British PM launches charm offensive in India
Thursday, July 29, 2010
British Prime Minister David Cameron kicked off a much-touted visit to India Wednesday, aimed at winning over a key business partner seen as vital to boosting Britain's post-recession recovery. Accompanied by a bevy of top ministers and a small army of business leaders, Cameron arrived late Tuesday at the head of the largest British delegation to travel to the former jewel in its colonial crown in recent memory.
It has been tagged as a mould-breaking mission to redefine what Cameron's government sees as a long-neglected relationship with one of the world's fastest growing economies. The trip kicked off in the southern city of Bangalore -- the showcase of India's IT industry -- where Cameron was to visit the country's second-largest software exporter Infosys and the state-run defence giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).
Among a raft of trade agreements to be signed during the visit, the expected highlight is a deal worth up to 650 million dollars for BAE Systems to supply 57 more Hawk trainer jets. India ordered 66 Hawk jets from BAE in 2004. All the aircraft in the follow-up deal will be jointly assembled locally with HAL. Since taking power in May, Cameron has said he wants British foreign policy to focus more on business in a bid to boost the economy as it emerges from recession facing deep budget cuts to combat record state debt.
Apart from a trip to war-torn Afghanistan last month, the visit is Cameron's first major foray to Asia. The choice reflects India's growing regional clout and its emergence as an investment destination to rival neighbouring China. Among the BRIC group of emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- India is seen as one of the largest, most culturally compatible and under-exploited markets for partnerships with British firms. One of the first countries to shrug off the effects of global financial crisis, India boasts a growing, consumer-hungry middle class and an economy that is forecast to grow 8.5 percent this fiscal year.
"This is the beginning of an enhanced relationship," Britain's finance minister George Osborne said after ringing the bell to start trading at the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday. "The relationships are good and historic but can be made stronger," said the chancellor of the exchequer, who is accompanying Cameron along with Foreign Minister William Hague and Business Secretary Vince Cable.
Britain's ambassador to India, Richard Stagg, described the visit as one of "unique scale and ambition" and said Cameron and his cabinet ministers were intent on forging a "new, special relationship" with India. Ties between the two countries go back a long way. India was known as the "jewel in the crown" of the British empire until independence in 1947 and up to two million people of Indian origin live in Britain, its largest ethnic minority group. Bilateral trade was worth 11.5 billion pounds (13.7 billion euros, 17.7 billion dollars) last year. Britain is the most popular business destination in the European Union for Indian companies such as Tata and ICICI Bank -- and the richest man in Britain is the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
"Cameron's visit is a clear signal: Britain is wooing India," said R.K. Jain, a professor of European studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Britain wants to attract high-ticket investment from India. They are fighting a deep financial crisis and acquiring foreign direct investment is one of the best ways to improve that," he said. But Britain is not alone in paying court to its former colony, and faces competition from much bigger trading powers such as the United States and Japan.
"The question is, what can we offer India?" Gareth Price, head of the Asia programme at London foreign affairs think-tank Chatham House, told AFP. "There needs to be some scheme, some initiative around which you rejig the relationship," he said.
posted @ 11:02 AM,
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Financial overhaul is signed into law
Friday, July 23, 2010
By Jim Puzzanghera
President Obama reversed decades of lax oversight of the financial industry Wednesday by signing a landmark overhaul of regulations, but he still faces a major task -- appointing a director for the powerful new agency charged with protecting consumers from unscrupulous deals.
The law dramatically toughens oversight of the industry, from Wall Street's executive suites to the Main Street storefronts of mortgage brokers and payday lenders. But it is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will have the most direct effect on average Americans by creating rules to help ensure that bankers and other financial firms treat their customers fairly.
Even before Wednesday's signing, a battle was brewing over who should be the bureau's first director. That appointee will head an agency with an annual budget of about $450 million, hundreds of employees and authority to write and enforce new rules for mortgages, credit cards and other consumer products. A leading candidate is Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and chairwoman of the watchdog panel overseeing the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bailout fund for the financial industry.
But her outspoken consumer advocacy and sharp criticism of some TARP spending has made her a controversial figure who could have trouble getting confirmed for the job. Warren, an expert on bankruptcy law and consumer debt, was the first to propose the idea of a consumer agency in an academic journal article in 2007. And she has been one of its most outspoken advocates as President Obama adopted the idea and pushed it into law.
