Page 52 - Monocle Quarterly Journal Vol 1 Issue 1 Q4

BANKING
“ e alleged transgression for which Deutsche was now apparently culpable, and for which the Department of Justice wished to levy a staggering USD 14 billion ne, is a gure ve times larger than the LIBOR rigging ne.”
LIBOR manipulation, skewering even the best laid plans. e alleged transgression for which Deutsche was now apparently culpable, and for which the Department of Justice wished to levy a staggering USD 14 billion ne, is a gure ve times larger than the LIBOR rigging ne. At the time, during September 2016, that value almost approximated the total market capitalisation of Deutsche Bank as a whole. Subsequently, the ne as it stands at USD 14 billion, which Cryan has stated he vehemently opposes, substantially exceeds the market value of the Bank, which has recently dipped below USD 10 billion.
Payback for the European Parliament’s Claw-back of Apple’s Unpaid Tax
e alleged transgressions with which the Department of Justice nds fault: ‘market misconduct’ in the sale of mortgage-backed securities during and before the Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 – that is, over nine years ago. It is also particularly telling that very little detail has yet to emerge as to how the gure of USD 14 billion was arrived at by the Department of Justice. Or, for that matter, why Deutsche Bank in particular, nine years after the fact, has been singled out. Cynical observers have pointed out that the Department of Justice market misconduct ne follows closely in the wake of the European Union’s attack on Apple, speci cally the European Parliament’s desire to claw back in excess of USD 14.5 billion in ‘unpaid taxes’.
Apple, like many other Silicon Valley giants, has made extensive use of Ireland for tax inversion purposes. is is where a rm relocates its legal domicile to a lower-tax nation, whilst retaining its material operations in its home nation. To be clear, whilst tax inversion is a common corporate strategy for reducing tax liabilities, Apple’s story does push the boundaries of reasonable ethical behaviour. e corporate tax rate in Ireland is 12.5 percent and the e ective rate of tax that Apple paid last year – the world’s largest and the most pro table company ever – was 0.005 percent of earnings. Should one occupy the cynical view, then it is easy to conclude that the Deutsche Bank ne is simply a US political reaction to the European Parliament’s tax claims against Apple.
ere is a distinction to be made however. Whereas the gure of USD 14 billion that the Department of Justice has decided to ne Deutsche Bank has very little basis in factual losses incurred by taxpayers, investors, or homeowners, the claim by the European Parliament against Apple is
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