2025-07-02 20:09

July 2 (Reuters) - Crypto firm Ripple is applying for a national bank charter in the United States, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote in a social media post on Wednesday, following a similar move by stablecoin giant Circle (CRCL.N) , opens new tab. The move reflects a broader push by crypto firms for regulatory clarity and deeper integration with the traditional financial system. Sign up here. A charter would allow crypto companies to settle payments faster and cut costs by bypassing intermediary banks, while also providing a stamp of legitimacy after years of what they claim has been regulatory sidelining. Ripple's charter will need to be approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top banking regulator. An OCC spokesperson confirmed it had received a charter application from the company. The company is also seeking a Fed Master account that would give it access to the Federal Reserve's payments infrastructure and allow it to hold its stablecoin reserves directly with the central bank, Garlinghouse wrote on X. Ripple launched its stablecoin, RLUSD, in October last year. While much smaller than dominant players Tether and Circle's USD Coin, RLUSD still ranks among the biggest stablecoins. It has a market value of about $470 million, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Earlier this week, stablecoin firm Circle also said it is applying to create a national trust bank in the United States, weeks after its robust initial public offering. Stablecoins have gained momentum in recent weeks after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a development the crypto industry has argued could boost their use through clear regulations. "The GENIUS Act will likely support stablecoin adoption in the U.S. while incorporating sensible safeguards for consumer protection and financial stability," digital asset manager Grayscale's research team wrote in a report on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ripple-applies-us-national-bank-charter-crypto-eyes-next-frontier-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:08

US would set rates on many Vietnamese exports at 20% Higher tariffs were due to take effect next week without deal US cars may get preferential access to Vietnam's market WASHINGTON/HANOI, July 2 (Reuters) - The United States will place a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on many Vietnamese exports, Donald Trump said on Wednesday, cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the U.S. president could raise levies on most imports. Vietnamese goods would face a 20% tariff and trans-shipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40% levy, he said. Vietnam could import U.S. products with a zero percent tariff, he added. Sign up here. "It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," Trump said on Truth Social after speaking with Vietnam's top leader, To Lam. Trump's announcement comes just days before a July 9 deadline before he ramps up tariffs on most imports, one of the Republican's signature economic policies. Under that plan, announced in April, U.S. importers of Vietnamese goods would have had to pay a 46% tariff. Details were scant. It was not clear which products Trump's 20% tariff would apply to, or whether some would qualify for lower or higher total duties. Also left to later discussion was how the new trans-shipment provision, aimed at products largely made in China and then labeled "Made in Vietnam," would be implemented and enforced. The Vietnamese government did not confirm the specific tariff levels in a statement celebrating what it described as an agreement on a joint statement about a trade framework. Vietnam would commit to "providing preferential market access for U.S. goods, including large-engine cars," the government in Hanoi said. A deal between the two countries would be a political boost for Trump, whose team has struggled to quickly close deals with Washington's biggest trading partners ahead of the deadline. While the administration has teased a forthcoming deal with India, truces reached earlier with Britain and China were limited in scope. Talks with Japan, the United States' sixth-largest trading partner and closest ally in Asia, appeared to hit road blocks. The U.S. is Vietnam's largest export market and the two countries' growing economic, diplomatic and military ties are a hedge against Washington's biggest strategic rival, China. Vietnam has worked to retain close relations with both superpowers. Shares of major U.S. apparel and sportswear makers including Nike (NKE.N) , opens new tab, Under Armour (UAA.N) , opens new tab and North Face maker VF Corp (VFC.N) , opens new tab closed higher on Wednesday on the news. Lam also asked Trump for the U.S. to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and remove restrictions on the exports of high-tech products to the country, Vietnam said. Those changes have long been sought by Hanoi. The White House and the Vietnamese trade ministry did not respond to requests for additional comment. GROWING TRADE TIES Since Trump imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods in his 2017-2021 term, U.S. trade with Vietnam has exploded, though almost all of it in the form of goods to the United States from Vietnam as importers sought workarounds for the China levies. Since 2018, Vietnam's exports are up nearly threefold from less than $50 billion that year to about $137 billion in 2024, Census Bureau data shows. U.S. exports to Vietnam are up only about 30% in that time - to just over $13 billion last year from less than $10 billion in 2018. "'Transshipping' is a vague and often politicized term in trade enforcement," said Dan Martin, business adviser at Dezan Shira & Associates, on LinkedIn. "How it's defined and how it's applied in practice will shape the future of US-Vietnam trade relations." Trump announced a wave of tariffs for countries around the world on April 2, before pausing the implementation of most duties until July 9. More than a dozen countries are actively negotiating with the Trump administration to avoid a steep spike in tariffs on their exports. Britain accepted a 10% U.S. tariff on many goods, including autos, in exchange for special access for aircraft engines and British beef. Like the agreement struck with Britain in May, the one with Vietnam resembles a framework rather than a finalized trade pact. China and the United States also came to a truce in a tit-for-tat tariff battle in which Beijing restored American access to some rare-earth minerals, but the two sides left most of their disagreements to later negotiations. "Had Trump stuck with 46 percent, much higher than the current tariff on China, Vietnam feared it would be disadvantaged by its competitors especially in Southeast Asia," said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia program at CSIS, a think tank. "This likely would have dented Vietnam's trust in the U.S. and it might have toned down some of its security cooperation with Washington." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-says-he-has-struck-trade-deal-with-vietnam-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:03

