Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Government unlocks £10 billion private investment into the UK
The Minister for Investment has signed a new partnership with Singaporean bank OCBC, which will help unlock £10 billion of investment into key priority sectors in the UK.
Minister for Investment Poppy Gustafsson signs new partnership with OCBC, Singapore’s second largest bank, to facilitate £10 billion investment into the UK.
Agreement will increase UK-Asia Pacific collaboration and support investment into priority growth sectors including energy, infrastructure and real estate.
Comes in the wake of ratification of CPTPP – a massive trade deal with the region – helping to create economic growth and supporting the Plan for Change.
New collaboration between the UK government and one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia will unlock £10 billion of investment into Britain, boosting economic growth and driving forward the government’s Plan for Change.
Today [Wednesday 2 April], Minister for Investment Baroness Poppy Gustafsson has signed the new MoU with the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited’s (OCBC) Head of Global Corporate Banking Elaine Lam.
The bank aims to finance £10 billion of investment from the Asia Pacific region into priority growth sectors including energy, infrastructure and real estate by 2030.
Minister for Investment Baroness Poppy Gustafsson CBE said:
This £10 billion commitment from OCBC is a major vote of confidence in the UK economy. Not only will it help create more opportunities in real estate and infrastructure, but will also back our clean energy industry, a key growth sector identified in our upcoming Industrial Strategy.”
We have the most open, stable and connected economy in the world – and our Plan for Change will encourage more international companies to invest here, delivering long-term growth that supports good, skilled jobs across the country.
Under the newly expanded Office for Investment, OCBC will collaborate with the government to promote the UK as a hub for businesses, investors and services, attracting billions of pounds worth of investment from Asia and supporting the government’s growth mission.
As one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia, OCBC brings valuable private capital from Asia into the UK. OCBC’s plan to finance £10 billion worth of investment until 2030 signifies the significant opportunities from Asia and is a huge vote of confidence in the UK economy.
OCBC Head of Global Corporate Banking Elaine Lam said:
The UK and Singapore share historically deep ties and OCBC is proud to play a part in further strengthening the relationship with this agreement. Our UK business has grown significantly over the years and our London branch is now the largest in our international network. The growth has been driven by developments in sectors such as real estate, renewables, energy transition as well as digital and core physical infrastructure.
These align with the priority sectors outlined in the UK’s industrial strategy and we will double down on our efforts to drive further growth in these areas. We are also committed to supporting UK companies that are keen to establish or expand operations in Singapore and Southeast Asia. We look forward to building on our strong track record in the UK to deliver on these goals.
The UK and Asia-Pacific trading relationship is worth £126 billion. This new partnership will create more opportunities in key growth driving sectors identified in the government’s upcoming modern Industrial Strategy, and build on the UK’s CPTPP ratification – expected to boost the economy by £2 billion a year in the long-term.
The collaboration will also help facilitate further trade and investment with the APAC region, as the UK remains committed to free and fair trade, with a pro-business approach focused on reducing barriers to investment.
The government’s new modern Industrial Strategy will deliver long-term, sustainable, inclusive growth right across the UK by driving investment into the economy and hardwire stability for investors, giving them the confidence to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond.
A Palestinian woman cries while sitting on the rubble of her home, which was destroyed in an Israeli strike on March 18, 2025.Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images
Thirty years ago in Israel, advocating for genocide could land you in prison.
In April 1994, an Israeli rabbi named Ido Alba published an article that read, in part, “In war, as long as the war has not been decided, it is a commandment to kill every non-Jew from the nation one is fighting against, even women and children. Even when they do not directly endanger the one killing them, there is concern that they may assist the enemy in the continuation of the war.”
Now the legal system is ignoring similar rhetoric.
In December 2023, following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of approximately 1,200 Israeli civilians, soldiers and migrant workers, Rabbi Moshe Ratt, who’s seen as a public intellectual among Israeli West Bank settlers, composed a long post on Facebook.
In it, he noted that in the past, some people may have struggled with the morality of destroying an entire people, including women and children. Now they don’t. Obliquely referring to the Palestinians, he added, “Some nations have descended into such depths of evil and corruption that the only solution is to eradicate them completely, leaving no trace.”
Ratt’s and Vaturi’s words went unpunished. In fact, genocidal rhetoric like theirs – in which the entire destruction of a people is proposed – has become more common in Israel.
They date back to the 1930s, and have gained steam – and more public acceptance – as prospects for peace fell apart in the 1990s, existential anxiety among Israelis has grown, and religious Zionists have gained more political power in the 21st century.
Repeated violence and attacks can fuel existential anxiety among settlers, along with fantasies of achieving “permanent security” or absolute safety against future threats. Among Jewish Israelis, the collective memory of persecution – culminating in the genocide of European Jews during the Holocaust – has added another important layer to the longing for permanent security.
Biblical genocidal stories
In Israel, there’s also a history of biblical justifications for violence and genocide. This sort of rhetoric has waxed and waned over time; it’ll often exist on the margins in times of relative peace, but move into the mainstream during periods of violence and existential anxiety.
This created an opening for political leaders to use biblical texts to promote political goals.
The Bible contains some explicit narratives of annihilation. The most well known is the story of Amalek, a nomadic people identified in the Book of Deuteronomy as the archenemy of the Israelites. In Chapter 25, Moses commanded the Israelites to “blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” A related commandment involves the annihilation of the Seven Nations of Canaan, which inhabited the “promised land” when the Israelites conquered it. In Chapter 20, the Israelites are commanded: “You shall not leave a single soul alive. Completely destroy.”
Throughout Jewish history, these edicts and stories have generally been interpreted as historical accounts or as metaphors, not commands to commit genocide.
However, settlers of lands occupied by indigenous peoples – not just in Israel, but in other countries, too – have deployed these texts to condone mass violence. For example, in colonial America, Puritan settlers justified massacres of Native Americans by comparing them with Amalek.
During the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, Israeli army education officers distributed texts to soldiers that read, “In biblical times, Saul exterminated all of Amalek, men and women, youth and elderly, and even sheep and cattle.” The materials also noted that “biblical Joshua was commanded to annihilate the nations of the land and was forbidden to make any treaties with them.”
For religious Zionists, the state of Israel is a sacred endeavor. They’ve generally been less interested than secular Zionists in adhering to international norms and taking geopolitical considerations into account when pushing for the settlement of contested territories.
After 1967, religious settler movements were emboldened. Groups such as Gush Emunim pushed the government to settle the newly occupied territories, which included the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For these religious Zionists, the settlement project is not simply a land grab: Settlers are taking land that the Bible has promised to them.
In 1980, Israel Hess, who then held the official position as rabbi of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, wrote in the student bulletin, “In a war between Israel and Amalek, it is a commandment to kill and annihilate infants and babies. And who is Amalek? Anyone who launches a war against the Jews.” These words triggered public backlash and prompted protests from several secular Zionist politicians.
Existential fears grow
In the 1990s, calls for widespread violence were largely marginalized, since there was hope for a political compromise with the Palestinians.
After these talks failed, however, the rhetoric and ideas of religious Zionists continued to migrate to the political center, particularly during and after the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada. Taking place from 2000 to 2005, the uprising involving a series of suicide attacks in Israeli cities profoundly shocked the Jewish Israeli public, spurring the reemergence of deep existential anxiety.
Rescue workers rush an injured Israeli woman from the scene of a Palestinian suicide bombing on Jan. 27, 2002, in Jerusalem. Getty Images
With no peaceful solution for the conflict on the horizon, Israeli and Palestinian figures who viewed politics through a theological framework kept accumulating power.
In 2014, Ayelet Shaked, then a member of the Knesset and later the minister of justice, shared an article on social media that read, “The Palestinian people declared war on us, and we have to fight back … and in wars the enemy is usually an entire people, with its old men and women, its cities and villages, its property and infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, the dean of Quranic studies at the Islamic University of Gaza said in a 2015 television interview, “All Jews in Palestine today are fair game – even the women.”
As each side retaliated against the other, annihilation started to sound like a reasonable solution – a process that historian Yoav Di-Capua has termed “genocidal mirroring.”
The perfect storm
This mirroring does not imply a symmetry. Israel, with its superior military capabilities, has a significantly greater capacity to inflict harm on Palestinians.
The government formed in Israel following the 2022 election was unprecedented. For the first time in the nation’s history, the government depended upon ultranationalist religious factions, such as one called Jewish Power. The party has three official rabbis who advise its politicians. One of them, Dov Lior, is a prominent advocate of the idea that Palestinians are Amalek. Another, Yisrael Ariel, has written that the Torah’s commandment “Thou shalt not kill” does not apply to non-Jews.
As Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, the head of a military program for religious students in Jaffa, said in March 2024:
“If you don’t kill them first, they will kill you. The terrorists of today are the children of the previous operation whom you kept alive, and the women are those who produce the terrorists … Do not try to outsmart the Torah. The Torah tells you: ‘Do not keep alive any soul,’ so you should not keep alive any soul.”
Some secular Israelis joined in. Danny Neuman, a former football star and television commentator, said on TV in December 2023, “I am telling you, in Gaza, without exception, they are all terrorists, sons of dogs. They must be exterminated, all of them killed.”
Kinneret Barashi, a lawyer and a television host, tweeted in February 2025, “Every trace of the murderous mutations in Gaza must be erased, from the delivery rooms to the last elderly person in Gaza.”
These statements coincide with a grim reality on the ground. Since the Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli retaliation in Gaza has cost the lives of more than 64,000 Palestinians. Public health experts estimate that the obliteration of infrastructure and corresponding starvation, lack of access to medical care and spread of infectious diseases, could bring the death toll to the hundreds of thousands.
Meanwhile, large swaths of the Israeli public appear to support the mass expulsion of Palestinians and condone the concept of genocide in the abstract, according to a recent poll I commissioned through the Israeli polling firm Geocartography.
