we take a look at predatory lending and some of the unusual forms it takes around the world plus the human baseball federation thinks a deal with major league baseball in the u.s. signaling a possible historic shift sports producer regina him joins us to discuss plus we look back at social media and regulation with miles edwards all of that directly ahead but first we have some headlines let's go. worldwide market volatility leads are global reports today as twenty team closes on a scene that feels like a prelude to even greater drama in the coming year on december twenty thirty first twenty eighteen for major global stocks exchanges china c.s.i. three hundred south korea's kaspi the hang seng in hong kong and germany's dax as well as the m.s.c.i. emerging markets index were all in bear market territory defined as a twenty percent drop off from a twelve month high meanwhile a number of other major global exchanges including the u.s.

based tech heavy nasdaq are more than half way to bear territory so how should investors prepare for twenty nineteen stay tuned to boom bust as always and buckle your seatbelt. we know circle back briefly to a story that feels strangely appropriate for the end of twenty eight seen a fifty point one percent stake in gatwick airport the second busiest airport in the united kingdom and its busiest in europe has been sold to the airport management subsidiary of vinci say a france for two point nine billion euros the airport was sold even as the drone citing reports that caused the grounding of more than a thousand scheduled flights from gatwick over three days starting on december nineteenth remain unexplained over the weekend the police chief of sussex giles' york apologized to a husband and wife who were held by his force for thirty six hours before being released and cleared of suspicion and. at what case in another indication of the

current level of confusion chief york denied the drones flown by police had caused a security scare and said the police do believe that unauthorized non-police drones were seen at work after a lower ranking officer suggested the drone reported drone sighting reports were entirely mistaken the truth is out there. you've most likely heard of or help possibly even use one of the many payday lender services available for people who need to borrow a few bucks the problem is these micro loans are known to take people further down the rabbit hole than when they started and where it is these predatory services will probably get just just get worse in the united states at least in twenty nineteen with the help of the trumpet ministration we're joined by our chief alex my hell of a chance ron to take you take a deeper look at the issue alex just quickly first give us a breakdown how do these services work if you go to a pretty payday lender or a predatory lender. you know daniel the you know what i started this story is that

you know that there's this is going to be one of those not too happy stories in the deeper you dig into it the worse it gets so first let's define what these companies are what these banks are lenders really what these lenders do now are going to the consumer financial protection bureau we're going to be hearing this name a lot so this this these are the facts the big give us there basically say these payday loans are defined as short term and high cost loans of five hundred dollars or less that's typically do on the consumer's next payday so you've got that about two week period to pay it back out to give us a perspective of just how big or how much of what the market these loans take up if you go back to two thousand and fifteen the federal reserve big survey of financial companies gives you a breakdown twenty six percent of consumer credit went towards installments of cash loans don't vehicle sold on small loans these type of loans these payday loans smaller loans you know break that down we're looking about thirty one percent for motor vehicle loans and leases and out. consumer to consumer lender so you see that

it takes up a big chunk of the market now how do they do this let's check out this graphic this gives you the complete breakdown of how people obtain these payday loans seventy three percent of the micro loans are obtained through brick and mortar operations these are usually in poor neighborhoods in the country is i know that's definitely here in canada it works that way and in the states and on top of these areas that are these lenders that are brick and mortar there's another twenty three thousand payday lenders across the u.s. lives so people are getting on all sides of what happens here is people that are strapped cash they're strapped for cash and they need these to either pay the rent or pay for food or pay for little things in life and then they just start going into a bishop cycle of trying to repay these loans the consumer financial protection bureau let's call it the c.f.p. from now on these guys look they say that twenty five percent of the people that get into these loans alone borers go nine times around before they actually get out