Other potential candidates are Michael Barr, assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions; Martin Gruenberg, vice chairman of the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; and Gene Kimmelman, an official in the Justice Department's antitrust division. The sweeping new law reverses three decades of financial deregulation that many experts believe set the stage for the financial crisis in 2008. To prevent a repeat, the bill enacts the most sweeping clampdown on the industry since the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FDIC in the 1930s.
Besides creating the consumer bureau, the bill establishes a council of regulators to monitor the financial system for major risks; imposes tough regulations on complex financial securities known as derivatives; grants shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation; and gives the government authority to seize and dismantle teetering firms whose failure would pose a danger to the economy.
On Wednesday, Obama put the spotlight on consumers in a speech before the signing, touting changes that, for instance, end hidden fees in mortgages and mandate easier-to-understand financial disclosures. "All told, these reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history," Obama said. "And these protections will be enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for people -- not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses."
Warren echoed the president: "For the first time, families will have a tough, independent cop in Washington to help clear out the tricks and traps hidden in consumer credit agreements." But asked after the signing ceremony if she wanted that job, Warren would not comment.
Meantime, MoveOn.org and other liberal groups are eagerly backing Warren, and Democrats in the House and Senate are circulating letters of support. "Professor Warren's appointment would make clear that under President Obama's leadership, there truly will be accountability for Wall Street and fair treatment for the American public in the financial marketplace," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said this week in pushing for her nomination.
But she is not a favorite of the financial industry. Although not publicly criticizing Warren, business leaders have privately raised concerns about her consumer activism and lack of bureaucratic experience. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said this week that there was "a serious question" about whether Warren could be confirmed by the Senate, where 60 votes would be needed to overcome an expected Republican-led filibuster.
Many Republicans opposed the agency's creation in the first place, saying it could lead to tighter credit. And some view Warren as too much of a consumer activist to take the five-year position, which comes with broad power and little congressional oversight. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Banking Committee, said Wednesday that he would not support Warren's nomination.
When the House Financial Services Committee drafted its version of the legislation, it rejected an amendment by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) that appeared designed to prevent Warren from heading the agency. His proposal would have required the agency's director to have at least a year of experience working for a financial services company or a banking regulatory agency.
"This agency would have the potential for limiting credit availability and limiting consumer choices," Garrett said. "Put somebody in there who has all but established that as her agenda, and you just amplify the magnitude in a negative manner that this agency can have on the economy."
Republicans aren't Warren's only potential problem. She has ruffled feathers at the Treasury Department as chairwoman of the TARP watchdog panel. In that job, Warren aggressively questioned Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and other officials about the use of the money.
"She's been an outspoken critic of the TARP program, which has been largely administered by Secretary Geithner, so I don't think it's surprising that he would not be her biggest fan," said Jaret Seiberg, a financial policy analyst at Concept Capital's Washington Research Group. "She takes intellectual credit for the concept of a consumer financial protection agency. Whether she's the best candidate to lead it, I think there are a lot of questions," Seiberg said.
A Treasury spokesman said Geithner believed that Warren "is exceptionally well qualified" and would support her nomination. Obama and other top administration officials also have praised her contribution to the legislation and her abilities. "Elizabeth Warren is a great, great champion for consumers and middle-class families across the country," White House senior advisor David Axelrod said. "So she's obviously a candidate to lead this effort."
Obama acknowledged her efforts Wednesday after signing the legislation by stepping down from the podium and personally congratulating Warren and other key supporters of the legislation.
posted @ 3:15 PM,
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Casino Game Play
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Labels: Casino
posted @ 3:11 PM,
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Obama Signs Historic Financial Reform into Law
With a broad smile and the stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama on Wednesday capped a contentious 18-month struggle and signed into law the broadest revamp of financial regulation since the Great Depression.
"Passing this bill was no easy task. To get there, we had to overcome the furious lobbying of an array of powerful interest groups and a partisan minority determined to block change," Obama said in a pre-signing speech, surrounded by cheering congressional leaders and administration members.
Alternating between hitting Wall Street and acknowledging its economic importance, the president said that the historic Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 seeks to strike a balance that would protect consumers while allowing the vital financial sector to prosper. "The fact is the financial industry is central to our nation's ability to grow, to prosper, to compete and to innovate. This reform will foster innovation, not hamper it. It is designed to make sure that everybody follows the same set of rules," he said. "Unless your business model depends on cutting corners or bilking customers, you've got nothing to fear from reform."