In the representative sample of Jewish Israelis who were polled from March 10-11, 2025, 82% supported the forced expulsion of Gaza’s population to other countries, while 56% endorsed the expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens. By comparison, according to a 2003 poll, only 46% supported the “transfer of Palestinian residents of the occupied territories,” and just 31% supported the “transfer of Israel’s Arab citizens.”
Moreover, in my poll I relayed a story from the Book of Joshua, in which the ancient Israelites conquered the city of Jericho and killed all of its inhabitants. When I asked respondents whether the Israeli army, when conquering an enemy city, should act similarly to the Israelites when they conquered Jericho, 47% of respondents said they should.
Tamir Sorek previously received funding from the Fullbright Program and the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation.
Participants in a ‘United for Israel’ march, led by The Pursuit NW Christian Church, stand on the University of Washington’s campus in May 2024.Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images
During confirmation hearings, Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Israel, told senators that he would “respect and represent the President,” not his own views. But the Baptist minister’s views on the Middle East – and their religious roots – came through.
“The spiritual connections between your church, mine, many churches in America, Jewish congregations, to the state of Israel is because we ultimately are people of the book,” he said on March 25, 2025, in response to a question from a senator. “We believe the Bible, and therefore that connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual.”
Huckabee is one of the GOP’s most prominent “Christian Zionists” – a phrase often associated with conservative evangelicals’ support for Israel.
But Christian Zionism is much older than the 1980s alliance between the Republican Party and the religious right. American Christian attitudes toward the idea of a Jewish state have been evolving and changing dramatically since long before Israel’s creation.
Theologians for Israel
Zionism’s modern form emerged in the late 19th century. Its declared aim was to create a Jewish homeland in the region of Palestine, then under control of the Ottoman Empire. This was the land from which Jews were exiled in antiquity.
The “founding father” of the modern movement was Theodore Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish intellectual and activist who convened the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897. While most of the 200 attendees were Jews from various parts of the world, there were also prominent Protestant Christian leaders in attendance: church leaders and philanthropists who supported “the restoration of the Jews to their land.” Herzl dubbed these allies “Christian Zionists.”
Catholic leaders, however, were not among the supporters of a Jewish state. The prospect of a Jewish state in the Christian Holy Land challenged the church’s view of Judaism as a religion whose people were condemned to permanent exile as punishment for rejecting Christ.
Eventually, in the wake of the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel, attitudes shifted. In 1965, reforms at the Vatican II council signaled a radical change for the better in Catholic-Jewish relations.
In contrast, Protestants were more open to Jews’ aspiration to return. In 1917, the British foreign secretary published the Balfour Declaration, announcing government support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” With the British victory over the Ottoman Empire, the area soon fell under British control in the form of the League of Nations’ Mandate for Palestine.
In the U.S., the idea elicited enthusiasm among conservative Christians who hoped that the Jews’ return to Israel would help hasten the end times, when they believed Christ would return. Within a few years, Congress endorsed the Balfour Declaration.
Pastor W. Fuller Gooch summed up the evangelical reaction to the Balfour Declaration: “Palestine is for the Jews. The most striking ‘Sign of the Times’ is the proposal to give Palestine to the Jews once more. They have long desired the land, though as yet unrepentant of the terrible crime which led to their expulsion.” This “terrible crime” refers to Jews’ rejection of Jesus – one of multiple anti-Jewish tropes in the sermon.
Pivotal moment
Two decades later, prominent American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr declared himself a supporter of political Zionism. Unlike evangelicals, Niebuhr’s support for a Jewish state was based on pragmatic grounds: Considering the dangerous situation in 1930s Europe, he argued, Jews needed a state in order to be safe.
A 1963 photo of Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the most influential theologians from the U.S. AP Photo
In the early 1940s, Niebuhr wrote a series of articles titled “Jews After the War” for The Nation magazine. His biographer Richard W. Fox called these articles “an eloquent statement of the Zionist case: The Jews had rights not just as individuals, but as a people, and they deserved not just a homeland, but a homeland in Palestine.”
Thus, in the 1930s and ‘40s, two different types of American Christian Zionism emerged. Some liberal Protestants, while giving qualified support to Zionism, expressed concern for the fate of the Palestinian Arabs. Conservative evangelicals, on the other hand, tended to be more hostile to Arab political aspirations.
In 1947, on the eve of the United Nations’ vote on the partition of Palestine, Niebuhr and six other prominent American intellectuals wrote a long letter to The New York Times, arguing that a Jewish state in the Middle East would serve American interests. “Politically, we would like to see the lands of the Middle East practice democracy as we do here,” they wrote. “Thus far there is only one vanguard of progress and modernization in the Middle East, and that is Jewish Palestine.”
In 1948, the U.S. government, at President Harry Truman’s direction, granted the newly declared state of Israel diplomatic recognition, over the objections of State Department officials.
There were, of course, prominent Americans who objected to recognizing Israel, or to embracing it so strongly. Among them was journalist Dorothy Thompson, who had turned against the Zionist cause after a Jewish militant group bombed Jerusalem’s King David Hotel in 1946. These opponents made the case for supporting emerging Arab nationalism and Palestinian autonomy and asserted that recognizing Israel would deepen America’s entanglement in the unfolding Middle Eastern conflicts.
But by the late 1950s and ‘60s, American criticism of Israel was increasingly muted. Liberal Christians, in particular, viewed it as a beleaguered democratic state and ally.
Rightward shift
Conservative Christian Zionists, meanwhile, continued to often view “love of Israel” through a biblical lens.
In the late ’60s, the American journal Christianity Today published an article by editor Nelson Bell, father-in-law of famous evangelist Billy Graham. Jewish control of Jerusalem inspires “renewed faith in the accuracy and validity of the Bible,” Bell wrote.
Rev. Jerry Falwell, on the right, listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech to a conservative Christian group in Washington in 1998. William Philpott/AFP via Getty Images
Fifteen years later, televangelist Jerry Falwell told an interviewer that Jewish people have both a theological and historical “right to the land.” He added, “I am personally a Zionist, having gained that perspective from my belief in Old Testament scriptures.”
These Christians, like some Jewish religious Zionists, saw “the hand of God” in Israel’s conquest of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War of 1967. They considered any territorial compromise with Arab states and the Palestinians to be an act against God.
During the 1980s, as the Republican Party forged alliances with the emerging religious right, Israel would become a core cause for the GOP. Some liberal Jews who supported Israel grew alarmed by these ties and by the rightward shift in Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
Yet this brand of Christian Zionism is clearly the forerunner to today’s – and holds sway in Washington. Today, 83% of Republicans view Israel favorably, compared with 33% of Democrats. Republicans in Congress are pushing to use the biblical terms “Judea and Samaria” instead of “the West Bank.” Evangelical Christian Zionists continue to call for support of the Israeli right and of settlers in the occupied territories.
In 2009, when Huckabee was considering a presidential campaign, he visited Israel and met with settler leaders. On hearing of Huckabee’s presidential aspirations, a rabbi said, “We hope that under Mike Huckabee’s presidency, he will be like Cyrus and push us to rebuild the Temple and bring the final redemption.” The rabbi was referring to the biblical story of Cyrus, King of Persia, and his proclamation that the exiled Jews be allowed to return to Zion.
Seven decades after the state of Israel’s founding, evangelical Christian Zionism’s influence is greater than ever. This turn to the political right is very far from the mid-20th century Zionism of Truman, Niebuhr and the Democratic Party.
Shalom Goldman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
ATLANTA, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Monarch Private Capital (Monarch), a nationally recognized impact investment firm that develops, finances, and manages a diversified portfolio of projects generating both federal and state tax credits, welcomes James O. (Jimmy) Etheredge, former CEO of Accenture – North America, as a member of the firm’s Executive Management Committee and a Managing Director of Corporate Solutions.
With nearly four decades of experience working with Fortune 500 companies to transform their businesses, Etheredge brings deep expertise in corporate transformation and strategic growth. As CEO, he grew Accenture’s North America business to $30 billion. He will lead a strategic initiative to optimize renewable energy, historic rehabilitation, and affordable housing tax strategies and solutions for institutional and corporate investors. His board roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Southern Company, Encora, and Grant Thornton further position him to add long-term value to Monarch’s mission of delivering financial and social benefits through impact investment strategies.
“Joining Monarch is the culmination of a long-standing passion I have had for driving positive change through smart and innovative investments,” said Etheredge. “This opportunity allows me to leverage decades of financial experience, passion, and leadership to positively impact corporate America. I am honored to help Monarch scale its mission and align capital with real-world impact.”
“Jimmy’s ability to build lasting relationships and drive strategic innovation makes him an invaluable addition to Monarch,” said Robin Delmer, Partner, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Monarch Private Capital.“His expertise in corporate growth and leadership in navigating evolving markets will strengthen our ability to deliver value to investors and the communities we serve.”
Beyond his executive leadership, Etheredge contributes to the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta Police Foundation, and the Boy Scouts of America through nonprofit board service. A Georgia native, Etheredge holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is a trustee and member of the university’s Hill Society.
Etheredge’s hire reinforces Monarch’s commitment to attracting proven business leaders who can help the company deliver unparalleled solutions to corporate tax equity investors.
Monarch Private Capital manages impact investment funds that positively impact communities by creating clean power, jobs, and homes. The funds provide predictable returns through the generation of federal and state tax credits. The Company offers innovative tax credit equity investments for affordable housing, historic rehabilitations, renewable energy, film, and other qualified projects. Monarch Private Capital has long-term relationships with institutional and individual investors, developers, and lenders participating in these federal and state programs. Headquartered in Atlanta, Monarch has offices and professionals located throughout the United States.
ISELIN, N.J., April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Provident Bank, a leading New Jersey-based financial institution, is pleased to announce that Tara Brady has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Chief Experience Officer (CXO), responsible for leading the bank’s marketing and customer experience strategies, and ensuring seamless, customer-centric engagement across the organization. Ms. Brady will also focus on fostering deep collaboration and synergy between customer experience and employee experience. Since joining Provident, Ms. Brady has been instrumental in centralizing and enhancing the experience for customers. Her new role expands this work in support of the bank’s growth throughout the region.
