Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1468112
Name Current Change %Change Open High Low Prev. Value Close US MARKETS NASDAQ 13,037.49 -344.03 -2.57 13511.75 13533.78 13032.17 13381.52 EUROPEAN MARKETS FTSE 7,251.31 -246.87 -3.29 7498.18 7498.18 7243.44 7498.18 CAC 6,451.79 -328.88 -4.85 6496.25 6617.09 6433.51 6780.67 DAX 13,854.52 -776.84 -5.31 13989.41 14221.71 13826.70 14631.36 ASIAN MARKETS SGX Nifty 16,141.00 -109.00 -0.67 17052.50 17115.00 15500.50 17063.00 Nikkei 225 25,970.82 -478.79 -1.81 26281.35 26357.58 25775.64 26449.61 Straits Times 3,276.06 -116.94 -3.45 3351.24 3363.17 3248.93 3393.00 Hang Seng 22,901.56 -758.72 -3.21 23268.03 23376.37 22786.39 23660.28 Taiwan Weighted 17,594.55 -461.18 -2.55 17939.53 17939.53 17561.07 18055.73 KOSPI 2,648.80 -70.73 -2.60 2689.28 2694.55 2642.63 2719.53 SET Composite 1,662.72 -33.73 -1.99 1683.92 1690.50 1656.62 1696.45 Jakarta Composite 6,817.82 -102.24 -1.48 6912.48 6929.91 6758.86 6920.06 Shanghai Composite 3,429.96 -59.19 -1.70 3474.37 3486.98 3400.21 3489.15 19.5.2022 7 MARKETS International Markets Global Indices Trading Date: 18 May 2022 Allianz unit agrees to pay $6bn to resolve US securities fraud case GERMANY-BASED Al- lianz announced that its indirect subsidiary Alli- anz Global Investors US (AGI US) has agreed to pay $6bn in a penalty to resolve US securities fraud related to its Structured Alpha Funds. AGI US has entered into settlements with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in this matter. e asset management firm pleads guilty to crim- inal misconduct over the collapse of a group of in- vestment funds, violating the US securities laws. AGI US was accused of misleading pension funds for teachers, bus drivers, engineers, religious groups and others, by misrepre- senting the risks related to the funds. e fund managers told investors that the funds employed hedges to pro- tect against market crash- es, but they repeatedly failed to buy those hedges, reported Reuters. Initially, with more than $11bn of assets under man- agement, the Structured Alpha funds lost more than $7bn as the Covid-19 pan- demic shook the markets in February and March 2020, the publication said. e now-defunct Struc- tured Alpha funds former chief investment officer Gregoire Tournant was charged with fraud, con- spiracy and obstruction, while two other former portfolio managers entered related guilty pleas. As part of the settle- ments, AGI US has agreed to pay $174.3m in a penal- ty to the DOJ, and $675m to the SEC, which can be partly used as compensa- tion for investors. e company is also bound to allocate around $5bn in compensation to Structured Alpha inves- tors, as addressed by the DOJ and the SEC. e settlements will com- pletely resolve the US gov- ernmental investigations related to the Structured Alpha funds case, said Al- lianz. With the guilty plea, AGI US will be disqualified from advising US regis- tered mutual funds and certain pension funds after the expiration of a tempo- rary relief period. Allianz, in a statement, said: "e Statement of Facts accompanying the DOJ resolution states that the criminal misconduct regarding the Structured Alpha funds was limited to a handful of individuals in the Structured Products Group of AGI US who are no longer employed by the company." The Allianz complex in Alt-Treptow, Berlin Structured Alpha funds former chief investment officer Gregoire Tournant was charged with fraud, conspiracy and obstruction, while two other portfolio managers entered guilty pleas