The signing marked the third major legislative accomplishment for Obama, after an $800 billion stimulus and tax-cut package and a regulatory revamp of the health care sector. Still, the president has slumped in the opinion polls, dragged down by a sluggish economy. Polls also suggest that the broader public is ambivalent about the new measure. To combat that, Obama and congressional Democrats went to extremes to highlight all the consumer provisions in the legislation. There are numerous measures to combat predatory lending, and the president invited borrower Robin Fox of Rome, Ga., to the speech. She'd been hit with unexpected interest rate increases on a credit card balance.
"With this law, unfair rate hikes, like the one that hit Robin, will end for good," Obama said. Underscoring the historic nature of the legislation, which updates many rules that date to the 1930s, the televised signing ceremony wasn't at the White House but at the Ronald Reagan Building, in a large auditorium where about 400 invited guests could bask in the accomplishment. The heads of big Wall Street banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were noticeably absent from the list of invitees. The CEOs of Citibank and Bank of America, which received a large part of taxpayer bailout money, were invited, however. The legislation seeks to fix much of what went wrong in the lead-up to the nation's deep financial crisis. It gives regulators the power to dissolve large, interconnected financial institutions and allows the Federal Reserve to break up companies that it thinks are so large that their failure would pose a risk to the U.S. and global economy.
Labels: Barack Obama, Financial Reforms
posted @ 3:05 PM,
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No Sign of Financial Regulation
This was confirmed just ahead of the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G-20) in Toronto last month, a summit of the world's largest economies, including several developing countries, like India, Brazil and Indonesia, and the European Union (EU). Even though the EU agreed to propose at the summit the introduction of a tax on international financial transactions, also called Tobin tax, this scheme was not approved at the meeting. Canadian minister of finance Jim Flaherty told the press ahead of the meeting: 'I can assure you that the majority of the G- 20 is opposed to this tax.'
The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, also excluded the possibility of Germany alone raising the tax. At a press conference in Berlin late last month, he contended that the EU collectively must raise the tax.
The German government is the main supporter of the Tobin tax in Europe. Most European countries except Britain support a tax on financial transactions. Britain opposes it vehemently, arguing that the tax would raise costs of financial operations, compelling operators to operators to move their base of operation elsewhere.
The tax, as originally suggested by Nobel laureate economist James Tobin in 1972, was intended to put a penalty on short-term financial round-trip speculative transactions in foreign currencies. In its most modern version, a very small levy on all international financial transactions is supposed to persuade investment and hedge funds to reduce their speculative operations, which are blamed for the global financial crisis.
The lack of unity among the industrialised countries on the Tobin tax is exemplary for all other areas of international financial transactions. Stern regulations, experts say, are necessary to introduce transparency in the operations of investment banks and funds. But despite this, no regulations have been put into practice.
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Labels: EU Countries, G20
posted @ 2:47 PM,
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Helping You Feel Good About Yourself
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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posted @ 1:01 PM,
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Gold Included in Liquid Assets Definition
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) included gold valuables under the definition of liquid assets for consumer and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) financing. The central bank amended prudential regulations for consumer and SME financing and inserted gold ornaments and gold bullion in the definition of liquid assets.
The revised definition of liquid assets under the prudential regulations is:
“Liquid Assets are the assets, which are readily convertible into cash without recourse to a court of law and mean encashment/realisable value of government securities, bank deposits, gold ornaments, gold bullion, certificates of deposit, shares of listed companies, which are actively traded on the stock exchange, NIT units, certificates of mutual funds, certificates of investment (CoIs) issued by DFIs/NBFCs rated at least ‘A’ by a credit rating agency on the approved panel of the SBP, listed TFCs rated at least ‘A’ by a credit rating agency on the approved panel of the SBP and certificates of asset management companies for which there is a book maker quoting daily offer and bid rates and there is active secondary market trading. These assets with appropriate margins should be in possession of the banks/DFIs with perfected lien.”
The central bank said that all other instructions on the subject would remain unchanged.
Labels: Gold, Liquid Assets, SBP
posted @ 1:00 PM,
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Keep Smiling
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posted @ 12:42 PM,
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Money Market, Forex and General Updates - 21-07-2010
Money Market:
State Bank is conducting a PIB auction today as scheduled. When issued rates of the auction for three years PIB closed at 12.85%, five year PIB closed at 12.98%, seven year PIB at 13.05%, ten year PIB at 13.10%,
fifteen year PIB at 13.25% and twenty years PIB at 13.40%.