With a focus on delivering consistent and coordinated communications, and a unified brand identity, Ms. Brady will champion a customer-first mindset across all departments. “At Provident, the customer is at center of everything we do. We remain committed to honoring Provident’s rich history of serving our communities while continuing to evolve to meet our customers’ changing needs,” said Ms. Brady. “By challenging the status quo and empowering our employees with the right tools and solutions, we can better support our customers and ensure a consistent, high-quality experience across the organization.”
Leading both the marketing and customer experience teams, Ms. Brady will play a pivotal role in shaping brand awareness, supporting business growth, and reinforcing the bank’s commitment to delivering outstanding results.
As CXO, Ms. Brady will drive initiatives that cultivate employee empowerment, enhance customer trust, and strengthen brand loyalty, with the goal of building advocates for life. “Tara has been instrumental in placing the customer experience at the forefront as we continue our journey as a super community bank—offering the capabilities of a larger financial institution with the personal touch of a local organization,” said Anthony Labozzetta, President and CEO. “Tara’s passion and unwavering commitment to Provident, our team members, and—most importantly—our customers, make her exceptionally well-suited for this role.”
Ms. Brady brings more than a decade of experience revitalizing and reshaping the sales and customer experience cultures of leading financial institutions. Most recently, she served as Director of Customer Experience for Provident Bank. Prior to her time with Provident, Ms. Brady held customer experience-focused leadership positions of increasing responsibility with Affinity Federal Credit Union, WSFS Bank and Wells Fargo.
About Provident Bank Founded in Jersey City in 1839, Provident Bank is the oldest community-focused financial institution based in New Jersey and is the wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS). With assets of $24.05 billion as of December 31, 2024, Provident Bank offers a wide range of customized financial solutions for businesses and consumers with an exceptional customer experience delivered through its convenient network of 140 branches across New Jersey and parts of New York and Pennsylvania, via mobile and online banking, and from its customer contact center. The bank also provides fiduciary and wealth management services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Beacon Trust Company, and insurance services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Provident Protection Plus, Inc. To learn more about Provident Bank, go to www.provident.bank or call our customer contact center at 800.448.7768.
Jerusalem (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Land “”will not be overtaken by darkness,” with this quote from the Gospel of John, concludes the short document of the ecumenical group “A Jerusalem Voice for Justice,” addressing the suffering that innocent people in the Holy Land continue to suffer.The ecumenical group was recently founded in light of the new outbreak of violence and terror in the Holy Land to share the facts and events that affect the lives of people in the Land of Jesus. The network includes, among others, Archbishop Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem; Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan; Sawsan Bitar, coordinator of the Sabeel Ecumenical Center; Palestinian theologian John Munayer; Jesuit Father David Neuhaus; and Father Frans Bouwen of theMissionaries of Africa.“The Israeli army,” reads the text released by Jerusalem Voice of Justice, “is carrying out the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank from their homes since 1967. According to OCHA, already over 40, 000 Palestinians have been displaced, and are currently living without shelter, essential services, and healthcare.”In this context, the signatories of the document recall the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan, who helps the stranger lying exhausted and abandoned by the roadside after others have passed by and ignored him.“Reverend Martin Luther King,” they recall, “proposed that they passed him by, fearing: what will happen to me if I stop? Rev. King wrote that the Good Samaritan instead asked the question: what will happen to him if I pass him by? Only the Good Samaritan acted in order to save the wounded man’s life.”The authors of the document express fear “that the annexation of Palestinian territories by Israel may be imminent. Increasing use of the names “Judea and Samaria” (instead of the occupied West Bank), exploiting Biblical terminology to confuse present political realities, manifests a desire to wipe Palestine and the Palestinians off the map, claiming we do not exist”.The document finally addresses “those Jews and Christians who have been led to believe that God wants Israel to annex our homeland:We want to state clearly that you have been misguided. All, Palestinians and Israelis, are created in the image and likeness of God. They are all equal in dignity and rights. Furthermore,” add the signatories of the text, “our God is a God of love who abhors violence and loves all God’s children. The Palestinians are your “neighbor”. The inviolable commandment in the word of God we share is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Roman 13:9). To expel the Palestinians from their homeland is not only an act of violence; it is sacrilege”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 2/4/2025)
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Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Fraudulent websites and internet banking login screens related to DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks’ websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).
Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the websites or login screens concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012. Issued at HKT 16:45
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Fraudulent websites and internet banking login screens related to Dah Sing Bank, Limited The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks’ websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).
Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the websites or login screens concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012. Issued at HKT 16:45
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area corporations
(percentages per annum)
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rates for corporations (Chart 1)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to corporations, decreased in February 2025. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months decreased by 27 basis points to 3.92%. The rate on new loans of the same size with an initial rate fixation period of over three months and up to one year fell by 11 basis points to 3.77%. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years decreased by 16 basis points to 3.44%. In the case of new loans of up to €250,000 with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months, the average rate charged stayed almost constant at 4.37%. As regards new deposit agreements, the interest rate on deposits from corporations with an agreed maturity of up to one year fell by 17 basis points to 2.50% in February 2025. The interest rate on overnight deposits from corporations fell by 4 basis points to 0.72%. The interest rate on new loans to sole proprietors and unincorporated partnerships with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year remained broadly unchanged at 4.55%.
Table 1
Bank interest rates for corporations
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation * For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
Data for bank interest rates for corporations (Table 1)
Bank interest rates for households
Chart 2
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area households
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rate for households (Chart 2)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to households for house purchase, increased in February 2025. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 6 basis points to 4.00%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over one and up to five years rose by 4 basis points to 3.53%. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with an initial rate fixation period of over five and up to ten years increased by 49 basis points to 3.37%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years rose by 12 basis points to 3.09%, driven by both the interest rate and the weight effects. In the same period the interest rate on new loans to households for consumption decreased by 7 basis points to 7.58%. As regards new deposits from households, the interest rate on deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year decreased by 14 basis points to 2.19%. The rate on deposits redeemable at three months’ notice fell by 19 basis points to 1.53%. The interest rate on overnight deposits from households remained broadly unchanged at 0.32%.
Table 2
Bank interest rates for households
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation * For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories; deposits placed by households and corporations are allocated to the household sector. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics. ** For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
Data for bank interest rates for households (Table 2)
Further information
The data in Tables 1 and 2 can be visualised for individual euro area countries on the bank interest rate statistics dashboard. Additionally, tables containing further breakdowns of bank interest rate statistics, including the composite cost-of-borrowing indicators for all euro area countries, are available from the ECB Data Portal. The full set of bank interest rate statistics for both the euro area and individual countries can be downloaded from ECB Data Portal. More information, including the release calendar, is available under “Bank interest rates” in the statistics section of the ECB’s website.
For media queries, please contactNicos Keranis, tel.: +49 69 1344 7806
Notes:
In this press release “corporations” refers to non-financial corporations (sector S.11 in the European System of Accounts 2010, or ESA 2010), “households” refers to households and non-profit institutions serving households (ESA 2010 sectors S.14 and S.15) and “banks” refers to monetary financial institutions except central banks and money market funds (ESA 2010 sector S.122).
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicators are described in the article entitled “Assessing the retail bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area at times of financial fragmentation” in the August 2013 issue of the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin (see Box 1). For these indicators, a weighting scheme based on the 24-month moving averages of new business volumes has been applied, in order to filter out excessive monthly volatility. For this reason the developments in the composite cost of borrowing indicators in both tables cannot be explained by the month-on-month changes in the displayed subcomponents. Furthermore, the table on bank interest rates for corporations presents a subset of the series used in the calculation of the cost of borrowing indicator.
Interest rates on new business are weighted by the size of the individual agreements. This is done both by the reporting agents and when the national and euro area averages are computed. Thus changes in average euro area interest rates for new business reflect, in addition to changes in interest rates, changes in the weights of individual countries’ new business for the instrument categories concerned. The “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” presented in this press release are derived from the Bennet index, which allows month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates resulting from changes in individual country rates (the “interest rate effect”) to be disentangled from those caused by changes in the weights of individual countries’ contributions (the “weight effect”). Owing to rounding, the combined “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” may not add up to the month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates.
In addition to monthly euro area bank interest rate statistics for February 2025, this press release incorporates revisions to data for previous periods. Hyperlinks in the main body of the press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Unless otherwise indicated, these euro area statistics cover the EU Member States that had adopted the euro at the time to which the data relate.
As of reference period December 2014, the sector classification applied to bank interest rates statistics is based on the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In accordance with the ESA 2010 classification and as opposed to ESA 95, the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) now excludes holding companies not engaged in management and similar captive financial institutions.
A need was felt to establish an organization to resolve the difficulties being faced by the Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs). UCBs are operating in a fragmented and uncoordinated environment, hindering their growth, stability and competitiveness. The lack of regulatory clarity, operational inefficiencies and limited access to resources and expertise left many UCBs vulnerable to financial instability, poor governance and market pressures.
An Umbrella Organization (UO) named National Urban Co-operative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) has been established as a long-term solution to transform India’s UCB sector to make them financially resilient, enhance their depositor’s confidence and establish them as a major player in the country’s financial system.
The UO will provide various fund-based as well as non-fund-based services to UCBs. The fund-based services include extending Capital support, Loans and advances, Refinance facilities, Liquidity support against excess SLR securities through Repo, and Accepting deposits from UCBs.
The non-fund-based services include Setting up IT Infrastructure for use of member banks; Fund Management/ Treasury Management Services; Consultancy services in various operational areas; Capacity building services such as training, seminars, and conferences; and Research & Development
Within a short period of time, the UO has commenced business and has started rolling out certain services to meet the urgent needs of UCBs.
The UO has launched the following services:
Legal Advisory: UO’s legal resource is providing free templates & free vetting for few basic agreements required by Banks. Preparation of large/ complicated agreements is chargeable but much below market rates.
