08/04/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Victoria Fritz

We have the latest from the Panama Papers -

as the spotlight continues to focus on the global elite's tax havens.

Live from London, that's our top story on Friday 8th of April.

The end of a week of stunning revelations, but no end to the fall

out from the leak that reveals where the rich stash their cash!

Also in the programme, as Marriott and Starwood set to tie

the knot to create the world's biggest hotel chain -

we ask, is it a marriage made in heaven for the customer?

And the markets - most of Asia down this Friday -

the yen up and Europe opened higher - we'll tell you what's

And we'll be getting the inside track on the turmoil

if there's light at the end of the tunnel for this

Let us know what you think of the stories we are covering.

The end of the week, but not the end of the fallout

As the spotlight shines on the world's richest and most

powerful people hiding their wealth in tax havens on a massive scale.

In Argentina, President Mauricio Macri has denied any wrongdoing

He's due to appear before a federal prosecutor

And the British Prime Minister has revealed he had owned shares

in an offshore trust set up by his late father.

On Thursday, David Cameron said he sold the shares before he entered

Number 10 in 2010 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits

Meanwhile, Panama's vice-president admitted revelations from the leak

are extremely bad for her country's image.

Isabel Saint Malo told the BBC, she believes her country had been

I want a separate, this is not an evaluation of Panama. This

publication has information on many jurisdictions, over 21 jurisdictions

where banks are based, not just one bank based in Panama, regarding

societies and offshores, 60% of those referred so far on the papers

are not in Panama. Only 20% are registered in Panama. So, this has

been given a name that has put our country in a wrong and bad way, of

focus of attention in the world. And it's very unfortunate, given that

the government we lead, it's a government that particularly and

strongly is committed to transparency. We reject and have

zero tolerance of irregular activities.

Panama's Vice-President Isabel Saint Malo speaking to the BBC.

And you can watch the full story in a special programme "Panorama,

tax havens of the rich and powerful exposed",

with Richard Bilton on BBC World News, at these

We can talk through some of this week's revelations now.

Extraordinary, 140 politicians and officials, 12 current or former

presidents, and 33 people who have been back listed, or companies

blacklisted, for dodgy dealings. There is a sense that all the good

has been thrown in with the bad, and that's the issue with the Panama

papers. Owning an offshore company or a shell company is not in itself

a crime or indicator of a crime. But you have the right to hold these

assets from the taxman if you want. It is a popular option for those who

have acquired money through illegal means or want to shelter their

income from the taxman. When politicians steal it means there is

less money for things like building roads and infrastructure. When they

give contracts to their friends, they are defrauding the tax payer.

Should we be surprised that people have been so incensed by this?

Absolutely not. The anger was at its most fierce in Iceland where the

Prime Minister had to step down. In that case it emerged that his wife

owned a stake in an offshore fund that had interests in Icelandic

banks which the Prime Minister was responsible for legislating. He

insists he has done nothing wrong but there was a public outcry and he

has had to step down. As the vice president, as we heard from the

Panama vice President, she said it was a bit unfair and rough on

Panama, because it could have been a leak from a law firm in Delaware or

Wyoming in the United States, or the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin

Islands, Jersey, the Isle of Man. Is there any difference between Panama

and those tax havens? No, but Panama has particularly strict rules on

banking and corporate security, so it's a prime location for those who

want anonymity as a key factor. There are other tax havens around

the world with varying degrees of secrecy and they might be worried

about this because the Panama papers have shown nothing can be guaranteed

to be secret. We will leave it there, but thank you for coming in

to take us through the latest. Ride-sharing company Uber has agreed

to pay $10 million to settle a dispute over its background

checks for drivers. Uber was sued in 2014 after it

claimed its vetting process was better than systems traditional

minicab firms used. Prosecutors said Uber had failed

to prevent 25 people with criminal convictions from becoming drivers,

including several sex offenders Uber said it had dealt with many

of the concerns in the case, and said settling was not

an admission of any wrongdoing. US telecoms giant Verizon is poised

to make a bid for Yahoo - according to a report by Bloomberg

News. It says the offer for the struggling

internet business could come next week, and would also involve buying

Yahoo's share of its Bloomberg suggests Google

is also considering a bid - however all three companies have

refused to comment. It will be a busy week next week for

us. Only you, I'm on holiday next week. Some of the stories breaking.

Not so much a profit warning here, but there has been a 16% slump in

shares following comments that trading conditions will will become

challenging. The retailer sells stylish and affordable quality

clothing and accessories. A UK story now, Brighton peers, an iconic part

of the South coast has been sold for ?18 million to the man behind Pizza

Express. It could be a big restaurant! It said they made

profits of around ?3.5 million last year. Only ?18 million, what's the

going rate for a pier. Luke Johnson believes it's around ?80 million.

In China, shoppers eyeing foreign goods online will find them more

expensive as of today thanks to new e-commerce rule.

Robin Brant in Shanghai is here to explain.

