06/11/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News

with Sally Bundock and Ben Bland.

A huge new leak of

financial documents -

known as the Paradise Papers -

has revealed how the powerful

and wealthy secretly invest vast

amounts of money in offshore tax

havens.

Live from London,

that's our top story.

The details are contained

in millions of documents from a law

firm which specialises in offshore

arrangements for

individuals and companies.

We will talk you through the detail

you need to know.

Also in the programme -

all smiles on the golf course

but President Trump is talking tough

on trade with Japan.

We'll get the latest

on Donald Trump's visit to one

of Asia's most important economies.

The markets starting flat, if not a

little lower, in Europe this week.

We will talk you through the winners

and losers.

And we'll be getting

the inside track on a startup that

tackles a topic that's long been

taboo - sanitary products.

For women in the developed world,

access to feminine hygiene products

is as easy as buying groceries.

But it's a very different story

in developing countries.

We speak to an entrepreneur

who helps young women get better

access to such products thanks

to a subscription service.

And we'd love to hear from you -

just use the hashtag BBCBizLive

to join in the conversation.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

The people who manage

the Queen's finances have

defended their investment practices

after the revelation that some

of her wealth has been placed

in two offshore funds.

It follows a huge new leak

of financial documents,

dubbed the "Paradise Papers",

revealing how the rich and powerful

invest their money in tax

havens around the world.

The BBC does not know

the source of the leak,

which contains more than 13 million

documents, mostly from one finance

firm based in Bermuda.

The vast majority of

transactions did not involve

any illegal activity.

Here's our Economics

correspondent Andy Verity.

Bermuda.

Where the law firm at the heart

of the biggest leak

in offshore history,

Appleby, has its head office.

The Queen is the head of state

here but until now we did not know

that some of her private money

was invested in tax

havens like this one.

The Duchy of Lancaster,

the private investment

vehicle for the Queen,

put £10 million, a small fraction

of its overall investments,

in offshore funds with $7.5 million

of that in one fund

in the Cayman Islands.

In 2007, it was asked to put

£350,000 into investment projects

including the purchase

of two retailers.

One was the company that owned

Threshers that later went bust

owning £70 million in tax,

and the other was BrightHouse,

the controversial rent-to-own

retailer which was recently forced

to compensate a quarter

of a million customers.

I am pretty furious with those

who advise her and that are bringing

her reputation into disrepute.

It is so obvious that

if you are looking after the money

of the monarchy, you have got to be

cleaner than clean and you must

never go near the dirty world

of money laundering,

tax avoidance, tax evasion or making

money in dubious ways.

The Duchy told us that

all of the investments were fully

audited and legitimate.

The documents also reveal that

Donald Trump's commerce secretary,

Wilbur Ross, has business links

with Russian allies

of president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Ross has a secret stake

in a shipping company

called Navigator Holdings.

One of its major clients is Sibur,

a Russian energy company.

The associate of Vladimir Putin,

Gennady Timchenko, is a shareholder,

and sanctioned by the US

government in 2014.

Mr Ross told us none of the funds

he managed ever owned a majority

of Navigator shares and never

met Gennady Timchenko.

More revelations are to come.

Andrew Walker, our economics

correspondent, is here.

After the Panama papers, now the

Paradise papers. What's being done

to tackle this?

Specifically on the

question of tax, and not all these

stories are about tax, but

minimising tax liabilities is a very

important theme in many of them.

There has been work going on in the

organisations for the economic

development, the OECD, they have

been working on getting countries to

do more by way of exchanging

information about the tax affairs of

citizens and other countries'

citizens who might be earning money

in your jurisdiction. On the

specific area of exchanging

information on request from another

tax jurisdiction, the OECD has said

there has been massive progress. A

recent assessment they have done

says the only country they regard as

being noncompliant at all is

Trinidad and Tobago. All of the

others, including some of the

countries featuring in the Paradise

papers, have at least had some

progress and are complying in some

respects. Where they say there has

been less progress is in doing this

information exchange automatically.

An arrangement whereby you wouldn't

need to have an initial suspicion

before you need to ask someone else.

Massive progress they say, but a lot

of campaigners will say there is

still a long way to go.

We have a

lot of details on the website and

some of the estimates on what

governments are missing out on in

unpaid taxes. As you said, the OECD

has been pretty much on it, but also

individual governments and

organisations like the European

Commission.

