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BUSINESS A25
                                                                                                                                  Saturday 28 November 2015

3 Chinese brokerages say they are under investigation 

JOE McDONALD                    ing probed by regulators.       government employees         Party to deflect blame for      nounced Citic executives
AP Business Writer              A third brokerage, Haitong      and a reporter for a  busi-  the 30 percent fall by the      including its general man-
BEIJING (AP) — Three of         Securities Ltd., issued a       ness  magazine following     Shanghai index after state      ager, Cheng Boming, were
China’s biggest securities      similar announcement af-        the collapse in prices that  media encouraged the            suspected of insider trad-
firms are under investiga-      ter trading in its shares was   began in early June. The     public to buy stocks. Citic is  ing and leaking sensitive
tion in a fresh aftershock      suspended Friday morning.       announcements that bro-      China’s biggest brokerage       information. The previous
from this summer’s market       None gave details.              kerages themselves were      and part of Citic Group,        month, the official Xinhua
plunge.                         The Shanghai Composite          under investigation rep-     the Cabinet’s main hold-        News Agency said eight
Shares in Citic Securities      Index closed down 5.5 per-      resented a further wid-      ing company. Guosen             Citic employees and one
Ltd. and Guosen Securi-         cent.                           ening of the probes. The     and Haitong are among           current and one former
ties Ltd. fell Friday by the    Authorities have detained       investigations were seen     the country’s 10 biggest        employee of the market
10 percent daily limit after    securities executives, an       by many as an attempt        securities firms. In Septem-    regulator were suspected
both said they were be-         investment fund manager,        by the ruling Communist      ber, the police ministry an-    of illegal stock trading.q

Japan plans extra budget, handouts, to pump up recovery 

E. KURTENBACH                   ship.                           Shoppers take a look at oranges on sale at a shop at a shopping street of Ginza area in Tokyo.
AP Business Writer              Suga said the measures          Japan’s jobless rate fell to a 20-year low in October, but consumer spending and incomes
TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minis-       are part of broader plan        also edged lower as the tight labor market failed to spur significant increases in wages. The
ter Shinzo Abe has ordered      announced by Abe to in-         government reported Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 that unemployment in the world’s No. 3 economy
Cabinet ministers to pre-       crease Japan’s gross do-        dipped to 3.1 percent in October, compared with a rate of 3.4 percent in September.
pare an extra spending          mestic product to 600 tril-
package, including cash         lion yen ($4.9 trillion) by                                                                                                         (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
handouts for the poor-          2020.
est pensioners, seeking to      The extra spending aimed        “Abenomics” approach,        So far, short-handed em-        the economy takes a turn
breathe fresh life into Ja-     at farmers and seniors, bas-    which has relied heavily     ployers have resorted to        for the worse. Household
pan’s stalling recovery.        tions of support for Abe’s      on pumping cash into the     use of overtime and hiring      spending fell 2.4 percent
The amount of the supple-       Liberal Democratic Party,       economy, hinges on get-      more temporary workers,         in October from the year
mentary budget has not          also will likely find favor     ting consumers and com-      seeking to avoid increases      before, and average in-
been decided, the chief         among voters ahead of an        panies to spend more and     in base wages that would        comes fell 0.9 percent, Fri-
government spokesman,           election next summer            thus boost demand.           be difficult to reverse if      day’s data showed.q
Yoshihide Suga, said Friday     Japan slipped into a mild
after the Cabinet met.          recession in the spring. Al-
Local media said the            though the jobless rate
package will likely exceed      fell to a 20-year low of 3.1
3 trillion yen ($24.5 billion)  percent in October, ac-
and will be prepared in De-     cording to data released
cember, for approval early      Friday, consumer spending
in the new year.                and incomes also edged
It will likely include one-     down as the tight labor
time subsidies of 30,000 yen    market failed to spur signifi-
($245) for cash-strapped        cant increases in wages.
pensioners. Suga said it        Abe has proposed a raft
also will include provisions    of policies meant to help
to help farmers improve         workers cope with child
their competitiveness as        and elder care, part of
the Japan opens its mar-        a “mobilization to ensure
kets further as part of a Pa-   active participation of all
cific Rim trade agreement,      members of society.”
the Trans-Pacific Partner-      Ultimately, the fate of his

Swiss court convicts ex-HSBC employee for leaking data 

JAMEY KEATEN                    Falciani, seen by some as       and breach of bank se-       He was ordered to serve         cy.
Associated Press                a crucial whistleblower,        crecy while working at a     five years in prison, mi-       “There’s no surprise,”
GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss           had refused to travel from      Swiss HSBC subsidiary be-    nus 170 days that he had        with the verdict, he said.
court has convicted in ab-      his native France to ap-        tween 2006 and 2008.         served in pre-extradition       “Some people don’t ne-
sentia a former employee        pear before the Swiss Fed-      The court in the southern    detention in Spain.             gotiate on the issue of ter-
with international bank         eral Tribunal in Bellinzona     Swiss town of Bellinzona     Falciani, reached by Sky-       rorism. I don’t negotiate
HSBC for economic espio-        in proceedings that be-         threw out all the charges    pe, said he had “no re-         with financial opacity.”
nage and sentenced him          gan in October. France          except for one alleging a    action” and said he had         HSBC, which argued that
to five years in prison.        does not extradite its own      “serious” violation of eco-  little consideration for the    he had illegally down-
Herve Falciani, 43, was         citizens and Falciani ap-       nomic intelligence, for      trial in Switzerland. He had    loaded details from clients
on trial for leaking bank       pears unlikely to serve the     having made public infor-    previously insisted that he     and accounts, welcomed
data that led to a world-       sentence.                       mation about private and     didn’t believe he would         the decision against Fal-
wide wave of tax evasion        He was charged with ille-       public foreign entities in   receive a fair trial in Swit-   ciani, who worked as an
probes against prominent        gally obtaining data, eco-      Lebanon, France, Germa-      zerland. He also reaffirmed     information technology
clients with accounts in        nomic espionage, breach         ny, and Britain, according   his commitment to rooting       specialist at HSBC Private
Switzerland.                    of  business  confidentiality   to court documents.          out illegal banking secre-      Bank (Suisse) SA.q
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