THE DAILY BRIEFING
BANK SCANDAL Dutch lender ING’s chief finance officer has been forced to quit because of a money laundering scandal.
Koos Timmermans is standing down after the Dutch lender agreed to pay a record £689m fine to the Netherlands’ prosecutors. The failings emerged after investigators looked into four illicit companies which held accounts at the bank.
In one case a lingerie firm in Curacao handled £133m of dirty money. Hans Wijers, chairman of ING, said: ‘We deeply regret the shortcomings.’
SHARE OFFER Wealth manager and trading platform AJ Bell has promised to ringfence some shares for 182,000 retail investors in its upcoming listing.
PIZZA EARNINGS Profits at DP Eurasia, which runs Domino’s Pizza in Turkey and Russia, rose 8pc to £4.8m in the first half of 2018.
CUT ABOVE Meat packing and abattoir firm Hilton Food Group posted a 13.9pc profits boost to £21m in the 28 weeks to July 15 as sales grew 25pc to £863.6m.
ISRAEL TIE-UP British and Israeli finance lobby groups The City UK and City TLV have agreed to deepen their links over technology and cyber-security.
FLOAT COST Retail investors who want to back the float of online lender Funding Circle will have to stump up at least £1,000 each, the firm revealed in documents ahead of its £1.5bn float next month.
LEGAL AID Wealthy investors have raised £9m for litigation funder Therium, which provides the cash for companies and individuals to pursue legal claims.
FUND RAISING Small-business health insurer Equipsme has raised £2.5m from investors to expand.
PRICE CUT Speciality chemicals company Elementis has struck a deal to buy Mondo Minerals from private equity firm Advent for £384m – £77m less than initially agreed following criticism from shareholders.
PENSION WOES UK pension schemes have a black hole of £65.3bn, up from a deficit of £62.8bn in July, according to the latest update from the Pension Protection Fund.
DIAMOND DAYS Miner AngloAmerican sold £390m worth of diamonds in the seventh cycle of 2018.
GREEN DEAL Irish-based renewable energy company Greencoat Renewables is buying four windfarms in Ireland for £120m from forestry business Coillte.