Aurelia Butler

VILNIUS (Reuters) -China has imposed a customs block on Lithuanian exports, a Lithuanian trade body said on Friday, amid a deepening spat between Beijing and Vilnius about the Baltic state’s decision to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy.China downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic state and suspended consular services there after the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania opened on Nov. 18.China views self-ruled Taiwan as its territory with no rights as a state. Other Taiwanese offices in Europe and the United States use the name of the city Taipei, avoiding any reference to the island itself.”I regret this decision by the Chinese authorities,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told reporters on Friday.”It is a pity it was taken despite Lithuania explaining quite clearly that opening of the Taiwanese representation does not clash with the ‘One China’ principle, which we keep to.”He said he had asked Lithuania’s government to find a way to compensate businesses for their losses.Lithuania next week will ask the European Commission “to get involved and defend Lithuania’s interests”, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Friday.Initial reports of the move by Chinese customs emerged on Thursday, said Vidmantas Janulevicius, president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, citing three members of the trade body.”Chinese customs no longer lists Lithuania in its list of origin countries. So customs forms for cargoes from Lithuania cannot be filed,” he said.The confederation, whose members account for half of Lithuania’s economy, will ask the government to file a complaint with World Trade Organisation, to protest over barriers to trade, Janulevicius said.The Chinese Office of the Charge d’Affairs in Vilnius did not comment on the report.A European Commission spokesperson said on Friday it was in contact with Vilnius and with the EU delegation in Beijing to clarify the situation.”We have been informed that the Lithuanian shipments are not being cleared through the Chinese customs and import applications are being rejected,” the spokesperson told a regular briefing. The Commission declined further comment.Lithuania, which trades largely with European Union countries, exported 300 million euros worth of goods to China in 2020, making it 22nd largest destination for exports, according to government statistics. More

LONDON (Reuters) – The business model used by collapsed supply chain financing firm Greensill Capital is causing a “high level of harm” and tighter rules are needed, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday.The watchdog set out proposals for public consultation to apply lessons from Greensill, which collapsed in March leaving investors nursing losses of around one billion pounds.The FCA said it would make changes to its appointed representatives regime (AR), which allowed an unauthorised company like Greensill to conduct activities without a licence, because it was supervised by a principal, meaning an authorised firm.Originally introduced in 1986 for sole traders or small firms selling services such as insurance, the regime allowed Greensill to operate in Britain without a licence to conduct business worth millions of pounds.There are about 40,000 ARs under 3,600 principals in retail lending and insurance. Some ARs have their head office outside Britain, which could be an attempt to access UK markets without a licence, the FCA said.”The appointed representative model helps bring choices to consumers, but the level of harm we are currently seeing is too high,” said Sheldon Mills, the FCA’s executive director for consumers and competition.”There are real risks of consumers being misled and mis-sold with little scope for recourse.”Some 60% of complaints handled by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) involve principals and ARs. (Graphic: FCA AR Graphic: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/lgvdwokegpo/FCA%20AR%20Graphic.PNG)The FCA said harms arise from the failure of principals to adequately scrutinise ARs before taking them on and then supervising them.The watchdog proposed that principals provide the FCA with far more detailed information on an AR’s regulated and unregulated activities, revenue, and history of complaints.The rule change will apply to existing ARs and new ones.The FCA is also assessing if firms which host ARs should hold more capital, given that some have hundreds or even thousands of ARs. There could also be limits on the size or even a ban on some ARs.The FCA is already investigating Greensill Capital and its principal Mirabella Advisers LLP as part of a global regulatory probe. More

