:00:00. > :00:00.new supertax broke down. Those are the headlines. It is time
:00:00. > :00:24.for the latest money news. America's mortgaging and financing
:00:25. > :00:30.giant Fannie Mae Susan nine of the world's biggest banks over alleged
:00:31. > :00:33.interest rate manipulation. Recapitalise or else. The
:00:34. > :00:41.International Monetary Fund puts an ultimatum to Slovenia's ailing
:00:42. > :00:46.banking industry. A warm welcome to you. This is World
:00:47. > :00:51.Business Report. In just a minute we will also be taking a look at the
:00:52. > :00:55.privatisation of Nigeria's actress said Esat. America's biggest
:00:56. > :01:00.mortgage giant Fannie Mae is suing nine of the world's largest banks.
:01:01. > :01:09.It accuses them of colluding to manipulate interest rates. It is
:01:10. > :01:12.seeking $800 million in damages. The troubles of the financial
:01:13. > :01:16.services industry continues with the latest development that US mortgage
:01:17. > :01:20.finance company Fannie Mae is suing nine of the world's biggest banks
:01:21. > :01:26.for manipulating the interest rates. We are talking about what is known
:01:27. > :01:29.as LIBOR, standing for London interbank offered rate. It is a
:01:30. > :01:36.global benchmark interest rate that is used around the world to set a
:01:37. > :01:39.range of financial transactions, worth an estimated $300 trillion.
:01:40. > :01:42.Some of the banks that are being sued, they have a ready the admitted
:01:43. > :01:50.to wrongdoing in order to settle with the wrong doing `` the
:01:51. > :01:54.regulators. Fannie Mae is seeking more than $800 million in damages.
:01:55. > :02:03.Its smaller rival, Freddie Mac, also filed a similar lawsuit. It accused
:02:04. > :02:07.them of knowing about the manipulation and not doing anything
:02:08. > :02:11.to stop it. The banks to face private lawsuit as well, but Amla
:02:12. > :02:15.said that Fannie and Freddie are the type of plaintiffs that can be
:02:16. > :02:26.expected to put up a tough fight. `` but analysts.
:02:27. > :02:29.Slovenia has been warned by the IMF that it urgently needs to
:02:30. > :02:35.recapitalise its troubled banks as the country tries to avoid an
:02:36. > :02:38.international bailout. Slovenia's largely state owned banking sector
:02:39. > :02:44.is carrying 8 billion euros of bad debt, that is waiting for the
:02:45. > :02:49.results of external stress testing before taking any action. But
:02:50. > :02:58.analysts worried that the country may not have sufficient reserves in
:02:59. > :03:05.order to do so. Just how bad is the situation? It is pretty bad.
:03:06. > :03:10.Slovenia has had a banking crisis for the last five years. It does
:03:11. > :03:17.have some real strengths. The banking it self, although the
:03:18. > :03:22.problems are big, the sector it self is small in relation to the economy.
:03:23. > :03:33.The government's debt levels are fairly low. Why has it got to the
:03:34. > :03:38.stage? Is it a failure of government policy? Definitely so. They join the
:03:39. > :03:42.euro in 2007, there was a conversion process. They went on a lending
:03:43. > :03:47.boom, particularly to the construction set. All of those
:03:48. > :03:53.things went badly during the financial crisis and they have not
:03:54. > :03:59.really dealt with it. The economy has been and a slump. Now the IMF
:04:00. > :04:05.has told the bank that they have to recapitalise, but can it afford to
:04:06. > :04:08.do that? It has to put aside 1.2 billion euros in order to
:04:09. > :04:12.recapitalise the banks. The consensus is that the hole in the
:04:13. > :04:23.bank balance sheets will be substantial glee bigger than that.
:04:24. > :04:28.`` substantial glee. If it acts aggressively, it will be able to
:04:29. > :04:35.raise capital on the markets. It has a good chance that it will do. There
:04:36. > :04:41.is also the question of timing. How do you transfer the bad loans from
:04:42. > :04:46.the banks? It is quite complex. You can decide to recognise losses now
:04:47. > :04:58.or later. The timing of it can be quite flexible.