of the system and get maybe money from relatives or someplace else just try to walk away from this vicious vicious downward cycle now alex if you're going to a payday lender you're already in a tight spot obviously but what how is the trumpet ministration set to make things even tougher for paid a loan borrowers in the coming year you know what we've seen some regulations come into place and you know if you're saying you know it's exactly this i mean there this is the problem the the interest rates on these little loans are obscene they're absolutely massive let's just look at the check out this map so this map breaks down what the united states there's there's a lot of states as well as the u.s. military that protect people from these triple digit triple digit interest rates just absolutely massive north carolina georgia arkansas they also legislation come into place but then you have states like mississippi which is the poorest state in the u.s. where this is happening like crazy over one thousand payday lenders in mississippi we're talking about brick and mortar here they can charge anything. or hundred

percent even up to nine hundred fifty percent that's some of the rates that we're seeing now compare that to credit cards we're looking at twelve percent to thirty percent so it's absolutely massive how does the trumpet ministration kick in here while the c.f.p. has a new person that's a charge mick mulvaney he's been put in by trump they were aggressively trying to change things now they've pulled back and the high interest lenders it looks like the new acting director is basically going to do nothing about it and this will just continue well looks bad here in the u.s. alex certainly pulling back around the world you know in some other countries if you don't pay back high interest loan you know sometimes it can intersect with a sort of privacy invasions and you go into one particular aspect of this what can you tell us about that in about the form of these loans chaiken china yeah china's a big one here i mean you know the u.s. canada other places you could take a loan against your car gets your vote against something or other people there naked pictures that that's what they're going for and so these lenders they go

millenniums are the big target here there's a boat from one thousand nine hundred one hundred seventy five million forty million are taking these small loans out anything a thousand bucks two thousand bucks to buy burgers with they're putting down payments on cars whatever they're doing it this whole thing is that these people now are targeting women the lenders especially women they're taking naked photos and they're saying if you don't pay things back you know what this is going to happen or to put your picture on the internet we're going to show it to your family and women are actually falling into this trap some of these guys even go as far as telling the woman you know you want to pass back you have to become a sex worker so this is absolutely a different level as you can imagine of this whole thing obviously you know you're looking at china these are not big loans of the chinese government back in two thousand and sixteen and looked at this whole they saw what was happening they wanted to crack down they crack down as much as they can but we still see it happening to this day there's a lot of victims of a lot of this predatory practice that's going on basically around the world. really

a sobering report there a brave new world alex is removing a twenty one thousand. thank you. there's a remark agreement between major league baseball and players in cuba that might help along with financial implications for that country r.t. america's sports producer regina him breaks down the newest deal. baseball players in cuba have a reason to celebrate as a new deal is reached between major league baseball and the cuban baseball federation the move comes after a deal was struck between the two organizations allowing cuban players to sign big league contracts similar to those for players under contract in japan or south korea in a statement by the end i'll be their agreement was in part to end the dangerous trafficking of cuban players who desire to play professional baseball in the united states a practice that has been documented in legal proceedings and media reports and which has caused significant hardship to cuban players and their families current

players in the major leagues such as los angeles dodgers yasiel puig chicago's white sox jose abrade you and the new york mets un s s but is have faced challenges in their path to be with some reaching the u.s. after being smuggled by drug gangs according to a study by the university of san diego cuban players made up the second highest number of athletes in twenty fifteen that number of cuban at least is expected to rise of the announcement of the new agreement while cuban players will still have to apply for work visas and abide by the strict rules cuban baseball federation present a nazi of the as no this is good for the country if this is going to this is the legal way the secure way which we have always dreamed of for our children and their families that our athletes can join any league in the m.l. being final details of the agreement need to still be worked out between the two leagues but many in baseball see this as a large step forward for both the m.l. be an athlete still in the cuban system. and joining us now to