Sahakar Compliance Monitoring Service: Automation of all the Regulatory Compliances for Banks, by integrating with Core-Banking System (CBS) of Banks on one side and with Daksh portal of RBI on other side.
Technology Consulting: UO’s resources are providing technology related advisory to Banks on all aspects like CBS, Cybersecurity, IT Compliance etc.
The UO has also published Expression of Interest (EOI) for setting up and implementation of;
Sahakar Cloud: to create Cloud/ Data Centre for the sector and reduce overall cost by achieving economies of scale.
Sahakar CBS: for providing industry-best, standardized Core Banking Solution for all UCBs, specially the Tier1, Tier2 and Unit Banks.
SahakarBox: innovative offering by UO to ensure that even small UCBs can achieve cybersecurity, resiliency, disaster recovery and backup services at quite affordable cost.
Sahakar Council – Expert Panel: UCBs need advice of various external experts in areas like Direct/ Indirect Tax, Audit, Treasury, Compliance and Business Development etc.
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, with effect from financial year 2018-19 has been implementing Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) with a total fund size of Rs 7522.48 crore. FIDF inter-alia provides concessional finance for development of various fisheries infrastructure facilities to the Eligible Entities (EEs), including State Governments/Union Territories and State entities for development of identified fisheries infrastructure facilities. Under FIDF, the Department of Fisheries, Government of India provides interest subvention up to 3% per annum for providing the concessional finance by the Nodal Loaning Entities (NLEs) at the interest rate not lower than 5% per annum. The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying since the inception of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) in 2018-19, has accorded approvals to a total of 64 number of fisheries infrastructure development proposals of Governments of Tamil Nadu at a total outlay of Rs. 1574.73 crore with project cost restricted for interest subvention at Rs.1336.73 crore. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) being the Nodal Loaning Entities (NLEs) for State Implemented projects, has sanctioned loan amount of Rs. 1314.73 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu and out of this, an amount of Rs. 956.05 crore has been disbursed so far to the State Government for implementation of the approved projects under FIDF. The Government of Tamil Nadu reported completion of a total of 47 projects while 16 projects are in progress and one project has not yet commenced by the State Government. The Central Approval and Monitoring Committee (CAMC) of FIDF monitors regularly the progress of the projects approved under FIDF and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) as the Nodal Implementing Agency (NIA) of FIDF conducts the desk studies and need based field inspections of approved projects to ensure the timely completion of approved projects. Besides, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying also reviews the progress of approved projects to ensure the timely implementation.
This information was given by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri George Kurian, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 2nd April, 2025.
The Government implements various schemes for the welfare and upliftment of every strata, including minorities, especially the economically weaker and lesser-privileged sections of the society. Ministry of Minority Affairs specifically implements various schemes for socio-economic and educational empowerment of the six (6) centrally notified minority communities, across the country. The Schemes/ programmes implemented by the Ministry are as under:
1. Educational Empowerment Schemes
i. Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme
ii. Post Matric Scholarship Scheme
iii. Merit-cum-Mean based Scholarship Scheme
The Scholarship Schemes are implemented through National Scholarship Portal (managed by NIC) which is a continuously evolving platform. Scholarship payments are done through Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) under DBT mode so that benefit could reach to the genuine beneficiaries.
2. Employment and Economic Empowerment Schemes
Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS)
ii) National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC): It implements schemes of Term Loan, Micro Finance, Education Loan & Virasat Scheme for socio-economic development of “backward sections” among the notified minority communities by providing concessional loan for self-employment income generation ventures across the country. The schemes of NMDFC are implemented through State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) nominated by respective State Govt./ UT Administration, Punjab Gramin Bank and Canara Bank.
To monitor implementation of its schemes, NMDFC regularly conducts “beneficiary verification” and “impact assessment study” by engaging independent third-party organizations/agencies to assess the proper utilization & impact of NMDFC financing on the target groups across the country. NMDFC officials also visit different States/UTs for beneficiary interaction.
3. Infrastructure Development Scheme i) Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) : “Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram” (PMJVK) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and one of the flagship program of the Ministry for creation of community infrastructure in the Minority Concentration Areas of the country in the sectors viz. Education, Health, Skill Development, Women Centric Projects, Drinking Water and Supply, Sanitation and Sports. The aim of the scheme also includes to boost the social and economic conditions of the Minority Communities of that particular areas.
The projects under PMJVK are considered and approved on the basis of the requests received from the respective State Governments/UT Administration. The formulation of the project proposal submission thereof to the Ministry; execution of the approved projects and operation & maintenance of the completed projects is the responsibility of the respective State Governments/UT Administration.
National Commission for Minorities (NCM), a statutory body under the Ministry was established under the NCM Act, 1992. As part of its function, it receives petitions of minorities and takes them up with the appropriate authorities/ State Governments for necessary action. Further, to promote communal harmony, Hon’ble Chairman and Members of the NCM hold regular meetings with the representatives of the minority communities. Moreover, NCM conducts ‘Sarv Dharam Samvad with representatives of minority communities to discuss issues faced by the communities and promote communal harmony.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) has been implementing various skilling and education schemes for socio-economic development of minorities to make them employment ready.
Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) is a flagship Scheme of MoMA which converges five erstwhile schemes and focuses on upliftment of minorities through skill development; entrepreneurship and leadership of minority women; and education support for school dropouts.
Prior to PM VIKAS, the Ministry provided skill training to youth from minority communities to increase employment and livelihood opportunities under the ‘Seekho Aur Kamao’, ‘Nai Manzil’, and ‘USTTAD’ schemes, which have now been converged into the PM VIKAS scheme. No new targets were allocated under the said erstwhile schemes after 2020-21.
A brief of these schemes along with achievements made therein is as under:
i) Seekho aur Kamao (SAK) scheme, started in 2013-14, targeted to upgrade the skills of minority youth (14-45 years) in various modern/ traditional skills depending upon their qualification, prevailing economic trends, and market potential, that could earn them suitable employment or make them suitably skilled to take up self-employment. Since inception, about 4.68 lakh beneficiaries have been trainedunder the scheme.
ii) Nai Manzil schemestarted in 2015, and was implemented with an objective to benefit the minority youth who do not have formal school leaving certificate. The scheme provided a combination of formal education (Class VIII or X) and skills and enabled the beneficiaries to seek better employment and livelihoods. Since inception, 98,712 beneficiaries have been trained under the scheme.
iii) USTTAD and Hamari Dharoharschemestarted in 2015 for targeted capacity building and upgrading of the traditional skills of master craftsmen/ artisans. Since inception, about 21,611 beneficiaries have been trained under the scheme.
iv) Nai Roshni, a Leadership Development Programme for Minority Women was launched in 2012-13 with an objective to empower and instill confidence among minority women by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, banks and other institutions at all levels.Since inception, over 4.35 lakh beneficiaries have been trained under the scheme.
Ministry engaged institutions of national repute namely, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), National Institute of Design (NID) and Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) to work in various craft clusters for design intervention, product range development, packaging, exhibitions and brand building etc.
Ministry initiatives like Hunar Haat and Lok Samvardhan Parv aim at creating awareness about the schemes and providing opportunities to upliftminority traditional artisans through showcasing and marketing their products. Since 2015 to till date, 43 such events have been organised by the Ministry across the country.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Minority Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
In order to create decentralized food grain storage capacity in the country, the Government on 31.5.2023 approved the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector, which has been rolled out as a Pilot Project. It entails creation of various agri infrastructure at the level of Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS), including setting up decentralized godowns, custom hiring center, processing units, sorting and grading facilities, cold storage units, packhouses etc. through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), etc.
The Plan addresses transportation and distribution challenges by enabling local storage of grains at the PACS level, minimizing long-distance transportation costs and losses. Additionally, by integrating PACS with agri-marketing and procurement systems, direct access to storage facilities is ensured for farmers, reducing their dependence on intermediaries. Hence, the Plan aims to ensure better price realization for farmers, reduce transportation costs, and create employment opportunities in rural areas.
Under the Pilot project of the Plan, 11 godowns in 11 PACS have been constructed across the country and a total storage capacity of 9,750 MT has been created.
The Government on 15.2.2023, has approved the Plan for strengthening cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots. The Plan entails establishment of 2 lakh new multipurpose PACS (M-PACS), Dairy, Fishery Cooperative Societies covering all the Panchayats/ villages in the country in five years, through convergence of various existing GOI schemes, including Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF), National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), PM Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), etc. with the support of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and State Governments.
As per National Cooperative Database, a total of 3,667 new PACS have been registered as on 27.1.2025 across the country, including 148 new PACS in the State of Maharashtra, since the approval of the plan on 15.2.2023. The State-wise details of the same are enclosed at Annexure.
Government of India has approved a project for Computerization of functional PACS with a total financial outlay of ₹2,516 Crore, which entails bringing all the functional PACS onto an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common national software, linking them with NABARD through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs). The National Level Common Software for the project has been developed by NABARD and 50,455 PACS have been onboarded on ERP software as on 27.01.2025. So far, proposals for computerization of 67,930 PACS from 30 States/ UTs have been sanctioned, for which Rs. 741.34 Cr. has been released as GoI share to the States/UTs concerned as on 27.01.2025 and hardware has been delivered to 60,382 PACS.
*****
S. No.
State/UT
Newly registered PACS
1.
Andaman And Nicobar Islands
1
2.
Andhra Pradesh
0
3.
Arunachal Pradesh
12
4.
Assam
59
5.
Bihar
25
6.
Chhattisgarh
0
7.
Goa
12
8.
Gujarat
291
9.
Haryana
2
10.
Himachal Pradesh
57
11.
Jammu And Kashmir
84
12.
Jharkhand
44
13.
Karnataka
128
14.
Ladakh
0
15.
Lakshadweep
0
16.
Madhya Pradesh
16
17.
Maharashtra
148
18.
Manipur
68
19.
Meghalaya
193
20.
