NewzIntel.com

Category: Banking

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Smart Agriculture Under Climate Change

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    Climate change remains at the forefront of global discourse and policymaking, driving an unprecedented push for impactful climate action. Yet, despite its prominence in the collective consciousness, deep divisions persist over what constitutes effective policy. Now more than ever, understanding the complexities of global policy, financing, and their impact—particularly on agriculture—is crucial.

    This book lays the foundation for a holistic understanding of the linkages between climate change and agriculture, exploring the historical drivers of environmental challenges and the evolving interconnections between global economies. It examines how sectoral interdependencies have shifted over time and what this means for designing effective climate policies and shaping the future of climate finance.

    As a comprehensive guide to the what, how, and why of climate change and agriculture development, this book brings together key aspects of policy, practice, and finance. It identifies critical gaps in climate action within the context of agricultural growth and offers strategies to bridge them—equipping stakeholders at all levels with the insights needed to drive sustainable and impactful change.
     

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: Peoples Bancorp Announces Cash Dividend

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEWTON, N.C., Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Board of Directors of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc., Newton, NC (Nasdaq: PEBK) declared the Company’s regular cash dividend for the first quarter of 2025 in the amount of $0.20 per share. The first quarter cash dividend will be paid on March 14, 2025 to shareholders of record on March 3, 2025.

    Shareholders are encouraged to enroll in the Company’s Dividend Reinvestment and Stock Purchase Plan. For details, contact Krissy Price at (828) 464-5620 or (800) 948-7195 or you may email any questions to our transfer agent, Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc. at shareholder@broadridge.com.

    Peoples Bank, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. operates 16 banking offices entirely in North Carolina, with offices in Catawba, Alexander, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Wake Counties. The Bank also operates loan production offices in Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, and Forsyth Counties. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded and is quoted on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “PEBK.”

    Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those described in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc.’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, under “General Description of Business” and otherwise in the Company’s reports and filings.

    Contact:  William D. Cable, Sr.
      President and Chief Executive Officer
       
      Jeffrey N. Hooper
      Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
       
      Phone 828-464-5620

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Jefferson, Reading between the Lines? Textual Analysis of Central Bank Communications

    Source: US State of New York Federal Reserve

    Thank you, President Daly, for organizing this conference and for the opportunity to talk to this group.1 I have paid close attention to the papers presented at this annual conference in the past, and I look forward to today’s presentations and discussion.

