Old custom, new uses

minimal documentation make it vulnerable to abuse by individuals and groups transferring funds to finance illegal activities.

Misuse of the system has been linked to the financing of terrorism and money­laundering, although it is also used to bypass sanctions against Iran.

The companies are the UK’s third­ and fourth­biggest operators respectively and, once the merger is completed, will have more than 27 million subscribers between them. This will put them ahead of EE, owned by BT, and Virgin Media O2, jointly owned by Spain’s Telefonica and the US­listed company Liberty Global.

The deal will be closely examined by competition regulators, although the UK’s telecommunications’ regulator, Ofcom, announced last year that it was less opposed to consolidating the sector than in the past.

Mega-station

DIF has announced a €514.3 million contract connecting the highspeed networks linking northern and southern Spain.

The project will create a huge Madrid station with terminals in Chamartín and Atocha connected by a tunnel, explained the stateowned company which maintains and manages Spain’s rail networks.

HAWALA: Exact scale unknown, said EC’s Executive vice-president Valdis Dombrowskis.

and Wales, register with HMRC and comply with UK money laundering. Although routinely used by legitimate businesses, hawala’s anonymity and

Everest not climbed

CARMINE DI SIBIO, global chief executive at Ernst & Young (EY) will retire next year.

Di Sibio, aged 60, was responsible for Project Everest, a plan to separate the consultancy and audit divisions of the Londonbased company, which was scuppered by EY’s New York office.

This would have involved spinning off EY’s consulting arm and listing it on the stock market, bringing multimillion­dollar windfalls to the firm’s partners.

The initiative cost more than $600 million (€554.2 million) but Di Sibio still maintains that the deal was necessary to free consultants from conflict­of­interest rules that restricted them from advising audit clients.

Di Sibio will not step down immediately, he said, but would oversee the organisation through a transition period lasting until the end of the next financial year in June 2024.

Valdis Dombrowskis, the European Commission’s Executive vice­president admitted in 2020 the hawala system was regarded as a matter for concern.

“Its exact scale in the EU is unknown,” he said. “Tracing the value flow is virtually impossible for law enforcement agencies.”

Far reaching

LEADING aerostructures company

Aernnova is taking part in building the new Honda Jet 2600.

The Basque company will design the aircraft’s wings and their components, including the flaps, ailerons, the spoilers that open during landings, and the empennage or tail fin.

The Honda Jet 2600 takes its name from the aircraft’s range target of 2,625 nautical miles (approximately 4,861 kilometres) and is designed to be the world’s first light jet capable of non­stop transcontinental flight across the United States.

Honda plans to market the aircraft, which will have seating for 10 passengers and cost between $11 and $13 million (€10.1 and €12 million), in 2026.

The project will ensure maximum capacity for the second phase of Spain’s rail liberalisation, providing Atocha with four new tracks and two platforms under the existing station and Calle Mendez Avaro.

This will connect with the new high­speed southern access ­ operational since July 2022 ­ and allow trains to stop at either Chamartin or Atocha.

Bending rules

ANTONIO GARAMENDI, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) president, allegedly wants to lift restrictions on the number of terms a president may serve.

When re­elected in November, Garamendi was adamant changes to the statutes, were “out of the question.” Seven months later, however, Garamendi has met the CEOE’s vice­presidents to discuss altering the rules and “modernising” the election process.

All involved insisted any modifications were at an early stage and would first need to be discussed at the June board meeting and the General Assembly in July.

Dow Jones

Top changes

SANTANDER, which is currently renewing its top executives in Europe, announced the appointment of Pedro Castro e Almeida, until now chief executive of Santander Portugal, as its new Regional Head of Europe. He takes over on September 1 from Antonio Simões, who is leaving the bank to join the British insurer Legal & General.

Football fund

TWENTY top­flight UK football clubs were consulted over making permanent a funding package that was set up during the pandemic. Sources revealed the government proposed to increase the existing £100m (€116.7m) allocation for grassroots, community and other football projects to £133m (€155.2m), subject to future increases in Premier League revenue.