake two months before the public offering.
Wanda Plaza in Shanghai, China, is part of a chain that features retail shops, cinemas and offices. PHOTO: ZHAO XIXIAN /IMAGINECHINA
Dalian Wanda Group has three major arms in development, entertainment and finance, with Mr. Wang the majority owner of the master holding company. Dalian Wanda is based in Beijing, surrounded by other Wanda projects, including a five-star Sofitel hotel and a high-end IMAX Corp. theater.
It reported revenue of 290 billion yuan in 2015, or $43.5 billion. Of that amount, 190 billion yuan came from its commercial property holdings. The cultural group, which includes entertainment, pulled in 51 billion yuan. The closely held company didn’t disclose its profit.
Some former employees say aspects of Wanda’s corporate culture are more akin to that of a military unit than the more casual, freewheeling style associated with Hollywood.
Workers must swipe an electronic card when they arrive, these people say, adding that the dress code dictates collared shirts and suits for men, while women are warned against wearing short skirts and flashy nail polish.
Employees are also expected to take off their hats, overcoats and gloves before entering their offices, the people said.
So far, Mr. Wang has largely been content to let American executives run the Western entertainment businesses he has acquired, although some at headquarters chafe under Wanda’s rigid operating structure.
“Wanda is a great platform with good resources, but its management style drives people who want to make good films crazy,” said one former executive with Wanda’s Chinese film-production unit who left to start up his own production house.
At AMC theaters, Mr. Wang kept senior managers in place but turned up the speed, fast-tracking the company’s initial public offering, said Gerry Lopez, the chain’s former chief executive. During his time there, Mr. Lopez said Mr. Wang took a more direct interest in AMC than might be expected of a chairman overseeing such a vast company.
“He’s total control. Every decision, period, gets made by one guy,” Mr. Lopez said.
A company spokesman said: “AMC Theatres is an American company run entirely by its American management team from its headquarters in Kansas City,” adding, “Wanda does not participate in any of the day-to-day running of AMC, nor does Wanda make any decisions related to which films play in AMC Theatres.”
Mr. Lopez recalled that Mr. Wang said at their first meeting in 2010 he wanted to dominate four businesses in China: commercial real estate, department stores, cinemas and hotels.
“Upon achieving that No. 1 status in China, he wanted to then become No. 1 in the world in every one of those areas of business,” said Mr. Lopez.
Mr. Lopez started mentally cataloging the global competitors that Mr. Wang was saying he wanted to overtake. “I remember sitting there going, ‘Say what?’ ”
Mr. Wang poured in money to upgrade theaters with luxurious recliner seats and expanded menus. By the time AMC went public in 2013, the company’s recliner concept was a proven success soon adopted by chains around the world, including Wanda’s theaters in China.
Along with his entertainment acquisitions, Mr. Wang has also invested in European soccer, luxury yachts and an international sports marketing and media rights firm. In 2015, Wanda paid $650 million for the company that stages Ironman triathlons.
There have been stumbles. Analysts question whether the company overpaid for entertainment assets such as Legendary, which has produced summer blockbusters including “Jurassic World,” and “Godzilla.”
Debt-rating companies have also flagged its commercial-property division’s high debt levels, at one point downgrading the unit’s bonds to junk status on expectations that falling sales revenue wouldn’t be able to support its spending plans.
Dalian Wanda opened an amusement park in Nanchang, China, just weeks before Shanghai Disneyland’s debut. PHOTO: ZHANG HAIYAN/IMAGINECHINA
This summer, Wanda closed a movie theme park in the central Chinese city of Wuhan for upgrades and renovations. The park, open for only 19 months, had suffered poor attendance, according to people familiar with the situation.
Theme parks are one of Wanda’s biggest plays in entertainment, with the company opening its latest in September. Last spring, amid the frenzy over the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, Mr. Wang went on China’s CCTV to promote his own parks. Pointedly making the comparison with Disney, he said his parks celebrate Chinese culture.
“We want to be a model for Chinese private enterprise, and we want to establish a global brand for Chinese firms,” he said on the broadcast.
Mr. Wang’s goal of making China a moviemaking power in its own right is taking shape in the coastal city of Qingdao, a former German colony. There, Wanda is building what it calls the Oriental Movie Metropolis that will include 30 soundstages, including one with a giant tank for filming underwater scenes. Among those attending the groundbreaking three years ago were Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman and producer Harvey Weinstein.
“People don’t normally agree with how Wanda does things, but if they want to get somewhere, they will,” said a film director in China who has worked with Wanda. “If they make mistakes, they’re big enough that they can spend money and do it again.”
In the heart of Beverly Hills, Wanda is planning a $1.2 billion Wanda hotel and condo development. If Mr. Wang is able to overcome local opposition to the project, some entertainment executives expect the Wanda hotel to become an unofficial headquarters for Chinese-Hollywood deal making.
Signs bearing the Wanda name have already appeared around the site on Santa Monica Boulevard, 10 miles from the famous Hollywood sign.