    Today, I will talk about central bank communications and the use of textual analysis tools. These tools help process qualitative information that may be hard to capture in numerical forecasts. Also, they can improve our understanding of economic concepts that are otherwise difficult to measure. This topic has been covered at this conference in the past. Last year, for example, there was a paper on the program that highlighted the importance of considering the impact that speeches by the Chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed) have on asset prices when evaluating the transmission of monetary policy to the rest of the economy.2 This paper also shows that speeches by the Vice Chair are less important than those by the Chair. So this might be a good time to catch up on your text messages! (Just kidding!)
    My talk is organized as follows. First, I will briefly discuss central bank communication and its effect on asset prices. Next, I will discuss how recent advances in automated textual analysis may be having an impact on how the information in central bank communication is incorporated into asset prices. Then I will review how researchers and market participants use textual analysis techniques, among other techniques, to gauge who is listening to central bank communication and to understand how monetary policy is transmitted to the economy. Before concluding, I will broaden my coverage and discuss how textual analysis tools can be used to estimate difficult-to-measure concepts in economics such as uncertainty and supply chain disruptions.
    These new textual analysis techniques are important to me as a policymaker because I want to understand how our communications are being heard, interpreted, understood, and acted upon.
    Central Bank Communication and its Effect on Financial MarketsFormer Fed Chair Ben Bernanke often highlighted the importance of central bank communication, saying that “monetary policy is 98 percent talk and 2 percent action.”3 Obviously, the “98 percent” is hyperbole; it is not meant to be taken as an exact measure of how much of the transmission of monetary policy is due to central bank communication. Even so, research and my own experience confirm that central bank communication is key for the transmission of monetary policy. In remarks I delivered almost two years ago, I discussed how monetary policy is transmitted to the rest of the economy through financial market prices.4 Changes in the federal funds target range are transmitted to overnight money market rates and other short-term interest rates through arbitrage relationships. The configuration of short-term interest rates, central bank communication about the likely future path of short-term interest rates, and the associated economic outlook, in turn, affect long-term interest rates through investors’ expectations.5 Higher long-term interest rates increase the cost of borrowing for households and businesses, thereby affecting households’ and businesses’ spending, savings, and investment decisions.
    Evolution of Fed CommunicationsPolicymakers’ approach to communication has evolved over time. In the past, policymakers were not focused on clarity and transparency in their communications as they are today. For example, former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan famously quipped in 1987, “If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.”6 In the 1990s, however, he started to embrace transparency. Figure 1 shows a timeline of the steps taken toward increasing transparency at the Fed since the 1990s. In 1993, the Fed started to publish Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes in their current form, and, soon after, it began releasing FOMC meeting transcripts with a five-year lag. In February 1994, the FOMC started to issue post-FOMC meeting statements following meetings at which there was a change in the intended policy stance. Later, it regularly incorporated the target federal funds rate into these statements. In May 1999, the FOMC started to publish statements after every meeting, even on occasions when there was no change in policy. In 2004, the FOMC accelerated the release of the minutes to three weeks after the meeting as opposed to after the subsequent FOMC meeting. During the tenure of former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, the Fed’s transparency increased significantly. In November 2007, the FOMC began releasing the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). In 2011, Chair Bernanke started holding press conferences after every other FOMC meeting. In 2012, under his leadership, the FOMC adopted an explicit inflation target of 2 percent in its new Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy. Also, it started publishing anonymized individual FOMC participants’ views on the appropriate future path of the federal funds rate, now famously known as the “dot plot.” In 2019, Chair Powell continued this march toward transparency and started holding press conferences after every FOMC meeting.
    Of course, Chair Powell and other policymakers testify regularly before Congress, as required by law. Also, FOMC participants give public speeches and transparently discuss their views on monetary policy and associated issues, as evidenced by my speech here today.
    Previously, I have spoken about two primary reasons for the increase in transparency.7 First, transparency allows for greater accountability to the public. Second, there is a growing appreciation in the economics profession that clarity about policy actions helps the transmission of monetary policy to the rest of the economy by, for example, making asset prices more informationally efficient. Relatedly, by conveying aspects of the Fed’s reaction function, communications can help inform investors’ views about the likely future path of monetary policy in a way that helps achieve the Fed’s monetary policy objectives.
    Using Textual Analysis to Quantify Central Bank CommunicationCentral bank communication is clearly important in shaping the path of interest rates, so it is not surprising that investors and researchers use textual analysis techniques, including artificial intelligence, to quantify in an automated way information conveyed through FOMC statements and other communications, such as speeches by Governors and Fed Bank presidents.8 Researchers have tested the hypothesis that clarity about policy actions would help the transmission of monetary policy to the rest of the economy. Using textual analysis, high-frequency asset price data, and high-frequency central bank communication data, this research shows that investors’ reactions to specific sentences communicated by the central bank are quickly incorporated into asset prices.9 In addition, economists have used textual analysis to understand how media reporting of central bank communication affects short-term interest rates.10 For example, some have used a bag-of-words technique to estimate media sentiment during FOMC announcement days.11 By design, a high media sentiment is meant to capture times when journalists report that the FOMC is more likely to tighten monetary policy in the near future. Figure 2 shows that the correlation between media sentiment and six-month U.S. Treasury yield changes is positive and relatively high (40 percent), which suggests that media reporting of central bank communication plays an important role in the transmission of monetary policy.
    Policymakers know that their communications are likely to affect the course of short-term interest rates, other asset prices, and the associated economic outlook, resulting in an easing or tightening of financial conditions. Therefore, policymakers have always paid close attention to what they say, well before market participants started applying artificial intelligence tools to central bank communications.
    In general, researchers argue that automated textual analysis and automated trading have increased the speed with which information is incorporated into asset prices. That suggests that asset prices have become more informationally efficient, sometimes in a matter of seconds or even milliseconds instead of minutes after information is released.12 Thus, increased transparency and advances in technology have potentially made asset prices more informationally efficient, which, in turn, helps with the transmission of monetary policy. Yet others argue that automated algorithms may be more prone to mistakes than humans, may provide an incentive for investors to value speed over accuracy, and may reduce the long-run informativeness of asset prices, which could hurt the transmission of monetary policy.13
    I look forward to the findings of future research as we develop a deeper understanding of this issue. For now, I do not think artificial intelligence is changing the way policymakers communicate, but research shows that it has affected how quickly information about policy is incorporated into asset prices.
    Central Bank Communication: Is Anyone Listening?Next, I will discuss whether research using textual analysis is helping policymakers to understand better who is listening to central bank communication. In 2018, former Fed Vice Chair Alan Blinder predicted that “central banks will keep trying to communicate with the general public, as they should. But for the most part, they will fail.”14 He explained further that “many economic models presume that central bank communication is aimed at wage-setters, price-setters, consumers, or investors—maybe all of them. But are they listening?” His answer was no, they are not listening to central bank communications, and he cited economic research using survey data to support his answer.15
    More recently, however, research shows that nonexperts and households are listening to central bank communications. Some of this research uses textual analysis, and some uses randomized control trials. Researchers have used textual analysis to process automatically and quantify more than 3.2 million posts on social media by experts and nonexperts. This research shows that journalists and professional forecasters who comment often on central bank policies, as well as nonexperts who do not comment regularly on central bank policies do listen to central bank communications.16
    Central Bank Communication and Monetary Policy TransmissionFurther, research shows that direct central bank communication and the media’s reporting of central bank communication are highly correlated. Yet when they do not align, the media’s reporting tends to have a larger effect on asset prices and professional forecasters’ views about the future than the central bank’s direct communication.17 In addition, a randomized control trial with nearly 20,000 U.S. individuals shows that central bank communication affects households’ inflation expectations, which, in turn, affects their behavior as measured by scanner-collected data.18 This research shows that while central bank communication tends to affect household expectations and spending behavior, the way households receive information matters. In particular, households appear to react more to information conveyed by social media, friends, and family than to information conveyed by traditional media. All told, this research suggests that central bank efforts to communicate with the general public are having some success, but there is still room for improvement.
    Measuring Economic Concepts Using Textual AnalysisTextual analysis is not only helping researchers understand who is listening to central bank communication. Generally, it is helping them to measure qualitative information that is hard to capture with numerical forecasts and estimate difficult-to-measure economic concepts such as uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, and financial conditions.19 As I mentioned in a previous speech, uncertainty is not directly observable in the same way that inflation and economic output are.20 Notwithstanding the difficulty in measuring uncertainty, researchers have developed tools to assess it. In fact, in the past two decades, there has been tremendous growth in research devoted to the subject, especially on text-based measures of uncertainty. For example, researchers created an economic policy uncertainty index, shown in figure 3, based on the number of leading newspaper articles that contain a combination of words related to economic policy uncertainty.21 As shown in the figure, economic uncertainty in the U.S. reached an all-time high at the onset of the pandemic, came down slightly after the pandemic, and has recently increased as the potential economic implications of new government policies are discussed in newspaper articles. Research also shows that newspaper text-based measures are highly correlated with stock price volatility, and that higher values of these measures are associated with lower investment and employment. A corollary to that insight is that policymakers should communicate as clearly as possible to avoid increasing uncertainty.
    Recent research has also discovered that narrative sentiment conveys information that may be hard to capture in numerical forecasts. For example, it was shown that the tone of text accompanying a set of economic forecasts produced by the Fed’s staff, predicts forecast errors of the Fed’s staff as well as Blue Chip participants.22 The predictive power of sentiment seems to be arising from signaling the downside risks to economic performance for output, employment, and stock returns. These findings suggest that the tone of the narrative captures information that is not necessarily provided by corresponding forecasts. Not surprisingly, given this information, the tonality has predictive power for stock prices as well as monetary policy surprises.
    Another example of how textual analysis is helping researchers estimate difficult-to-measure concepts is new measures of firms’ demand and supply shocks. Traditionally, academic researchers use sign restrictions in price and quantity measures to identify and differentiate demand shocks from supply shocks. An increase in price and quantity is considered a demand shock; an increase in price accompanied by a decline in quantity is considered a supply shock. These so-called sign restrictions are useful tools; however, it is possible that an increase in price and quantity can be due to a surge in demand in the face of supply chain disruptions. Other popular measures of supply chain disruptions are supplier delivery times and order backlogs provided by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). These measures, however, only estimate firm activity relative to the previous month and can lack important context for understanding short-term dynamics that can otherwise be captured in qualitative, text-based measures. Thus, it can be useful to complement sign restriction methods, supplier delivery times, and order backlogs with textual analysis techniques that quantify firms’ narratives in earnings calls and the Beige Book to identify better demand and supply shocks.23 For example, figure 4 shows the Supply Chain Bottleneck Sentiment Index, the solid black line, estimated by a Board economist using textual analysis techniques to quantify the information conveyed in the Fed’s Beige Book publications, along with the ISM Supplier Delivery Index, the dashed red line.24 For illustration purposes, both indexes are normalized to have a zero mean and a standard deviation equal to one, with large positive numbers indicating that supply chains are stressed. Both indexes surged in the 1970s after the oil price increase and ensuing energy crisis. Supply chain disruptions reappeared in the 2000s with chip shortages, and, most recently, bottlenecks arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure illustrates how the text-based measure signals a more prolonged period of supply chain disruptions during the pandemic. Comparing both measures, we see that the monthly changes in delivery times improved at a fast pace, as shown in the ISM index, but narratives of the post-pandemic recovery, as captured in the Beige Book, were signaling elevated levels of supply chain disruptions that eased more slowly.
    ConclusionThe idea of using qualitative information on media, government records, central bank, or management communication in economic research to understand better the transmission of monetary policy is not new.25 What is novel is that, in the past two decades, there have been advances in textual analysis techniques and incredible growth of data that are easily available to researchers and investors, in terms of both volume and variety. The advances in textual analysis techniques and the growth in alternative data have, in turn, helped researchers to better estimate difficult-to-measure economic concepts, to more easily identify who listens to central bank communications, and to investigate how quickly central bank communication is incorporated into asset prices, among other things. Also, we have greater access to high-frequency data, such as millisecond timestamp financial transactions, and “alternative data,” which includes textual information from social media posts. As I mentioned earlier, these new textual analysis techniques are important to policymakers because we seek to understand how our communications are being heard, interpreted, understood, and acted upon.
    While I am grateful that textual analysis techniques and data access have improved over the years, I will end on a cautionary note. Automatic textual analysis should not be regarded as superseding other analysis of the historical record on monetary policy. A wealth of data and techniques to analyze text does not necessarily translate into greater insight. Therefore, it is important that policymakers, researchers, and investors continue to be diligent in using the right tools and the right data to make the best possible inferences.26
    Thank you!
    ReferencesAdams, Travis, Andrea Ajello, Diego Silva, and Francisco Vazquez-Grande (2023). “More than Words: Twitter Chatter and Financial Market Sentiment,” Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-034. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May.
    Appelbaum, Binyamin (2012). “A Fed Focused on the Value of Clarity,” New York Times, December 13.
    Baker, Scott R., Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J. Davis (2016). “Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 131 (November), pp. 1593–636.
    Bernanke, Ben S. (2015). “Inaugurating a New Blog,” Ben Bernanke’s Blog, March 30.
    ——— (2022). “Ben Bernanke: The Fed from the Great Inflation to COVID-19 (PDF),” webinar, Brookings Institution, Washington, May 23.
    Bernanke, Ben S., and Kenneth N. Kuttner (2005). “What Explains the Stock Market’s Reaction to Federal Reserve Policy?” Journal of Finance, vol. 60 (June), pp. 1221–57.
    Blinder, Alan S. (2018). “Through a Crystal Ball Darkly: The Future of Monetary Policy Communication,” AEA Papers and Proceedings, vol. 108 (May), pp. 567–71.
    Chaboud, Alain P., Benjamin Chiquoine, Erik Hjalmarsson, and Clara Vega (2014). “Rise of the Machines: Algorithmic Trading in the Foreign Exchange Market,” Journal of Finance, vol. 69 (October), pp. 2045–84.
    Cieslak, Anna, and Michael McMahon (2023). “Tough Talk: The Fed and Risk Premium,” working paper, April (revised June 2024).
    Coibion, Olivier, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Michael Weber (2022). “Monetary Policy Communications and Their Effects on Household Inflation Expectations,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 130 (June), pp. 1537–84.
    Dessaint, Olivier, Thierry Foucault, and Laurent Fresard (2024). “Does Alternative Data Improve Financial Forecasting? The Horizon Effect,” Journal of Finance, vol. 79 (June), pp. 2237–87.
    Dugast, Jerome, and Thierry Foucault (2017). “Data Abundance and Asset Price Informativeness,” Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 130 (November), pp. 367–91.
    Gertler, Mark, and Peter Karadi (2015). “Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs, and Economic Activity,” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, vol. 7 (January), pp. 44–76.
    Ehrmann, Michael, and Alena Wabitsch (2022). “Central Bank Communication with Non-experts – A Road to Nowhere?” Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 127 (April), pp. 69–85.
    Gardner, Ben, Chiara Scotti, and Clara Vega (2022). “Words Speak as Loudly as Actions: Central Bank Communication and the Response of Equity Prices to Macroeconomic Announcements,” Journal of Econometrics, vol. 231 (December), pp. 387–409.
    Gómez-Cram, Roberto, and Marco Grotteria (2022). “Real-Time Price Discovery via Verbal Communication: Method and Application to Fedspeak,” Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 143 (March), pp. 993–1025.
    Hanson, Samuel G., and Jeremy C. Stein (2015). “Monetary Policy and Long-Term Real Rates,” Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 115 (March), pp. 429–48.
    Jefferson, Philip N. (2023a). “Implementation and Transmission of Monetary Policy,” speech delivered at the H. Parker Willis Lecture, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., March 27.
    ——— (2023b). “Communicating about Monetary Policy,” speech delivered at “Central Bank Communications: Theory and Practice,” a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, May 13.
    ——— (2023c). “Elevated Economic Uncertainty: Causes and Consequences,” speech delivered at “Global Risk, Uncertainty, and Volatility,” a research conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Swiss National Bank, and the Bank for International Settlements, Zurich, Switzerland, November 14.
    Kumar, Saten, Hassan Afrouzi, Olivier Coibion, and Yuriy Gorodnichenko (2015). “Inflation Targeting Does Not Anchor Inflation Expectations: Evidence from Firms in New Zealand (PDF),” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall, pp. 151–208.
    O’Hara, Maureen (2015). “High Frequency Market Microstructure,” Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 116 (May), pp. 257–70.
    Piazzesi, Monika, and Martin Schneider (2006). “Equilibrium Yield Curves,” NBER Working Paper Series 12609. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, October (revised January 2007).
    Romer, Christina D., and David H. Romer (1989). “Does Monetary Policy Matter? A New Test in the Spirit of Friedman and Schwartz,” NBER Macroeconomics Annual, vol. 4, pp.121–70.
    ——— (2023). “Presidential Address: Does Monetary Policy Matter? The Narrative Approach after 35 Years.” American Economic Review, vol. 113 (June), pp. 1395-423.
    ——— (2024). “Lessons from History for Successful Disinflation,” Journal of Monetary Economics, vol.148, Supplement (November), 103654.
    Schmanski, Bennett, Chiara Scotti, Clara Vega, and Hedi Benamar (2023). “Fed Communication, News, Twitter, and Echo Chambers,” Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-36. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May.
    Sharpe, Steven A., Nitish R. Sinha, and Christopher A. Hollrah (2023). “The Power of Narrative Sentiment in Economic Forecasts,” International Journal of Forecasting, vol. 39 (July–September), pp. 1097–121.
    Soto, Paul (2023). “Measurement and Effects of Supply Chain Bottlenecks Using Natural Language Processing,” FEDS Notes. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 6 (revised January 16, 2025).
    Swanson, Eric T., and Vishuddhi Jayawickrema (2024). “Speeches by the Fed Chair Are More Important Than FOMC Announcements: An Improved High-Frequency Measure of U.S. Monetary Policy Shocks,” working paper, University of California, Irvine.
    von Beschwitz, Bastian, Donald B. Keim, and Massimo Massa (2020). “First to ‘Read’ the News: News Analytics and Algorithmic Trading,” Review of Asset Pricing Studies, vol. 10 (February), pp. 122–78.
    Young, Henry L., Anderson Monken, Flora Haberkorn, and Eva Van Leemput (2021). “Effects of Supply Chain Bottlenecks on Prices using Textual Analysis,” FEDS Notes. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 3.

    1. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Federal Reserve Board or the Federal Open Market Committee. Return to text
    2. See Swanson and Jayawickrema (2024). Return to text
    3. See Bernanke (2015, 2022). Return to text
    4. See Jefferson (2023a). Arbitrage is the economic force that keeps prices of financial instruments with similar payoffs, such as the federal funds rate and repo rates, close to each other. Return to text
    5. More specifically, according to the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates, intermediate- and long-term interest rates are importantly affected by the weighted average of expected future short-term interest rates. In addition, monetary policy affects risk premiums (see, for example, Bernanke and Kuttner, 2005; Hanson and Stein, 2015; and Gertler and Karadi, 2015) and term premiums (if monetary policy tightens in response to inflationary shocks, term premiums also tend to rise as longer-maturity bonds become riskier; see, for example, Piazzesi and Schneider, 2006). Return to text
    6. See Appelbaum (2012). Return to text
    7. See Jefferson (2023b). Return to text
    8. See, for example, Cieslak and McMahon (2023); Gardner, Scotti, and Vega (2022); Gómez-Cram and Grotteria (2022); and Sharpe, Sinha and Hollrah (2023). Return to text
    9. See, for example, Gómez-Cram and Grotteria (2022), who use textual analysis, high-frequency asset price data, and high-frequency central bank communication data to understand investors’ reactions to specific sentences communicated by the FOMC. Return to text
    10. See Schmanski and others (2023). Return to text
    11. A bag-of-words technique is a natural language processing technique that uses a collection (or “bag”) of words and a scoring system to quantify qualitative textual information. Schmanski and others (2023) use this technique to pair a set of topic keywords with modifiers and determine whether the combination of topic-modifier communicates tightening, neutral, or easing news. By construction, the sentiment is high when the media thinks the FOMC is more likely to tighten monetary policy in the near future. Return to text
    12. See Chaboud and others (2014) for evidence that automated trading has increased the informational efficiency of foreign exchange markets by reducing the frequency of triangular arbitrage opportunities and the autocorrelation of high-frequency returns. See von Beschwitz and others (2020) for evidence that automated textual analysis speeds up the stock price response to news. Return to text
    13. See, for example, von Beschwitz, Keim, and Massa (2020); Dugast and Foucault (2017); and O’Hara (2015). Return to text
    14. See Blinder (2018, p. 569). Return to text
    15. See Kumar and others (2015). Return to text
    16. Ehrmann and Wabitsch (2022) document that the number of expert and nonexpert comments posted on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) that discuss central bank communication increases after European Central Bank (ECB) press conferences and other ECB communications, such as speeches by the ECB president. The authors also document that the content of the discussion tends to be objective (factual) rather than subjective, according to the authors’ dictionary base subjectivity measure. Return to text
    17. See Schmanski and others (2023). Return to text
    18. See Coibion, Gorodnichenko, and Weber (2022). Return to text
    19. See, for example, Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2016) for textual analysis measures of economic policy, Soto (2023) and Young and others (2021) for textual analysis measures of supply chain disruptions, and Adams and others (2023) for a textual analysis measure of financial conditions. Return to text
    20. See Jefferson (2023c). Return to text
    21. See Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2016). Return to text
    22. See Sharpe, Sinha, and Hollrah (2023). Return to text
    23. See Young and others (2021) and Soto (2023). Return to text
    24. See Soto (2023). Return to text
    25. See, for example, Romer and Romer (1989, 2023, 2024) for a description of the “narrative” approach. Return to text
    26. For example, Dessaint, Foucault, and Fresard (2024) suggest that alternative data mainly help forecast short-term outcomes, and not so much long-term outcomes. Return to text

