to manufacture goods is sourced from
Brazil. But the symbolism of the deci-
sion by such high profi le brands was
not lost on market specialists.
“The disaster has already been
done to the environmental image,”
said Fabio Silveira, director and part-
ner at São Paulo fi nancial consulting
outfi t Macrosector.
That means that the cost lenders put
on Brazil’s ‘environmental risk’, pre-
viously regarded as close to zero, just
went up, he argued.
“Brazilian companies and the Bra-
zilian government lose,” he said.
“Nobody can deny international banks
put a cost on environmental risk.”
The emerging market debt team at
Norway’s Nordea Asset Management
“ quarantined ” Brazilian government
bonds, meaning they would no longer
buy, but only sell.
“President Jair Bolsonaro is
expected to weaken environmental
protections to accommodate extrac-
tive activities, agribusiness expansion,
and development of large-scale infra-
structure projects. We have come to
conclude that these risks have mate-
rialised,” it said in a statement.
According to Fitch Solutions and
Trade Map, the EU was Brazil’s second
biggest export market last year after
China, with 17% of total value. China
led with 27%, the US was third with
12% and the Middle East represented
6%. Norway’s biggest investors Store-
brand ASA and the pension fund KLP,
which according to Bloomberg man-
age around $170bn in assets between
them, both began contacting fi rms to
ensure they don’t contribute to envi-
ronmental damage following the fi res.
“If there is evidence that we are
invested in companies that contrib-
ute to develop new deforested landor deforest areas... we will withdraw
from investments,” Jeanett Bergan,
KLP’s head of responsible invest-
ments, told The Guardian.
While far from the generalised
“boycott Brazil” campaign some
environmentalist activists have been
calling for, such reactions are bad news
for a country still struggling to recover
from its worst recession in decades
and battling 12% unemployment.
In a live broadcast on Facebook on
Thursday night Bolsonaro highlighted
data which showed a better-than-
expected 0.4% growth in Brazil’s GDP
in the second quarter.
H e made it clear he had no plans
of changing tack on the Amazon and
trumpeted the public support he has
received from Donald Trump.
The president’s words and actions
suggest “the government will not
change direction,” said Fabio Alpe-
rowitch, the founder and portfolio
manager at São Paulo brokers Fama
Investimentos.
Alperowitch’s company does not
invest in companies doing business
in the Amazon, but 80% of his clients
are foreign institutions and pension
funds and many have been in touch
to express concerns, he said.Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
45Rupert JonesSantander was forced to extend its
deadline for submitting claims for mis-
sold payment protection insurance
(PPI) until 8pm yesterday after suff er-
ing a website glitch that it blamed on
the last-minute surge in complaints.
The offi cial industry-wide deadline
for making a claim passed at 11.59pm
on Thursday , but Santander was one
of several banks plagued by technical
problems during the fi nal hours.
Its decision to allow more time
came after the Financial Conduct
Authority said it would expect banks
that experienced technical problems
in the run-up to the deadline to “treat
customers fairly” and “apply a prag-
matic approach”.
Santander’s website said consum-
ers could continue to make complaints
relating to the controversial insurance
product “due to the high volume of
customers contacting us about PPI ”.
A spokesperson said it would
accepting PPI complaints and inquir-
ies made over the phone and via its
online form until 8pm last night.
Santander had already apologised
on Thursday for “a brief technical issue
earlier this morning ”, which meant
customers were unable to access its
online PPI claim form for a time.
Nevertheless, throughout yester-
day some people continued to report
on Twitter that they were having prob-
lems submitting their details.
NatWest and the Co-operative Bank
were among the other banks that
experienced technical problems, and
complaints of long waiting times on
the phone were common.
Guy Anker, the deputy editor of the
MoneySavingExpert.com website,
said: “While it’s good Santander has
extended its deadline for PPI claims,Kalyeena Makortoff
Banking correspondentA parliamentary committee has
thrown its support behind a Scottish
businessman who launched a fresh
hunger strike outside Clydesdale
Bank’s group headquarters this week,
saying the lender failed to properly
investigate its former customer’s case.
The cross-party fair business bank-
ing group has urged CYBG – which
owns the bank – to reconsider its
position. It came after the bank said
it was not responsible for the collapse
of John Guidi’s £16m property business
and would not intervene to prevent the
possible seizure of his home.
The Conservative MP Stephen Kerr ,
the committee chair, said the bank
needed to properly investigate its “ cul-
pability at all the points along the way ”
to Guidi’s current situation.you need to urgently take advantage
of this last-minute reprieve. You don’t
need to provide evidence that you
were hampered by yesterday’s issues
and only need to provide basic infor-
mation to start a claim with Santander.
“We know other banks had prob-
lems over the last couple of days and
people said it took them a long time to
make claims.
“If anyone has missed the dead-
line because of something that was
the bank’s fault, we would expect
any bank to show sympathy and let
them put the complaint in. But you
must do this urgently and, to be safe,
you should submit evidence to prove
you tried.”
PPI is Britain’s costliest consumer
scandal , with £36bn paid out by UK
banks to compensate people who
bought often-worthless insurance
cover, thinking it would help them
repay debts in the event of sickness
or unemployment. The average pay-
out has been about £2,000. Of the total,
£340m was paid out in June alone.
Lloyds Banking Group said last
month that it paid a further £550m
in PPI charges in the second quarter,
after a late rush in claims. It took the
bank’s total bill for the scandal to more
than £20bn, more than double the sec-
ond-highest : Barclays., which had put
aside £9.6bn.IT glitch forces Santander
to extend PPI deadline
MPs back man
on hunger strike
at bank’s HQ
“ However, all evidence thus far, is
that it is burying its head in the sand,”
Kerr said in a letter to CYBG’s chief
executive, David Duff y.
Guidi alleges he was mis-sold tai-
lored loans in the 2000s, before
Clydesdale withdrew funding in 2012,
transferring the loans to CYBG’s for-
mer owner National Australia Bank.
Those loans were then sold to the
private equity fi rm Cerberus, which
Guidi says aggressively pursued his
debts. Having signed a personal guar-
antee on the loans, Guidi says he is now
at risk of losing his home.
It is Guidi’s second hunger strike
this year. He suspended his fi rst strike
after four days when Duff y agreed to
look into his case. CYBG held fi ve
meetings with Guidi before concluding
it was “not responsible” for his situa-
tion. But Kerr says CYBG has failed to
address allegations that it introduced
terms on Guidi’s loans in 2011 that put
him in immediate breach of his con-
tract and led to his fi rm’s bankruptcy.
A CYBG spokesman said: “Mr Kerr’s
letter is deeply disappointing ... while
we are not responsible for the position
he is in, we have pursued a number of
avenues to see if we can help Mr Guidi
resolve his situation. ӣ36bn
The amount paid out by UK banks
to compensate people who bought
often-worthless insurance cover£2,000
Average payout for people who took
out PPI believing it would protect
them if they lost their job or got ill▲ A lush forest stands in stark
contrast to an area devastated by
fi re in Vila Nova Samuel, Brazil
PHOTOGRAPH: VICTOR R CAIVANO/APTimberland’s owner will
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