European Commission has

taken assertive action against some

individuals and countries in

relation to some companies, for

example, Appleby with Ireland. But

also Starbucks, Fiat, they found

themselves on the wrong end of

action. The striking thing about the

European Commission's action, is not

explicitly about the idea of

companies not paying the tax they

ought to pay, but it's more about

whether they have been receiving

some unfair state aid, some unfair

competitive advantage. One of the

things in the European Commission's

minds when they take this action is

that the biggest companies should be

paying their fair share.

Andrew

Wilkie, thank you.

For more in-depth comment

and analysis on that story.

Just head to bbc.com/news.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news...

The UK Prime Minister is set to warn

business leaders that it will not

protect the economy from "market

forces" when Britain

leaves the European Union.

Speaking at a conference held

by the Confederation

of British Industry,

Theresa May will tell firms

the government has to make

"strategic decisions" about how best

to support different

sectors of the economy.

Qatar Airways is buying

a near 10% stake in Cathay

Pacific for $660 million

giving the Middle Eastern airline

more access to China's

lucrative aviation market.

The deal will make the airline

Cathay Pacific's third

biggest shareholder.

It is the first known investment

by a Middle Eastern airline

into a South East Asian carrier.

US President Donald Trump has urged

Saudi Arabia to choose New York

for the initial public offering

of the state-owned oil giant Aramco.

Mr Trump told reporters aboard

Air Force One that he had

spoken to the Saudi king

and he would like Aramco

to consider US exchanges.

The Aramco IPO is expected to be

the largest in history,

raising around $100 billion

in much-needed revenue

for the kingdom.

It's Donald Trump's first

day of formal talks

with the Japanese Prime Minister,

Shinzo Abe, and he wants

to get tough on trade.

They had a round of golf and a

hamburger lunch on the first day. We

can go to Tokyo now. What do you

think will be the highlights of the

conversation that we will be privy

to? I'm sure a lot of it will be

kept under wraps.

Indeed. And North

Korea, not surprisingly, has been

top of the agenda. But trade issues,

some of the uncomfortable

disagreements between the two

countries, have been raised today. I

guess President Trump did not have

much of a choice. It was one of his

main promises during his election

campaign to tackle the huge trade

deficit America has. He has

previously accused Japan and China

for keeping their currencies on

fairly weak in order to take

advantage in exports. He went on to

say in front of Japanese business

leaders, why don't you make cars in

America instead of just ship them

over? That raised eyebrows because

Japanese companies have been making

cars in the United States since the

1980s. 75% of Japanese brand cars

sold in America built there. That

raised eyebrows here in Tokyo. In

terms of the currency manipulation,

he did not use that term, but he is

talking about that, he has spoken

quite tough it.

Thanks Art, good to

see you. I'm sure we will have more

on President Trump this time

tomorrow as he continues his tour of

Asia. The markets were pretty flat,

no big movements in Asia today. The

Dow Jones on Friday there. The price

of oil is in focus because of an

anti-corruption crackdown going on

in Saudi Arabia with Brent crude

above $62 per barrel at the Mount, a

two year high. The European markets

at the start of a brand-new week,

again, extremely flat. Last week was

packed with earnings news, central

bank action and a lot of action. I

think markets around the world will

take a breather. We can now head to

the news on Wall Street.

CBS will be reporting on Monday.

Profits may take a hit as retail

business was a little sluggish,

because of less foot

traffic in stores.

But investors will be clamouring

to hear any details on CBS's

potential bid for health insurer

Aetna.

It could give them more

leveraged in negotiating

prices with drug makers,

but it could also attract more

anti-trust scrutiny.

It could also help protect

the pharmacy business.

Especially now online retail giant

Amazon is getting into the business.

And the luxury handbag maker

Michael Kors will also be reporting.

The company cut costs and scaled

back their promotions,

which will help profits

for the quarter.

But the bag maker might continue

to report a slump in sales

is because of weakness in North

America.

And its efforts to sell more bags at

full price or with fewer discounts.

Joining us is Kathleen Brooks,

Research Director at City Index.

We had a busy week, as Sally

mentioned last week, lots of results

and central bank action, for those

who are fans of central bank news.

