2025-10-09 12:04
By Promit Mukherjee and David Ljunggren OTTAWA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada on Thursday warned against imposing more regulations on the financial sector, instead urging measures to encourage competition and innovation that it said could help offset U.S. tariffs. Sign up here. "As the world heads into a period of greater economic nationalism and more industrial policy, we need to resist the urge to add protections," senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said in Toronto. Greater contestability, more new entrants and more innovation in the financial sector would lead to competition that was good for consumers, for productivity and for our economy, she said, adding: "We should lean into it." Rogers has consistently stressed the need to improve Canada's sluggish productivity, arguing this would help insulate the economy against the threat of inflation. Canada's banking sector is highly concentrated, with just six banks collectively holding 93% of all banking assets. Many argue that this level of concentration has clear negative impacts on productivity, innovation, capital allocation, cost and consumer choice, Rogers added. The financial sector is an area where productivity gains could propagate throughout the economy, Rogers said, highlighting the need for boosting innovation and competition. "It's a sector where policy-makers should regularly ask themselves if we've got the level of competition right," she said, noting what she called "reasonable calls for reflection" as to whether regulations were too tight. Rogers said the need for productivity had become even more important after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a series of tariffs that shook the Canadian economy. Canada's labor productivity has been negative for six out of the last eight quarters with wholesale trade, utilities and manufacturing posting significant declines in the second quarter, primarily due to the impact of Trump's tariffs. "Higher productivity won't make Canada immune to U.S. trade policy, but it would help buffer the effects," Rogers said. Her speech last year sparked discussions amongst company executives, economists, analysts and others about Canada's poor productivity, which they said was hurting its competitiveness against other G7 allies. Rogers said recent initiatives such as real-time payments and open banking were steps in the right direction. "They are both close to implementation, but each needs a final push to get across the finish line," she said. ((Reuters Ottawa bureau)) Keywords: CANADA CENBANK/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bank-canada-warns-against-over-regulation-financial-sector-2025-10-09/
2025-10-09 12:02
Global Fintech Fest draws over 100,000 attendees Organizers advise speakers to avoid remarks on crypto India's regulatory ambivalence on crypto a dampener for crypto ventures MUMBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - At the world's largest gathering for the financial technology sector in Mumbai this week, more than 800 speakers tip-toed around two topics that have captured attention globally: cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. About 100,000 participants converged for the three-day conference starting October 7 in India's financial capital, headlined by the prime ministers of India and the United Kingdom, and drawing regulators, investors and industry executives from more than 100 countries. Sign up here. The annual conference kicked off just as bitcoin catapulted to an all-time high above $125,000 but that milestone found no mention at the conference on the back of India's regulatory caution around the sector. India is leaning towards not creating legislation to regulate the sector, Reuters reported last month. "AVOID CRYPTO REMARKS" "Please avoid political, crypto, religious, or personal remarks on stage or at the venue," read a document containing guidelines for speakers, a copy of which was shared with Reuters by a participant. Organisers for the event, the Payments Council of India, National Payments Corporation of India and the Fintech Convergence Council did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The warning highlights a contrast with other Asian economies and regions such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, which have made efforts to establish themselves as regional hubs for cryptocurrency and stablecoins. Instead, regulators spotlighted India's central bank digital currency, called the e-rupee, with the Reserve Bank of India launching pilots for deposit tokenisation and a sandbox for fintechs. All told, more than 50 products debuted at the event, including PayPal's global wallet platform, biometric authentication for payments via India’s Unified Payments Interface, and the India launch of U.K.