Beumer said the question of whether there was a capital
shortfall depended on how urgently regulators wanted to see the
Basel III banking rules implemented.”That’s really a difference in mindsets in that discussion,”
said Beumer, who was in Tokyo for a reception marking the German
bank’s 50 years in Japan.Earlier this week bankers wrote to the German finance
minister protesting that the move to tighten up capital
standards using an “artificially tightened definition of equity
capital” could exacerbate the crisis.Beumer said the real issue was to get sovereign debt levels
under control.”It’s a little bit of an unbalanced discussion. The
discussion about banking before we discuss solutions of
government, has to be the other way around,” Beumer told
Reuters.Beumer declined to comment on whether Commerzbank could
raise capital in the current environment, adding that there were
possibilities to do so, but not opportunities he would like to
talk about in public.Commerzbank’s core tier one capital ratio was 9.9 percent at
the end of June, and its exposure to Greece was 3.1 billion
euros ($4.2 billion).Beumer said the bank expected loan loss provisions at the
Mittelstandsbank unit, which mainly makes loans to small and
medium-sized companies, to rise in 2012.
($1 = 0.731 Euros)
Apple tried to block sales of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy line
of smartphones and tablets in the Netherlands, citing 10 patent
rights including Apple’s claim of “slavish style copying”A Dutch court ruled in August that Samsung had breached just
one of Apple’s patents and imposed a sales injunction on three
Samsung smartphone models— Galaxy S, S II and Ace — and
dismissed all other claims including model rights.The Apple patent allows for a certain method of scrolling or
browsing through photos in some Samsung smartphones.The court imposed a sales injunction of the affected
products in some European countries and offered a grace period
until Oct. 14 to address the infringement.”We’ve fixed the technological problem and upgraded products
to address the issue. They will be shortly available for sale,”
Samsung spokesman James Chung said.He declined to comment on an exact launch date.The move comes as Samsung awaits a court ruling in Australia
on Thursday over Apple’s request to temporarily ban sales of
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country, a crucial
ruling that may affect pre-Christmas sales.
Chad “Corntassel” Smith, the long-time Cherokee chief, said in a message to supporters on Facebook he was “disappointed” but would await the certified election results issued by the tribe’s election commission.He has complained that an agreement with the federal government that allowed the so-called freedmen to vote was an election irregularity engineered to favor his opponent.The Cherokee election commission, which has 48 hours to make the election vote official, said the tally showed Bill John Baker, a veteran Cherokee Tribal Councilman, with 10,633 votes and Smith with 9,099 votes.About 150 “challenged ballots” that must be reviewed are not included in the count, the commission said.The election was initially held June 25, but the tribe’s supreme court ordered a new one after four recounts produced four different totals and two different winners.When some 2,800 freedmen were kicked out of the tribe a month before the election by order of the tribe’s supreme court, it set off furious allegations of dirty politics.The freedmen eventually won back their tribal voting rights in an agreement reached in Washington, D.C., after the federal government told the tribe it would not recognize the election results or disburse a $33 million payment from the Department of Housing and Urban Development if the freedmen were not allowed to vote.On Tuesday night, despite the apparent victory for the freedmen of the tribe, one of their leaders, Marilyn Vann, said she was cautious about celebrating.”We’ll see who’s sworn in,” Vann said. “There could be more skulduggery.”Vann pointed to a Cherokee supreme court order issued earlier on Tuesday, just hours before the election results were announced, that attacked the federal settlement that had enabled the freedmen to participate in the election.The Cherokee justices said the federal court order that ensured the freedmen of voting rights and was later filed with the tribal court was “stricken, withdrawn and unenforceable.”The Cherokee justices, who were appointed by Smith, said they issued the order without a request from anyone.Jon Velie, a lawyer for the freedmen, called the unexpected order “a desperate attempt to impact the election.”