What are you watching this week?

It's quite quiet, but a couple of

things later in the week that I will

be looking at, pretty much UK

focused. Marks & Spencer results,

they did OK in the first half of the

year but can they continue that?

Homeware and clothing has been a

thorn in their side. That could set

them up well for the crucial sales

period we are entering. And Brexit

talks, could we move onto trade

talks in January? If these don't do

well as we move into December, that

could be off the cards and it could

wear on Sterling.

Theresa May

talking to the Confederation of

British Industry later today where

she will be addressing them, and

saying they need to approach this

from a rational point of view. Quite

a tricky audience for her today.

It

is a tricky audience but there seems

to be more optimism, certainly in

the city, compared to what it was a

year ago. UBS saying they will not

cut people out. Deutsche Bank

signing a new lease for a London

office.

A Bank of England warning a

week ago saying 75,000 jobs could be

on the move.

UBS said last week that

you have enough clarity now on

regulation for them to be willing to

keep people here for now. I think

that's quite significant.

Shifting

our attention to the Middle East,

and the purge going on in Saudi

Arabia, this anti-corruption purge,

it's having an impact on the oil

price, contributing to it.

Interestingly the oil price is going

up, even though you would think this

political instability could weigh on

the oil price and investments. It's

largely because this is part of the

new regime's plans to impose a new

economic regime and for that they

need oil to be above $60. That

pretty much guarantees production

cuts when Opec meets later this

month.

As far as financial markets

are concerned, we are coming to a

really interesting period, the

run-up to Christmas, it's so

important to countries around the

world. Retailers in particular. What

will investors be doing in the next

few weeks in positioning themselves

and the geopolitics in the

background? Donald Trump talking

about North Korea in Asia.

Interesting times.

It really is.

Stocks hit further records last

week. The FTSE 100 and SNP did. Will

we see stocks slide as he had to the

end of the year, or we will we get

the much touted Santa rally and see

stocks rise because volatility

remains low. Unless something pushes

of volatility, I don't see how

stocks will fall off a cliff.

Investors across the other side of

the Atlantic in the US will be

watching for the US jobless data out

later.

That was actually out on

Friday. That wasn't as good as

expected, but it's very difficult to

read the job data at the moment

because we had the September

hurricane destruction. It's all

about inflation and wage growth was

flat last month. That's very

difficult coming up to the December

Federal reserve meeting, where they

are expected to hike rates. It be

interesting to see how that

develops. They hike rates as fast in

2018?

Still to come:

How the plight of refugees fuelled

one UK entrepreneur to found

a start-up that helps women

in developing countries access

better sanitary products.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

It is a very important day for

Theresa May.

You can see on the BBC online page

what she will be saying. It is an

interesting audience. They have got

their real concerns about how the

Brexit negotiations are going and

basically what's ahead in terms of

Brexit negotiations. The CBI urging

craic Down on sexual harassment at

work. This is after the allegations

by politicians at Westminster.

Theresa May, details there, about

Theresa May due to tell business

leaders we won't shield the UK

economy from market forces. Let's

speak to the chief economist at the

CBI. Just tell us more about today's

reception for Theresa May. We are

talking about the fact that she has

a clear message she wants to deliver

to you, but will she be listened to?

Absolutely. I mean everyone is

excited to be here. We have got

leaders from across business and

government. We're here to hear the

Prime Minister and what she has to

say and we have got Jeremy Corbyn

and some great innovators from

British industry and we're really

keen to hear what they have to say.

Well, you say you're pleased to hear

what they have to say, buff said

that you are frustrated with how the

Brexit negotiations are going.

I

think there is two things that

British business wants right now and

that's a clear transition agreement

with the EU so that we have time to

prepare for that new relationship

with the EU. We'd like to see the

Prime Minister deliver that, but

importantly, we also want the focus

on the domestic agenda, on our

industrial strategy, on making sure

we have the right investment in our

infrastructure, and our young people

to make us ready for the modern

economy that's out there. There is

so much technological change that's

happening at the moment and we have

got to make sure we are match fit

for the 21st century.

We will have

to leave it there, thank you very

much. Chief economist at the Crib.

That gets under way later. We have

mentioned Theresa May is the main

keynote speaker today.

You're watching Business Live.