-based Revolut’s payment platform. "The policy ambivalence has a chilling effect on the development of commercial use cases for stablecoins in India," said Mandar Kagade, founder of Delhi-based Black Dot Public Policy Advisors. LITTLE APPETITE FOR CRYPTO VENTURES At least six industry executives on the sidelines of the event said that while entering into the crypto sector could offer fresh business lines and help attract investment, there is little appetite in the absence of regulatory blessing. "There is cause for fair degree of caution (on stablecoins)," said Sahil Kini, the CEO of Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub, while addressing a session on Tuesday. "I don’t think this kind of stance changes overnight." India's fintech sector raised a total of $3.5 billion last year, the lowest since 2020 and well off the peak of $9.2 billion in 2021, per data from Tracxn. "Regulators need to have an iterative approach instead of the complete aversion they have towards stablecoins currently," said Joseph Sebastian, vice president for investments at Mumbai-based venture capital firm Blume Ventures. The first step can be allowing inward remittances via U.S. dollar stablecoins as the regulatory grey-zone also complicates the picture for startups and investors, he noted. Globally, U.S. dollar stablecoins have amassed a market capitalisation of over $300 billion, while the overall market cap of crypto tokens has climbed to more than $4 trillion, according to industry data provider CoinGecko. "It’s becoming real whether we like it or not, so it's imperative to figure out how to engage with it," said Vivekdeep Gupta, an independent consultant focused on digital assets who advises half a dozen startups. There is a "huge amount of energy but lack of regulatory clarity is also causing brain-drain," Gupta said, pointing to a preference for companies in the sector to incorporate overseas. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-leaves-crypto-stablecoins-door-fintech-jamboree-2025-10-09/
2025-10-09 12:01
Oct 9 (Reuters) - A South African court has ordered China's CRRC E-Loco to release locomotive spares it withheld from Transnet in a long-running contract dispute, Transnet's CEO said on Thursday, boosting the freight rail operator's plans to improve performance. The two parties have engaged in legal battles after Transnet halted the supply of 1,064 locomotives from four original equipment suppliers, including CRRC E-Loco, saying that 2014 contracts worth 54.4 billion rand ($3.18 billion) had been unlawfully awarded by the previous company leadership. Sign up here. In 2023, Transnet said 161 locomotives supplied by CRRC E-Loco were not running due to the Chinese company withholding spares and maintenance support, impacting Transnet's freight rail operations. Transnet, which insists it already paid for the parts under the disputed contract before it was terminated, won a separate court order last July stopping CRRC E-Loco from selling or relocating parts already in South Africa. Transnet CEO Michelle Phillips, speaking at a mining conference in Johannesburg, said Transnet had recently won another court order related to handover of the spares, which were held in warehouses in the country. "I was not going to pay for my own parts again. We went back to court, and we then got an order giving the CRRC five days to deliver those parts to Transnet," Phillips said. "So these last few days, we've been accessing those (parts). We are busy doing full inventory of all of those parts," she added. CRRC E-Loco was not immediately available to comment. Transnet's dispute with CRRC E-Loco, which also includes outstanding locomotives that were not supplied under the terminated contract, has worsened the state-owned logistics firm's equipment shortages. The company's performance has also been impacted by cable theft and vandalism of its infrastructure. Its freight volumes have fallen from a peak of 226 million metric tons in 2017/18 to 160 million metric tons in the 2024/25 financial year. ($1 = 17.1057 rand) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/safrican-court-grants-transnet-control-disputed-chinese-spares-2025-10-09/
2025-10-09 11:58
BENGALURU, India, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab India on Thursday opened a 312,000-square-foot facility for its Engineering and Innovation Excellence Center (ENGINE) in Bengaluru, a year after launching the unit to consolidate technical work and deepen its digital and artificial intelligence capabilities. The expansion underscores India's growing role in the energy transition as technology becomes central to cost reduction and competitiveness. Sign up here. It also comes as the U.S. oil major targets up to $3 billion in cost cuts by 2026 and streamlines global operations. "We were a very decentralized organization until recently," Akshay Sahni, country head for Chevron in India, told Reuters, adding the center aims at efficiency. "We use AI to improve the performance of our machines. We use AI to improve the way we drill for oil and gas … It's not so much about headcount reduction." But the timing and focus of the project, coming months after Chevron announced plans to cut 15% to 20% of its global workforce, highlight a growing reliance on India's engineering and digital talent base as U.S. energy firms centralize and shift high‑skill work to lower‑cost hubs. Sahni said India's depth of STEM and IT talent was a key factor in the decision. "There are not too many places around the world where you can hire across disciplines...mechanical, civil, petroleum, geology, electrical," he said. The center has hired more than 1,000 professionals since 2024 and plans to invest about $1 billion over several years in people, technology and infrastructure. It includes high-performance computing for real-time geological modeling and digital twins of Chevron's processing plants. For now, the Houston, Texas-based company is not planning additional ENGINE hubs outside India. "For now our focus is primarily to grow our Bengaluru center... upskilling our people as technology evolves and getting more of the workflows that are meaningful," Sahni said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-expands-india-hub-boost-digital-ai-capabilities-2025-10-09/
2025-10-09 11:56