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Kvika banki hf.: Landsbankinn’s acquisition of TM approved

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The Competition Authority has announced that a settlement has been reached with Landsbankinn regarding the acquisition of 100% of TM tryggingar’s share capital from Kvika bank. As a result, the conditions in the purchase agreement related to the approval of the Financial Supervisory Authority of the Central Bank of Iceland and the Competition Authority have been lifted. The transfer of the insurance company to Landsbankinn is scheduled for February 28, at which time Landsbankinn will pay Kvika bank the agreed purchase price.

    As stated in Kvika bank’s announcement on May 30, 2024, the agreed purchase price is ISK 28.6 billion, based on TM’s balance sheet at the beginning of 2024. The final purchase price will be adjusted to reflect changes in TM’s tangible equity from the beginning of 2024 until the closing date.

    Following the receipt of the purchase price, Kvika bank’s board intends to propose a special dividend to its shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on March 26. This proposal will be published alongside other board proposals for the AGM no later than March 5.

    Please note that this notice is a disclosure of inside information per article 17 of regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse (“MAR”), which is implemented into Icelandic law with the act on measures against market abuse No 60/2021.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Landsbankinn hf.: Competition Authority approves Landsbankinn’s purchase of TM

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The Icelandic Competition Authority has approved the purchase by Landsbankinn of all share capital in TM tryggingar hf., with a condition set out in a settlement between the Bank and the Authority. Under the terms of the settlement, Landsbankinn agrees that special terms on insurance from TM will not be contingent upon a customer’s wages being paid to an account with the Bank. The condition of the purchase agreement for regulatory approval has thereby been satisfied. The Bank expects to assume ownership of TM following settlement with Kvika Bank hf. on 28 February 2025. 

    The purchase price, as provided for in the purchase agreement signed in May 2024, is ISK 28.6 billion and is based on the balance sheet of TM as at the beginning of 2024. The final purchase price is subject to a closing adjustment based on changes to the tangible equity capital of TM from the beginning of 2024 to the delivery date. 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Alexis Mac Allister Announces as Jeton’s Latest Brand Ambassador

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, UK, Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jeton, global payment services provider, announces a three-year partnership with global football icon Alexis Mac Allister. The 25-year-old Argentine football player is a midfielder for Premier League Club Liverpool and represents Argentina’s national team. The agreement between the global payment services provider and the footballer will appoint Mac Allister to serve as Jeton’s brand ambassador and represent the brand in various marketing campaigns. Jeton will be authorised to use Mac Allister’s professional name, image, likeness, and biography as part of the partnership.

    “I’m pleased to be Jeton’s brand ambassador,” stated Alexis Mac Allister. ‘I look forward to representing the brand and sharing its values with my fanbase and football lovers worldwide.”

    ‘We are very happy and excited to work closely with Mac Allister. We have strategized these partnerships based on what our customers expect from Jeton and how we can exceed their expectations. We hope to build stronger relations among the football community and reach out to football lovers all around the world through partnerships they desire. As exemplified by our recent partnership with Japanese football player Kou Itakura, we believe we are one step closer to achieving our objectives. We can’t wait to embark on this journey alongside Alexis Mac Allister.’ said Executive Director of Jeton.

    Jeton is known for its ongoing partnerships, marketing activities and close relations with football clubs and the community. The global payment services brand has a long-lasting relationship with West Ham United FC as their official e-Wallet partner and have previously partnered with other notable football clubs such as Aston Villa FC and Hull City AFC. Jeton has recently expanded its reach into the Asian market by partnering with Japanese football player Kou Itakura.

    About Jeton

    LA Orange CY Limited, trading as Jeton, is authorised by the Central Bank of Cyprus under the Electronic Money Law of 2012 and 2018 (Law 81(I)/2012) for distributing or redeeming electronic money (e-money), with Licence No: 115.1.3.66. LA Orange CY Limited has been incorporated in the Republic of Cyprus under the provisions of the Companies Law (Cap 113) with registration number HE 424807, with its registered office address at 116 Gladstonos, M. Kyprianou House, 3rd and 4th Floor, 3032, Limassol, Cyprus.

    © 2024 | LA Orange Limited, trading as Jeton, is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for distributing or redeeming electronic money (e-money) and providing certain payment services on behalf of an e-money institution, with FCA registration number 902088. LA Orange Limited is registered in England and Wales, Company Number 11535714, with its registered office address at The Shard Floor 24/25, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG, United Kingdom.

    Jeton Bank Limited is licensed and authorised by the Financial Services Unit, Ministry of Finance of the Commonwealth of Dominica, licensed as a banking institution under the international Banking Act, fully authorised to provide services to clients worldwide, under the prudential supervision of the Financial Services Unit. Jeton Bank Limited is registered in the Commonwealth of Dominica, Company Number 2022/C0175, with its registered address at 1st Floor, 43 Great George Street, Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica, Post Code: 00109-8000. – LEI Code: 894500XGIX3R4HCIOC29.

    Social Links

    Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jetonpayments/

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jetonpayments

    X:  https://x.com/jetonpayments

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JetonPayments

    Media contact

    Brand: Jeton

    Contact: Media team

    Email: marketing@jeton.com

    Website: https://www.jeton.com/

    SOURCE: Jeton

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: RBI invites comments on the draft circular on ‘Responsible Lending Conduct – Levy of Foreclosure Charges/ Pre-payment Penalties on Loans’

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    In pursuance of the announcement made in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated October 09, 2024 regarding the review of extant regulatory guidelines on levy of foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on loans, Reserve Bank has released today the draft circular in this regard.

    Comments/feedback by the stakeholders and members of public on the draft circular may be submitted by March 21, 2025 through e-mail. Final circular shall be issued after considering the stakeholder/ public comments.

    (Puneet Pancholy)  
    Chief General Manager

    Press Release: 2024-2025/2231

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: Middlefield Canadian Income PCC – Withdrawal of General Meeting Requisition

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    21 February 2025

    Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the “Company”)
    including Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”), a cell of the Company
    Registered No:  93546
    Legal Entity Identifier: 2138007ENW3JEJXC8658

    Withdrawal of General Meeting Requisition

    As announced on 13 February 2025, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the “Company”) and Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”) received a letter from a nominee account acting on behalf of the custodian and prime broker for Saba Capital Management, L.P. (“Saba”) requisitioning the Board of the Company and Fund (the “Board”) to convene a general meeting of shareholders (the “Requisition”).

    Since the receipt of the Requisition, the Board has consulted with a number of the Company’s largest shareholders, including Saba. Following constructive discussions, Saba has agreed to withdraw the Requisition for a period of 60 days to enable the Company and its advisers to formulate proposals that are in the best interests of all shareholders.

    The Board will provide a further update in due course.

    For further information, please contact:

    Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC                                        via Investec Bank plc
    Michael Phair (Chairman)

    Investec Bank plc                                                                             020 7597 4000
    Corporate Broker
    Helen Goldsmith/David Yovichic
                                                                    

    JTC Fund Solutions (Jersey) Limited                                             01534 700 000
    Secretary
    Matt Tostevin/Hilary Jones/Jade Livesey
                                                                    

    Burson Buchanan                                                                             020 7466 5000
    PR Advisers
    Charles Ryland/Henry Wilson

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A Palestinian film is an Oscars favorite − so why is it so hard to see?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Drew Paul, Associate Professor of Arabic, University of Tennessee

    Directors Basel Adra, left, and Yuval Abraham on stage at the 62nd New York Film Festival on Sept. 29, 2024. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

    For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket.

    The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more on-demand rentals and sales.

    However, for “No Other Land,” a Palestinian film nominated for best documentary at the 2025 Academy Awards, this exposure is unlikely to translate into commercial success in the U.S. That’s because the film has been unable to find a company to distribute it in America.

    “No Other Land” chronicles the efforts of Palestinian townspeople to combat an Israeli plan to demolish their villages in the West Bank and use the area as a military training ground. It was directed by four Palestinian and Israeli activists and journalists: Basel Adra, who is a resident of the area facing demolition, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. While the filmmakers have organized screenings in a number of U.S. cities, the lack of a national distributor makes a broader release unlikely.

    Film distributors are a crucial but often unseen link in the chain that allows a film to reach cinemas and people’s living rooms. In recent years it has become more common for controversial award-winning films to run into issues finding a distributor. Palestinian films have encountered additional barriers.

    As a scholar of Arabic who has written about Palestinian cinema, I’m disheartened by the difficulties “No Other Land” has faced. But I’m not surprised.

    The role of film distributors

    Distributors are often invisible to moviegoers. But without one, it can be difficult for a film to find an audience.

    Distributors typically acquire rights to a film for a specific country or set of countries. They then market films to movie theaters, cinema chains and streaming platforms. As compensation, distributors receive a percentage of the revenue generated by theatrical and home releases.

    The film “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat,” another finalist for best documentary, shows how this process typically works. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024 and was acquired for distribution just a few months later by Kino Lorber, a major U.S.-based distributor of independent films.

    The inability to find a distributor is not itself noteworthy. No film is entitled to distribution, and most films by newer or unknown directors face long odds.

    However, it is unusual for a film like “No Other Land,” which has garnered critical acclaim and has been recognized at various film festivals and award shows. Some have pegged it as a favorite to win best documentary at the Academy Awards. And “No Other Land” has been able to find distributors in Europe, where it’s easily accessible on multiple streaming platforms.

    So why can’t “No Other Land” find a distributor in the U.S.?

    There are a couple of factors at play.

    Shying away from controversy

    In recent years, film critics have noticed a trend: Documentaries on controversial topics have faced distribution difficulties. These include a film about a campaign by Amazon workers to unionize and a documentary about Adam Kinzinger, one of the few Republican congresspeople to vote to impeach Donald Trump in 2021.

    The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course, has long stirred controversy. But the release of “No Other Land” comes at a time when the issue is particularly salient. The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip have become a polarizing issue in U.S. domestic politics, reflected in the campus protests and crackdowns in 2024. The filmmakers’ critical comments about the Israeli occupation of Palestine have also garnered backlash in Germany.

