Member News

Resolving Communication Problems Within The Office

Communication, or the lack thereof, within a company can lead to many issues. Lack of communication causes frustration with the team and causes the company to be less effective as a whole. Here are a few ways to better manage communication in the work place: Have Regular Meetings to Discuss Happenings Meeting with staff regularly to discuss problems and other happenings in the work place, will help keep everyone involved. Meeting not just one on one, but with everyone at once...

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Member News

The Weekly Vulcan View | Analysis of Latest EU Developments April 29th – May 3rd

Key Events This Week More trouble ahead for May and Corbyn The leaders of the two main parties have been subjected to further political pressure as attention returns to the Brexit impasse with the resumption of Parliament after the Easter break. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn fended off a mini rebellion from members of his shadow cabinet, including Deputy Leader Tom Watson, over the party’s stance on the terms of any second Brexit referendum. Ahead of European elections which the UK are likely...

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Member News

Court Of Appeals Rules That Santa Suit Is Not Festive

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in the April 29, 2019 decision in Rubies Costume Company v. United States), considered whether the below “Premier Plush 9 Piece Santa Suit” (consisting of a jacket, pants, gloves, a toy sack, a beard, a wig, a hat, a belt, and shoe covers) fell within the tariff provision describing “Articles for Christmas festivities and parts and accessories thereof.”   While the Court acknowledged that the Santa Claus costume is customarily worn in connection with the...

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Member News

Bannockburn Global Forex: May 2019 FX Outlook

The US dollar rose against all the major currencies in April, encouraged by renewed economic divergence. The March jobs report in early April and the better than expected Chinese data lift the animal spirits. The S&P 500 gapped higher on April 1 and did not look back on its way to record closing highs. The better tone to the world’s two largest economies failed to be duplicated more broadly. Asia is lagging. South Korea, a regional bellwether, already reported Q1...

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Chapter News, News

Declaration by the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, on behalf of the European Union on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2019

On World Press Freedom Day we celebrate the essential role of a free press not only as a conveyer of reliable and accurate news, but as a pillar of democracy. The quality of democratic processes is linked to the state of freedom of expression as well as media freedom and pluralism. There is no democracy without a truly free press. While bearing the great responsibility to guarantee checked and correct news to the public, free, diverse and independent media are...

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Member News

European Court of Justice: principle against double jeopardy does not preclude dual fines

By Floris ten Have | Stibbe The European Court of Justice recently confirmed that a national competition authority can impose a single fine on a company for infringements of both national and EU competition law without violating the principle against double jeopardy. The Court of Justice held that the principle applies to the repetition of proceedings which have previously been concluded by a final decision and not to the situation in which a national competition authority applies national and EU competition rules in...

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Chapter News, News

Luis de Guindos on challenges for bank profitability

Speech by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, 1 May 2019 Introduction Sustained economic expansion over the past six years and greater banking sector resilience have supported financial stability within the euro area. But the recent softening of growth prospects heightens risks. The financial stability environment has become more challenging than it was a year ago. The risks that have been with us for some time now – a possible disorderly increase in risk premia, debt sustainability concerns, low bank profitability...

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Chapter News, News, Uncategorized

Strength in unity: Commission makes recommendations for the EU’s next strategic agenda 2019-2024

Brussels, 30 April 2019 Ahead of the meeting of EU27 leaders in Sibiu, Romania, on 9 May 2019, the European Commission is today setting out a number of policy recommendations for how Europe can shape its future in an increasingly multipolar and uncertain world. With the European Parliament elections on 23-26 May 2019 and the change of political leadership of the EU institutions that will follow, the time has come for new policy orientations and new priorities. As both the priorities...

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Member News

Tradewind Delivers Credit Facility to Icelandic Seafood Exporter

Tradewind has announced the closing of a €400,000 accounts receivable facility for an exporter of fresh and frozen fish that is based in Iceland and sells to the UK, Netherlands and North America. The company is using Tradewind’s facility—structured in EUR, GBP, and USD—to capitalize on growth opportunities and enter new markets. In order to help the seafood exporter meet these objectives, Tradewind enlisted a senior leader from its Iceland office to customize a financial solution that addressed the company’s...

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Member News

Is Brexit an Enabler for Fraud?

By Andrew Durant | FTI Consulting The results of our recent Brexit survey, Brexit in the Boardroom - Autumn 2018 Update, show that 80% of UK business leaders are fearful of job losses in their company as a result of Brexit. And two thirds (66%) said they were concerned about employees committing fraud due to the lack of job security that Brexit brings. These results do not come as surprise to me after 30 years of investigating fraud. Motive has always...

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