Putin pledges compensation for 'tragic' plane incident Russian missiles detonated near Azerbaijan Airlines plane Aliyev criticized initial Moscow response, thanks Putin for investigation MOSCOW, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijan's leader that two Russian missiles had detonated beside an Azerbaijan Airlines plane last year after Ukrainian drones entered Russian air space, in an incident that led to the deaths of 38 people. In what was the Kremlin leader's most candid admission to date that Moscow was to blame for the deadly incident, he offered his apologies again to President Ilham Aliyev and promised compensation to those affected. Sign up here. Flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crash-landed on December 25 near Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several targets. At least 38 people were killed. Video footage on Thursday showed Putin and Aliyev shaking hands and smiling before a bilateral meeting in Tajikistan at which Putin spoke about the plane crash. Putin last year issued a rare public apology to Aliyev for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia in which the plane crashed after Russian air defences were deployed against Ukrainian drones. On Thursday, he went further. "Of course, everything that is required in such tragic cases will be done by the Russian side on compensation and a legal assessment of all official things will be given," Putin told Aliyev. "It is our duty, I repeat once again... to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and to identify the true causes." DEBRIS FROM MISSILES Putin told Aliyev that two Russian air defence missiles had detonated several metres away from the plane after Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace. "The two missiles that were launched did not hit the plane directly; if that had happened, it would have crashed on the spot, but they exploded, perhaps as a self-destruction measure, a few metres away, about 10 metres," Putin said. "And so the damage was caused, mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by the debris from the missiles themselves. That is why the pilot perceived it as a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers, and all this is recorded in the so-called 'black boxes.'" The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern republic of Chechnya, where the incident occurred, and had then travelled, badly damaged, another 280 miles (450 km) across the Caspian Sea. Putin cautioned on Thursday that it would "probably take some more time" to fully investigate the crash's causes. A preliminary report published on a Kazakh government website in February found that the plane suffered external damage and was riddled with holes in its fuselage. Aliyev was angry about the crash and has publicly criticised the initial reactions from Moscow which he said sought to cover up the cause of the incident. On Thursday, he thanked Putin for personally monitoring the progress of the investigation into the deadly incident. "I would like to express my gratitude once again for the fact that you deemed it necessary to highlight this issue at our meeting," Aliyev told Putin. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/putin-tells-azerbaijans-aliyev-how-russian-air-defences-downed-passenger-plane-2025-10-09/
2025-10-09 11:56
Orsted plans to cut 2,000 jobs by 2027 Danish company to focus more on offshore wind and Europe COPENHAGEN, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Orsted (ORSTED.CO) , opens new tab, the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, will cut about 2,000 jobs by the end of 2027, a quarter of its workforce, and will focus more on Europe after setbacks in the U.S. Orsted expanded rapidly over the past decade, but more recently has faced higher costs from supply chain disruption and inflation, plus the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's actions against offshore wind projects. Sign up here. "This is a necessary consequence of our decision to focus our business and the fact that we’ll be finalising our large construction portfolio in the coming years – which is why we’ll need fewer employees," CEO Rasmus Errboe said in a statement on Thursday. When asked if the job cuts were due to the problems in the U.S., Errboe told journalists the decision was not related to specific U.S. projects. Orsted raised $9.42 billion this week through a heavily discounted rights issue to shore up its balance sheet, following the challenges in the U.S. where Trump's opposition to renewable energy has created uncertainty for the industry. Orsted said the job cuts would coincide with a decline in construction activities and would help make the group more competitive as it concentrates more of its activities on Europe. Errboe said towards the end of the decade, the industry could see a period with little or no new offshore wind projects, but he remained positive on its long-term future. "In many ways, you see the fundamentals in Europe moving in the right direction when it comes to offshore wind," Errboe said. He said political support for offshore wind is driven by energy security and the need for electrification, with suppliers and contractors to the industry turning their focus to Europe, while oil and gas companies step back from renewable energy. The staff cuts and other efficiency measures are expected to give Orsted annual cost savings of approximately 2 billion Danish crowns ($311.31 million) from 2028, the company added. Orsted's share price rose 0.9% by 1142 GMT. ($1 = 6.4245 Danish crowns) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/orsted-cut-2000-jobs-by-end-2027-2025-10-09/