    Locals attend a screening of ‘No Other Land’ in the village of A-Tuwani in the West Bank on March 14, 2024.
    Yahel Gazit/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Yet the fact that this conflict has been in the news since October 2023 should also heighten audience interest in a film such as “No Other Land” – and, therefore, lead to increased sales, the metric that distributors care about the most.

    Indeed, an earlier film that also documents Palestinian protests against Israeli land expropriation, “5 Broken Cameras,” was a finalist for best documentary at the 2013 Academy Awards. It was able to find a U.S. distributor. However, it had the support of a major European Union documentary development program called Greenhouse. The support of an organization like Greenhouse, which had ties to numerous production and distribution companies in Europe and the U.S., can facilitate the process of finding a distributor.

    By contrast, “No Other Land,” although it has a Norwegian co-producer and received some funding from organizations in Europe and the U.S., was made primarily by a grassroots filmmaking collective.

    Stages for protest

    While distribution challenges may be recent, controversies surrounding Palestinian films are nothing new.

    Many of them stem from the fact that the system of film festivals, awards and distribution is primarily based on a movie’s nation of origin. Since there is no sovereign Palestinian state – and many countries and organizations have not recognized the state of Palestine – the question of how to categorize Palestinian films has been hard to resolve.

    In 2002, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected the first ever Palestinian film submitted to the best foreign language film category – Elia Suleiman’s “Divine Intervention” – because Palestine was not recognized as a country by the United Nations. The rules were changed for the following year’s awards ceremony.

    In 2021, the cast of the film “Let It Be Morning,” which had an Israeli director but primarily Palestinian actors, boycotted the Cannes Film Festival in protest of the film’s categorization as an Israeli film rather than a Palestinian one.

    Film festivals and other cultural venues have also become places to make statements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and engage in protest. For example, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, the right-wing Israeli culture minister wore a controversial – and meme-worthy – dress that featured the Jerusalem skyline in support of Israeli claims of sovereignty over the holy city, despite the unresolved status of Jerusalem under international law.

    Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev wears a dress featuring the old city of Jerusalem during the Cannes Film Festival in 2017.
    Antonin Thuillier/AFP via Getty Images

    At the 2024 Academy Awards, a number of attendees, including Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Mahershala Ali, wore red pins in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, and pro-Palestine protesters delayed the start of the ceremonies.

    So even though a film like “No Other Land” addresses a topic of clear interest to many people in the U.S., it faces an uphill battle to finding a distributor.

    I wonder whether a win at the Oscars would even be enough.

    Drew Paul 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.

    – ref. A Palestinian film is an Oscars favorite − so why is it so hard to see? – https://theconversation.com/a-palestinian-film-is-an-oscars-favorite-so-why-is-it-so-hard-to-see-249233

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Stop notice served to prevent further unauthorised works at Earlsdon property

    Source: City of Coventry

    The Council has taken the action to serve a Stop Notice and Enforcement Notice to prohibit further works being undertaken on the site of a former Natwest Bank in Earlsdon.

    The Council’s Planning Enforcement Team served a Temporary Stop Notice (TSN) following unauthorised demolition of 34-36 Earlsdon Street at the beginning of January.

    Since then, the Local Authority has been listening to the concerns of local residents and working hard with ward cllrs to find a solution.

    The existing TSN required all unauthorised works of construction / development and / or demolition to cease immediately. The legislation only permits a TSN to have effect for a maximum period of 56 days and consequently the Notice expires at midnight on Tuesday 25 February 2025.

    Unfortunately, to date no valid planning application has been received for the rebuilding of 34-36 Earlsdon Street and so the Council considers it necessary to take the further action to ensure that no further unauthorised works happen on site until planning permission has been the granted.

    This is the first time in around 20 years that the Council has served a Stop Notice.  

    Legislation does not permit a further TSN to be served which is why the Council has therefore served a Stop Notice and Enforcement Notice to prohibit further works being undertaken on site.

    Andrew Walster, Director of City Services at the Council, said: “We have been listening to the concerns of residents and working with ward councillors to find a solution, but so far, we have not received any future plans from the property owners.

    “This is frustrating for everyone concerned and we are determined to find a way forward. That’s why we have taken the step of servicing a Stop Notice.

    “The Earlsdon area was designated a conservation area, and the demolition work carried out so far has had a serious impact on the character of the neighbourhood.”

    Friday, 21st February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Corporate and Municipal CUSIP Request Volumes Decline in January

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NORWALK, Conn., Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for January 2025. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity over the next quarter, found a monthly decrease in request volume for new corporate and municipal identifiers.

    North American corporate CUSIP requests totaled 4,505 in January, which is down 36.9% on a monthly basis. On an annualized basis, North American corporate requests were down 24.2% over January 2024 totals. The monthly decrease in volume was driven by a 32.6% decline in request volume for U.S. corporate debt identifiers. Request volumes for short-term certificates of deposit (-27.1%) and longer-term certificates of deposit (-14.8%) also fell in January.

    The aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – fell 14.1% versus December totals. On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes were up 1.8%. Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 78 new CUSIP requests in January, followed by California and New York, each of which had 59 new municipal CUSIP requests in the first month of the year.

    “Monthly CUSIP request volume may appear to be off to a slow start when compared to the strong volumes we saw in the second half of 2024, but most major asset classes are seeing gains versus year-ago totals,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “While it’s still early in the year, and there is no shortage of uncertainty about the future of interest rates and the broader economy, issuers are likely to enter the markets at a historically brisk pace.”

    Requests for international equity CUSIPs fell 19.5% in January and international debt CUSIP requests rose 14.0%. On an annualized basis, international equity CUSIP requests were down 13.0% and international debt CUSIP requests were up 33.3%.

    To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for January, please click here.

    Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through January 2025:


    Asset Class    		 2025 YTD 2024 YTD YOY Change

    Long-Term Municipal
    Notes    		 37 8 362.5%

    Canada Corporate
    Debt & Equity    		 562 378 48.7%

    International Debt    		 520 390 33.3%

    U.S. Corporate Equity    		 1,161 914 27.0%

    Syndicated Loans    		 197 173 13.9%

    Municipal Bonds    		 610 579 5.4%

    Private Placement
    Securities    		 266 253 5.1%

    U.S. Corporate Debt
    		 1,605 1,540 4.2%

    International Equity    		 120 138 -13.0%

    CDs > 1-year Maturity    		 539 724 -25.6%

    CDs < 1-year Maturity    		 542 763 -29.0%

    Short-Term Municipal
    Notes    		 59 86 -31.4%


    About CUSIP Global Services

    CUSIP Global Services (CGS) is the global leader in securities identification. The financial services industry relies on CGS’ unrivaled experience in uniquely identifying instruments and entities to support efficient global capital markets. Its extensive focus on standardization over the past 50 plus years has helped CGS earn its reputation as the industry standard provider of reliable, timely reference data. CGS is also a founding member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) and co-operates ANNA’s hub of ISIN data, the ANNA Service Bureau. CGS is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association (ABA) by FactSet Research Systems Inc., with a Board of Trustees that represents the voices of leading financial institutions. For more information, visit www.cusip.com.

    About The American Bankers Association

    The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation’s $24.2 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ approximately 2.1 million people, safeguard $19.1 trillion in deposits and extend $12.6 trillion in loans.

    For More Information:

    John Roderick
    john@jroderick.com
    +1 (631) 584.2200

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FIRST BANCSHARES, INC. ANNOUNCES ANNUAL CASH DIVIDEND OF $0.40 PER SHARE

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOUNTAIN GROVE, Mo., Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — First Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: FBSI), the holding company for Stockmens Bank (“Bank”), Colorado Springs, Colorado, announced today that its Board of Directors declared an annual cash dividend of $0.40 per share on the Company’s outstanding common stock. The cash dividend will be payable on April 15, 2025 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 1, 2025.

    About the Company

    First Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for Stockmens Bank, a FDIC-insured commercial bank chartered by the State of Colorado that conducts business from its home office in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and eight full-service offices in the Missouri cities of Mountain Grove, Marshfield, Ava, Kissee Mills, Gainesville, Hartville, Crane and Springfield, as well as full-service offices in Akron, Colorado and Bartley, Nebraska.

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    The Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Stockmens Bank, may from time to time make written or oral “forward-looking statements” in its reports to shareholders and in other communications by the Company. These forward-looking statements are made in good faith by the Company pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

    These forward-looking statements include statements with respect to the Company’s beliefs, expectations, estimates and intentions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various factors, some of which are beyond the Company’s control. Such statements address the following subjects: future operating results; customer growth and retention; loan and other product demand; earnings growth and expectations; new products and services; credit quality and adequacy of reserves; results of examinations by our bank regulators; technology; and our employees. The following factors, among others, could cause the Company’s financial performance to differ materially from the expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements: the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which the Company conducts operations; the effects of, and changes in, trade, monetary, and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve Board; inflation, interest rate, market, and monetary fluctuations; the timely development and acceptance of new products and services of the Company and the perceived overall value of these products and services by users; the impact of changes in laws and regulations applicable to financial services companies; technological changes; acquisitions; changes in consumer spending and savings habits; and the success of the Company at managing and collecting assets of borrowers in default and managing the risks of the foregoing.

    The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. The Company does not undertake, and expressly disclaims any intent or obligation, to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company.

    Contact: Robert M. Alexander, Chairman and CEO – (719) 955-2800

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Quarterly BSR-1: Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks – December 2024

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    Today, the Reserve Bank released its web publication entitled ‘Quarterly Basic Statistical Returns (BSR)-1: Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs)1 – December 20242’ on its ‘Database on Indian Economy’ portal (https://data.rbi.org.in Homepage > Publications). It captures various characteristics of bank credit such as occupation/activity and organisational sector of the borrower, type of account and interest rates based on account-level reporting3. Data reported by SCBs {excluding Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)} are presented for bank groups, population groups4 and states.

    Highlights:

    • Bank credit growth (y-o-y) decelerated to 11.8 per cent in December 2024 from 12.6 per cent in September 2024; all population groups (viz., rural, semi-urban, urban and metropolitan branches of banks) maintained double digit growth, though with some moderation, which was experienced by both public sector and private sector banks.

    • Personal loans, which have large share (31.5 per cent) in total credit, recorded moderation in annual growth to 13.7 per cent (15.2 per cent a quarter ago); credit to agriculture and industry sectors also recorded some tempering in the growth.

    • Bank lending for trade, finance and professional/ other services accelerated during Q3:2024-25.

    • Lending to public sector organisations accelerated to 5.4 per cent in December 2024 as compared with 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter; its share in total credit stood at 13.6 per cent.

    • Nearly two per cent of the bank loans were in terms of bills purchased/ discounted.

    • Bank charged 8 per cent to less than 10 per cent interest rate on over half of the loan amount and nearly 16 per cent of the loans were bearing less than 8 per cent interest rate; the remaining loans were bearing 10 per cent or above interest rate.

    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    

    Press Release: 2024-2025/2227

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Quarterly BSR-2: Deposits with Scheduled Commercial Banks – December 2024

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    Today, the Reserve Bank released the web publication ‘Deposits with Scheduled Commercial Banks1 – December 20242’ on its ‘Database on Indian Economy’ portal3 (https://data.rbi.org.in Homepage > Publications).

    Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) {excluding regional rural banks (RRBs)} report branch-wise data on type of deposits (current, savings and term), its institutional sector wise ownership, age wise distribution of deposits pertaining to individuals, maturity pattern, size and interest rate range wise distribution of term deposits as well as number of employees in the quarterly ‘Basic Statistical Return’ (BSR) – 2 return. These data are released at disaggregated level (viz., population groups4, bank groups, states, districts and centres).