:04:59. > :05:03.Africa's biggest privatisation will be completed on Friday, with the
:05:04. > :05:08.handover of the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria to a series of
:05:09. > :05:12.private consortia. But the $3 billion sell`off has upset many of
:05:13. > :05:17.the country's electricity workers. They are threatening to plunge
:05:18. > :05:24.Nigeria into darkness on Friday, in a strike of the unpaid redundancy.
:05:25. > :05:29.The droning of generators is a sound that you have to get used to when
:05:30. > :05:34.you live in Nigeria. The State provides very few hours of
:05:35. > :05:39.electricity every day, Sir Nigerians are forced to rely on these noisy
:05:40. > :05:43.machines to get back `` to get by every day. 60 million Nigerians rely
:05:44. > :05:47.on generators, both at home and at work. They are run by fuel, which
:05:48. > :05:54.makes running business very expensive. Nigeria produces one
:05:55. > :05:59.tenth of the electricity that South Africa produces. And its population
:06:00. > :06:04.is three times larger. It is a pop `` problem that has gone on for
:06:05. > :06:09.decades. There has been little to show for the government's reform.
:06:10. > :06:14.Money has gone down the drain with corruption. In the past few years,
:06:15. > :06:19.after a lot of deliberation, the government is now privatising the
:06:20. > :06:24.powers that. The assets belonging to the state are being handed over to
:06:25. > :06:27.private investors, both local and international, who will take over a
:06:28. > :06:33.generation and distribution of electricity. Economists say that if
:06:34. > :06:38.this is successful, it could bring down the cost of business by 40%. It
:06:39. > :06:41.could be attractive to big businesses, particularly
:06:42. > :06:46.manufacturers, who will be able to provide jobs and it will create a
:06:47. > :06:50.boost for the economy. Labour unions are saying before the state`run
:06:51. > :06:54.agency becomes defunct and the workers are laid off, these workers
:06:55. > :06:59.have to be paid their allowances. The unions are threatening to go on
:07:00. > :07:07.strike if these workers do not let their pay.
:07:08. > :07:12.China's near `` manufacturing activity grew at its fastest paced
:07:13. > :07:23.in 18 months. It is leading to signs of recovery.
:07:24. > :07:27.Some good Dato coming out of China. Economic fundamentals, if you take a
:07:28. > :07:36.look at the numbers, they are improving on the mainland. The
:07:37. > :07:44.official index rose to 51.4 in the month of October. That is compare to
:07:45. > :07:48.51.1 the month before. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion. But
:07:49. > :07:52.their row still some sceptics who were cautioning that the underlying
:07:53. > :07:58.Dato suggests a strong economic rebound. `` there were still.
:07:59. > :08:12.Monetary policy tightening will likely continue. Also today, HSBC's
:08:13. > :08:16.index is being released. It surged to a seven`month high in October.
:08:17. > :08:22.China is on track for a gradual growth of recovery. The stronger
:08:23. > :08:28.manufacturing growth momentum has helped employment expand for the
:08:29. > :08:31.first time since March. They believe it will support private consumption
:08:32. > :08:47.growth in the coming months. Despite the positive news, this is welcomed
:08:48. > :08:54.cautiously by the markets. A bit of our venues. The UK's Royal
:08:55. > :08:58.Bank of Scotland has suspended two trade is in connection to a growing
:08:59. > :09:03.investigation into the possible mutilation of foreign exchange
:09:04. > :09:08.rates. The news follows reports that London based executives at three
:09:09. > :09:13.other major banks have been placed... Regulators in the UK, the
:09:14. > :09:17.US and Switzerland, are looking at whether the banks colluded to set
:09:18. > :09:21.exchange rates. Let's have a look at the Asian
:09:22. > :09:31.markets. They are quite mixed on Friday. Tokyo was hit by an 11%
:09:32. > :09:37.slump in Sony. It's cut its profit forecast by 40%. Shanghai and Hong
:09:38. > :09:41.Kong were being lifted by those better than expect Chinese
:09:42. > :09:58.manufacturing data, but they are down across the board.
:09:59. > :10:02.A big story in the UK is the exams regulator for England has announced
:10:03. > :10:07.changes to the GCSE, which it says are the most mythic and for a
:10:08. > :10:11.generation. The first subjects to be affected are English literature,
:10:12. > :10:15.English language and maths. Assessment will be by exam only.
:10:16. > :10:16.Instead of grade a star