Our top story, a huge new leak

of financial documents,

known as the Paradise Papers,

has revealed how the powerful

and wealthy secretly invest

vast amounts of money

in offshore tax havens.

A quick look at how

markets are faring.

A new trading week. In Europe, they

are flat. No big moves in either

direction.

Now, we'll be talking about

the business of feminine hygiene.

And if you think about it, this

really does concern a lot of us,

around half the population

from the ages of about 12 to 50.

Each woman uses an average

of 12,000 sanitary products

during her lifetime.

And where you live can

make a big difference,

according to the UN.

One in ten schoolgirls

in Africa do not go to school

during menstruation or drop out

when puberty starts.

Freda is one company is hoping

to address this problem.

Every woman who signs up

for a subscription sanitary box

will see a percentage of the fee

going to provide hygiene products

to women and girls in Tanzania.

Afsaneh Parvizi-Wayne

is co-founder of Freda.

Good to see you. Welcome to the

programme. What was it that prompted

you to get Freda off the ground and

launch the idea.

I am from refugee

stock. My parents were Iranian

asylum seekers.

Watching the images you ask

yourself, what do they do when they

have their periods. I was looking at

innovation and how products were

perceived. Putting the two together,

I looked at them and was thinking

what do they do, market research

kicks in and you make phone calls

and the answer was nothing.

Menstruation does not feature on

their radar.

You go from the point

of compassion to starting a company.

This area of feminine hygiene is

dominated the big pharmaceutical

companies.

Well, they similar to the

journey that razor blades have

taken. These are products that are

hyper engineered. Mainly because

they want if you look at period care

products and what they give you is

significantly more than what a woman

needs. So therefore, looking at it,

thinking OK, let's look into what

goes into the product. I realised

there was a complete lack of

ingredient transparency. As

consumers, a lot of our products

have come under scrutiny.

With

sanitary products, you can imagine

the damage to the environment

because I guess these things...

They

are not sustainable.

They don't

break down quickly either. It is

like nappies.

Yes, very similar to

nappies.

The price?

What the service provides

you can choose the products you

want. As women we buy a box of this,

a box of that, pads and night pads.

Here, you don't. You pick what you

need and the postage is included. So

compared to other organic products,

the price is not as high. If you

compare it to milk and organic milk,

the price differential is higher

than big brand tampons with Freda

tampons. Another thing that's

important to mention we don't

actually ship our products to

Tanzania, we are supporting a

microenterprise where the women

produce reusable sanitary products

so they have a problem with waste.

In terms of your products,

everything about it is fairly

sustainable because I grilled you

about that?

You did and quite

rightly too.

They are made in a

factory in Switzerland...

Sweden.

Each step is a fairly sustainable

step.

A lot of products have the tag

natural organic, but the way they

are produced is not necessarily that

sustainable. So, our manufacturing

plant has, you know, uses, it is

almost zero carbon footprint. So

it's sustainable throughout its

manufacturing process and our

products are, you know, they are

either the tampons are 100% organic

cotton and the pads are made with

renewable material.

How have you

been received in the industry. Have

you had opposition? Or not? Are they

not concerned by you at the moment

because you are very small?

We are

very small and the market is

massive. Three big brands, there is,

and we just want to be an

alternative. We are not, you know,

as David versus Goliath as a

start-up, but globally, you know, we

are talking half the world's

population.

But it is, I mean it is

half the world's population and it's

half of the, you know, me and

whoever, we are spending on these

goods every single month. We don't

really have a choice on that?

Not

only that. That. It is not just

access in the developing world. It

is access in workplace and access in

schools. I was asked once what does

a Freda world looks like. When my

daughter's daughter goes to work or

my daughter goes to work, I want

them to think my mum used to have to

carry her own tampons to work

because we don't carry our own

toilet paper. Why are women expected

to be their own responsibility.

How

much of the ambition is that you not

just provide the products to women

in the developing world, but some of

the education, to get rid of the

praej disand stereotypes and the

taboos.

The project in Tanzania that

we are supporting, they go into

schools, we buy the pads from the

women who make them and so they get

menstrual health education and then

they get the pads free of charge.

So, it's education, and delivery of

the product together.

OK. It has

been fascinating. Thank you for

coming in.

Thank you for having me

on this programme.

We will see you

soon. Thank you too for your

company.