Mizoram
25
21.
Nagaland
12
22.
Odisha
1,535
23.
Puducherry
2
24.
Punjab
0
25.
Rajasthan
760
26.
Sikkim
23
27.
Tamil Nadu
21
28.
Telangana
0
29.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu
4
30.
Tripura
38
31.
Uttar Pradesh
94
32.
Uttarakhand
0
33.
West Bengal
13
Total
3,667
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The Government has approved the Plan to establish 2 lakh new multi-purpose PACS (M-PACS), Dairy & Fishery Cooperative Societies to cover all the Panchayats/ Villages across the country through convergence of various existing schemes of Government of India (GoI), including Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF), National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), PM Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), etc, with the support of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and State/ UT Governments. The convergence of GoI schemes under this Plan enables newly formed Dairy & Fishery Cooperative Societies to set up and modernize necessary infrastructure for diversifying their activities, like, milk testing laboratories, bulk milk coolers, milk processing units, construction of biofloc ponds, fish kiosks, development of hatcheries, acquiring deep sea fishing vessels, etc.
Further, in order to diversify the business activities of PACS, the Government has circulated Model Bye-laws for PACS to all the States/ UTs, which enable them to undertake more than 25 economic activities, including dairy, fishery, floriculture, setting up godowns, processing, marketing of agricultural produce, custom hiring centers, Common Service Centers (CSCs), Fair Price Shops (FPS), community irrigation, etc. The registration of new PACS as multipurpose PACS enables them as well as their farmer members to diversify their business activities, expand their access to markets & credit and generate additional sources of revenue for themselves.
As on 27.1.2025, 12,957 new M-PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative Societies have been registered across States/ UTs, with 17,10,224 farmer members associated with them, the details of which are enclosed at Annexure.
The formation of these newly formed cooperative societies enables their farmer members to get requisite forward and backward linkages to market their produce, expand the size of their markets, enhance their incomes, obtain credit facilities, and other services at the village level itself, thus contributing towards strengthening the rural economy.
*****
Annexure
State/ UT- wise details of newly registered Cooperative Societies
Sr. No.
State/UT
Total no. of newly
registered M-PACS, DCS and FCS
No. of associated farmer members
1.
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
9
104
2.
Andhra Pradesh
897
18,018
3.
Arunachal Pradesh
33
1,337
4.
Assam
321
17,546
5.
Bihar
308
80,873
6.
Chhattisgarh
331
6,050
7.
Goa
12
247
8.
Gujarat
733
98,031
9.
Haryana
50
4,389
10.
Himachal Pradesh
411
8,556
11.
Jammu & Kashmir
1,118
22,840
12.
Jharkhand
248
9,858
13.
Karnataka
598
82,035
14.
Ladakh
4
371
15.
Lakshadweep
7
508
16.
Madhya Pradesh
613
27,350
17.
Maharashtra
889
65,008
18.
Manipur
95
11,216
19.
Meghalaya
206
11,994
20.
Mizoram
29
1,093
21.
Nagaland
14
657
22.
Odisha
1,535
6,87,126
23.
Puducherry
7
507
24.
Punjab
80
1,851
25.
Rajasthan
1,995
3,22,255
26.
Sikkim
57
1,192
27.
Tamil Nadu
520
36,271
28.
Telangana
82
2,345
29.
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman &
Diu
5
298
30.
Tripura
40
961
31.
Uttar Pradesh
1,464
1,79,926
32.
Uttarakhand
147
3,612
33.
West Bengal
99
5,799
Total
12,957
17,10,224
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The EIB Group has invested more than €90 million in a BBVA asset-backed securitisation operation.
This EIB investment will allow BBVA to mobilise some €185 millionin financing for sustainable housing projects in Spain.
The operation is backed by InvestEU, an EU programme that aims to unlock over €372 billion in investment by 2027.
The EIB Group – made up of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) – has signed a new €93 million synthetic securitisation operation with BBVA for 100% green projects. This investment will allow BBVA to mobilise around €185 million to finance the construction of residential buildings with near-zero emissions by small and medium firms (SMEs) and mid-caps in Spain’s real estate sector.
The operation is guaranteed by InvestEU, the EU programme to mobilise public and private investment. It will give SMEs and mid-caps that promote sustainable housing easier access to financing on favourable terms that would not otherwise be available for such projects.
The projects financed by this operation will improve energy efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and help mitigate climate change. A significant number of these projects are expected to be implemented in cohesion regions where the income per capita is below the EU average.
This operation is one more demonstration of the EIB Group’s role of promoting new financial instruments like securitisation that help unlock capital for green projects, reduce the risk borne by sponsoring financial institutions and strengthen the EU capital markets union.
The agreement with BBVA supports the strategic priorities of the EIB Group, which include climate action, access to affordable and sustainable housing, cohesion and the capital markets union.
The securitisation is on a portfolio of over €1.4 billion in loans to SMEs in which BBVA will retain the senior and junior tranches, and the EIB Group will guarantee the mezzanine tranche of €93 million. It has been structured to meet the STS criteria (simple, transparent and standardised), and includes a synthetic excess spread mechanism and uses pro rata amortisation (which may be changed to sequential).
Background information
EIB
The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, high-impact investments outside the European Union, and the capital markets union.
The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.
All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.
Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers. Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average.
High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.
About InvestEU
The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps mobilise private investment for EU policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that invest in projects, leveraging on the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increasing their risk-bearing capacity and mobilising at least €372 billion in additional investment.
About BBVA
BBVA is a global financial services group founded in 1857. The bank is present in more than 25 countries, has a strong leadership position in the Spanish market, is the largest financial institution in Mexico and it has leading franchises in South America and Turkey.
BBVA contributes with its activity to the progress and welfare of all its stakeholders: shareholders, clients, employees, providers and society in general. In this regard, BBVA supports families, entrepreneurs and companies in their plans, and helps them to take advantage of the opportunities provided by innovation and technology. Likewise, BBVA offers its customers a unique value proposition, leveraged on technology and data, helping them improve their financial health with personalized information on financial decision-making.
Pension Adalats are conducted by Government to redress long standing grievances pertaining to Central Government Pensioners. As the Pension Adalats are for Central Government Pensioners, Ministry wise/ Department wise data sets are maintained and State-wise data is not collated. The details of the Pension Adalats conducted over the last 05 years along with the cases taken up and resolved pertaining to almost all the Ministries and Departments including major Ministries like Ministry of Defence, Railways, Telecommunications, Finance, Home Affairs and O/o CAG are provided below:
Pension Adalat (Year)
No of cases taken up during the Adalat
No of cases resolved during the Adalat
2020
342
319
2021
3692
2591
2022
1732
1113
2023
603
440
2024
403
330
2025
192
151
Total
6,964
4,944
The Government intends to organize additional Pension Adalats to redress long- standing pension-related grievances in the future.
The objective of the Pension Adalat is to provide on-the-spot resolution of unresolved and chronic grievances in CPENGRAMS. After giving advance notice to all the stakeholders, involving the Head of Office (HOO), Pay and Account Office (PAO), Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO), Pension Disbursing Bank etc. and representative of the Pensioner are called on a common platform for resolution of the grievances across the table.
Most of the cases taken up in Pension Adalats are resolved on the spot. Due follow-up with the respective Ministry/Department is carried out and Action Taken Reports are sought for the cases that are resolved. The unresolved cases are revisited and their status is considered before holding the next Pension Adalat.
This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson.
Writing in today’s Evening News, Transport and Environment Convener Stephen Jenkinson looks ahead to another busy Transport and Environment Committee meeting tomorrow.
In my time as an elected member the concern which comes up time and again in my conversations with residents is our roads. We’ve been told in no uncertain terms that the people of Edinburgh want continued work and investment in our network and that’s what I’m committed to delivering. Road safety also goes hand in hand with road condition and investment, better maintained roads equal safer roads.
We have two important reports to consider at Committee which address these key issues. Our Road Safety Delivery Plan combined with our Roads and Infrastructure Investment -Capital Delivery Priorities will see over £30m invested across our city in the next financial year. These works cover everything from major projects like the Dalmahoy Junction, through to carriageway resurfacing and maintaining our pavements, speed reduction measures, accident and investigation prevention, safer travel around our schools and much more.
For roads, pavement and paths improvements, this is an area we’ve committed extra funding to in successive budgets, with £11m in 2023/24, £12.5m in 2024/25 and £12.5m this year. As a result, last year, we saw a record 460,000m² of carriageways receiving treatment and I’m hopeful we’ll see similar results this year. We’ll also be looking to build on our promising Road Condition Indicator (RCI) score, which saw a record positive shift last year.
This is far from the only area we are making significant investments. In February I was lucky enough to visit Bankhead Depot to meet colleagues and see our new fleet of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) with enhanced safety features. We’ve invested over £25m in these HGVs along with our welfare buses for pupils with Additional Support Needs (ASN) and I’m confident that we now have the most advanced local authority fleet in Scotland when it comes to safety features. Our residents can take comfort in the fact that safety is at the heart of delivering our core services.
Another important project which we’ll hear about at Committee is the King’s Theatre Public Realm Improvements which intersects with the Meadows to Union Canal active travel project. Working collaboratively with the King’s Theatre refurbishment team, our aim is to incorporate a new walking, wheeling and cycling route that aligns with existing plans that were in development to avoid the need for future works to be carried out. From enhancing accessibility through step free access, increasing pavement areas for those walking and wheeling, and introducing contraflow cycling arrangements, there are a host of positive proposals which have now been shared with Tollcross Community Council, ward councillors and other project stakeholders. This is an excellent example of working together with a large-scale development to create the best outcome for the people of our city.
Finally, there was some welcome news last week which saw the roads on North Bridge reopening slightly ahead of schedule, with footways to fully reopen later in the year. This temporary closure to northbound traffic was due to essential resurfacing works which began in February. We’re now getting towards the final phase of the project which is hugely promising for the city.