In the current auction the starting bids made by the banks for 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 year PIB are 12.8534%, 12.9477%, 13.0708%, 13.0001%, 13.2414%, 13.3493% and 13.5996% respectively. The total target for the auction is Rs.20 billion and the total participation is of Rs.18.122 billion, in which 3, 5, 7 and 10 year PIB are of latest issues and 15 and 20 year PIB are of previous issue.
General Updates:
The Monetary Policy is expected to be announced on July 30th in which the expectation of any rate cut on account of sustained inflation which persists due to removal of subsidies on power sector.
IMF is concerned with the initiatives taken by Government of Pakistan (GOP) as slippages on fiscal deficit for the fourth quarter. IMF has advised the GOP has to accelerate growth while keeping inflation in check. But the elimination of subsidies from power sector will be passed on to the end users thus, fuelling inflation. The depreciation of currency and rising commodity prices also poses a threat of jacking up inflation.
Textile sector, the major export contributor of Pakistan’s overall exports has made Pakistan achieve its export target of US$19.38bn. Out of the total exports, 53% has been contributed by textile exports in FY10 where massive export of cotton and yarn supplemented the textile sector to achieve the export target.
Labels: Money, Pakistan Economy
posted @ 11:49 AM,
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Intelligent Internet Marketing
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posted @ 11:23 AM,
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E.U. Countries Find Relief in Bond Market
Spain, Ireland and Greece successfully tapped bond markets on Tuesday in a sign that European efforts to calm an immediate crisis over government debt have taken hold.
The three countries are considered among the most vulnerable of the 16 nations that use the euro, with high levels of government spending and weakened economies. Greece approached default in the spring and is now operating under a joint rescue from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Borrowing costs for other countries had risen amid concern that they, too, might struggle to pay their debts.
But the promise of a trillion-dollar contingency fund for euro-zone countries, extended by the E.U. and the IMF in May, has allowed those nations to raise money as needed. Interest rates remain comparatively high -- Ireland will pay interest of more than 5.5 percent on the roughly $1 billion of 10-year bonds it sold on Tuesday, nearly three percentage points more than benchmark German bonds.
Yet demand at that price was high, with investors offering to buy three times the amount of debt that Ireland offered. The successful sales add to evidence that a brewing crisis over sovereign debt in Europe has abated -- at least for now, and at least within the euro zone. Since the emergency fund was approved, the euro has climbed from below $1.20 to around $1.28.
But in the longer term, prompted by their high levels of debt, several of the countries are struggling to slash programs and services, and to overhaul basic aspects of their economic policy. In a recent research note, Barclays Capital characterized Spain as "solvent with risks" -- able to manage its debt load for now, but perhaps facing a need to raise tens of billions of dollars to recapitalize a weakened banking system, and still facing the brunt of a sharp reduction in government spending. Ireland enjoyed stronger-than-expected growth in the first part of the year as its exports rebounded, but a "fiscal squeeze" caused by public-sector pay cuts and other reductions has diminished domestic demand so much that the economy is still expected to contract over the full year, according to a recent analysis by Capital Economics' Europe economist Ben May.
Outside the euro area, risks may be even higher. Hungary on Tuesday was unable to raise as much as it had hoped in a bond issue, after a breakdown in talks with the IMF over the weekend raised new questions about the country's willingness to follow through with an economic turnaround plan. The country received access to $20 billion in aid from the IMF, the E.U. and the World Bank in 2008 as investors turned from the country and the recession hit. The IMF conducts periodic reviews on its loan programs to see if the countries involved are living up to their commitments. Over the weekend, the fund said that Hungary had made progress but that "more needs to be done" to control deficits and retool money-losing, state-owned businesses.
"While there is much common ground, a range of issues remain open," the IMF's head of mission in Hungary, Christoph Rosenberg, said in a statement announcing that an IMF group had ended talks with Hungarian officials without agreement on possibly extending the rescue plan. Hungary's bailout was seen as one of the successes in the IMF's response to the global financial crisis, but a change of ruling party in the recent elections has complicated relations between the country and the fund. An incoming government official said the country was approaching bankruptcy, while new leaders have been hesitant to meet all the terms agreed to by their predecessors.
Labels: Asian Bonds, EU Countries
posted @ 10:21 AM,
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Air Conditioning Austin TX
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
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posted @ 8:53 PM,
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Levels of Financial Knowledge
By George E. Manners, Jr.