    Highlights:

    • Aggregate deposits increased by 11.0 per cent in December 2024 as compared with 11.7 per cent growth a quarter ago.

    • Term deposits rose by 14.3 per cent (y-o-y) as compared with 5.1 per cent growth in saving deposits in December 2024; as a result, the share of term deposits in total deposits rose to 62.1 per cent from 60.3 per cent a year ago.

    • The share of deposits bearing seven per cent or above interest rate in total term deposits increased to 70.8 per cent in December 2024 from 61.4 per cent a year ago.

    • With rise in return on term deposits, nearly 79.8 per cent of the incremental term deposits mobilized during April-December 2024 were held in the original maturity bucket of one to three years; on an outstanding basis, over two third of term deposits were in this maturity bucket and another 11 per cent had higher original maturity.

    • During April-December 2024, 56.1 per cent of the total term deposits were of size ‘Rs. one crore and above’.

    • Senior citizens owned 20.2 per cent of the total deposits in December 2024.

    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    

    Press Release: 2024-2025/2228

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Number of counterfeit euro banknotes continues to be low in 2024

    Source: European Central Bank

    21 February 2025

    • 554,000 counterfeit euro banknotes withdrawn in 2024 representing, by historical standards, small proportion of total banknotes in circulation
    • €20 and €50 most counterfeited denominations, accounting for over 75% of all counterfeit notes withdrawn
    • Euro banknotes remain safe and trusted means of payment
    • Authenticity of euro banknotes can be verified using “feel, look and tilt” method

    Some 554,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2024. The likelihood of receiving a counterfeit is low, as the number of counterfeits is very small in proportion to genuine euro banknotes in circulation. In 2024, 18 counterfeits were detected per million genuine banknotes in circulation, which is very low compared with the levels observed following the launch of the euro (see chart).

    Chart

    Number of counterfeit euro banknotes detected annually per million genuine notes in circulation

    Although the proportion is very small, the actual number of counterfeits has increased compared with the past few years, when the number of counterfeits was exceptionally low following the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the number of counterfeits remains lower than in the years leading up to the pandemic.

    €20 and €50 denominations continued to be the most commonly counterfeited, together accounting for more than 75% of the total (see table). 97.8% of the counterfeits were found in euro area countries, while 1.3% were found in non-euro area EU Member States and 0.9% in other parts of the world.

    Table

    Breakdown of counterfeits by denomination in 2024

    Denomination

    €5

    €10

    €20

    €50

    €100

    €200

    €500

    Percentage of total

    1.3

    6.8

    36.0

    43.6

    7.9

    3.8

    0.6

    The public does not need to be concerned about counterfeiting but should remain vigilant. Most counterfeits are easy to detect, as they have either no security features or only very poor imitations of the existing features. Notes can be checked using the simple “feel, look and tilt” method described on our dedicated security features web page or on the websites of the euro area national central banks. The Eurosystem also helps professional cash handlers by ensuring that successfully tested machines for handling and processing banknotes can reliably identify counterfeits and withdraw them from circulation.

    If you receive a suspicious banknote, compare it side by side with one you know to be genuine. If your suspicions are confirmed, please contact the police or – depending on national practice – your national central bank or your own retail or commercial bank. The Eurosystem actively supports law enforcement agencies in the fight against currency counterfeiting.

    For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, tel.: +49 172 758 7237.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: StoneX Payments to Showcase Cross-Border FX Capabilities at BAFT Europe Bank-to-Bank Forum 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — StoneX Group Inc. (“StoneX”; NASDAQ: SNEX) announced that its Payments Division (“StoneX Payments”) will participate as a sponsor and speaker at the 2025 BAFT Europe Bank-to-Bank Forum in Amsterdam. The event brings together senior banking executives, regulators, and industry experts to discuss the evolving landscape of cross-border payments and banking relationships.

    StoneX Payments will highlight its institutional-grade infrastructure, which enables banks, credit unions, and financial institutions to execute efficient, transparent international payments across more than 140 currencies and 180 countries.

    Expanding Access to Cross-Border FX Solutions

    StoneX Payments continues to strengthen its position as a trusted partner for financial institutions looking to enhance their FX payment capabilities. By leveraging its network of nearly 400 correspondent banks and deep market expertise, StoneX provides seamless currency flows, competitive pricing, and full principal protection to clients operating in complex financial environments.

    As part of the event’s agenda, David Willacy, Head of Trading EMEA – Payments FX at StoneX, will deliver a presentation on cross-border FX transactions in emerging and lesser-traded currencies, focusing on key challenges such as liquidity, settlement risks, and regulatory constraints.

    Session: “Navigating the Complexities of Cross-border FX Payments in Exotic Currencies: Opportunities for European Corporates and Banks”
    Date: March 11, 2025 | Time: 16:40 – 17:00
    Speaker: David Willacy, Head of Trading EMEA – Payments FX, StoneX

    Enhancing Financial Institutions’ Payment Strategies

    Banks and financial institutions face a growing demand for faster, lower-cost, and more transparent international transactions. StoneX Payments works closely with clients to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce transaction costs, and ensure seamless cross-border payments, even in traditionally hard-to-access markets.

    Connect with StoneX Payments at BAFT Europe

    StoneX Payments representatives will be available for one-on-one discussions about customized strategies to improve cross-border payment capabilities for financial institutions. To schedule a meeting, email payments@stonex.com.

    About StoneX Group Inc.

    StoneX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SNEX) is a Fortune 100 global financial services company that provides execution, risk management, advisory, and market access solutions across commodities, securities, global payments, and foreign exchange. Headquartered in New York City, StoneX and its 4,300+ employees serve more than 54,000 commercial, institutional, and global payments clients, as well as 400,000+ retail accounts, from over 80 offices spanning six continents.

    For additional information about StoneX Payments and its participation in BAFT Europe Bank-to-Bank Forum 2025, click here.

    NASDAQ: SNEX

    www.stonex.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: QCR Holdings, Inc. Announces a Cash Dividend of $0.06 Per Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOLINE, Ill., Feb. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCRH) (the “Company”) today announced that on February 19, 2025, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.06 per share payable on April 3, 2025, to holders of common stock of the Company of record on March 19, 2025.

    About Us
    QCR Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Moline, Illinois, is a relationship-driven, multi-bank holding company serving the Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Valley, Des Moines/Ankeny and Springfield communities through its four wholly owned subsidiary banks. The banks provide full-service commercial and consumer banking and trust and wealth management services. Quad City Bank & Trust Company, based in Bettendorf, Iowa, commenced operations in 1994; Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Company, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, commenced operations in 2001; Community State Bank, based in Ankeny, Iowa, was acquired by the Company in 2016; and Guaranty Bank (formerly known as Springfield Fist Community Bank), based in Springfield, Missouri, was acquired by the Company in 2018. Additionally, the Company serves the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa community through Community Bank & Trust, a division of Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Company. The Company has 36 locations in Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had $9.0 billion in assets, $6.8 billion in loans and $7.1 billion in deposits. For additional information, please visit the Company’s website at www.qcrh.com.

    Contact:
    Todd A. Gipple
    President
    Chief Financial Officer
    (309) 743-7745
    tgipple@qcrh.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: RBI imposes monetary penalty on JM Financial Home Loans Limited

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated February 17, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1.50 lakh (Rupees One lakh fifty thousand only) on JM Financial Home Loans Limited (the company) for non-compliance with certain provisions of the ‘Non-Banking Financial Company – Housing Finance Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2021’ issued by RBI. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of Section 52A of the National Housing Bank Act, 1987.

    The statutory inspection of the company was conducted by the National Housing Bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2023. Based on the supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the company advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions.

    After considering the company’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charge against the company was sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty:

    The company failed to disclose, the approach for gradation of risk and rationale for charging different rate of interest to different categories of borrowers, to its customers in the application forms and also did not communicate the same explicitly in the sanction letters.

    This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the company with its customers. Further, imposition of this monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the company.

    (Puneet Pancholy)  
    Chief General Manager

    Press Release: 2024-2025/2225

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: RBI imposes monetary penalty on Asirvad Micro Finance Limited

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated February 20, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹6.20 lakh (Rupees Six Lakh Twenty Thousand only) on Asirvad Micro Finance Limited (the company) for non-compliance with certain provisions of the ‘Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Regulatory Framework for Microfinance Loans) Directions, 2022’, and ‘Appointment of Internal Ombudsman by Non-Banking Financial Companies’ issued by RBI. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 58G read with clause (aa) of sub-section (5) of Section 58B of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

    The statutory inspection of the company was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2023. Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the company advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions.

    After considering the company’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charges against the company were sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty:

    1. The company failed to report the household income of certain borrowers to Credit Information Companies;

    2. The company failed to provide factsheets to certain gold loan customers; and

    3. The company failed to establish a system of auto-escalation of all complaints that were partly or wholly rejected by its internal grievance redress mechanism to the Internal Ombudsman for a final decision.

    This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the company with its customers. Further, imposition of this monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the company.

    (Puneet Pancholy)  
    Chief General Manager

    Press Release: 2024-2025/2226

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Gender participation in governance is fundamental to bring about equality and to cut into inequities: Vice President of India, Dr Jagdeep Dhankhar

    Source: Government of India

    Gender participation in governance is fundamental to bring about equality and to cut into inequities: Vice President of India, Dr Jagdeep Dhankhar

    India is trying to leverage its technology for empowering people, to mitigate the suffering and to cut corruption and to generate transparency and accountability: Vice President

    Vice President of India, Dr Jagdeep Dhankhar addressed the conference of African-Asian Rural Development Organization

    Posted On: 21 FEB 2025 4:47PM by PIB Delhi

    Addressing the delegates at the conference of African-Asian Rural Development Organization in New Delhi today the Vice President of India, Dr Jagdeep Dhankhar said that the gender participation in governance is fundamental to bring about equality and to cut into inequities. India perhaps the only country in the world that has constitutionally structured participation of women in governance. He said that in village and municipal one third seats has been reserved for women. Pertaining to women empowerment he said that his government has taken initiatives that women at all level right from the Panchayat to be empowered. He informed that lakhs of women are frequently being elected through the election process in Panchayat, Cooperative etc. level. They are heading challenges of governance at village Panchayat and district level. He said that elections have been fortified in the constitution it’s a legal framework of functioning of various democratic institution, where the participation of women has been given priority.

    Dr Jagdeep Dhankhar informed that in a country of 1.5 billion people, drastic change is seen in every field in last one decade, education, economy and other basic immunity providing sectors like internet, electricity, cocking gas, toilet etc. He said that massive transformative steps have been taken through two aspects by the government that has helped the country with enormously benefited people. Of them one is education and the second is empowering of the people, when it comes to internet uses per capita India is more than USA & China.

    He said that when it comes to formalization of economy or digital transfer, we account more than 50 percent of the global communities. In decade ago, our economy had only double digit in global bench mark and now we are fifth position in the world and on the way to becoming third economic power of the world in next two years. He said that our nation is set for target that India would be a developed nation by 2047; there was a time our nation has to deposit its gold with Banks in Switzerland to sustain our fiscal credibility by then the foreign exchange reserve was only 11 billion US dollar, if it can be compared to the present situation the volume has gone to 7 hundred billion US dollar. Dr Dhankhar said that India is an example for the rest of the world that what could be impacts of the good initiatives in the field of rural development; empowerment of people etc. This convergence is a significant mile stone that would take the nation to a new height. Vice President said that this conference of African-Asian Rural Development Organization would go a long way in defining the stability of the world, he said that if World’s stability is to be defined then growth of rural sector, agriculture and corporative sector etc.  are top most important. 