unset to discuss more is r t is regina and. there's great report there. and you know what if you are one of these cuban baseball players and you're subject to the supreme and what kind of financial benefits will disagreement for a cuban player compared to the stars koreans and so cuban players don't make a lot a lot playing in their national league in fact when they played in the cuban baseball series in two thousand and sixteen they are and the players are supposed to earn three thousand two hundred sixty four dollars which is actually six times what a player would make in a year that is an obscene amount of money for the cuban baseball player so you go to the major leagues you see this huge jump uss that is one hundred ten million dollars playing with the mets can you sign that kind of deal and you're looking at money that put your family in a better financial future that gives you maybe more of a cushion than you would playing back in your home country and that is the incentive here that is what they're trying to get them to do now the cuban baseball federation does take a cut of the player's contract so if you have

a one million dollar contract they'll take about twenty five percent if you sign a minor league deal fifteen to twenty feet take you know someone who's twenty five years or older played in the cuban system for six years so this is really an incentive to try to get them to come and play in the major leagues and also to set them up better financially at home with their families and you know with the cuban government still being a player in this. and the u.s. embargo which the cold war period in cuba still being in effect does does this agreement violate the embargo which the cubans call the blockade can this actually move through under the current legal status quo under the current administration it is going to be challenged trump has said that this is illegal florida senator marco rubio has also agree that they're going to find a way to make this not happen which you know is a shame because under the obama era when this started coming about three years ago there was that loophole there was the real action of tensions you didn't see that these players would have to go through as many loopholes now if this agreement does go through they still will have to go to a third country to get that visa to come work in the united states however they

would not have to defect like previous players did or come in on drug boats or be small going to the country but some are arguing that that twenty. i percent feel that the government is indirectly getting a castro is it a vice president on the board of this cuban baseball federation that money they says will be for baseball purposes however it may not and might actually go back to the government right and that dynamic of the players not being able to sort of fully you know use all the opportunities are available without without without defecting sort of speak that's that's been an irritant that's been the thing that's kept people from becoming maybe players from getting involved or made them feel like it was you know somehow not patriotic but if the agreement were to go through and now the issue were to be could this be sort of stepping stone to other relaxations attentions and improvements of relations i think that sports in a whole especially when you have those financial background in these implications with the trade sanctions that are going on relaxing this would almost be a way of showing that the tribe administration while still with their foreign

policy on cuba is still very strict there could be some easing in certain areas and i think overall with the large cuban populations south florida and all over the united states you really want to maybe have that kind of show i mean baseball is huge in cuba everyone is watching it people love playing it and this would almost seem like kind of a good friendship gesture in a way well let's hope so let's hope so moving into the new year regina hamm thanks for coming to discuss the business of sports time now for a quick break but hang here because when we return we analyze the future of social media and regulation with international regulatory attorney miles edwards and as we go to break here are the numbers at the closing bell.

the year out there. time first of major predictions following twelve months guaranteed to be one hundred per cent accurate. hello my name's peter and i've been living in bushnell for about seven years and this is a film about just some of the crazy things i've got. time. on the road to get up. let me go this is published or do a deep fry because the pirates are going to ask me. i still does not get the submission. i was. i. printed the predicate. the.

country's gone into a nihilistic fever. thank god it hit the road and get out to traveling across america to find what makes america the charlatans the genius is this the quintessential american hero this is it we've come to a point around which hollywood has gotten something we always are on the margins something. called culture. we're starting last with is going to headed east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast i think i want to leave now doesn't do any more than that we may be completely different by the end of this. few.

as for the eighteen and one of the more familiar names on this year's financial crime beat wells fargo bank is in the headlines again after agreeing to pay five hundred eighty five million dollars to settle a bundle of related allegations that the bank pushed unwanted products including life an auto insurance on wells fargo customers the total payment will be allocated among fifty states and the district of columbia though california will take a large portion of one hundred forty seven point eight million dollars from the total investigators found at wells fargo charged and sometimes over charged many who never even agreed to buy the products the various products pushing practices became apparent after september twenty sixth seen when federal regulators began looking into wells fargo's policy of effectively coercing sales associates into

