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Credit Suisse expects Q4 gain from SIX Group stake accounting Credit Suisse said it expects to book a pre-tax gain of at least 450 million Swiss francs (US$459.6 million) in the fourth quarter of 2019 from the revised accounting treatment of its stake in financial infrastructure company SIX Group. "The gain is expected to add approximately 10 (basis points) to Credit Suisse's year-end 2019 CET1 ratio. This is a change in the accounting basis only and Credit Suisse remains a supportive long-term shareholder of SIX Group AG, having increased its holding to 15% in recent years," the bank said on Friday. – Nampa/ReutersCommercial pig farm in China jams drone signal One of China's biggest animal feed producers said it had used a radio transmitter to combat crooks using drones to drop pork products contaminated with African swine fever on its pig farms, as part of a racket to profit from the health scare. In July, China's agriculture ministry said criminal gangs were faking outbreaks of swine fever on farms and forcing farmers to sell their healthy pigs at sharply lower prices. And on Thursday, a state-backed news website, The Paper, reported that a pig farming unit of Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co Ltd had run foul of the regional aviation authority, as its transmitter had disrupted the GPS signal in the area. Answering questions from investors on an interactive platform run by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Dabeinong confirmed on Friday that its pig farming unit in Heilongjiang province had unwittingly violated civil aviation rules. "Our unit in Heilongjiang province. . . to prevent external people from using drones to drop pork with African swine fever virus, violated regulations by using a drone control equipment set," the company said. "We broke related radio regulations, although that was unintentional," said Dabeinong, adding that it had surrendered the equipment to authorities and was willing to accept a penalty. The company has a herd of 14,000 sows at its three farms and one breeding farm in Heilongjiang. The farms in Heilongjiang were operating safely, Dabeinong said, and security would be stepped up. China, the world's top producer and consumer of pork, has seen its pig herd shrink by 40% compared with a year ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said this week. Rising pork prices were a factor behind inflation's acceleration to its fastest pace in almost eight years in November. – Nampa/ReutersCox to pay US$1 bln to music labels, publishers over piracy infringement A U.S. District Court jury on Thursday found telecom company Cox Communications Inc liable to pay US$1 billion to music labels and publishers over piracy infringement on more than 10,000 works. Over 50 music companies, including Sony Music, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, had filed a lawsuit in July 2018, accusing Cox of ignoring infringement notices and allowing repeat offenders to continue using its service by allegedly turning a blind eye to the practice. "Cox received hundreds of thousands of notices of infringement and did not adequately respond or comply with its obligations to stop its subscribers from infringing on peer to peer networks," the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) said. Cox described the liability amount as "unjust and excessive" and said it plans to appeal the ruling of the Virginia court. "We provide customers with a powerful tool that connects to a world full of content and information. Unfortunately, some customers have chosen to use that connection for wrongful activity," the company added. NMPA said the ruling will serve as a warning to organizations that allow users to share information illegally. – Nampa/ReutersSingapore jails tanker captain in Shell oil heist case -reports A Vietnamese oil tanker captain has been jailed for over five years in Singapore for his role in a scheme that saw around $150 million of oil stolen from Shell's biggest refinery over several years, local media reported. Doan Xuan Than, 47, on Thursday became the second person to be sentenced in a case that also involves several former employees of the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell who allegedly conspired to siphon thousands of tonnes of oil from the firm's Singapore refinery, Singapore's Straits Times said citing court hearings and documents. The theft, which unfolded in the world's biggest ship refuelling hub and Southeast Asia's petroleum refining hub, shone a spotlight on an illegal oil trade worth tens of billions of dollars worldwide. Than's sentencing comes almost two years after Singaporean police raids that led to over a dozen arrests for alleged offences dating back to 2014 in which around 340,000 tonnes of gasoil were filched from Shell's refinery which sits on an islet south of Singapore's mainland. Charge sheets seen by Reuters allege that Than received over 1,000 metric tonnes of stolen oil from the Pulau Bukom refinery on the vessel MT Gaea on two occasions in December 2017. Another Vietnamese national was jailed for 2-1/2-years in July for related offences, the Straits Times reported. Besides the former Shell employees, there have been related charges filed against former employees of one of Singapore's biggest marine fuel suppliers, Sentek Marine & Trading Pte Ltd; a Singaporean who worked for Intertek, a British-listed company specializing in quality and quantity assurance, including for fuel products; and other Vietnamese nationals who allegedly received stolen property aboard ships. – Nampa/ReutersAustralia's Westpac names two members of money laundering review panel Australia's second-largest lender Westpac Banking Corp on Friday appointed two people to a panel which will assess the bank's accountability in a money laundering scandal. The lender named Ziggy Switkowski and Kerry Schott as panel members while a third panelist would be announced at a later date, it said in a statement. Switkowski has held senior management positions in various companies including Suncorp Group Ltd and Telstra Corp Ltd, whereas Schott has served as the managing director of Deutsche Bank AG and executive vice president of Bankers Trust Australia. Westpac was hit with a lawsuit in November from Australian financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC which accused it of 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering laws and facilitating payments between known child abusers. The independent panel members will oversee Westpac's response to AUSTRAC's allegations, which could cost the bank up to A$1 billion (US$689.40 million). Investors questioned Westpac's outgoing chairman Lindsay Maxsted at the bank's annual shareholder meeting in Sydney last week on remuneration arrangements for the independent panel and whether they would be paid out of shareholder funds. Westpac did not address these shareholder queries in its statement on Friday. – Nampa/ReutersVolkswagen takes one-two punch in Australia with fine Volkswagen AG took two raps in Australia on Friday as a federal court upheld a fine on the German car maker as part of a global diesel emissions cheating scandal and a regulator started penalty proceedings against one of its financial units. The court upheld a record A$125 million (US$86 million) penalty imposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to settle lawsuits brought on behalf of thousands of Australian customers caught up in the emissions issue from 2015. The settlement follows revelations that Volkswagen was using prohibited engine-control software to pass pollution tests. The company has already paid billions of dollars in legal costs around the world. ACCC Chair Rod Sims told reporters on Friday that the fine imposed on Volkswagen was just a taste of what companies could expect in the future. The agency would use its new expanded powers to punish illegal activity with the largest fines possible and penalties of more than A$100 million would not be unusual, he said. Volkswagen did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Separately, the country's corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), said it started civil penalty proceedings in a federal court against Volkswagen Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd for allegedly not making appropriate checks before giving out 49,380 loans to consumers. ASIC alleges that the unit, which operates nationally to provide borrowers with consumer loans to purchase new and used cars, did not make required inquiries into borrowers' living expenses or if the loans were unsuitable for them. ASIC said proceedings commence on a date to be determined by the court. A spokeswoman for the unit said it takes its compliance obligations seriously and that it was cooperating with ASIC. – Nampa/Reuters

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