The framework consists of six levels of financial knowledge, and the word “financial” is most operative here. I mean dollars and sense; this is much more than data and information—I’m talking about knowledge. First let’s take a look at a synopsis of each level.
Level 1:
The business can count and keep score in the aggregate sense (business unit/corporate) by tracking cash, accounts receivables, payables, etc., and it can generate periodic financial statements.
Level 2:
The business has a traceable measure of output volume and readily identifies fixed and variable costs. It has internalized the basic vocabulary of cost/volume/profit (CVP).
Level 3:
The business has a well-defined breakdown of CVP elements and understands how these more detailed elements relate to working capital behavior as well as to both Level 1 and Level 2 templates. It can fundamentally assess the business profitability drivers and can generate appropriate policy statements relative to spending money to make money.
Level 4:
Throughput, as opposed to output, has become the focus of operational and financial knowledge. The fundamental engineering/economic recipes of input/throughput/output (ITO) are known. The primary transformation constraints are known, and this knowledge is a principal factor in
planning and resource allocation.
Level 5:
At least in a planning sense, but, more importantly, operationally, the business can optimize simultaneously across multiple inputs/costs/recipes/ constraints/outputs. Fed by the decision support system, the methodology of marginal economics has moved from the theoretical to the practical.
Level 6:
The business can optimize simultaneously across multiple inputs/ costs /recipes/constraints/outputs and time periods. Managing periodic slack resources, capacity, and inventory across time is accomplished with profound knowledge.
Knowledge acquisition is a journey that requires the appropriate modes of transportation: systems, structures, and processes. It’s a journey that an entire business must take, not just certain subsystems of it. Most of us are familiar with businesses that have subsystems that possess significant knowledge, but until that knowledge is integrated into the company’s overall financial knowledge, the system’s financial knowledge remains at lower levels. Let’s thoroughly investigate the levels by concentrating on the vocabulary and significant knowledge concepts and constructs of each one.
Labels: Financial Knowledge
posted @ 8:50 PM,
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Air Conditioner Repair
Some errands are very tedious. In the age when sewerage and water supplies have become an essential part of contemporary urban life, plumbing is one of the intimidating tasks. Similarly, it is problem when your air conditioner gets out of order in a hot season.
Most people cannot handle these troubles themselves (and wise is not to handle them personally because it is a job of those who are trained to do that).
Air conditioning service is a specialized job better handled by those who are trained for it. During the sultry season we have in this part of the world, I was looking for best air conditioning service when I came upon air conditioner repair round rock - a concern that can handle all air conditioning problems in the best ways. Have a look at their information rich and un cluttered site and see what they are offering and how affordably. Better still, engage them when you need air conditioning services of any kind.
posted @ 8:45 PM,
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Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time, and cost. Improvements from learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper.
Benchmarking involves management identifying the best firms in their industry, or any other industry where similar processes exist, and comparing the results and processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes to learn how well the targets perform and, more importantly, how they do it.
Also referred to as "best practice benchmarking" or "process benchmarking", it is a process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice companies' processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to improve their practices.
Labels: Benchmarking
posted @ 8:43 PM,
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Business Litigation
Business is a complex process and involves lot of legal formalities. Every savvy business needs to have a lawyer on the rope. The lawyer takes care of most of the aspects that deal with law and other legalities.
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posted @ 8:34 PM,
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Chinese Banks to See Rising Off-Balance Sheet Risks
Chinese banks may suffer a rapid exposure to off-balance sheet credit risks in the short term, as the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) recently ordered a suspension of banking-trust cooperation on the development of credit-backed wealth management products. China's bank-trust wealth management products grew 300 billion yuan (US$44.3 billion) to 1.3 trillion yuan by the end of the first quarter of this year. By the end of April, the issue of such products reached 1.88 trillion yuan.
According to a Shanghai Securities News report, up to now, the value of the bank-trust wealth management products has accounted for 30 to 40 per cent of the new loans this year, and the proportion is expected to go up. Market insiders estimate that the issue of such products in Q2 may reach 1.4 trillion yuan, close to the lending in the same period.
The sharp increase of the bank-trust products has weakened the regulator's supervision over banks' credit risks and its intention to control the scale of lending, said analysts. The suspension prevented banks from removing their credit assets off their balance sheets, and this reduced banks' capability to further expand their lending.
