Berlin: Germany has approved new measures to rein in high-risk financial business of banks and to decouple them from retail banking as part of a comprehensive reform to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis five years ago and to minimise the costs for taxpayers if banks were to be bailed out in the future.
The Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Friday voted with the majority of the ruling conservative-liberal coalition a legislation, which will require banks with assets exceeding 100 billion euros (130 billion USD), or 20 per cent of their balance sheet, to separate their risky trading activities from the traditional client banking and to put them in independent subsidiaries until 2016.
The new rues, which are scheduled to come into force in early 2015, will bar direct lending and provision of guarantees to hedge funds and private equity funds by retail banks through the use of clients' capital deposits.
Banks will have to finance highly speculative businesses with their own resources and to transfer high frequency trading as well as lending to hedge funds and other holding companies to the proposed subsidiaries, the legislation said....
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07:40 AM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: REpower Systems SE, part of wind turbine maker Suzlon group, has bagged an order worth 90 million euros (over Rs 639 crore) for four wind power projects in Germany. A contract has been received from B rgerwindpark im Kirchspiel Medelby GmbH & Co KG for supplying 27 wind turbines to four projects worth 90 million euros, Suzlon said in a statement on Tuesday. The turbines are scheduled to...
12:08 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand bagged the women's singles title at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament after beating Juliane Schenk of Germany in straight games on Sunday. It was an upset victory as world number six Intanon got the better of world number four Juliane Schenk of Germany 22-20 21-14 in 45 minutes. In the opening game, the third seeded Thai initially committed a number of unforced...
06:52 PM, Apr 28, 2013
Frankfurt: A German privacy regulator has fined Google for illegally recording signals from Wifi networks while it was taking photographs for its Street View service. Google's roving Street View vans picked up large amounts of personal data such as e-mails, passwords, photos and online chat protocols, said the commissioner for data protection and freedom of information in Hamburg city state, Johannes Caspar. Caspar fined Google 145,000 euros ($189,700), close to...
11:07 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Stuttgart: Germany came from behind to beat Serbia 3-2 in their Fed Cup playoff Sunday and qualify for next season's top-tier World group competition. Sabine Lisicki and Anna-Lena Groenefeld clinched the best-of-five series by winning the decisive doubles 6-2, 6-4 against Vesna Dolonc and Aleksandra Krunic. Mona Barthel began the comeback by defeating Bojana Jovanovski to pull Germany level at 2-2. Barthel had to win to keep Germany in the...
12:54 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal calmly continued his bid for a ninth consecutive crown at the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-2 6-4 third-round victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany on Thursday The Spanish world number five recorded his 44th win in a row in the first big claycourt event of the season to set up a quarter-final encounter with 34th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. The 21st-ranked Kolschreiber did not pose...
06:12 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi/Berlin: India and Germany will jointly intensify efforts to gain permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council as also for broader reform of the world organisation, top ministers of the two sides say. "Security Council reform was naturally one of our focus areas of discussions. We have decided to continue to collaborate with Germany and intensify the pressures," Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told this IANS...
05:43 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Berlin: Germany will support building up of renewable energy in India by providing soft loans of up to 1 billion euros ($ 1.3 billion) for a six-year period starting in 2014. Germany's offer as part of its development cooperation with India was made in a "joint declaration of intent" signed by Union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and...
01:06 PM, Apr 13, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Mamohan Singh on Friday returned home after his three-day visit to Germany during which key issues like India-EU FTA were discussed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel articulating the impediments in inking of the pact. Pitching for investments from Germany and other countries, Prime Minister Singh had made it clear during the trip that government's resolve to boost economic growth remains "unwavering". India and Germany also inked...
01:30 AM, Apr 13, 2013
Berlin: The leaders of Germany and India said on Thursday that progress is being made on a new free trade agreement between India and the European Union but cautioned that there is still work to be done. Negotiations have been ongoing for six years and officials had hoped to conclude the agreement by the end of 2012. But the agreement has been hung up over a wide range of issues,...
04:26 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Berlin: Pitching for investments from Germany and other countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said government's resolve to boost economic growth remains "unwavering" and underlined that intense debates back home on the policy issues have not stopped it from taking hard decisions. Manmohan pointed out that trials of the global economy have led to repercussions in India as well and India's economic growth has slowed down. "In response, our...
10:59 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Berlin: Germany on Thursday pressed India to hike the foreign equity cap in the insurance sector and reduce tariffs on import of automobiles as a prelude to the much-awaited India-EU Free Trade Agreement even as the two countries signed six pacts including one under which a German loan of Euro one billion (Rs 7,000 crore) will be provided for a green energy corridor in India. After talks with Prime Minister...
09:00 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Berlin: Hours ahead of a private dinner hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Chancellery, an uninvited guest came in - a fox. According to officials, a fox managed to enter the Chancellery premises taking the security personnel by surprise. However, after staying around for a few minutes, the fox went away by itself, in a relief to the security officials and others who...
04:52 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Berlin: India on Wednesday sought a strong political thrust from Germany, a key member of the 27-nation European Union bloc, for inking of the long pending Free Trade Agreement with the grouping. This was conveyed by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid during his comprehensive talks with German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, during which various bilateral, regional and international issues including EU-India FTA, Iran's contentious nuclear programme, and North Korea were discussed....
09:00 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Berlin: A series of bilateral ministerial meetings will set the stage for the second inter-governmental consultations at the Cabinet level between India and Germany, which gets under way here on Wednesday. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will receive India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid for an exchange of views before the Cabinet ministers from both sides hold their first joint meeting in this country, government sources said. Rising tension on...
12:40 PM, Apr 10, 2013
New Delhi: Prime minister Manmohan Singh has left for Berlin on Wednesday to participate in the second round of inter-governmental consultations with Germany. The two countries are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations and will address possible areas of cooperation. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and other important officials are going to be a part of the delegation on the bilateral visit. Dr Singh will arrive in Berlin on the...
09:05 AM, Apr 10, 2013
India's women professionals are realising their career ambitions remarkably well and are far ahead of their counterparts in the United States, Germany, and Japan in some critical ways, according to a latest report. This is besides succeeding at the difficult balancing act that confronts the vast majority of working women around the world, head of a non-profit think tank Center for Talent Innovation has said. ...
02:40 PM, Apr 02, 2013
German Police have arrested a 28-year-old Pakistani man on suspicion of spying on high-tech military data, the office of the federal public prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday. ...
02:27 AM, Mar 29, 2013
With Germany eager to challenge for the World Cup next year and in control of the group featuring Austria, Sweden and Ireland, the players saw no reason for alarm. ...
10:24 PM, Mar 27, 2013
Marco Reus scored two goals to help Germany overcome Kazakhstan 4-1 in a World Cup qualifying match. ...
08:45 AM, Mar 27, 2013