WSJ : Current and Former MPS, Deutsche Bank, Nomura Executives Charged in Italy

Current and Former MPS, Deutsche Bank, Nomura Executives Charged in Italy
Charges follow lengthy investigation into transactions involving Monte dei Paschi

A judge in Milan on Saturday charged 13 former and current executives at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Deutsche Bank AG and Nomura International PLC with a number of alleged financial crimes, people familiar with the matter said.
The decision by judge Livio Cristofano follows an investigation lasting more than 1½ years by Milan prosecutors into two complex financial transactions that Monte dei Paschi arranged with Nomura and Deutsche Bank, as well as other transactions that allegedly helped Monte dei Paschi misrepresent its financial situation.
Monte dei Paschi and Nomura spokespeople had no comment. A Deutsche Bank spokesman said, “We will put forward our defense in court,” declining further comment. Lawyers for the individuals either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Deutsche Bank and Nomura are also to be defendants in the indictment, people familiar with the matter said. According to Italian law, companies can be charged with a direct liability for some crimes allegedly committed by their representatives. Monte dei Paschi requested a plea-bargain agreement in July. The court will decide this month whether to grant it.
In February, Milan prosecutors said that they were seeking the indictment of the executives after they said they had found evidence of the manipulation of Monte dei Paschi’s stock and falsification of its accounting, and some of the executives’ obstruction of the supervisory activity of Italian authorities, according to court documents seen by The Wall Street Journal.
In particular, in requesting the indictment of the bank’s managers, prosecutors alleged Monte dei Paschi’s accounting was false between 2008 and 2012, with the bank’s actual earnings being as much as 88% lower than what it disclosed during that time.
The bank—the world’s oldest—has since been bailed out twice by the Italian government and has struggled to shore up its capital position and regain profitability. This summer, the Tuscan lender emerged as the worst capitalized among large European lenders in a continentwide health check conducted by the European Banking Authority. It said it would sell all its most toxic bad loans worth €28 billion ($31.5 billion) and raise as much as €5 billion in fresh equity.
However, the bank’s board recently ditched both its chairman and chief executive amid muted investor enthusiasm for the plan, which has been looking increasingly fragile, people familiar with the matter said. The bank had started to put the plan into action by testing investors’ interest, but it hasn’t made more progress.
The case is one of a raft of legal matters hanging over Deutsche Bank from years past. Prolonged litigation and regulatory matters have cost the bank billions of dollars, adding to its woes as a new chief executive and lineup of senior executives try to cut expenses and boost profits.
On Saturday, Judge Cristofano sent to trial five former Monte dei Paschi managers, including ex-chairman Giuseppe Mussari and ex-general manager Antonio Vigni. The former executives couldn’t be reached for comment. In the past they have denied any wrongdoing. A lawyer for Mr. Vigni declined to comment. A lawyer for Mr. Mussari didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Former Deutsche Bank executives indicted Saturday include Michele Faissola, who formerly oversaw rates and commodity trading in Deutsche Bank’s markets business and who was head of asset and wealth management last year when he left the bank. Mr. Faissola and a lawyer representing him declined to comment. Mr. Faissola has denied wrongdoing in the past.
In addition, the Milan judge charged Michele Foresti, a fixed-income trading executive who left Deutsche Bank in 2014, and Ivor Dunbar, a former global markets executive. Their lawyers declined to comment. Mr. Foresti and Mr. Dunbar didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Matteo Vaghi, who also was charged, remains at Deutsche Bank, working in wealth management. He declined to comment. Mr. Vaghi is a managing director who previously oversaw the wealth management unit’s U.K. and Southern European operations.

Two other former Deutsche Bank managers and two former Nomura managers who were charged couldn’t be reached for comment.