Qiu Chengzhi, an analyst with Guosen Securities, said that the suspension of the bank-trust products could sharply reduce the scale of lending of local governments financing platforms and the real-estate sector in the short term. Some small and medium-sized banks with high loan-to-deposit ratios would suffer difficulties in attracting deposits due to the suspension, which would tighten their liquidity further. Due to the suspension, the scale of lending will be further reduced. In this case, the loan yield will continue to go up. However, the suspension would also reduce banks' revenue from intermediary business, said analysts. In the long run, the suspension of bank-trust wealth management products could help banks improve their asset quality, said Qiu.
According to the Shanghai Securities News report, the CBRC will bring the regulation of credit-backed bank-trust wealth management products into the balance sheet supervision, after it completes its check of banks' products of this type.
The report said that the banking regulator will give green light to the issue of non-credit-backed bank-trust wealth management products, after the CBRC's check-up of credit-backed bank-trust products.
Labels: China, Off Balance Sheet Risks, Risk
posted @ 3:51 PM,
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Drug Alert
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function.There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage. In pharmacology, a drug is "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being." Drugs may be prescribed for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.
Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens.They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior. Some drugs can cause addiction and habituation and in some cases, Fosamax, as well as stronger bisphosphonates, are given intravenously to cancer patients during chemotheraphy. Lately, certain risks and side effects attributed to this medication have caused the safety of bisphosphonates to come into question prompting Fosamax Lawsuit around the country. Any one who really wants to get help in this context can contact them and get appropriate advice.
Any one who has been injured by a defective drug can get his evaluation report free of cost through filling out prescribed form to receive a free case evaluation from a defective drug attorney.
posted @ 3:43 PM,
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ShareThis Argentina financing - Out of Default
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Following Argentina's restructuring of outstanding defaulted debt in June, it is set to finally emerge from "pariah" status in international capital markets. Fitch Ratings is the first major international credit-rating agency to lift Argentina's sovereign foreign-currency debt out of the "default" category. The ratings upgrade, particularly if followed by similar moves by other agencies, should help ease the way for the government to issue new external debt. However, given rising concerns about sovereign risk, the price of such issuance may still be prohibitive, and Argentina's government is likely to continue to rely on domestic sources of finance for now.
Fitch's decision of July 12th to remove the "RD" rating from Argentina's long-term foreign-currency debt and to upgrade it to "B", moving it out of the default category, reflects the completion in June of the swap of US$12.1bn in foreign debt for new securities. This represented 67% of the US$18.3bn in eligible outstanding defaulted debt. The acceptance rate was above the government's target of 60% but below the initial market projection of 70-75%.
Together with the debt restructuring conducted in 2005, this brought Argentina's restructured debt (out of the US$95bn on which it defaulted in 2001) to around 93% of the total. This level is considered sufficient to achieve a normalisation of relations with creditors. (Outstanding bilateral debt owed to the Paris Club must still be restructured, however.)
The debt exchange was viewed as successful, although a variety of factors combined to reduce the initial attractiveness of the deal. Most important was the poor timing of the swap, which was launched in early May, just before the outbreak of the fiscal crisis in Greece. Nonetheless, after a disappointing early participation period, there was solid take-up of the offer before the final June deadline.
Around US$6.2bn of eligible debt was not swapped. Of this some US$4.5bn is held by investors currently engaged in lawsuits against the Argentinian government to recover bonds at par value. The government is considering a legal strategy to isolate litigants and force them to adhere to the terms accepted by most investors.
With the second restructuring out of the way, and with economic growth expected to be robust this year (6.8% according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest forecast), Argentina is believed to be in relatively good shape to meet both its financing requirement and its debt obligations over the next two years.
posted @ 3:44 PM,
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My Online Directory
Friday, July 16, 2010
After the advent of internet, I have been using article directories since I started working on computers; and that was some decades ago. That is why I can say by experiences that a good general article directory can do wonders for any webmaster and or blog master. Writers can’t go long without submitting their work at different directories. Those who realize this early can go a long way in their online pursuits. Directories help to get you the widest possible number of visitors and expand your name and or brand.
There are number of online directories available these days however only few especially articlealley.com is a free general article directory where writers can submit their work in a very effective manner and reach out while they build their reputation, increase back links, drive traffic to their site or blog and readers can browse through all the listed quality content for their joy of reading. Given my own interest, I explored the feature rich directory and was amazed to see what they offer.
