Page 6 - bne_newspaper_February_22_2019

The Regions This Week
February 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
Czech billionaire Hubacek’s energy company Unicapital Energy sold 100% of Ceskomoravska distribuce. The sale was "in line with the group's strategy,” a spokesperson said. The name of the new owner was not revealed.
Hungary will open a foreign trade representa- tion in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after talks with his Israeli counterpart Ben- jamin Netanyahu. Orban has forged a strong alliance with Netanyahu in recent years. The two right-wing leaders share a common distrust for NGO’s and have adopted strict legislation target- ing taking civil groups.
The Estonian financial market regulator Finant- sinspektsioon ordered the closure of Danish lender Danske Bank’s local branch, months after the branch was revealed to have funnelled billions of euros in a massive breach of national and EU anti-money-laundering regulations.
Estonia is now investigating Swedbank in con- nection to the money laundering scandal cen- tring on Danske Bank that erupted last year. Swedbank is facing allegations of money launder- ing after the Swedish television SVT said it had documents showing SEK 40bn (€3.8bn) had been transferred between Swedbank and Danske Bank in the Baltic states in 2007-2015.
Czechs pay the most in Europe for one gigabyte of downloaded data through LTE mobile network, followed by Spain and the Netherlands, according to Point Topic’s analysis. On average, it costs $6.5 her gigabyte of downloaded data. Finland, Swit- zerland and Austria pay the least, only ten cents per gigabyte.
Hungarian telco Magyar Telekom’s profits were lifted by the sale of its old headquarters in Q4. The country’s leading telecommunication com- pany reported a 49% rise in Q4 after-tax profit to
HUF7.7bn (€24.2mn) that was also supported by higher sales.
Blockchain.com opened a new office in Lithua- nia. The crypto wallet provider is continuing its ex- pansion in Europe with its move into Vilnius which is increasingly becoming a hub for fintech.
Polish industrial production growth expanded to an unadjusted 6.1% y/y in January, data from statistical office GUS showed. The headline figure marks a clear and surprising pick-up against un- adjusted growth of just 2.8% y/y in December.
26 people including eight top judges were de- tained in an anti-corruption probe in Lithuania. Prosecutor General Edvinas Pasilis said “trading in justice” had taken place and that some of the verdicts issued by the judges will be reviewed.
The EBRD launched its first technical assistance fintech project in Estonia alongside the country’s finance ministry and Financial Services Author- ity. One option is to build Estonia’s first regulatory sandbox, the EBRD said, outlining benefits such as facilitating innovation and enable firms to test innovative financial products, financial services or business models.
Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Ministry plans to launch an export house project aiming at helping companies interested in doing business abroad, as a pilot event in 2019 in order to collect the business community's feedback. The export house would be a platform for selected events, such as fairs, conferences and summits.
Gross wages in the Polish corporate sector grew 7.5% y/y in January, 1.4pp above the annual read- ing in the preceding month, the statistics office GUS said. The reading extends the long trend of robust wage growth in Poland that owes to the tightening of the country’s labour market.