31/01/2017 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news, with Sally Bundock

Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia team up with Washington State in a bid

to defeat President Trump's travel ban, saying it is unconstitutional

More fines for Deutsche Bank, this time for its connections

with a Russian money-laundering plan.

Also in the programme: Shares in Sony fall during trade in Tokyo.

Technology giants are ramping up their battle against

Washington State's attorney-general is filing a lawsuit arguing the ban,

which covers seven countries, is unconstitutional.

Amazon and Expedia have both made court submissions on how

the executive order is impacting their businesses.

Microsoft is also backing the lawsuit which aims to overturn

the travel ban, and will even testify if needed.

Ford's chief executive, Mark Fields, has said we do not support this

policy, or any other that goes against our values as a company.

Big investment banks including JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have

Marianne Schneider-Petsinger is with the US and the Americas

Good to see you. So this is becoming more interesting, isn't it? Now

Washington State is going ahead with the legal battle, how will this play

out, do you think? It will be interesting to see and we have

already seen that Trump takes this very seriously and it will be

interesting to see the continued reaction we will see from the

business community. As you mentioned, the tech sector has very

strongly come out and said they do not support the measures that were

implemented. But others, Star Bucks, for example, or Ford, have also come

out. I would say it is much more measured, the response you have seen

from them. But taking that legal action is stepping up a gear. I

suppose it is the only route the likes of Microsoft and others can

take in this situation. They can take that route, but overall it is a

very fine line to walk. By stepping out like that they draw fire from a

president who is known to draw fire on Twitter from -- towards various

different companies. So again, it is a very fine line to walk. And for

the technology companies like Amazon, Google or Microsoft, key

members of staff are really critical to them, aren't they? It is about

the innovators, who may not necessarily be home-grown. Yes, for

the tech industry in particular, the kind of people with IT degrees or

engineering degrees are vital to them. They rely on those skills from

abroad. It is also a personal story for any of them. The late founder of

Apple, he is the son of Assyrian migrant many of the Microsoft and

Google CEO is have Indian roots so it is a very personal story to them

as well. And how damaging is all of this to brand America? It is the

story which is dominating globally, this particular issue, the ban on

travel. I think it does raise questions about the image of the

United States, and soft power is a key component of that, and it does

raise questions about how the United States is seen abroad as a beacon of

talent. Can you really go to the United States regardless of your

religion, regardless of where you are coming from, and make it just

depending on talent? The other thing is for a brand made in the USA, is

that something which is seen as beneficial or if you are producing

in the United States is that seen as a detriment? Is that seen as made in

America... Great again? We appreciate you coming in and giving

us your thoughts on that. As you know, this story is developing and

changing all the time and we will keep you right up to date here on

the BBC, online, on TV and on radio. But now let's talk about Deutsche

Bank. Germany's Deutsche Bank has been hit

with hundreds of millions It is all in relation to a Russian

money-laundering scheme which netted Tell us more. Hello, Sally. Yes, a

fine of $630 million, 430 million dollars going to local authorities,

the accusation is that between 2011 and 2015 a group of Deutsche Bank

executives based mainly in Moscow and London helped wealthy Russians

to send money overseas by arranging stock trades that had no economic

purpose other than disguising what the client was doing. These are

known as mirror trades. Clients would purchase stocks in rubles in

Moscow and at the same time their clients would sell the same stock at

the same price of the London office. It is not illegal in itself but

according to the US regulator that this is highly suggestive of

financial crime. And under the scheme the bank helped clients moved

$10 billion out of Russia. Thank you very much indeed. More bad news for

Deutsche Bank today. In other news: Japan's central bank

has finished its first meeting of the year by leaving

interest rates unchanged, but upgraded its forecasts for

the world's third-biggest economy. The Bank of Japan cited rising

exports, easy lending conditions and stronger government spending

ahead of the 2020 Olympics The former Brazilian oil and mining

tycoon Eike Batista has been transferred to a high-security

prison in Rio de Janeiro after being arrested

on arrival from New York. Once Brazil's richest man,

he has been accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes

to secure contracts Mr Batista has denied

any wrongdoing. General Motors and Honda say

they will jointly produce hydrogen fuel cell power systems

in the US from 2020. The firms say they will invest $85

million each to expand a production The firm says the fuel cells

could be used in self-driving cars, Shares in Sony fell by as much as 4%

during early trade in Tokyo today. Let's head to Rico Hizon

is in Singapore. Nice to see you. What is going on

with Sony? Well, you know, the bottomline is their lower earnings

guidance is battering their stock price in Tokyo, Sally. It is down by

4%. A major write-down of its movie business by more than $1 billion

from the October to December quarter depressing investors right now and I

am sure you have seen some of their major releases such as Ghostbusters,

Angry Birds, and the da Vinci Code sequel, Inferno, they failed to

ignite cinema-goers in the global box office and Sony is blaming weak

profits on online streaming services, which drained demand for

movies, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and other home entertainment services.

They have always been talking about their turnaround plan and this is

also currently not exciting investors. They are planning to

strengthen markets outside the US, including India and China, improving

intellectual property and offloading non-core businesses, which is not

giving the share price boost this point. The company expects releases

this year including Spider-Man the Movie, due to be released mid-year,

and everyone is waiting for the final numbers of Sony, which will be

released on the second of February. We will have to see what the final

numbers are. Lovely to see you. Let's see how markets are doing in

Asia. This will be a really quiet week for Asia. Australia's open,

Japan is open, and we have some of the markets, Malaysia for example.

In South Korea is open today. Most of the other markets like China and

Hong Kong are close to the Chinese New Year holiday break. Mainland

China, no action at all this week. We have some downside on markets.

Energy shares are low, the oil price has been falling and in the US we

saw some losses. No surprise at all, it is in reaction to this travel ban

coming from President Trump, the impact that may have on stocks

listed on the main market in the US. That is all for me now. See you