Good to see you. I believe Beijing has said it's all about putting

foreign goods and domestic goods on an even playing field. Who are you

kidding? If it's more expensive to buy foreign goods, it's good for

made in China. There is no doubt it's a better situation going

forward from today for many manufacturers and retailers of goods

that are made here in China. For years hence, the e-commerce giants,

and they truly are giants in this country, they have had preferential

tax arrangements when it comes to goods that are made abroad and then

bought by people here and then shipped into China, stuff that comes

in from Japan and South Korea, for instance, has been subject to what

is known as a parcel tax of around 10%. Those days are over. From

today, those goods will be subject to VAT, and also part of a

consumption tax meaning a price rise for plenty of consumers and a price

rise for plenty of businesses to deal with as well. The Chinese

government maintains this is about creating a level playing field, and

there is no doubt it's a bit of a prod for Chinese consumers to buy

more home-grown goods. There might be the issue of quality though, they

buy from Japan and Korea for a reason, and whether this is enough

to change the buying habits, we will have to wait and see.

Most of the markets in Asia will lower today. Tokyo, not lower

because the finance minister has said they will do all they can to

suppress the rise they have seen in the yen with the Japanese currency

reaching all-time highs, we haven't seen these figures in around 17

months. The stronger yen is not good for the Japanese economy, especially

the Japanese companies making goods at home to sell abroad, as it makes

it more expensive to buy here. The European markets opened higher not

too long ago. On the back of a strengthening oil price as well as

metal prices, quite dominant stocks, particularly in the FTSE 100.

shareholders of the Marriott Hotel chain - and luxury rival

Starwood Hotels and Resorts - are expected to vote

through a merger to create a giant in the hospitality industry.

The combined firm will have a stock market value of almost $30 billion

and will control over 5,500 hotels worldwide.

With brands like the courtyard, Marriott has 4200 hotels worldwide

including a large invention and resort business. To this it wants to

add the luxury and resort service that Starwood gives it guests, with

1300 hotels under some prestigious brands including Sheraton and Saint

Regis. Starwood is popular for business customers for its preferred

guests scheme, offering late checkout, room upgrades and personal

travel ambassadors to make bookings. Mariette has 54 million people in

its rewards scheme, but it is not as generous. Starwood's regular

customers are worried their exclusive privileges could be

watered down following a merger. The proposed tie-up between the two is

being seen as just the first of seven in the pipeline. Other Hotel

chains like Hyatt and Intercontinental also looking for

mergers. Nandini Ramakrishnan,

Global Market Strategist at JP Happy Friday and welcome to the

programme. That is talk about what's going on in the markets. We are

seeing a huge rise in the value of the yen and money going into

Treasuries and gold, and that spells trouble because they are all safe

havens. I think the first quarter of the year was very rocky for

investors. Many people are taking a step back now, going into

traditional safe havens like gold and yen, which is a particularly

safe currency in the region. We know a stronger yen is not good for

Japanese exporters or the Japanese economy, but it is also not good for

the global economy. I wonder if the finance minister of Japan has said

they will do something, to stem this rise in value. I guess the question

is, what is that, and when? They will not wait too long. And the

third question, will it work? These are the top questions discussed in

Japan. The high yen will hurt exports and the equity market, and

it's not causing inflation in Japan, which they are looking for. Nobody

is spending money and the market is stagnant. They want to provide

vouchers or stimulus to get the Japanese economy going. If it does

get going, it will help the worldwide economy as a whole. Japan

has not had inflation for ten, 12, a long time. All those arrows have

been firing. You know where I am going. There are three arrows of

economics, the monetary policy, like cutting of interest rates, and we

seem to be at a point where that can't push any further. The other

two, fiscal stimulus and reform, and we hope the Japanese government will

put some of that in place to get the economy going. You will come back to

take us through the papers. We will be talking about frankfurters. It's

the wurst story I've ever read. Testing its mettle -

the global steel industry faces more turmoil as thousands

of jobs are under threat. We will ask our guest

editor what's going on. You're with Business

Live from BBC News The level of productivity among UK

workers has fallen at its fastest pace towards the end of last year

since 2008, according Ben is at a factory in Rotherham

in South Yorkshire where they're trying to help businesses solve

the productivity puzzle. You are not on any machines, you are

going hard-core in a factory. And Stelling

staying well away from the cleaning machines. We call this a factory but

it is not a factory, they do the research and development, high-tech

things for applications that aeroplanes, power plants, and they

do one of them here you might be able to see, which looks like a

dishwasher. What they are doing here is coming up with better ways of

making the kit that goes into aeroplane engines and it is about

making it more efficiently and quicker and cheaply. The UK cannot

compete based on cost around the world but it can compete by doing

things better with innovation and research and development and doing

things more efficiently. It seems we are working longer, more hours, but

producing less and that is important because if we can be more efficient,

we can create things like this, we can sell things like this around the

world and the UK can hold its own on the international stage and means

for us there could be a pay rise because if productivity is low there

is no reason for employers to pay us more. If you sell this around the

world UK can hold its own on the international stage.