    He said that the world is facing challenges for its safe existence. Indicating climate change the Vice President Shri Dhankhar said that it’s a menace created only by us by reckless exploitation of natural resources of which we are not the owner.  He said that we thought that this planet is meant for only human being not for others but there are also other challenges that include hunger, poverty. In one hand we have exploited technology to its maximum extent and on the other hand we have problem like hunger & poverty. In such a situation India is trying to leverage its technology for empowering people, to mitigate the suffering and to cut the corruption and to generate transparency and accountability.

    *****

    MG/NR

    (Release ID: 2105287) Visitor Counter : 51

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Government responds to provisional liquidation of Paul Y Engineering Group Limited

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         In response to the application for provisional liquidation by Paul Y Engineering Group Limited (Paul Y), a Government spokesman today (February 21) gave the following response:
          
         The Government noted that an application was made by Paul Y to the court recently to appoint a provisional liquidator for its five subsidiaries to handle debts and formulate a restructuring plan, and that the court held a hearing and approved the application today. Since it was a corporate decision of Paul Y to submit the application, and legal proceedings are underway, it is inappropriate for the Government to comment on the details.
          
         The Government spokesman said that any enterprise encountering financial difficulties has its own reasons, and the enterprise has to find a suitable solution based on its actual circumstances. As there have been market rumours and media reports of financial difficulties and layoffs at Paul Y for some time, the Government has been paying close attention to the situation and making preparations to reduce the impact on relevant works projects and subcontractors and to assist affected employees.
          
         Regarding public works projects, Paul Y’s subsidiaries are undertaking the construction of 13 public works contracts, among which 12 contracts are undertaken by Paul Y and other construction companies by way of joint venture. These contracts are managed by various government departments separately, including the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Architectural Services Department, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Highways Department, the Drainage Services Department, the Water Supplies Department and the Environmental Protection Department. As the majority of the contracts are undertaken by joint ventures, regardless of whether Paul Y is liquidated eventually, the other participants of the joint venture contracts must complete the remaining works in accordance with the contract requirements. The Development Bureau (DEVB) has assessed that the joint venture participants concerned are capable of undertaking the remaining works, and they have also expressed that they will continue to execute the contracts. The only project solely undertaken by Paul Y has largely entered the completion stage. Overall, the DEVB believes that the impact of the situation of Paul Y on relevant public works projects is manageable, and will closely monitor the situation.
          
         On the other hand, Paul Y has also undertaken works projects of other public organisations, some of which are undertaken by joint ventures. As aforementioned, it is believed that the impact is manageable. For other projects solely undertaken by Paul Y, the public sector owners have replaced the main contractor of most of the projects in accordance with the established mechanism to ensure the smooth completion of the projects. Owners of a few other projects are also carrying out such arrangements with a view to minimising the impact on the projects.
          
         As the majority of the Government and public sector projects will be undertaken by other participants of the joint ventures or have the main contractor replaced in accordance with the mechanism, if Paul Y is liquidated by the court eventually, the succeeding contractor will follow the request made by the Government and public sector owners to try to accommodate the situation of existing subcontractors and workers so that they can continue to work on the relevant projects for the sake of maintaining continuity.
          
         In respect of Paul Y’s debt matters, the affected subcontractors or suppliers can apply for claims through legal means. The Government, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), has been in contact with the construction industry and the banking sector. If subcontractors or suppliers face cash-flow pressure due to the Paul Y incident, the HKMA and the DEVB, together with the Construction Industry Council, will communicate with the Hong Kong Association of Banks so that banks can consider providing assistance on a case-by-case basis. Relevant enterprises can proactively contact lending banks and provide all relevant information so that the banks can understand the actual circumstances of the enterprises in a timely manner and provide flexible arrangements as far as feasible.
          
         In respect of employment rights and benefits, the Labour Department (LD) has all along been requiring Paul Y to pay wages and provide statutory rights to its employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance (EO) and fulfil its obligations under the EO as a main contractor to pay the first two months’ unpaid wages of an employee who is employed by its subcontractors. The LD will continue to maintain contact with Paul Y, its subcontractors and relevant stakeholders to co-ordinate assistance for employees. Employees of Paul Y and its subcontractors who have enquiries on their employment rights and benefits may call the LD’s dedicated hotline at 3580 8721 or visit 10 branch offices of the Labour Relations Division in the territory.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: TRAI releases Recommendations on ‘Framework for Service Authorisations for provision of Broadcasting Services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 21 FEB 2025 3:28PM by PIB Delhi

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released Recommendations on ‘Framework for Service Authorisations for provision of Broadcasting Services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’.

    As per the extant guidelines for various broadcasting services, licenses/permissions/ registrations are issued by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) under Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for provision of broadcasting services, like, television channel uplinking/downlinking (including Teleport), SNG/DSNG, DTH, HITS, IPTV, FM Radio, and Community Radio Stations (CRS).

    The Government has notified the Telecommunications Act, 2023 in the Gazette of India, which repeals the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. However, the appointed date for various sections of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 is yet to be notified. Section 3(1)(a) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 mandates authorisation for those intending to provide telecommunication services, subject to the terms and conditions, including fees or charges, as may be prescribed.

    MIB, vide its letter dated 25th July 2024, has sought recommendations of TRAI under Section 11(1)(a) of TRAI Act, 1997 on the terms and conditions, including fees or charges; for authorisation to provide broadcasting services, aligning it to the Telecommunications Act, 2023 and harmonizing the terms and conditions across various service providers.

    Accordingly, on 30th October 2024, the Authority initiated a consultation process by releasing a Consultation Paper titled ‘Framework for Service Authorisations for provision of Broadcasting Services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023‘ and sought stakeholder’s comments. In response, the comments and counter comments received from the stakeholders were uploaded on TRAI’s website. As part of the consultation process, Open House Discussion (OHD) was held on 18th December 2024.

    Based on the comments and counter-comments received from stakeholders as well as inputs gathered during OHD, examination of the existing provisions of various broadcasting policy guidelines, taking into account relevant earlier recommendations of TRAI that are under consideration of the Government, and its own analysis, TRAI has collated and restructured the terms and conditions into a simplified authorisation framework. The terms and conditions are aligned to the relevant provisions of the Telecommunications Act, 2023. Accordingly, TRAI has finalized its Recommendations on ‘Framework for Service Authorisations for provision of Broadcasting Services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’. The recommendations aim to promote growth and enhance ease of doing business in the sector.

    The recommended authorisation framework provides for two distinct sets of terms and conditions, the first set, for the applicant entity intending to obtain authorisation for broadcasting services; and the second set, to comply with by the authorised entity for service provisioning during the period of authorisation.

    These two sets of terms and conditions should be adopted while framing the Rules, namely, ‘The Broadcasting (Grant of Service Authorisations) Rules’ and ‘The Broadcasting (Television Channel Broadcasting, Television Channel Distribution, and Radio Broadcasting) Services Rules’.

    The recommended authorisations for broadcasting services include those for Television Channel Broadcasting (Satellite-based/Ground-based), News Agency for Television Channel(s), Teleport/Teleport Hub, Uplinking of Live event/news/footage by Foreign Channel/News Agency, Direct to Home (DTH) Service, Head End in the Sky (HITS) Service, Terrestrial Radio Service, Community Radio Stations and Low Power Small Range Radio Service.

    Salient points of the recommendations are given below:

      • Broadcasting service authorisations shall be granted under Section 3(1)(a) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023, in place of the extant practice of issuing license/permission under Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Terms and conditions for service authorisations shall be notified as Rules under Section 56 of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
      • Grant of service authorisation under Section 3(1)(a) should be in the form of an authorisation document containing essential details pertaining to the service. The format of the authorisation document has been recommended.
      • The terms and conditions for ‘Grant of Service Authorisations’ have been harmonized for similar services and covers eligibility criteria, application process and other relevant details/information required by an applicant entity before applying for service authorisation.
      • Migration of existing licensee/permission holder to new authorisation regime shall be voluntary, till the expiry of their license/permission. Further, no processing fee or entry fee will be required for migration, in case of broadcasting services. However, the validity period of the respective service authorisation should be from the effective date of migration to the authorisation regime, irrespective of the validity period of existing license/permission.
      • Addition of new services, namely, ‘Ground-based Broadcasting of a Television Channel’ and ‘Low Power Small Range Radio Service’, based on earlier recommendations of the Authority.
      • The terms and conditions for service provisioning encompasses two parts, namely, ‘Common Terms and Conditions’ applicable to all broadcasting service authorisations in a harmonized manner and ‘Specific Terms and Conditions’ applicable to service specific authorisations.
      • To protect the interests of service providers, it has been recommended that amendments to terms and conditions of service authorisations (except for reasons of National Security) shall require TRAI’s recommendations.
      • Mandatory co-location should be removed for authorised entities of Radio Broadcasting Services.
      • Infrastructure sharing, on voluntary basis, among broadcasting service providers as well as with the telecom service providers/infrastructure providers, wherever technically and commercially feasible, has been recommended.
      • Authorised entities of ‘Television Channel Distribution Services’ shall endeavour to adopt interoperable STBs to enhance consumer choice and reduce electronic waste.
      • TEC to prepare and notify standards for interoperable STBs and television sets with inbuilt STB functionality.
      • The minimum net worth requirement of Rs. 100 crore for the Internet Service Providers to provide IPTV Service is recommended to be removed and the same should be aligned with the provisions contained in the authorisation for Internet Services to be issued by DoT.
      • Terms and conditions for Radio Broadcasting Service have been made technology agnostic enabling adoption of digital technology.
      • Service authorisation for ‘Terrestrial Radio Service’ to be delinked from frequency assignment and the auction of spectrum for frequency assignment for Terrestrial Radio Service shall be done separately.
      • In addition to broadcasting of radio channel(s), the authorised entities for Terrestrial Radio Service should be allowed streaming the same content through internet concurrently without any user control.
      • MIB should prescribe separate Programme Code and Advertisement Code for radio broadcasting service providers.
      • The terms and conditions including fees and charges for various broadcasting services, particularly in the ‘Television Channel Distribution Services’, have been harmonized with the provisions in the Telecommunications Act, 2023. Salient recommended terms and conditions are as under:

     

    Conditions

    Existing

    Recommended

    Authorisation Fees (erstwhile License Fee) for DTH services

    8% of AGR

    3% of AGR, to be reduced to ‘zero’. No authorisation fee after the end of FY 2026-27

    Authorisation Fees (erstwhile Annual Fee) for Radio Broadcasting Services
    • 4% of GR or 2.5% of NOTEF, whichever is higher;
    • 2% of GR or 1.25% of NOTEF for NE states, J&K and island territories during initial 3 years, thereafter as above
    • 4% of AGR for all the cities;
    • 2% of AGR for NE states, J&K and island territories during initial 3 years, thereafter as above

    Bank Guarantee for

    DTH Service

    Rs. 5 crore initial, thereafter License Fee of two quarters

    Rs. 5 crore or 20% of Authorisation Fee for two quarters, whichever is higher

    Bank Guarantee for

    HITS Service

    Rs. 40 crore for initial 3 years

    Rs. 5 crore for the validity of authorisation

    Processing Fees of

    HITS Service

    Rs. 1 Lac

    Rs. 10000

    Validity Period of

    HITS Service

    10 years initially, no provision for renewal

    20 years with renewal by 10 years at a time

    Renewal Period for Terrestrial Radio Service

    No provision for renewal in FM Radio

    Renewal by 10 years at a time

     

    In addition to harmonization of financial requirements, harmonization of common terms and conditions, roll out obligations for similar services (DTH and HITS), provisions enabling infrastructure sharing, provisions applicable in case of emergency/disaster, monitoring and inspection, contravention of rules, applicable Program Code and Advertisement Code for television broadcasting /distribution services and that for all Radio broadcasting services has been recommended.

