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"Deutsche Bank and Barclays on Tuesday locked horns with a U.S. Senate committee that has accused them of selling option products to hedge funds to help them avoid taxes.Reuters reports that Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund, defended the so-called basket options it used, saying at a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee for Investigations that they served legitimate business purposes. The hearing follows the publication of a study this week by Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the panel, which said the two banks helped Renaissance and other hedge funds to avoid billions of dollars in taxes. 'Renaissance ... purchased (basket) options ... for substantial non-tax business reasons', Renaissance Capital Chief Financial Officer Mark Silber said. 'We would have purchased these options regardless of their tax treatment'. The two banks enabled at least 13 hedge funds to conduct $100bn in securities trades, Levin's report found. Deutsche sold the products to 13 hedge funds, while Barclays had only Renaissance as a client. To access the complete Reuters article hit the link below: Banks trade barbs with U.S. Senate panel in tax avoidance probe RBS 'wilfully obtuse' in turnaround unit evidence - UK lawmakerAnd the Best Place to Work in the global financial markets 2015 is..."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2014/07/23/two-top-firms-accused-of-selling-products-to-hedge-funds-to-help/>