ZURICH, July 2 (Reuters) - England manager Sarina Wiegman is confident her players will be well prepared for the Switzerland heatwave when they begin the defence of their Women's European Championship title against France on Saturday in Zurich. Wiegman was thankful for the recent warm weather in England that allowed them to get in some early heat acclimatisation. Sign up here. "Of course, we have protocols in place, strategies, which players who have been around longer are familiar with... because they played in circumstances like this," Wiegman said from the team's base camp on Wednesday. "I think we could already practise (in the heat) the first week of our training camp, because in England it was really hot too." England's heat protocols including wearing ice vests and towels, sitting in ice baths and drinking ice slushies. They also use cryotherapy, which involves applying extremely cold temperatures either locally with ice packs or cooling sprays, or in a cryotherapy chamber. "(We also) make sure we are hydrated. Of course, taking enough rest," Wiegman said. "Don't go in and out all the time. That's for your recovery. And do those things to keep your body temperature low." The temperature climbed to 33 degrees Celsius in Zurich on Wednesday but conditions are expected to cool down slightly before the weekend. Saturday's kickoff is at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT). European soccer governing body UEFA is taking the warm weather seriously, with free sunscreen available around stadiums and fan zones and a relaxation of the rules about taking water bottles into the stadiums. The normally strict security rules were relaxed to allow fans attending matches on the first two days -- Wednesday and Thursday -- to bring a half-litre plastic or aluminium water bottle into the stadium, though no glass bottles will be allowed. Wiegman said after Saturday's game that the team would meet with England's medical staff to gauge how the players managed the conditions. "And then we move forward on to the next game," she said. England, who edged Germany 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to win Euro 2022, are in a tough group in Switzerland, with France, the Netherlands and Wales. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/england-boss-wiegman-says-team-well-prepared-sweltering-swiss-heat-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 19:47

WARSAW, July 2 (Reuters) - Polish oil and gas company Orlen (PKN.WA) , opens new tab could face a bill of almost $300 million after an arbitration tribunal ruled that Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab had the right to retroactively charge higher prices for gas supplies to Poland, it said on Wednesday. Orlen, which took over Polish gas monopoly PGNiG in 2022, is in several disputes with Gazprom in an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm over prices Poland paid for Russian gas from 2017 to 2022. Sign up here. Gazprom is fighting numerous legal cases, with combined claims of at least 17 billion euros ($20.05 billion) from European companies, according to Reuters calculations. The July 1 arbitration ruling raises gas prices under the contract between PGNiG and Gazprom between 2018 and the next potential change of price from the years 2020 and 2021, which Orlen estimates could cost it $290 million, the company said. The ruling did not specify the terms of settlement between the companies and did not award any compensation for Gazprom, leaving it up to the companies to agree terms of settlement, Orlen said, adding that it cannot make any payments to Gazprom under existing regulations. "Orlen operates in accordance with the law and complies with applicable sanctions, which currently prevent it from making any payments under the judgment," the company said. In the next stage, the tribunal will rule on both sides' claims over prices in 2021 and 2022, as well as claims resulting from Gazprom's halt of supplies to Poland in 2022, the Polish company said. ($1 = 0.8477 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/orlen-may-owe-290-million-gazprom-scores-partial-gas-price-dispute-win-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 16:36

July 2 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank signaled a "very prolonged" pause in its interest rate-hiking cycle because policymakers need more time to assess whether data are moving in the desired direction, a senior official said on Wednesday. The bank's monetary policy director, Nilton David, stressed that the decision to halt the tightening cycle reflects the need to wait for signs that excess economic growth beyond potential has been absorbed, allowing inflationary pressures to ease. Sign up here. "We do believe the length of time (rates remain unchanged) has an effect," he told an event hosted by Citi. David added that the process inevitably involves a slowdown in Latin America's largest economy, which has been consistently surprising to the upside for four years. "We are absolutely convinced that monetary policy works," he said. "It's only a matter of time and things will converge." The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points last month to a near two-decade high of 15% and signaled it would pause tightening at its next policy meeting in July. Since September, cumulative hikes have totaled 450 basis points in an effort to tame annual inflation, which has been long running above 5%, exceeding the 3% target. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-central-bank-needs-time-assess-data-after-signaling-pause-rate-hikes-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 16:32

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 2 (Reuters) - German Gref, CEO of Russia's dominant lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) , opens new tab, on Wednesday said he did not see any potential benefits to Russia's development of the digital rouble beyond the possible exception of cross-border settlements. Russian banks will be required to offer customers the means to make payments using digital roubles from September 1, 2026, the central bank said last week, pushing the project's planned launch back by over a year. Sign up here. More than 130 countries are exploring digital versions of their currencies, according to the Atlantic Council, as the world's financial authorities respond to declining cash usage and the threat to their money-printing powers from the likes of bitcoin. Moscow hopes the digital rouble will simplify foreign trade payments that have been complicated by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. "I don't see its advantages," Gref told reporters during a financial forum in St Petersburg. "As an individual, I don't understand why digital roubles are needed. As a bank... I don't yet understand it very well either." Russian banks already have strong digital finance capacities, such as cashless settlements, Gref said, reiterating that he saw no possibility for the digital rouble to meaningfully transform Russia's economy. No digital currency has become dominant within any country, he said, but there could be a future in cross-border settlements. "Domestically, I don't see it yet," he said. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/sberbank-ceo-puzzled-by-russias-push-create-digital-rouble-2025-07-02/