In Some Good News

From Cuba Standard:

Another Swiss bank pulls out of Cuba

Pressed by Washington, Switzerland’s fourth-largest bank dropped its business with Cuba, Swiss media reported.

Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), which is state-owned, had picked up a Cuba portfolio after Swiss banking giants UBS and Crédit Suisse canceled their business with the island seven and five years ago, respectively.

The Obama Administration has increased the financial pressure on Cuba, partly as a side effect of a crackdown on Iran and drug-related money laundering. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently issued a record fine of $1.9 billion to Britain’s HSBC over alleged money laundering in Mexico and violations of the U.S. embargo.

ZKB “cannot avoid paying attention to embargoes and blacklists,” a bank spokesman told finance newsletter Inside Paradeplatz. “After prominent competitors bid farewell to the Cuba business long ago, due to the U.S. embargo, Zürcher Kantonalbank is now pulling out of Cuba for the same reason.”

From Havana Journal:

Golf course development projects dry up in Cuba

Seems as though all golf course development projects in Cuba have come to a complete stand still.

There is not even any hype of development let alone announcements of any development deals.

Of course this means Cuba is far away from breaking ground on any new golf courses in Cuba.

The world is still waiting for the liberalization of real estate laws that would give foreigners ownership of their golf villas and condos so maybe that is one reason that Cuba golf course developers have nothing to say recently.