I’m aware there is much still to be done, however I’m confident that we’re on the right track for delivering the changes which our city deserves.
– Onboarded over 10,000 accounts; averaging 1,000 new accounts per day with first digital banking partner –
– Second digital bank has completed API integrations and expects to begin onboarding mid-April –
SAN DIEGO, CA, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — RYVYL Inc. (NASDAQ: RVYL) (“RYVYL” or the “Company”), a leading innovator of payment transaction solutions leveraging electronic payment technology for the diverse international markets, is rapidly onboarding new accounts with its two recently announced digital banking partners at RYVYL EU – Mar. 20, 2025 – RYVYL Secures Major Payments-as-a-Service Contracts.
Under the first contract, a fast-growing financial services provider is leveraging RYVYL EU’s infrastructure to issue digital and physical payment accounts. So far:
Over 10,000 accounts have been successfully opened;
Onboarding is currently averaging 1,000 new accounts per day; and
More than €10 million in transaction volume has been processed.
This contract is on track to exceed 50,000+ active accounts in 2025.
The second contract, with a fully digital banking platform, has completed API integrations ahead of plan and is scheduled to onboard 900,000 new customer accounts within the next 12 months.
Rui Helder, Chief Business Development Officer, RYVYL EU, said: “Our PaaS platform and support team offer partners exceptional value and means to leverage their customer base as well as accelerate growth. We are providing seamless onboarding, compliance expertise, and the operational scale required to power modern digital Payment ecosystems. Now, we are exceeding our initial onboarding goals for our two new PaaS contracts and are rapidly scaling our footprint with new accounts throughout Europe. I’m proud of our team’s strong execution in the initial onboarding of these key digital banking partners and confident we will reach our goal of opening nearly 1 million new customer accounts within the next 12 months.”
The foregoing guidance is based on the Company’s continuation of the business, as currently conducted. On January 24, 2025, the Company entered into an agreement with a financing source that was structured as a pre-funded asset sale with a 90-day closing period, which ends on April 23, 2025 and may be extended an additional 30 days to May 23, 2025, if the Company pays $500,000 for such extension. Shares in the Company’s RYVYL EU subsidiary were placed in escrow during the closing period. Although there are no guarantees, the Company intends to terminate the asset sale within the closing period by paying $16.5 million in consideration of such termination. The Company’s financial guidance for 2025 is based on fully retaining its RYVYL EU subsidiary.
About RYVYL
RYVYL Inc. (NASDAQ: RVYL) was born from a passion for empowering a new way to conduct business-to-business, consumer-to-business, and peer-to-peer payment transactions around the globe. By leveraging electronic payment technology for diverse international markets, RYVYL is a leading innovator of payment transaction solutions reinventing the future of financial transactions. Since its founding as GreenBox POS in 2017 in San Diego, RYVYL has developed applications enabling an end-to-end suite of turnkey financial products with enhanced security and data privacy, world-class identity theft protection, and rapid speed to settlement. As a result, the platform can log immense volumes of immutable transactional records at the speed of the internet for first-tier partners, merchants, and consumers around the globe. www.ryvyl.com
This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current beliefs, assumptions, and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to the Company. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding the anticipated number of account activations and new customers onboarded, anticipated revenues and margins, timely payment of the second tranche, the benefit to stockholders from the repayment of the Note and repurchase of the Preferred Stock, and the timing and expectation of revenues from the contracts described herein and are charactered by future or conditional words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate” and “continue” or similar words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they discuss future expectations and plans, which contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition or state other forward-looking information. By their nature, forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties. A variety of factors could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those expressed in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements, including the risk that the licensee understands and complies with various banking laws and regulations that may impact the licensee’s ability to process transactions. For example, federal money laundering statutes and Bank Secrecy Act regulations discourage financial institutions from working with operators of certain industries – particularly industries with heightened cash reporting obligations and restrictions – as a result of which, banks may refuse to process certain payments and/or require onerous reporting obligations by payment processors to avoid compliance risk. These statements are also subject to any damages the Company could suffer as the result of previously announced litigation or actions of any governmental agencies. These and other risk factors affecting the Company are discussed in detail in the Company’s periodic filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether because of the latest information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable laws.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aerospike, Inc. today announced its inclusion in the annual Inc. Regionals: Pacific list. An extension of the national Inc. 5000 list, this prestigious ranking features the fastest-growing private companies in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Aerospike makes it easy to launch in the cloud and choose the right data model for the job—whether document, graph, key-value, or vector search—all within a single, massively scalable real-time database. Developers can build high-performance applications on top of these models while using 80% less infrastructure than legacy or point solutions.
“Our customers lead their industries with some of the most successful, cost-effective real-time application and AI deployments, turning to Aerospike to quickly deploy in the cloud and scale up and out to meet demand,” said Subbu Iyer, CEO, Aerospike.
In 2024, Aerospike closed a $114Minvestment to support company growth and meet market demand. DB-Engines currently ranks Aerospike as the third most popular graph database and fifth most popular vector database in the industry.
The companies on this list show a remarkable growth rate across all industries in the Pacific. Between 2021 and 2023, these companies had a median growth rate of 124 percent. They also added 7,947 jobs and $5.6 billion to the region’s economy.
“The honorees on this year’s Inc. Regionals list are true trailblazers driving economic growth in their respective regions, industries, and beyond. This list celebrates their achievements and tells the stories of remarkable companies that are fueling growth and adding jobs in local economies throughout the country,” said Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc.
About Aerospike
Aerospike is the real-time database built for infinite scale, speed, and savings. Our customers are ready for what’s next with the lowest latency and the highest throughput data platform. Cloud and AI-forward, we empower leading organizations like Adobe, Airtel, Criteo, DBS Bank, Experian, PayPal, Snap, and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, our offices are also located in London, Bangalore, and Tel Aviv.
Aerospike is a registered trademark of Aerospike, Inc.
Contact: John Moran Look Left Marketing aerospike@lookleftmarketing.com
Basel Committee publishes assessment reports on the implementation of its global standards in Türkiye.
Assessments find Turkish regulations compliant with the Basel Committee’s Net Stable Funding Ratio standard and large exposures framework.
These publications form part of the Committee’s Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme.
Türkiye’s implementation of the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) standard and large exposures framework (LEX) were assessed as compliant with the global standards set by the Basel Committee, which is the highest overall grade.
These were the conclusions of assessment reports on the implementation of the NSFR and the LEX in Türkiye, published today by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
The Basel Committee’s assessment reports form part of its Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP), a series of reports on the implementation of Basel standards by member jurisdictions of the Basel Committee.
Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –
The Polytechnic University held the CIT Day (Career in IT) on the topic “AI is changing IT”. The central theme was the transformation of the IT sphere under the influence of artificial intelligence technologies. More than a hundred students, teachers and industry professionals exchanged views on modern trends and prospects of information technology.
Leading experts from Sber, T-Bank, Gazprom Neft, Sovcombank and other companies covered current issues: how artificial intelligence is changing IT professions, what relevant tools have appeared in the arsenal of programmers, how large language models influence the IT landscape. Several reports were devoted to successful cases of companies implementing artificial intelligence technologies in infrastructure and development processes.
“KIT Day has a history of more than ten years,” said the event organizer, Associate Professor of the Higher School of Software Engineering Alexander Shchukin. “This year, we are glad to see representatives of the largest companies with interesting reports and many motivated, interested students at our university, for whom this is primarily an opportunity to obtain the most relevant specialized knowledge about promising technologies, communicate with professionals, meet and receive offers for internships.”
There were so many questions for the speakers that the guys did not let them go even after the event ended. For the best questions, the students received branded gifts.
Everything went great, the audience was very lively, the guys asked a lot of questions. It is not for nothing that we and the Polytechnic University are implementing joint educational programs and training future programmers, – says Mikhail Sukach, Executive Director of Sber’s Block T.
All participants agreed that the reports aroused genuine interest not only among students, but also among IT specialists from various companies. Thus, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University became a platform for exchanging opinions for IT business.
It is especially worth noting that most of the work in preparing the event was carried out by second-year students of the Higher School of Software Engineering.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
OMA SAVINGS BANK PLC, STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 2.4.2025 AT 11:30 A.M. EET, CHANGES IN COMPANY’S OWN SHARES
Change inthe holdingof Oma Savings Bank Plc’s own shares
On 10, March 2025 a total of 372 shares in Oma Savings Bank Plc (OmaSp or Company) have been returned free of consideration to OmaSp according to the terms and conditions of the share-based incentive scheme 2022-2023.
Including the returned shares, OmaSp now holds a total of 137 019 own shares in treasury.
DISTRIBUTION: Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd Major media www.omasp.fi
OmaSp is a solvent and profitable Finnish bank. About 500 professionals provide nationwide services through OmaSp’s 48 branch offices and digital service channels to over 200,000 private and corporate customers. OmaSp focuses primarily on retail banking operations and provides its clients with a broad range of banking services both through its own balance sheet as well as by acting as an intermediary for its partners’ products. The intermediated products include credit, investment and loan insurance products. OmaSp is also engaged in mortgage banking operations.
OmaSp core idea is to provide personal service and to be local and close to its customers, both in digital and traditional channels. OmaSp strives to offer premium level customer experience through personal service and easy accessibility. In addition, the development of the operations and services is customer-oriented. The personnel is committed and OmaSp seeks to support their career development with versatile tasks and continuous development. A substantial part of the personnel also own shares in OmaSp.
Labor has called for an “economically sustainable real wage increase” for almost 3 million workers who depend on the award system for their wages.
In a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review on Wednesday, Labor said a real wage increase above inflation would provide cost-of-living relief for lower-income workers – especially in the early childhood, cleaning and retail sectors.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said he’s not opposed to an increase in minimum wages. Several major business groups have also tentatively endorsed an increase.
But the size of the wage boost is in contention. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry wants an increase to be no higher than headline inflation, saying:
[an] increase in minimum and modern award wages of no more than 2.5% is fair and reasonably responsible in the current economic environment.
