Amanda Morrall details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news of a proposed new tax in the U.S., more austerity measures in Greece and greater than expected losses in the UBS rogue trading scandal.
After vocal complaints about how the rich aren't taxed enough, Warren Buffett might finally get his way
U.S. president Barack Obama is set to announce tomorrow a proposed new tax named in Buffett's honour. (See more here at Bloomberg).
The so-called "Buffett Tax" will be aimed at those earning more than US$1million a year. Buffett has publically confessed that he pays less tax than his secretary -- Just over 17%.
While the Buffet Tax, if adopted, would not generate significantly greater revenues, it is expected to curry favour with Democratic voters.
And in Europe, the Greek debt drama continues.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreo cancelled a scheduled trip to the U.S. this weekend to hold an emergency meeting today with his cabinet. (See more comprehensive coverage at Reuters).
The session is in advance of an IMF meeting with EU officials Monday who want assurances from Greece it has a decisive plan to deal with its budget shortfall before releasing a €8 billion tranche of bail-out money.
The Greeks are expected to discuss public sector lay offs and cuts to pensions as a way bridge their deficit.
Meanwhile, Swiss Bank UBS is trying to account for one of its own financial vanishing acts. The bank revised its estimated losses from a rogue equity trader from $2 billion up to $2.3 billion. (More details here from Reuters).
Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel, in an interview with Swiss television, took responsibility for the incident and said the bank would be revising its strategy as a result.
"It is obvious that these incidents will have an influence on the strategy of the investment bank," he said.
"I will bear all the consequences of the incident. They will be announced as soon as we put them in practice.''
London trader Kweku Adoboli was charged on Friday with fraud and false accounting dating back to 2008. Adoboli allegedly concealed his risky deals by creating fictitious hedging positions in internal systems.
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