I think that looks like a piece of art. That is beautiful.

I want to share this with you. We heard from Marks Spencer 's

yesterday with sales falling, quite disappointing. A retail analyst made

an interesting observations saying there was little adjustment because

of Easter and food sales were down like the like. A big challenge for

the new boss, Steve Rowe. You're watching Business Live -

our top story - the end of a week of stunning revelations,

but no end to the fall out from the Panama Papers leak that

reveals where the rich And now for our regular

Friday slot, Simon Jack It is a big week for the steel

industry. And the pharma industry. The future of making British steel

is under threat. We thought we had a white knight with Gupta.

Tata Steel got into trouble, battling against cheap Chinese

imports and losing millions of pounds every week and he comes along

and says he might buy some of these assets of Tata Steel. But he does

not want to buy the bit where the people of Port Talbot are employed.

He wants to convert the blast furnaces into something that uses

less energy, recycling steel. He does not want to take over Port

Talbot, the South Wales plant, as it stands. He is aware the government

is desperate this will not fail. He is aware of his saviour status and

he is trying to extract concessions. The vision he is selling is not the

vision the faithful want to see. I think we have a way to go.

Meanwhile, the Business Secretary's reputation has to be rusting away.

You did say rusting away? I did. I thought I would get it in secretly.

Does anyone believe there are more people out there interested in the

business? There may be people interested in bits of it. One has

already bought bits of Tata, from a steel plant in Scunthorpe from Tata

and Liberty bought some of their plants in Lanarkshire. The plant as

it stands, it is a short list and the Business Secretary was in

Australia when the shock decision came and it looks like he was in the

wrong place at the wrong time and he has been scrambling. He did not come

out of the meeting in Mumbai with very much. Just saying they would

explore all options. They did not rule out nationalisation. There was

a deal done with the Scottish Government that temporarily took

control of a couple of plants very quickly before selling them on to

someone else. The government is hoping someone will come along. But

Mr Gupta is in a good negotiating position. We can talk about Pfizer

ruling out buying Allergan. This is where a

bigger company buys a smaller one and yet moved its headquarters into

the small the base, in this case in Dublin, because they pay lower

taxes. This is not the only deal the US Treasury has put a lid on because

we have seen similar ones. Another example of that. The US

administration is taking an aggressive approach to stopping this

happening. They realise they are losing tax dollars overseas. The

bankers are hopping mad. The administration has obstructed $370

billion of deals. More than previous administrations. Wall Street bankers

are saying it is a leftist rhetoric. You cannot stop people lowering

taxes. It is almost your patriotically duty! Bankers hoping

mad. Very much part of the sit with the administration and what they

have done previously. One thing people like Donald Trump and Tim

Cook have said and they do not offer the Greek, if you want to stop

chasing companies overseas, lower the taxes in the US. -- they do not

often agree. What are American companies supposed to do when their

tax rate is 11% higher than the average? It is a dilemma because

part of their cost bill will be tax. 35%. 20% in the UK. Tim Cook says he

wants to bring some of that money back. He said 35%, he would be sued

by shareholders if you did that. Asia's super-rich

and their super yachts. In focus aS the Singapore Boat Show

gets under way, why an increasing number of boat makers

are setting their sights This marina in Singapore holds some

of the city's most expensive parking lots. The waiting list to dock your

boat is several months long. Is this a luxury people are still splashing

out on, given the global downturn? I spoke to the organiser of the yacht

show and an Italian boat maker. Two years ago there were more than 90

yachts on display and this year 71, what has happened? It is about how

many we can get into the marina and this year we have a lot of big boats

and on this road there are five very big boats and we have limited space.

Who is buying? They are tycoons, industry leaders, people with a lot

of money. Millionaires and billionaires of mainland China, of

Hong Kong. A lot of companies say they look to Asia for growth and the

Chinese are driving demand, but we are seeing a downturn, we cannot pin

our hopes always on the Chinese? Bonetti is optimistic about the

Chinese market. China has surpassed the US with 570 billionaires in

mainland China plus 100 in Hong Kong and Taiwan, which is a large number

of potential clients. There is cautious industry optimism about

Asia, especially given the rising number of high net worth individuals

of the region, but if the downturn gets any worse, who is to say that

business will still be smooth sailing?

We are going to get straight into it. The first story, explain it,

Germany's AGM. Not providing enough sausages for shareholders. But the

highest dividend ever. Give and take for the shareholders. Apparently

there was one person at the buffet, taking the wurst and wrapping it up

to take it home. They calculated they should each get 2.3 wursts. The

AGM is six hours long. I am not surprised they were hungry.

I am sure there was other food on the buffet. Sauerkraut, not to

stereotype! Somebody from Daimler said they either get more sausages

or... Have a great weekend. That is it.

Plenty more business news throughout the day on the live page and world

business report. Goodbye.

It is Friday and the question is what is in store for the weekend?

Rain will clear to showers on Saturday. Breezy on