The federal government doesn’t set minimum and award wages directly. That job falls to the Fair Work Commission, Australia’s independent national workplace relations tribunal.
Each year, the commission receives submissions for the Annual Wage Review from “interested parties” such as business groups, trade unions and governments.
Governments almost always make submissions, typically informed by economic logic, to the annual review.
Labor’s submission is consistent with that approach. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said businesses would benefit overall, because when low-wage workers receive a wage increase, they typically spend rather than save it.
Could a real wage boost fuel inflation?
Labor’s proposal has already attracted concern.
Some economists have argued it could increase inflation. That could make it harder for the Reserve Bank of Australia to deliver further interest rate cuts.
However, this concern was addressed in the OECD’s 2023 Economic Outlook paper, which argued:
in several sectors and countries, there is room for profits to absorb some further increases in wages to mitigate the loss of purchasing power at least for the low paid without generating significant additional price pressures.
In other words, with inflation falling in Australia and other parts of the world, there is scope for wages to increase without a significant risk this will generate inflationary pressure.
The OECD has also stated that much of the recent high global inflation was generated by the impact of the Ukraine war on rising food and energy prices, rather than wages.
Wage growth without productivity growth
A second concern relates to boosting wages in the context of Australia’s languishing levels of labour productivity – output per worker or per hour worked.
On Tuesday, Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock said without an increase in productivity:
the rate of nominal wages growth that can be sustained and be in line with the inflation target is lower.
However, as Mark Bray and Alison Preston found in their interim report from the review of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws, labour productivity growth has been consistently higher than capital productivity.
According to Bray and Preston:
It is, therefore, difficult to argue that industrial relations systems have a significant, dominant effect on national productivity outcomes.
If anything, a wages boost might be good for productivity. There is evidence to suggest measures to improve the quality of employment – including by increasing wages – can boost productivity.
If workers feel they are paid fairly, they are more likely to be satisfied and work harder, and less likely to leave their employer.
Staff turnover, on the other hand, requires employers to recruit and train new employees, which is time-consuming and resource-intensive, and can sap productivity.
What about inequality?
It’s important we don’t overlook another important factor in the minimum wage debate. Since its 2022 election victory, addressing inequality has been central to the Albanese government’s labour market reforms.
Before 2022, wages growth was persistently weak for several years, despite the lowest unemployment rate in almost five decades.
Low unemployment is generally assumed to stimulate wages growth, but this didn’t eventuate. This worsened workforce shortages, making it hard for employers to attract and retain workers.
This includes addressing gender-based pay inequalities.
Improving job quality – particularly by raising wages – in low-paid sectors is essential to advancing gender equality. The minimum wage and award-reliant segments of the Australian labour market are highly feminised. These include vital frontline roles in the care, cleaning and hospitality sectors.
The latest Workplace Gender Equality Agency scorecard, drawing on ABS Labour Force Survey data, shows wage growth in these sectors over the past two years has contributed significantly to reducing the national gender pay gap to its lowest point on record.
Lifting wages and job quality is not only crucial for attracting and retaining workers in these essential frontline roles. It also supports broader labour force participation, particularly for working parents.
An “economically sustainable” boost to the minimum wage is therefore unlikely to drive up inflation, or adversely impact productivity. However, it will provide cost-of-living relief to Australia’s lowest-paid workers.
Chris F. Wright has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the International Labour Organization, the Australian and NSW governments, and various business and trade union organisations.
Jerusalem – A month-long siege imposed by Israeli authorities in Gaza, Palestine, means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). As Israeli forces continue to bomb the Gaza Strip, depriving people of basic needs, including food, water, and medicines may lead to a high number of health complications and deaths. MSF calls on Israeli authorities to immediately cease the collective punishment of Palestinians, end their inhumane siege of Gaza, and to uphold their responsibilities as an occupying power to facilitate humanitarian aid at scale.
For over a month, no aid or commercial trucks have entered Gaza, marking the longest period since the start of the war without any trucks entering the Strip and on 2 March, Israeli authorities imposed a complete siege of Gaza. On 9 March they cut the electricity, needed to power water desalination plants. This total blockade of aid and electricity has deprived people of most basic services, amounting to collective punishment.
“The Israeli authorities have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” says Myriam Laaroussi, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”
The siege has forced MSF teams to start rationing medications such as pain killers, providing less effective treatment or turning patients away. Teams are also running out of surgical supplies such as anaesthetics, paediatric antibiotics and medicines for chronic conditions like epilepsy, hypertension and diabetes. As a result of rationing, our teams in some clinics conduct wound dressings for injured people without providing them with any pain relief.
In addition, MSF teams are no longer able to donate blood bags to Nasser hospital due to a lack of stock, while the influxes of patients war-wounded by relentless Israeli forces attacks continue.
The lack of soap and clean water for people means in clinics across the Strip, our teams are seeing an increase of people with skin conditions. In February, MSF teams treated 565 cases of skin conditions at the Al-Hekker clinic in Deir Al-Balah and 1,198 cases at the Al-Attar clinic in Khan Younis. Just in two weeks in March, the number of cases at Al-Hekker had already reached 437—nearly 80 per cent of February’s total—while at Al-Attar, 711 cases had been treated, almost 60 per cent of the number seen in February.
A Palestinian child with scabies is receiving medical treatment at MSF Mawasi Rafah clinic, south of Gaza Strip, Palestine, March 2025.Nour Alsaqqa/MSF
The blockade has left MSF teams unable to provide medication to treat skin conditions, just small amounts of lotion to alleviate the pain. Skin conditions like scabies require treatment for the entire family to prevent spread and reinfection, but without medications and clean water this is impossible.
For people with non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, the consequences of the lack of treatment may lead to severe complications, such as permanent disabilities and in some cases even death. Since the blockade, we have only been able to give patients medication to cover their needs for seven to 10 days.
“I don’t have any blood pressure medication left. My son searched for two days and couldn’t find any,” explains Sobheya Al-Beshiti, a patient of the MSF clinic in Al-Attar, Khan Younis. “What can I do? Stay without treatment? If I don’t take my blood thinner, my nose starts bleeding, and I start coughing blood.”
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid, patients in MSF clinics are reporting weight loss and lack of access to proper food.
“Right now, my blood levels are low, and my weight is also low. There aren’t enough food supplies to help me gain weight or increase my blood levels,” explains a pregnant mother in an MSF clinic in Mawasi, Khan Younis. “The rising prices are a huge problem in the city: people simply cannot afford to buy necessities because of how expensive everything is.”
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New research highlights structural flaws in sustainability-linked bonds that weaken their ability to promote meaningful environmental and social outcomes.
Sustainability-linked bonds are gaining attention as a way to encourage companies to meet environmental goals. This matters because private sector participation is crucial to achieving meaningful progress on sustainability challenges.
Sustainability-linked bonds contain financial incentives which encourage issuers to fulfill pre-specified targets.
Linking financial performance to sustainability outcomes enables the bonds to enhance issuer accountability and mitigate concerns about greenwashing. Most sustainability-linked bonds include a built-in financial penalty: if the issuer doesn’t meet certain environmental or social goals by a set date, they have to pay higher interest on the bond.
But such financial incentives work only if they are sizable enough to influence the behavior of bond issuers. Unfortunately, evidence indicates that this is not always the case. The average penalty adds less than 12% to the interest rate.
Our research found that late penalties and the option for issuers to repay bonds early may weaken the impact of sustainability-linked bonds.
The sustainability target dates of many bonds are set close to the end of the bond’s maturity. This means that only a few remaining payments are subject to the financial penalties for noncompliance. Compared to target dates that are farther away from maturity, this reduces the financial consequences of failing to meet sustainability targets.
Private sector participation is crucial to achieving meaningful progress on sustainability challenges.
The problem is compounded by the fact that bonds with higher step-up penalties tend to have later target dates. To improve accountability, sustainability-linked bonds should incorporate multiple interim targets throughout the bond’s life so that financial incentives remain in place throughout.
Many of the bonds also contain call options that allow issuers to minimize or even avoid penalties altogether. Call options allow the issuer to redeem their bonds before sustainability target dates, which can effectively nullify the penalties for failing to meet the targets.
Sustainability-linked bonds are five times more likely to be callable than conventional corporate bonds. According to our research, 64.9% of sustainability-linked bonds are callable—meaning issuers can redeem them before maturity—compared to corporate green bonds (23.0%) and corporate non-green bonds (12.0%).
This suggests that issuers of sustainability-linked bonds may be more likely to retain the option of early repayment, which could potentially reduce the effectiveness of these bonds in promoting long-term sustainability commitments.
Moreover, most callable sustainability-linked bonds impose no financial penalty for early redemption even if sustainability targets are unmet, further undermining their credibility. Applying sizable penalties if bonds are called early can thus significantly strengthen the financial incentives embedded in the bonds.
Setting more timely sustainability target dates and imposing larger penalties for early redemption would significantly strengthen the bonds as credible and effective financial instruments for promoting sustainable outcomes.
Further, financial regulators should mandate the disclosure of sustainability-linked bonds structural features while external reviewers expand their scope to the financial incentives and sustainability targets. Strengthening the bonds in this manner will strengthen their intended role of mobilizing capital for sustainable impacts.
As billions of dollars flow into sustainable investments, investors, regulators, and the public must demand that these tools do more than sound good on paper—they must drive real, measurable progress.
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to corporations, decreased in February 2025. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months decreased by 27 basis points to 3.92%. The rate on new loans of the same size with an initial rate fixation period of over three months and up to one year fell by 11 basis points to 3.77%. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years decreased by 16 basis points to 3.44%. In the case of new loans of up to €250,000 with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months, the average rate charged stayed almost constant at 4.37%. As regards new deposit agreements, the interest rate on deposits from corporations with an agreed maturity of up to one year fell by 17 basis points to 2.50% in February 2025. The interest rate on overnight deposits from corporations fell by 4 basis points to 0.72%. The interest rate on new loans to sole proprietors and unincorporated partnerships with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year remained broadly unchanged at 4.55%.