opening new customer bank accounts without authorisation moving into twenty nineteen wells fargo remains under rare sanction from the us federal reserve imposed in february that prevents the bank from increasing its total assets until was wells fargo is able to convince the fed that it has sufficiently addressed the problematic policies and practices. meanwhile the hong kong monetary authority. meanwhile the hong kong monetary authority or h k m a has announced a fine roughly equivalent to one point six million u.s. dollars against j.p. morgan chase for failures of due diligence and preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism in a statement the h k m a credit said the hong kong branch of the global mega bank with having taken action when notified of the lapses however the authority also stipulated that j.p. morgan hong kong must appoint an independent advisor to ensure that the problems i

notified by h k m a are fully resolved. revelations about facebook user data be shared with firms like cambridge and a little earlier this year people all around the world were in an uproar facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg testified before the u.s. house and senate and in the u.k.'s parliament and importantly at the end of may the european union finalized what is known as the general data protection regulation or g.d.p. are our regular boom busters may recall that we had privacy expert miles edwards on the program to explain g.d.p. art he did a splendid job well now legislation or deuced in the u.s. congress would do some of what g.d.p. are has done in the states and we are fortunate to have with us again global regulatory authority miles edwards miles thank you so much for being here thank you bart for inviting me back well it's such an interesting and important topic for us

as consumers but for these big businesses these big bank stocks etc so let's start with this senate bill introduced by democrat amy char and republican john kennedy the it's a called a social media privacy protection and consumer rights act of two thousand what would it do miles well the first thing is it's really remarkable to me that right now in the united states there are no comprehensive data protection or privacy laws unlike what we spoke about before with the g.d.p. are you and so we have a blank slate we have a tablet or regarding these rules regulations in the united states what this act is going to do specifically and it's very narrow in its scope are two things one it's going to say if there's any agreement you you go online and you click through it has to be clear conspicuous and in plain english and i think that's part of the problem because some of these sort of things we agree to we don't even recognize

we're doing it and the second thing it gives all. all of us more control over our data that says we can delete the data if we wanted to we don't have to opt in to have the data sold to third party sort of the you know the whole problems that we had with cambridge and it also says that we have the right to see what data do you have and where is that data being used so in that respect it does make some strides but again only in that social media contacts yes very interesting that would be helpful i mean the two things one you talked about having the disclosure be something that's readable i remember in my old job i would say we should get rid of thirteen pages of disclosure and having something in thirty six point read letters that mean something so that consumers because otherwise you're just reading through this platter of words that don't really mean anything no offense to attorneys are important to have right but consumers need to have the

important information but which companies would be impacted by this of course facebook but other ones out there google perhaps well it's interesting under the act we have a term it's called computer online platform and that is any computer platform in which you disclose personal information about yourself so absolutely all the social media sites the twitter the facebook the lincoln is going to be you know covered by this but then it's also one of the other firms where wasn't originally intended to be covered so what about your cafe mom and what about your amazon but what about part of your children want to have a website to raise money for school trips and they capture your credit card information and information about you well you know technically they could be considered a computer platform subject to the act which means that they're going to have to have a privacy policy in place and conspicuous you know agreement so i'm not sure that

that's. what the act was intended to do but the way that the act is written now it's a very broad in the firms that it's going to cover why when you talk about this my regulatory mind goes that a million miles an hour i'm like well of course you don't want to cover a kid raising money for something but then use and you say what so there's got to be an out for that and there would be that give discretion to the agency but then again you think well somebody could take advantage of that it really could be as you very careful about and you have to be careful because the way the act is written it delegates further rulemaking responsibilities to the federal trade commission and as we're seeing now we're in an increasingly deregulatory environment so the question is under the current administration how effective is the f.t.c. going to be to enact rules and regulations for a bill they were never really part of in the beginning you know if the regulators don't want to do it they can essentially or merely rate much of the law by

implementing it with no real condition no bells and whistles it's always a tough balancing act you know i think we need to prescriptive in the law and then you have congress deciding on things that they don't have any business deciding on and then having the regulators right micromanaging and doing to be right and then you have you know representative kennedy saying you know what listen it's not that you know i don't like facebook but i don't want to regulate them out of business so you know a lot of mixed messages that that we're hearing from congress and a lot of that is reflected in what we're seeing now in the act and one of the key things when you have a rule or regulation is having enforcement or penalties for noncompliance well first of all there's no private right about action for example if you have a situation where you believe your privacy and data has been breached you're going to have to look at state remedies under state contract laws under the act itself you're going to have to go and make a complaint to the f.t.c.

