SYDNEY Australian casino operator Crown Resorts said on Monday its CEO had resigned, bowing to regulator pressure after an inquiry into money laundering…
(Recasts and updates throughout, adds reports of WA regulator stepping aside, fund manager comment)
SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The chief executive of embattled Crown Resorts resigned on Monday, bowing to growing pressure after an inquiry found widespread money laundering and governance issues at the Australian casino operator.
The exit of CEO Ken Barton, who was harshly criticised in a state regulator-commissioned report released almost a week ago, removes a major block to the company regaining its gambling licence for its new flagship Sydney casino.
But it also deepens the uncertainty over the company’s future direction.
Three other Crown directors have stood down over the past week and a fourth has broken links with major shareholder James Packer, whose influence over the company was also strongly criticised in the report.
Long positions on most Asian currencies were scaled back, a Reuters poll showed, as investors contended with unexpected resilience in the U.S. dollar at the start of the year, though long-term expectations of a weaker dollar remained unchanged. Bullish bets on the South Korean won and Singapore dollar were trimmed the most and were at .
Australia's Macquarie Group said on Tuesday it expected to continue to benefit from market volatility in the short term, as it disclosed third-quarter profit from its commodities trading and dealmaking units rose sharply, sending its shares up almost 8%.
Mongolia's government is seeking to cancel a deal with miner Rio Tinto to expand the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the Gobi Desert and replace it with a new agreement, the Financial Times reported.