Table 1
Bank interest rates for corporations
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation * For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to households for house purchase, increased in February 2025. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 6 basis points to 4.00%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over one and up to five years rose by 4 basis points to 3.53%. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with an initial rate fixation period of over five and up to ten years increased by 49 basis points to 3.37%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years rose by 12 basis points to 3.09%, driven by both the interest rate and the weight effects. In the same period the interest rate on new loans to households for consumption decreased by 7 basis points to 7.58%. As regards new deposits from households, the interest rate on deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year decreased by 14 basis points to 2.19%. The rate on deposits redeemable at three months’ notice fell by 19 basis points to 1.53%. The interest rate on overnight deposits from households remained broadly unchanged at 0.32%.
Table 2
Bank interest rates for households
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation * For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories; deposits placed by households and corporations are allocated to the household sector. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics. ** For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
The data in Tables 1 and 2 can be visualised for individual euro area countries on the bank interest rate statistics dashboard. Additionally, tables containing further breakdowns of bank interest rate statistics, including the composite cost-of-borrowing indicators for all euro area countries, are available from the ECB Data Portal. The full set of bank interest rate statistics for both the euro area and individual countries can be downloaded from ECB Data Portal. More information, including the release calendar, is available under “Bank interest rates” in the statistics section of the ECB’s website.
For media queries, please contactNicos Keranis, tel.: +49 69 1344 7806
Notes:
In this press release “corporations” refers to non-financial corporations (sector S.11 in the European System of Accounts 2010, or ESA 2010), “households” refers to households and non-profit institutions serving households (ESA 2010 sectors S.14 and S.15) and “banks” refers to monetary financial institutions except central banks and money market funds (ESA 2010 sector S.122).
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicators are described in the article entitled “Assessing the retail bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area at times of financial fragmentation” in the August 2013 issue of the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin (see Box 1). For these indicators, a weighting scheme based on the 24-month moving averages of new business volumes has been applied, in order to filter out excessive monthly volatility. For this reason the developments in the composite cost of borrowing indicators in both tables cannot be explained by the month-on-month changes in the displayed subcomponents. Furthermore, the table on bank interest rates for corporations presents a subset of the series used in the calculation of the cost of borrowing indicator.
Interest rates on new business are weighted by the size of the individual agreements. This is done both by the reporting agents and when the national and euro area averages are computed. Thus changes in average euro area interest rates for new business reflect, in addition to changes in interest rates, changes in the weights of individual countries’ new business for the instrument categories concerned. The “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” presented in this press release are derived from the Bennet index, which allows month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates resulting from changes in individual country rates (the “interest rate effect”) to be disentangled from those caused by changes in the weights of individual countries’ contributions (the “weight effect”). Owing to rounding, the combined “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” may not add up to the month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates.
In addition to monthly euro area bank interest rate statistics for February 2025, this press release incorporates revisions to data for previous periods. Hyperlinks in the main body of the press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Unless otherwise indicated, these euro area statistics cover the EU Member States that had adopted the euro at the time to which the data relate.
As of reference period December 2014, the sector classification applied to bank interest rates statistics is based on the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In accordance with the ESA 2010 classification and as opposed to ESA 95, the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) now excludes holding companies not engaged in management and similar captive financial institutions.
Medtronic’s latest recall of the embolization devices Pipeline Vantage 027 and 021 are likely to result in revenue losses in the flow diverting stents market. While the market is projected to grow steadily, the recall may prompt healthcare providers to consider alternative devices, creating opportunities for competitors like Stryker and Terumo in the short-term, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData forecasts the flow diverting stents market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3% from $746.9 million in 2024 to $1.03 billion in 2034.
The recall comes after as many as four deaths and 17 injuries were linked to Medtronic’s devices due to tubes unable to properly attach to blood vessel walls throughout procedures resulting in risks to the patient for stroke, thrombosis and death.
Aidan Robertson, Medical Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “This costly string of incidents can be expected to cause some hesitancy towards using Medtronic’s flow diverting stents soon. Healthcare providers may look to more reliable devices when performing delicate procedures such as treating aneurysms in the case of this device.”
In the larger neurovascular embolization device market, Medtronic is a major player making up the largest portion of about 31.8% of the global market with competitors such as Stryker and Terumo takin up 25.3% and 17.4% of the market, respectively.
However, looking specifically at the flow diversion stents section of neurovascular embolization devices, Medtronic dominates this space taking up approximately 55.9% of the market with Stryker and Terumo covering 18.5% and 18.9%, respectively.
Due to the severity of this recall, there is a significant opportunity to make gains in the flow diversion stents market for Terumo and Stryker. However, it is unlikely to translate into major changes in market position in the overarching neurovascular embolization market.
The global neurovascular embolization market is expected to continue to increase as the healthcare system transitions from surgical treatments of arteriovenous malformations (AVM) to less invasive endovascular procedures which have shown better patient outcomes. Additionally, growth in this area is anticipated to be boosted by the increased incidence rate of AVMs due to population trends as well as advancements in diagnostic technologies.
Robertson concludes: “Medtronic has incurred a substantial complication in flow diversion stents that could result in notable losses. Although this presents a setback for flow diversion stents, it is unlikely to have a meaningful effect on their position in the overall neurovascular embolization market, which is expected to display significant growth over the next decade.”
Municipality Finance Plc Stock exchange release 2 April 2025 at 10:00 am (EEST)
Municipality Finance issues SEK 1 billion tap under its MTN programme
On 3 April 2025 Municipality Finance Plc issues a new tranche in an amount of SEK 1 billion to an existing series of notes issued on 21 February 2025. With the new tranche, the aggregate nominal amount of the notes is SEK 2.5 billion. The maturity date of the benchmark is 21 February 2028. The notes bear interest at a floating rate equal to 3-month Stibor plus 150 bps per annum.
The notes are issued under MuniFin’s EUR 50 billion programme for the issuance of debt instruments. The offering circular, the supplemental offering circular and the final terms of the notes are available in English on the company’s website at https://www.kuntarahoitus.fi/en/for-investors.
MuniFin has applied for the notes to be admitted to trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange maintained by Nasdaq Helsinki. The public trading is expected to commence on 3 April 2025. The existing notes in the series are admitted to trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Danske Bank A/S act as the Dealer for the issue of the notes.
MUNICIPALITY FINANCE PLC
Further information:
Joakim Holmström Executive Vice President, Capital Markets and Sustainability tel. +358 50 444 3638
MuniFin (Municipality Finance Plc) is one of Finland’s largest credit institutions. The owners of the company include Finnish municipalities, the public sector pension fund Keva and the State of Finland. The Group’s balance sheet is over EUR 53 billion.
MuniFin’s customers include municipalities, joint municipal authorities, wellbeing services counties, joint county authorities, corporate entities under the control of the above-mentioned organisations, and affordable social housing. Lending is used for environmentally and socially responsible investment targets such as public transportation, sustainable buildings, hospitals and healthcare centres, schools and day care centres, and homes for people with special needs.
MuniFin’s customers are domestic, but the company operates in a completely global business environment. The company is an active Finnish bond issuer in international capital markets and the first Finnish green and social bond issuer. The funding is exclusively guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board.
The information contained herein is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into any such country or jurisdiction or otherwise in such circumstances in which the release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, any securities or other financial instruments in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
This communication does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The notes have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) or under the applicable securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Major State-owned commercial banks are aiming to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of services provided to private enterprises to firmly help the private sector address challenges such as financing difficulties and high costs, according to their 2024 annual results announcements.
“Bank of China plans to provide over $5 billion for intended financing of private enterprises in 2025, pledging enhanced financial assistance for their deep engagement in the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Zhang Hui, president of BOC.
“BOC will strengthen cross-border financing, international settlements and overseas investment services to facilitate private companies’ global expansion. It is committed to reducing financing costs for private businesses, offering tailored global cash management solutions to help enterprises reduce risks and improve capital utilization efficiency,” Zhang said.
Agricultural Bank of China aims to ramp up credit support for private enterprises, with loans to the sector projected to exceed 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.03 trillion) by the end of 2025. ABC will provide fast, convenient and suitable financing solutions for private businesses, providing tailored services such as allocating dedicated credit resources, said Liu Hong, vice-president of ABC.
“The bank aims to enhance its capabilities in serving the private sector by innovating financial product and service models, cultivating professional talent teams and exploring new risk management approaches. These efforts are designed to promote the sustainable and high-quality development of private enterprises,” Liu said.
“Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plans to provide no less than 6 trillion yuan in investment and financing support for private enterprises over the next three years, pledging robust assistance to help private enterprises strengthen industrial capabilities,” said Zhang Shouchuan, vice-president of ICBC.
Zhang Shouchuan said that ICBC will further improve service mechanisms, leveraging financial tools to drive high-quality development of private enterprises.
China Construction Bank will implement its 2025 action plan to support the high-quality development of the private sector economy, pledging to deliver more resource guarantees, provide more targeted customer services, build better optimized long-term mechanisms and explore deeper multiparty collaboration, said Zhang Yi, president of CCB.
These plans laid out in the lenders’ 2024 annual results announcement conference showed that major State-owned commercial banks are capitalizing on their strengths while responding to national policies to deliver high-quality financial services for the development of private enterprises, said Lou Feipeng, a researcher at Postal Savings Bank of China.
“These measures effectively address financing difficulties and high costs faced by private businesses, streamline loan accessibility and amplify the positive role of private enterprises in driving China’s economic development,” Lou said.
By expanding credit supply to private enterprises and reducing financing costs, banks have adopted highly targeted measures to alleviate the financing difficulties and high costs faced by micro, small and medium-sized private sector firms, he added.
Looking ahead, Lou said that banks need to intensify market research tailored to private enterprises of diverse scales and industries, focusing on targeted financing difficulties, to enhance the precision of financial services and elevate efficacy in serving the private sector.