and they're going to have to take action against that firm so right now. are looking at remedies which are not as robust as we're finding under g.d.p. oh you know big of g.d.p. are i know you told us last time you were with us that part of the goal was to harmonize throughout the twenty seven twenty eight member you member states to have some consistency when i was doing financial regulation one of the goals we had was to try and make it roughly can comment u.s. regulations with other things or have others and relate to us what about this law is there any language in it that might be similar to g.d.p. are there is so i was with you before we talk about article twenty two right you know the famous article twenty two that says that firms in the european union cannot use your data aggregated to market to you so we have the same thing here we don't use the term aggregate we use the term leverage but the same thing applies where our advertisers cannot use that data for their purposes now we have for the

other areas as far as the agreements and as far as what can be done with the data almost harmonizes with the g.d.p. are but again you know the act is eighteen pages long g.d.p. or with sixty eight pages there's a lot that was just left out so by omission it's not going to look exactly like or have the forcefulness of the g.d.p. are miles before we go i want to ask you about your prognosis for this i mean it's an election year and there's not going to be much happening in congress with the midterm elections but what do you think's going to happen on this issue or right now the bill has gone nowhere hasn't even gone into committee were i think we're going to be going is that all the digital media firms through their trade organization which is the end in the media association will come together and form almost like a self regulatory organisation we're going to say we're the best people we're place best to enforce these privacy laws we have the technology and we have the money let

us do what we already have a code of ethics we're down the path. that is a very promising model especially now where congress does not have to spend money or tax or regulate and also another thing that's really important before we close is that there's really a mix consequence to this because of this act goes through and may drive up advertising revenues completely and what you may find yourself doing is now you're going to have to pay for what's been given to you free such as facebook twitter and linked in very interesting and that my one closing comment on these regulatory organizations miles because you know they're in the financial sector i was in them and they can be really great things but if the industry does not move fast enough and set one of these things up then some other cambridge analytical circumstantial happen some other big bombshell and then you may have congress rush to judgment and pass a bill which probably won't fit very well that regard so they should get on it miles

edwards global regulatory authority miles thank you great day with you whether it's art as always but. that's it for this time see you in twenty nineteen. now design as along today was all about money laundering first to visit this industry difference. this is a good start well we have our three banks all set up here maybe something in your something in america something overseas or the cayman islands or do we do all these banks are complicit in their tough talk or say we decided to give him a call and say hey i'm ready to do some serious money laundering ok let's see how we did while we got a nice luxury watch for max and for stacy on beautiful jewelry and how about.

luxury item bill for max you know what money laundering is higher than the. watch guys record. oh you will both. be. going up well what i mean.

you know the yellow superman for me and he can see as you know if you. if you're in the family leave you. i'm with you more in there baby when was in the mud almost nothing even when he was up in this moment in the movie it was a defense. nobody could see coming that paul's confessions would be that prevalent in the way shape or form. if you look at any interrogation out there what you'll see is fred promise threat promise threat lie a lie a lie the process of interrogation is designed to put people in just that frame of mind make them uncomfortable make them want to get out and don't take no for an answer don't accept their denials she said therefore would cooperate santa statement there i would be home by that the next day there's

a culture on accountability and police officers know that they can engage in misconduct that has nothing to do with solving their craft. cool baby boy rescued from a collapsed. bridge leaks. as a terror related incident. the latest in a string of international. spectacular. new year we've got some of the best highlights from.