France Financial News

By Tassilo Hummel, Mathieu Rosemain and Noele Illien

Commerzbank AG has received a crypto custody licence, providing more evidence that European banks are growing warmer toward the asset class. The license will allow the bank to “build up a broad range of digital asset services, with particular emphasis on crypto assets,” the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement on Wednesday. It’s the “first German full-service bank” to get the license, it said. The move shows how Europe’s lenders are carefully entering the crypto market after initially shying away from the asset class given the associated risks and potential for money laundering. The push comes during a recovery in the price for Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, following a slump that ensued last year when a string of high-profile businesses collapsed and fraud scandals hit the industry. Other banks are making similar moves which they say reflect client demand. In July, Societe Generale SA’s blockchain unit received the first license issued under France’s new crypto rules. Earlier this month, German cooperative lender DZ Bank AG said it has started a platform for the custody of digital assets. Unlike other European countries, Germany requires banks to get a formal expansion of their existing licenses if they want to provide crypto services including custody. That requirement means the country’s crypto applications afford European banking regulators some transparency into the market.

PARIS (Reuters) -French car maker Renault (EPA:RENA) is holding an investor day for its electric vehicle unit Ampere, which was carved out from Renault's other operations on Nov. 1 and is set for a market listing next year.

The US will lead a push at the COP28 climate summit to triple the amount of installed nuclear power capacity globally by 2050, marking a major turnaround for the controversial technology at the climate negotiations.

Ampere, Renault’s electric-vehicle and software company preparing for a public listing, said it is targeting revenue of more than 10 billion euros ($10.88 billion) in 2025 while it readies to compete with less expensive cars from China and Tesla. The French car maker, which was officially carved out form its parent company on Nov. 1, said on Wednesday that it is aiming to sell around 300,000 vehicles that year.

Hong Kong-founded institutional cryptocurrency asset custodian Hex Trust has been given the green light to offer virtual asset custodial services to institutional clients and investors in Dubai.

Global shares are mostly higher, cheered by a rally on Wall Street that was one of the best days of the year following a surprisingly encouraging report on inflation

By Gilles Guillaume and Silvia Aloisi

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Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose by 5.7%, down from 6.1% in September and its peak of 7.1% in May.

Institutional-grade crypto custodian Hex Trust has successfully obtained a full operating license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the firm announced today.

The creator of the Mutant Ape Planet nonfungible token (NFT) collection — a knock-off of Yuga Labs’ Mutant Ape Yacht Club project — has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a New York federal court.

Japan, Australia and the Middle East and the home market, among others, will largely help alter the geographic mix. To be sure, average contract values in these geographies will still be relative stragglers in comparison with those finalised by Anglophone clients either side of the Atlantic.

Aurelien Michel, the 25-year-old designer of “Mutant Ape Planet” NFTs, pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday.

Stellantis says it will offer buyout or early retirement packages to about 6,400 nonunion U.S. salaried employees

Uniswap Labs has publicly released an Andriod mobile wallet app with built-in swap capability on the Google Play store.

France’s financial regulator, Autorité des Marchés Financiers, has published a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on investment choices and growth levels in the country.

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs and French universal bank BNP Paribas have reportedly led a new funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based wholesale payments firm backed by Nomura Group.

Cryptocurrencies are the second most popular type of investment asset among the adult French population, according to a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published by France’s principal financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, on Nov. 13. 

That’s because the container shipping industry, cast as the Grinch that spoiled Christmas over the past two years with record-high freight rates and slow deliveries, is returning to its pre-pandemic place in the corporate world: perennial underachiever Charlie Brown. The biggest carriers posted net income totaling $364 billion in 2021 and 2022, according to figures compiled by industry veteran John McCown, after a decade of scant profits. They’ll likely drift back into the red this quarter as the rates they charge fall below costs and look to stay there for the foreseeable future. Booms-turned-busts have been more abrupt and sensational, but rarely has an established industry so tied to the global economy lurched from historic profits to below break-even levels more directly than the shipping lines that move 80% of the world’s merchandise trade have this year.

The collection, including more than 200 lots up for sale, was assembled by a French collector who initially hoped to open a museum celebrating the musician but later scrapped the plan, according to RR Auction of Boston, which is overseeing the sale. The collector had reached out to individuals who worked closely with Prince to gather the items, believing that the trendsetting artist, who died in 2016, was not only a musical virtuoso but also a fashion icon, according to the auction house. One of the highlights of the auction is a white ruffled shirt worn by Prince during his 1985 American Music Awards performance of the song 'Purple Rain.' The auction house estimated its value at $15,000. The auction traces Prince's evolution in music and fashion from his 'Purple Rain' era through to his death, according to Bobby Livingston of RR Auction. «What this auction really does is it shows the influence and legacy of Prince with his fashion choices and how it relates today, when you see all these artists on tour, you know, different costumes, different outfits, reinventing themselves for each tour,» he said. Also up for auction is the outfit Prince wore from 'Under the Cherry Moon,' a 1986 film starring Prince that also marked his debut as a director.