    The Recommendations have been placed on the TRAI’s website (www.trai.gov.in). For any clarification/information Dr. Deepali Sharma, Advisor (Broadcasting and Cable Services), TRAI may be contacted at Telephone Number +91-11-20907774.

    ****

    Samrat/Dheeraj/Allen

    (Release ID: 2105251) Visitor Counter : 65

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, will Chair the 27th meeting of the Western Zonal Council at Pune, Maharashtra on Saturday, February 22

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, will Chair the 27th meeting of the Western Zonal Council at Pune, Maharashtra on Saturday, February 22

    Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has stressed on the need to leverage cooperative and competitive federalism for all round development of the country

    Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, has stressed on the cooperative federalism approach to empower states and promote better understanding between the Centre and the states

    In the Modi Government, role of Zonal Councils has been changed from advisory to action platform to make them effective

    Zonal Councils discuss broad issues relating to infrastructure, mining, environment and forests, food security parameters and other subjects of common interest at the regional level

    Posted On: 21 FEB 2025 1:16PM by PIB Delhi

    Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah, will chair the 27th meeting of the Western Zonal Council on Saturday, 22nd February, 2025 at Pune, Maharashtra. The Western Zonal Council comprises the states of Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. Maharashtra Government is hosting the meeting which is being organized by the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra.

    The 27th meeting of the Western Zonal Council will be attended by the Chief Ministers of the member states and the Administrator of the Union Territories, along with two senior ministers from each state. The Chief Secretaries, Advisors and other senior officers of the State Governments and Union Territories and Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Inter State Council and other senior officers of the Central Government will also participate in the meeting.

    Five Zonal Councils were established in the year 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956. Union Home Minister is the Chairman of these five Zonal Councils, while the Chief Ministers of the States included in the respective Zonal Council and the Administrator/Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territories are its members. Chief Ministers of the states included in Zonal Council become vice-its chairman by turn. Two more ministers from each state are nominated by the Governor as members of the council. Each Zonal Council has also constituted a Standing Committee at the level of Chief Secretaries.

    Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has stressed the need to leverage cooperative and competitive federalism for the all-round development of the country. In the spirit that strong States make strong nations, Zonal Councils provide a platform to enhance cooperation through a systematic mechanism for regular dialogue and discussion on issues affecting two or more states or the Center and the States.

    Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, has stressed on the cooperative federalism approach to empower states and promote better understanding between the Centre and the States. In the Modi Government, role of Zonal Councils has been changed from advisory to action platform to make them effective. Meetings of respective standing committees of all five Zonal Councils, except Southern Council, were organized last year.

    The Zonal Councils take up issues involving the Centre and the States and between one or more States in the region. Thus, the Zonal Councils provide an excellent platform for resolving disputes and issues between the Centre and the States and between the several States in the region. The Zonal Councils hold discussions on a wide range of issues including speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence/rape against women and children and implementation of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) for expeditious disposal of such cases, facilitation of banks/India Post Payment Bank branches within 5 kms in each village, implementation of Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112), issues relating to infrastructure, mining, environment and forests, food security parameters and other subjects of common interest at the regional level.

    Many issues of national importance are also discussed in each meeting of the Zonal Councils. These include power operations, urban master plan, eliminating malnutrition among children through POSHAN Abhiyan, discussion on reducing the dropout rate of school children, participation of government hospitals in Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, strengthening Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and other issues of common interest.

    *****

    RK/VV/ RR/ PS

    (Release ID: 2105216) Visitor Counter : 28

    Read this release in: Hindi

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom announces appointments 2.20.25

    Source: US State of California 2

    Feb 20, 2025

    Sacramento, California –Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

    Mayumi Kimura, of Temecula, has been appointed Deputy Secretary of Woman Veterans at the California Department of Veterans Affairs. Kimura has been the Founder and Director of Warriors Insight Therapy since 2022. She was a Readjustment Counselor at Lowell Vet Center from 2019 to 2022. Kimura was a Program Director at Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, Housing Unit for Military Veterans from 2018 to 2019.  She was an Emergency Services Clinician at Riverside Community Care from 2017 to 2018. Kimura was a Social Services Clinician at Butler Psychiatric Hospital from 2016 to 2017. She was a Psychosocial Manager/Hospice Social Worker at Bayada Hospice from 2013 to 2017. Kimura served in multiple roles for the United States Navy from 2001 to 2010, including Active-Duty Operations Specialist, Petty Officer First Class, and Active Reserves. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $154,860. Kimura is a Democrat.

    Justin Turner, of Sacramento, has been appointed Chief Counsel at the California Department of Conservation. He has been Assistant Chief Counsel at the Department of Conservation since 2015 and Attorney III from 2008 to 2015. Turner was a Contract Attorney at the California Department of Public Health from 2005 to 2008. He was a Contract Attorney at Update Legal in 2004. Turner earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Spanish from the University of Oregon. This position does not require Senate confirmation and compensation is $208,440. Turner is a Democrat.

    Anthony “Tony” Marino, of Sacramento, has been appointed Deputy Director of Energy at the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety. Marino has been the Deputy Director of the Underground Infrastructure Directorate at the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety since 2022. Marino was the Executive Officer of the Underground Safety Board at the Department of Foresty and Fire Protection from 2017 to 2021. He served as Consultant on the Subcommittee on Gas, Electric, and Transportation Safety in the Office of Senator Jerry Hill from 2012 to 2017. Marino held multiple positions in the Office of Assemblymember Jerry Hill from 2010 to 2012, including Legislative Aide and Science Fellow. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in English and Chemistry from Davidson College. This position does not require Senate confirmation and compensation is $175,512. Marino is registered without party preference.  

    Travis Nichols, of Sacramento, has been appointed Cyber Incident Response Manager at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Nichols has been an Operations Officer/Defensive Cyberspace Weapons Officer with the United States Marine Corps Reserve since 2010. He was a Consultant at Level9 Group in 2023. Nichols was a Cyber Security Operations Architect at Smith & Nephew from 2022 to 2023. He was an Information System Security Officer/Engineer at Defense Microelectronics Activity from 2021 to 2022. Nichols was a Systems Administrator – Server/Network Team Lead at Blackwatch International from 2019 to 2021. He was a Systems Administrator – Tier III – Team Lead at Cincinnati Bell Technical Solutions from 2018 to 2019. Nichols was a Service Support Engineer at Pathforward IT from 2016 to 2018. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $137,616. Nichols is a Democrat.

    Lynda Hopkins, of Sebastopol, has been appointed to the California Air Resources Board. Hopkins has been the Fifth District Supervisor on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors since 2016. She was a Co-Owner at Foggy River Farm from 2008 to 2020. Hopkins was a Reporter at the Sonoma West Times & News from 2009 to 2013. She was the Executive Director at Sonoma County Farm Trails from 2008 to 2010. Hopkins was a Head Teaching Assistant at the Stanford University Earth Systems Program from 2005 to 2007. She is a member of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Hopkins earned a Master of Science degree in Earth Systems, a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Systems, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Creative Writing and Poetry from Stanford University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Hopkins is a Democrat.

    Dawn Ortiz-Legg, of San Luis Obispo, has been appointed to the California Air Resources Board. Ortiz-Legg has been the Third District Supervisor on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors since 2020. She was a Right of Way Agent at Pacific Gas and Electric Company from 2018 to 2020. Ortiz-Legg was a Project Manager & Public Affairs Liaison at First Solar from 2010 to 2018. She was North American Sales and Marketing Manager at PTEC Corporation from 1999 to 2010. Ortiz-Legg is a member of the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District. She earned her Master of Public Policy degree in Climate Change and Technology Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Organizational Communication from Pepperdine University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Ortiz-Legg is a Democrat.

    Tina Thomas, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board. Thomas has been Of Counsel at Downey Brand LLP since 2023. She was Founding Partner at Thomas Law Group Sacramento from 2012 to 2023. Thomas has held multiple positions at Remy, Thomas, Moose, and Manley, LLP from 1982 to 2011, including Counsel and Managing Partner. She was an Associate Attorney at Remy and Associates from 1979 to 1982. Thomas is a Board Member at the Steinberg Institute, Sacramento Federal Judiciary Library, and Meristem, and Member Emeritus at the Sacramento Food Bank. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Sociology and Political Science from Stephens College. This position does not require Senate Confirmation, and there is no compensation. Thomas is a Democrat.

    Frances “Fran” Pavley, of Agoura Hills, has been reappointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board, where she has served since 2018. Pavley has been the Environmental Policy Director at the University of Southern California Schwarzenegger Institute since 2018. She served as a Senator in the California State Senate from 2008 to 2016. Pavley served as an Assemblymember in the California State Assembly from 2000 to 2006. She served as Mayor/City Councilmember for the City of Agoura Hills from 1982 to 1998. Pavley earned her Master of the Arts degree in Environmental Planning from California State University, Northridge, and her Bachelor of the Arts degree in Social Science from California State University, Fresno. This position does not require Senate Confirmation, and there is no compensation.  Pavley is a Democrat.

    Travis Clausen, of Garden Grove, has been appointed to the Underground Safe Excavation Board. Clausen has been Regional Construction Manager – Aviation and Defense at Sully-Miller Contracting Company since 2025, where he was Senior Operations Manager from 2015 to 2025. Clausen was a Project Manager at OHL USA from 2014 to 2015 and at Sully Miller Contracting Company from 2006 to 2014. Clausen served in the United States Army from 1995 to 1998. He earned a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Business Administration – Finance from California State University, Fullerton. This position does not require Senate Confirmation and there is no compensation. Clausen is a Republican.

    Press Releases, Recent News

    Recent news

    Feb 19, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Andrew “Andy” Nakahata, of San Francisco, has been appointed Chief Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank….

    Feb 19, 2025

    News What you need to know: A court has denied the city of Norwalk’s request to dismiss the state’s lawsuit against the city for its unlawful ban on homeless shelters.  NORWALK — Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement in response to a court decision…

    Feb 19, 2025

    News What you need to know: Steve Jobs, a visionary of global scale, has been nominated to represent California on the American Innovation Coin. The coin, which will be minted by the U.S. Mint, highlights U.S. innovations and innovators, including California’s legacy…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Cost of War in Gaza and West Bank | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    A new report details the overall impacts of the recent conflict in Gaza and West Bank. Over the next decade, $53.2 billion is needed in funding and financing for the recovery and reconstruction.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGXfosiDHA

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU-Israel Association Agreement – P-000496/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Priority question for written answer  P-000496/2025/rev.1
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Hilde Vautmans (Renew)

    Whereas the EU and Israel will be discussing their relations in late February;

    whereas Article 2 of the Association Agreement stipulates that ‘Relations between the Parties […] shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which […] constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.’;

    whereas, under Article 79, either party may take ‘appropriate measures” if it considers that the other party is failing to fulfil an obligation under the Agreement;

    having regard to the unacceptable number of civilian deaths, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel’s withdrawal from the agreement with UNRWA;

    having regard to the escalation in the West Bank, violence by settlers, the expansion of illegal settlements, damage to EU-funded buildings, and Israeli military operations in the West Bank:

    How will damage to EU-funded buildings be recompensed?

