Commerzbank has announced that it has successfully completed the sale of Dresdner Bank Monaco S.A.M. to the Lebanese Bank Audi sal-Audi Saradar Group, Banking Times reported on Friday. The news follows the transaction receiving the necessary regulatory green lights. The Bank Audi sal-Audi Saradar Group will now acquire Dresdner Bank Monaco, which focuses upon providing clients in southern France, Monaco and northern Italy with private wealth management services. The sale is one in a recent spate from Commerzbank, and was first announced in January of this year. In July, the bank sold off loan savings and financing subsidiary Allianz Dresdner Bauspar AG (ADB) to to Wüstenrot Bausparkasse AG. A week before that transaction, Commerzbank sold off Kleinwort Benson to RHJ International, as part of the agreement involving the Special Fund Financial Market Stabilization (SoFFin) with the EU Commission.

Monaco's Economic Development Chamber is organising with the support of Shibuya International a Business Seminar Monaco Japan on September 10. The conference, at the Grimaldi Forum, will be accompanied by round table discussions and will examine the particular features of trading with Japan. Among the sectors that will be discussed will be food, vehicles, luxury goods, IT, robotics, and video games. The event comes just a few days before the Kyoto-Tokyo exhibition at the Forum comes to an end. The trade conference will be opened by M. Yasuo Saito, the Japanese ambassador to France and Monaco More information from the CDE website.

Minister of State Michel Roger visited rue Grimaldi and other streets of La Condamine yesterday to listen to grievances of local traders, some of whom say they have lost up to 50% of their trade due to roadworks at Palce des Armes and recently-imposed parking prohibition along Grimaldi. Mr Roger said there was a need to recognise their grievances while at the same time ensuring better traffic flow. He announced a temporary lifting of the no-parking rule while extensive roadworks continue, a move that was welcomed by the traders. However, long-term solutions still seem to be a long way off, and the conflicting demands of the shop-keepers on one hand, and road-users on the other, seem set to continue. Meanwhile, visiting the HQ of the CIGM (traffic centre) in Fontvieille, Mr Roger said that one of the government's priorities is to alleviate the infamous traffic jams on the west of the Principality. Mr Roger said it was intolerable that people coming to work in Fontvieille had to wait 45 minutes to enter the Principality. Of the 100,000 vehicles that drive into Monaco each day, 40,000 come to Fontvieille.

The wave of burglaries that has hit this summer in the east of the Alpes-Maritimes has not spared the Principality and surrounding areas. Between June and August this year, Menton, Roquebrune and Beausoleil have together suffered a total of 96 burglaries of private homes. In Monaco, the Public Security Service recorded three burglaries in July and August. "We can consider that this is already three too many,” an unidentified source at the Department of the Interior told daily Nice Matin. A fourth attempted burglary was foiled and four young foreigners apprehended. Monaco attributes its success in deterring crime by its constant vigilance, and in particular, the use of security cameras and the monitoring of incoming traffic.