Finance Chronicle

The Dutch Finance Ministry Thursday acknowledged it was defrauded out of more than 160,000 euros earlier this year by an employee of the ministry unit that handles the state’s financing needs.

LONDON – Ofgem is launching an investigation into whether four of the big UK gas and power suppliers are mis-selling products to customers, the energy regulator said on Thursday.

The biggest shake-up of the finance sector in 35 years is under way in a bid to restore shattered confidence, but it will be too late for most of those who invested more than $8 billion in finance companies that then failed.

Federal Election Commission ruling from the Supreme Court, which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely on campaign advertisements, there has been a flurry of challenges to other campaign finance laws in the courts. …

JOHANNESBURG – HSBC will need more than just a controlling stake in South Africa’s Nedbank if Europe’s top lender aims to be a serious player on the fast-growing African continent.

SINGAPORE – Tight supply due to lower Indian exports and rising demand from top consumer China could push iron ore prices higher in 2011 after an expected decline in the fourth quarter of this year.

A quarter of senior finance professionals have not heard of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme , formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment. The survey, carried out by document management software company Version One , questioned 139 finance directors and finance managers in the UK’s public and private sector.

LONDON – Worries over opacity and liquidity could temper small-time savers’ enthusiasm for Exchange Traded Funds, set to be boosted by a UK regulatory revamp of fees on products sold to private investors.

Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen is attempting to strike a compromise between the state and the MTS consortium that was awarded the franchise to build the light rail network in the Tel Aviv area.

Power Finance Corp ., the state-owned Indian lender to power projects, approached banks for bids to help it sell two-year bonds, according to two people familiar with the plans.