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.Chinese ride-hailing group Didi Chuxing is to delist from the New York Stock Exchange less than six months after its $4.4bn initial public offering. In June Didi became the biggest Chinese company to list in the US since Alibaba in 2014 and the decision to move its listing to Hong Kong accelerates the decoupling of Chinese companies from US capital markets as Beijing extends its crack down on the country’s leading technology groups.Didi said its board had authorised the delisting in New York of its American depositary shares and would begin the process of delisting and prepare to go public in Hong Kong.Didi’s IPO, which was completed the week before the Chinese Communist party celebrated its centennial, angered party and government officials who believed the group had brushed aside their concerns related to national security and Didi’s vast trove of mapping and other sensitive data.Comment: Didi’s US exit shows Xi Jinping is the ultimate arbiter for China’s companies, says Tom Mitchell in Singapore.Thanks for reading FirstFT Americas. Here’s the rest of today’s news — GordonFive more stories in the news1. Congress votes to avert US government shutdown The Senate last night approved legislation to keep the government funded until February 18 by a vote of 69 to 28. This followed a bill passed earlier in the day by the House of Representatives in a 221-212 vote, paving the way for it to be signed by President Joe Biden.2. Saudi Arabia agrees to increase oil production Opec’s de facto leader agreed to keep increasing monthly crude oil production following a charm offensive by Biden administration officials that included an effort to reframe the relationship between the US and the kingdom.3. US regulator sues to stop Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block Nvidia’s cash-and-stock acquisition of UK chip design company Arm from SoftBank. The deal is valued at $82bn and has already run into scepticism from EU and UK authorities.4. Credit Suisse chair pledges to overhaul bankers’ pay António Horta-Osório vowed at the FT’s Global Banking Summit to overhaul pay policy after a succession of crises enraged investors and sent the Swiss bank’s share price tumbling. The group will aim to engineer a cultural shift that makes employees more accountable for decisions taken on managing risk.5. Real Madrid and Barcelona seek to thwart €2bn La Liga deal Spain’s two most successful clubs, along with Athletic Bilbao, have launched a late bid to thwart a €2bn cash injection from private equity group CVC with a counter-offer they claim is economically superior.Coronavirus digestLoretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, has warned that the Omicron coronavirus variant threatens to fuel soaring inflation in the US by putting further pressure on supply chains and worsening worker shortages.The Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facilities threaten to set a dangerous precedent that will increase pressure to fund all manner of government projects, including even the “colonisation of Mars”, Randy Quarles the outgoing Fed governor warned in an FT interview.United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby has become the first boss of a big US carrier to warn that the Omicron coronavirus variant is a threat to transatlantic travel.The Brazilian economy entered a technical recession in the third quarter as surging inflation choked off its pandemic recovery.Tools needed to sequence genomes are concentrated in richer countries, hindering global efforts to track coronavirus mutations.Edward Luce: At pennies on the dollar, the US could put a stars and stripes on the fight against the pandemic and show itself capable of giving the world’s poor what they need.The days aheadEmployment data The US economy is expected to record another strong month of job gains. Employers in the world’s largest economy are expected to have added 546,000 jobs in November, according to a consensus forecast compiled by Bloomberg – an increase from the 531,000 positions created in October. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 4.5 per cent. Biden-Putin meeting The presidents of the US and Russia are expected to hold a video call in the coming days. Plans for the meeting follow a heated in-person exchange in Stockholm yesterday between Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who clashed over the significance of recent troop movements on the Russia-Ukraine border.Go deeper: In this week’s Rachman Review the Financial Times chief foreign affairs columnist discusses rising tensions between Moscow and the west and asks is Russia on the brink of war with Ukraine?French presidential pick France’s centre-right Les Républicains party will choose its candidate tomorrow to stand against incumbent Emmanuel Macron in next April’s presidential election. Anti-immigration polemicist Eric Zemmour earlier this week declared his candidacy as the race to occupy the Elysee Palace hots up. What else we’re readingIs Apple the latest meme stock? Moves this week made the Apple share price resemble a “meme stock” rather than one of the world’s most valuable companies. Experts point to interest from retail investors on bulletin boards like Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets and an explosion in options trading linked to the iPhone maker.Angels angered as lobbyists shape Biden’s tax reforms Investors in small businesses are furious at a proposed tax change in Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. Reform of the Qualified Small Business Stock framework has exposed the grubby nature of the Washington lobbying machine, writes Gillian Tett.Petrol prices bruise car drivers in US gig economy Drivers for ride-hailing and delivery apps and analysts covering the sector say that on top of changes in payment algorithms, the 59 per cent rise in the cost of petrol over the past 12 months has sent chills through the industry.The problem with vanishing cash Claer Barrett is all for exposing children early to money and payments, but what worries our consumer editor is the invisibility of digital transactions. “Do children realise that actual money is being spent, or think this ‘magic card’ simply makes everything possible?” she asks as part of our Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign.Reader call out: Are you a teenager or do you know a teen who is interested in writing about finance? The FT is looking for submissions from budding writers, with the offer of a cash prize for the best entries. TravelThe pandemic has led to the cancellation of Germany’s 500-year-old Rothenburg Christmas market for the second year in a row. But the town’s residents are determined to keep the festive spirit alive.

‘Nothing in the world, not even the fourth resurgence of the Covid-19 virus, can wipe out the Christmas spirit that reigns 365 days a year in Rothenburg ob der Tauber,’ the tourist board says © Matthew Cook More