In addition to back links and exposure through the website, articles are also promoted via twitter. I am already following them and it is a great resource. Further If you have some sweet things to say to your girlfriend, I suggest you explore neatly laid out site and better still submit your work and share it with the world.
posted @ 12:40 PM,
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Capital Concern - Financial Reform's Unfinished Agenda
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A key cause of the financial crisis was that financial institutions took on far too much leverage -- they risked vast multiples of capital, rendering them vulnerable to the slightest downturn in asset prices. It follows that regulators should set higher capital requirements. "The top three things to get done," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the New York Times in March, "are capital, capital and capital." The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill authorizes and encourages higher capital requirements but leaves the details up to regulators.
U.S. regulators, in turn, must await the outcome of an obscure discussion among technocrats meeting under the auspices of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Named for its Swiss headquarters, this international group sets capital standards for banks around the world, on the sound theory that countries should present multinational banks with a united regulatory front. The Basel group has been blamed for contributing to the recent crisis because it had contemplated capital standards based on banks' unrealistically low calculations of risk in their portfolios. The current negotiations are supposed to rectify that. Leaders of the Group of 20 nations have promised that "the amount of capital will be significantly higher and the quality of capital will be significantly improved."
The Basel group has until November, when the G-20 meets again, to fulfill that pledge. Yet banks are resisting what amounts to a tax on their profits and a constraint on their business model. They have a point. Capital is not as simple to define as it appears. Hoarding too much reduces lending, thus contributing to the very global economic slump regulators are trying to avoid. Canada's cautious banks survived the crisis well and see no need to raise capital. In Europe, banks need capital but would rather not be forced to admit that. Acknowledging this discord, G-20 leaders said that "phase-in arrangements will reflect different national starting points and circumstances." Too much deference to national differences, though, would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise.
Obviously, balances must be struck. Tougher limits on leverage create some downside risk to growth, but that would be offset by the bullish impact of regulatory uniformity and stability. A phase-in period for the new standards is appropriate -- as long as it's the same for everybody. Mr. Geithner, who urged Congress not to preempt the Basel process as it considered the Dodd-Frank bill, must now remember his wise words of March and act on them.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Labels: Capital Concern, Financial crisis
posted @ 11:09 AM,
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Risk Management - Business and Visa Cards
Introduction:
Risk management is that one imperative branch of a business which recognizes, assesses, manages and analyses risks. By doing so, the concerned organization will be able to face risks in accordance to its purpose. Risk is a never ending liability and is an intrinsic part of everyday business. However, there are certain standards applied to reduce the level of risks and augment decision-making.
Types of Risks:
Various risks can be seen each day. They could be external as in out of the control of the management. Risks show up on an everyday basis from various sources such as political turmoil, terrorist activities or attacks, exchange rates, etc… Non-compliance with labor law or in financial reporting can be put under internal risks. However, there is nothing to worry as these risks can be controlled to a great extent by the management aka risk management.
Pertaining Factors:
Business stability and administration have always been favorite subjects of discussion for the media. However, there are companies that expose themselves to needless jeopardy by no fortification or deterrent actions. Delayed payments and change in plans with regards to decision-making issues belong to a wider gamut of administration but don't relate to business stability directly.
Management or administration and business continuity or business stability always are linked to each other hand-in-hand. The basic fundamentals for which a business needs to function is taken care by risk management. To anticipate what needs to be done before and after an event occurs is taken care by business continuity plan which the company creates. The systems, property and the staff are benefited by better and commendable protection. This is the end result.
Business stability is not restricted to a unit or a purveyor as they have an effect on the entire organization. The protection of the business is not the only important factor as the reputation; trademarks and benevolence too play an important role. Ignoring the risks will result in mismanagement and unrewarding consequences will arise as a result.
Visa Credit Card:
Similarly, pertaining to risk management, you have to consider security issues with regards to your visa credit card. One of the main reasons why people choose to pay for a visa credit card is because of its security features. One of its main traits is the real time fraud detection and monitoring which provides card holders lot of relief and security. You will be provided information soon in case there is a breach in your card and all card charges will be put on hold because of the scanning systems, which are vigilant and continually looking for any wary events. This will enable the aversion of fraud on your card.
Theft assistance and zero liability are the other elements which the company offers. In this, the company will try to solve the problems ASAP. With these kinds of state-of-the-art security systems, visa card holders can be less worried about card thefts and identity thefts.
posted @ 9:46 AM,
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