Citigroup pushes ahead with climate pledge, Visa launches global crypto advisory service and more!
The world’s largest payment processor now offers a global crypto advisory service for clients and merchants, while Citigroup starts to make good on its net-zero greenhouse emission pledge by 2050, by expecting borrowers to have a credible plan for measuring and reducing their carbon footprint. UK business and unions call for financial support from the government, as Omicron leads to work-from-home orders and China property developers miss debt payments.
Citi pushes ahead with climate pledge
Citigroup will eventually expect borrowers to have a credible plan for measuring and reducing their carbon footprint as part of the bank’s pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.
The global investment group’s climate plans are a key push for CEO Jane Fraser, who earlier this year called on global leaders to set consistent sustainability standards that would make it easier for clients to invest in green projects.
Visa launches global crypto advisory service
Visa has launched a global crypto advisory service for its banking clients and merchants. The move is aimed at financial institutions eager to attract or retain customers with crypto offerings, retailers looking to delve into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or central banks exploring digital currencies, the company said.
Visa's services include educating institutions about cryptocurrencies, allowing clients to use the payment processor's network for digital offerings, and helping manage backend operations, reports Reuters.
UK business, unions call for financial support
The UK government is facing growing pressure to relaunch furlough and other emergency financial support schemes after imposing work-from-home orders because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, reports The Guardian.
Business leaders and unions warned that failure to provide assistance to companies and their workers in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy risked squandering progress made since the easing of pandemic restrictions a few months ago.
Concerns about debt defaults at Evergrande, Kaisa
Concerns are growing over potential multi-million-dollar debt defaults by two of China's biggest property companies.
Evergrande has not yet made payments to bond holders, the BBC understands, while trading in shares of embattled property developer Kaisa was suspended in Hong Kong this week.
Fears about Evergrande's future and the impact of its potential collapse have been looming over the world's second-largest economy for months.
JPMorgan Chase sees full global recovery in 2022
America's biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase, expects progress on the health front will spark a "strong" recovery in the economy, marked by a return of global mobility and robust spending by consumers and businesses, reports CNN.
"Our view is that 2022 will be the year of a full global recovery, an end of the global pandemic and a return to normal conditions we had prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. This is warranted by achieving broad population immunity and with the help of human ingenuity, such as new therapeutics expected to be broadly available in 2022,” it said in a note to clients.