    Submitted: 4.2.2025

    Last updated: 21 February 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Number of counterfeit euro banknotes continues to be low in 2024

    Source: European Central Bank

    21 February 2025

    • 554,000 counterfeit euro banknotes withdrawn in 2024 representing, by historical standards, small proportion of total banknotes in circulation
    • €20 and €50 most counterfeited denominations, accounting for over 75% of all counterfeit notes withdrawn
    • Euro banknotes remain safe and trusted means of payment
    • Authenticity of euro banknotes can be verified using “feel, look and tilt” method

    Some 554,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2024. The likelihood of receiving a counterfeit is low, as the number of counterfeits is very small in proportion to genuine euro banknotes in circulation. In 2024, 18 counterfeits were detected per million genuine banknotes in circulation, which is very low compared with the levels observed following the launch of the euro (see chart).

    Chart

    Number of counterfeit euro banknotes detected annually per million genuine notes in circulation

    Although the proportion is very small, the actual number of counterfeits has increased compared with the past few years, when the number of counterfeits was exceptionally low following the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the number of counterfeits remains lower than in the years leading up to the pandemic.

    €20 and €50 denominations continued to be the most commonly counterfeited, together accounting for more than 75% of the total (see table). 97.8% of the counterfeits were found in euro area countries, while 1.3% were found in non-euro area EU Member States and 0.9% in other parts of the world.

    Table

    Breakdown of counterfeits by denomination in 2024

    Denomination

    €5

    €10

    €20

    €50

    €100

    €200

    €500

    Percentage of total

    1.3

    6.8

    36.0

    43.6

    7.9

    3.8

    0.6

    The public does not need to be concerned about counterfeiting but should remain vigilant. Most counterfeits are easy to detect, as they have either no security features or only very poor imitations of the existing features. Notes can be checked using the simple “feel, look and tilt” method described on our dedicated security features web page or on the websites of the euro area national central banks. The Eurosystem also helps professional cash handlers by ensuring that successfully tested machines for handling and processing banknotes can reliably identify counterfeits and withdraw them from circulation.

    If you receive a suspicious banknote, compare it side by side with one you know to be genuine. If your suspicions are confirmed, please contact the police or – depending on national practice – your national central bank or your own retail or commercial bank. The Eurosystem actively supports law enforcement agencies in the fight against currency counterfeiting.

    For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, tel.: +49 172 758 7237.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: African Development Bank and World Food Programme support Nigerian Government in tackling acute hunger in Northeastern Nigeria

    Source: World Food Programme

    BORNO – In the wake of the devastating floods that hit Borno State in September 2024, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has contributed US$ 1 million from its Special Relief Fund to support emergency food response for flood-affected communities in Northeastern Nigeria.

    The support comes at a critical time, when humanitarian funding is in short supply and the country faces alarmingly high rates of food insecurity exacerbated by conflict, floods and rising poverty. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will use this contribution, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, to provide emergency food assistance to 120,000 women, men, and children. Each household will receive 35kg worth of staple food supply. 

    ““AfDB’s support is timely and comes as a lifeline for those struggling to feed themselves amidst rising food prices and economic turmoil,” said David Stevenson, WFP’s Country Director in Nigeria. Communities which, after years of conflict and violence, started rebuilding their lives were struck by the floods and once again displaced, meaning more and more people cannot support themselves and their families.” 

    The recent floods of September 2024 exacerbated years of prior displacement, food insecurity and economic hardship, resulting in disastrous consequences, that have pushed hunger levels even higher. According to the November 2024 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis, conducted across 26 states and the federal capital, it is projected that 33 million people in Nigeria will face food insecurity by August 2025.

    “I hope that this additional funding will mitigate the suffering of vulnerable people on the brink of acute hunger, at a time when more Nigerians than ever before are in need of humanitarian assistance”, said Abdul Kamara, African Development Bank Director General in Nigeria. “I commend the Federal Government of Nigeria and WFP for the continuous efforts to operate in such a challenging environment to improve the lives of Nigerian families.”

    This new contribution complements AfDB’s ongoing effort to restructure activities of the Programme for Integrated Agricultural Development, Adaptation to Climate Change (PIDACC) and the Inclusive Basic Service Delivery and Livelihood Empowerment Program to avail critically needed services in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

    As part of the government’s Borno State Development Plan, WFP and partners deliver food and specialised nutrition assistance to 1 million people in Borno state each month. WFP also trains and mentors health facility staff to conduct screenings and manage acute malnutrition among women and children whilst promoting appropriate maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices. The Government of Nigeria is a firm supporter of WFP’s humanitarian food systems solutions in Borno state. 

     

     

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    About AfDB

    The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. 

    For more information: www.afdb.org

    About WFP

    The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. 

    Follow us on X, via @wfp_media, @AfDB_Group, @AfDB_RDNG 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The Global Geopolitical Situation: Foreign Secretary’s speech at the G20 in South Africa

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Speech

    The Global Geopolitical Situation: Foreign Secretary’s speech at the G20 in South Africa

    Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s intervention on Discussions on the Global Geopolitical Situation at the G20 Foreign Ministerial Meeting in South Africa.

    Thank you very much Ronald [Ronald Lamola, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa] and let me say, my dear brother, what a joy is to see the G20 in Africa at long last. And we thank Brazil for its stewardship last year.

    The challenges that we face are truly global. We will not begin to tackle them unless we harness the potential of this continent, bursting with growth and opportunities and with so many young people, talented young people at its heart.

    The starkest challenge we face is escalating conflict, both between and within nations, driving vicious cycles of grievance, displacement and low growth.

    Your presidency, Ronald, calls for solidarity, and solidarity starts by recognising and naming the victims of war and injustice:

    • innocent Ukrainians enduring bombardment night after night from Odessa to Zaphorizhya
    • the hostages still cruelly held underground by Hamas, 16 months on from the trauma of October the 7th
    • the Palestinian civilians driven from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank
    • the Sudanese refugees flee their burning villages to escape across the border to Chad, the overwhelming majority of them, women and children having endured the most unimaginable and indiscriminate violence

    As I said when I visited Chad, there can be no geopolitical stability, whilst there remains a hierarchy of conflicts, with those on this continent finding themselves at the bottom of the global pile.

    And that’s why, since starting this job, I’ve made a reset with the so called Global South, a central plank of the UK foreign policy, and it’s why I doubled British aid for Sudan, and I prepared a conference in London to push for a political process which will end the fighting and protect civilians.

    And that’s why I’ve called out the Rwandan Defence Force operations in the eastern DRC as a blatant breach of the UN Charter which risks spiralling into a regional conflict, and that’s why I will again make clear to President Kagame, that further breaches of DRC’s sovereignty will have consequences.

    Because at the heart of my government’s approach to foreign policy lies the belief that regional and geopolitical stability can only be delivered through respect for international law and the principles of the UN Charter.

    And as my Canadian, Australian, Japanese colleagues have said, respect for international law must underwrite a free and open Indo Pacific, just as it must underwrite the Euro Atlantic, with the security of those 2 regions ever more closely linked.

    And as we turn to the Middle East, the ceasefire in Gaza is painfully fragile, I’m grateful that so many of us here today are working together to ensure that it holds we must continue to work together tirelessly to secure the release of the remaining hostages, to bolster the Palestinian Authority, and to boost aid into Gaza and to develop a long term plan for governance and security on the strip so that we can advance towards, a two-state solution, which remains the only long-term viable pathway to peace.

    And finally, in Ukraine, the only just and lasting peace will be a peace that is consistent with the UN Charter, and we want that as soon as possible.

    You know, mature countries learn from their colonial failures and their wars, and Europeans have had much to learn over the generations and the centuries.

    But I’m afraid to say that Russia has learned nothing. I listened carefully to Minister Lavrov intervention just now he’s, of course, left his seat, hoping to hear some readiness to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.

    I was hoping to hear some sympathy for the innocent victims of the aggression. I was hoping to hear some readiness to seek a durable peace.

    What I heard was the logic of imperialism dressed up as a realpolitik, and I say to you all, we should not be surprised, but neither should we be fooled.

    We are at a crucial juncture in this conflict, and Russia faces a test. If Putin is serious about a lasting peace, it means finding a way forward which respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and the UN Charter which provides credible security guarantees, and which rejects Tsarist imperialism, and Britain is ready to listen.

    But we expect to hear more than the Russian gentleman’s tired fabrications.

    Updates to this page

    Published 20 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: African Development Bank Partners with Interpol to Combat Financial Crime and Strengthen Anti-Corruption Efforts in Africa

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, February 21, 2025/APO Group/ —

    The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has taken a significant step forward in its fight against corruption and financial crime by signing a Letter of Intent with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) today. The Bank Group is the first multilateral development bank to establish such a collaboration with Interpol. 

    The Letter of Intent was signed on Wednesday by African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza, who visited the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.  

    The partnership will enhance collaboration between the Bank’s Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption (https://apo-opa.co/3QrB4ku) and Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre. It will focus on sharing expertise, enhancing investigative capabilities, and developing preventive measures against emerging financial crime threats, including cybercrime, anti-corruption measures, and counter-terrorism financing.  

    This initiative comes as Africa faces significant challenges of illicit financial flows, estimated at nearly $90 billion annually—a loss of resources that could otherwise be invested in critical development needs including water, sanitation, health, food, and energy infrastructure. 

    As an institution that deploys approximately $10 billion annually in development financing, with the majority going to government projects, the African Development Bank Group brings crucial insight into regional financial flows and development challenges, Adesina said. 

    “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to protecting development resources and ensuring they reach their intended beneficiaries,” said Adesina. “As the world’s most transparent financial institution for two consecutive editions (https://apo-opa.co/41o3TVt) [according to Publish What You Fund’s assessment of sovereign portfolios], we maintain zero tolerance for corruption and terrorism financing. By joining forces with Interpol, we are strengthening our capacity to help African countries build robust systems against money laundering and financial crime.” 

    Rapid advancements in digital technology have also led to an increase in internet-enabled financial crimes. According to Interpol’s 2024 Global Financial Fraud Assessment, business email compromise, romance baiting, phishing, and other online frauds pose growing threats to Africa’s digitalized economy. 

    Secretary General Urquiza, who was elected to his position in November 2024, said, “Corruption and financial crime are among the biggest obstacles to economic and social development in Africa and around the world. The evolving nature of financial crime, particularly in the digital environment, requires strong partnerships between law enforcement and financial institutions. Interpol’s closer relationship with the African Development Bank Group will help law enforcement agencies and financial institutions across Africa tackle increasingly sophisticated financial crime threats.” 

    Adesina said the Bank will continue to tackle these challenges by: 

    • Building capacity and supporting African countries in strengthening transparent and accountable governance and strong institutions capable of driving inclusive and sustainable growth and resilient economies. 
    • Strengthening Know Your Customer and Due Diligence systems to prevent and to fight fraud and corruption. 
    • Ensure that the Bank’s resources are used for their intended purposes in a transparent and accountable manner, a practice that has led to the Bank being recognized for two consecutive editions as the most transparent multilateral development bank in the world by Publish What You Fund. 

    The high-level Interpol delegation that accompanied Secretary General Urquiza included Mr. Silvino Schlickmann, Director of Governance and Ms. Paule Ouedraogo, Head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau.  

    The African Development Bank Group was represented by members of President Adesina’s senior management team including the director of the Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption, Ms. Paula da Costa.

    MIL OSI Africa –