News in Brief
South Korea to fine two Hong Kong banks
REUTERS – South Korea’s stock market watchdog said on Sunday it found two Hong Kong-based investment banks had engaged in naked short-selling, which would likely result in record fines.
The two unnamed investment banks made naked short-selling transactions of a total 40 billion won ($29.58 million) and 16 billion won, respectively, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement.
Naked short selling of stocks - in which an investor short sells shares without first borrowing them or determining they can be borrowed - is banned by the Capital Markets Act in South Korea.
Iraq, UAE launch deals to develop oil, gas fields
CNBC – Iraq has launched three energy contracts with UAE-based Crescent Petroleum to develop three oil and gas fields in Iraq, the Oil Ministry said on Sunday.
United Arab Emirates-based Crescent Petroleum signed in February three 20-year contracts to develop oil and natural gas fields in Iraq’s Basra and Diyala provinces in northeastern Baghdad.
The Crescent Petroleum contracts are expected to begin producing 400 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas within 18 months, the Oil Ministry statement quoted Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani as saying.
IMF calls for new funds, share plan by June 2025
AFP – International Monetary Fund members pledged to complete a review of quota funding by Dec. 15, voicing support for an increase that at least maintains the IMF’s overall lending resources as bilateral borrowing arrangements expire. A statement issued by the fund’s steering committee chair, Spanish economy minister Nadia Calvino, also called for proposals to change the Fund’s shareholding formula by June 2025.