Russian luxurious automotive smugglers take longer routes to evade sanctions | Invesloan.com

Today’s agenda: Eurozone bank shares’ record year; US credit card loan defaults soar; Robin Harding on why the robots are not coming; and the year of democracy in charts

Good morning. We start with an exclusive story about Russian smugglers, who are charging tens of thousands of euros to import luxury cars from Europe, as EU sanctions in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine hit the country’s wealthy.

Here’s what we know: The Financial Times has identified five Russian companies offering to smuggle cars from Europe with engine sizes sufficient to come under EU sanctions, which were imposed in 2022 as part of a ban on the export of luxury goods to the country. The FT also identified more than 50 luxury cars from 25 different German car dealerships on the Russian website Auto.ru, which Russian importers were offering at an average mark-up of about €19,000.

Why it matters: The supply of European cars to Russia comes despite the EU boosting sanctions since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in an effort to choke Moscow’s war machine and provoke dissatisfaction with the government. Since the EU tightened restrictions in July on luxury goods entering Belarus — once a popular third country through which to import to Russia — smugglers are using increasingly long and expensive routes to ship the vehicles. Here’s what officials are saying about the smuggling.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• South Korea: The country begins the second of seven days of national mourning for victims of the Jeju Air crash, one of the worst aviation disasters in years.

• ‘Black moon’: The night sky will be primed for ideal stargazing conditions tonight amid the rare occurrence of a second new moon in a single calendar month.

With 2025 almost upon us, check out the latest issue of our Week Ahead newsletter, which lays out the key events of the coming year.

Five more top stories

1. Former US president Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the Carter Center said. Carter, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully yesterday at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family, the human rights organisation he founded said in a statement. Read more about his life and legacy.

• Obituary: While his one-term presidency is still widely dismissed as a disappointment, Carter became an influential moral voice after leaving the White House.

2. Eurozone bank shares are poised for their highest end to the year in more than a decade after lenders weathered a fall in interest rates and promised record shareholder returns. The Euro Stoxx Banks index, which tracks the biggest lenders in the currency bloc, has jumped by more than a fifth in 2024.

3. Defaults on US credit card loans have hit the highest level since the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, in a sign that lower-income consumers’ financial health is waning after years of high inflation. Credit card lenders wrote off $46bn in seriously delinquent loan balances in the first nine months of 2024, up 50 per cent from the same period in the year prior.

4. Exclusive: A record number of senior lawyers moved jobs in London this year as the arrival of US law firms in the capital continues to disrupt the market and fuel pay wars for talent. The UK’s “magic circle”, which includes firms such as Linklaters and Clifford Chance, have been particularly affected. Suzi Ring has more details.

5. Exclusive: The number of people in the UK who admitted not paying tax on their overseas assets jumped by 22 per cent in 2023-24, according to government data. The government has promised to raise billions of pounds by clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance. One expert said: “HMRC’s aggressive pursuit of tax avoiders now leaves very few places to hide.”

News in-depth

Priceless heritage sites in Lebanon have sustained irreparable damage from Israel’s air campaign during its war against Hizbollah, experts say. One preservation group says at least nine heritage sites were completely destroyed and 15 badly or partially damaged by Israeli attacks between September — when the country escalated its year-long war with Hizbollah — and a ceasefire in November.

We’re also reading…

• Year in a word: Competitiveness. For Europe, Mario Draghi’s report on the roots of its slowdown was a clarion call for change, writes Brussels bureau chief Henry Foy.

• Private schools: A growing number in the UK are said to be engaging in an “arms race” for facilities, contributing to a rise in fees as they woo the ultra-rich.

• Trump 2.0: The incoming US president is picking nominees with vested interest to be in charge of key regulatory areas, presenting a systemic financial risk, writes Patrick Jenkins.

• AI and androids: The technology’s rise does not mean the robots are coming — at least not yet, writes Robin Harding.

Charts of the year

With more than one and a half billion ballots cast in elections across 73 countries, 2024 offered a rare opportunity to take the social and political temperature of almost half of the world’s population. Here’s what the “year of democracy” taught us, in six charts.

The most popular stories of 2024

As 2024 draws to a close, here’s a look back at the FT’s most-read stories this year. Our coverage of November’s US presidential election claimed the top spots, leading with the live results map which showed outcomes as they came in state by state. This was closely followed by our interactive story on polling data, which allowed readers to chart possible paths to victory for either candidate.

And outside the political realm, Claer Barrett’s piece on how to protect your financial data with the rise of phone theft was the most popular. Her advice is as useful now as it was when the story was first published in May.