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hide Euro ministers back 10 billion euro Cyprus bailout Friday, April 12, 2013 5:07 a.m. CDT A child tries to reach an ATM machine at a branch of Laiki Bank in Nicosia March 30, 2013. REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel By Jan Strupczewski and Annika Breidthardt DUBLIN (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers backed a 10 billion euro bailout for Cyprus on Friday and the European Commission said it would try to help the island's economy grow again with better use of EU structural funds. The ministerial support opens the way for several euro zone countries, including Germany and Finland to seek approval for the three-year bailout in national parliaments, so that loan agreement with Nicosia can be signed by April 24. The first tranche of the loan - 9 billion of which will come from the euro zone and 1 billion from the International Monetary Fund - will flow to Nicosia in mid-May. The euro zone loans will have an average maturity of 15 years and maximum maturity of 20 years. "The Eurogroup considers that the necessary elements are now in place to launch the relevant national procedures required for the formal approval of the ESM financial assistance facility agreement for an amount of up to 10 billion euros, subject to IMF's contribution," the euro zone ministers said in a statement. To cover its financing needs over three years, Cyprus itself will have to come up with 13 billion euros of its own, with the bulk of that sum coming from the closure of its Laiki bank and the restructuring of the Bank of Cyprus. The amount that Cyprus would need to contribute on its own had been estimated a month ago at around 7 billion, but the two sums were not directly comparable, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told a news conference. "People have been comparing apples with pears and coming up with oranges," Rehn said. "If you look at these two figures of 17 billion ...and the 23 billion for program financing, they are ... not strictly comparable because the construction of the first and second, or final package are different," he said. "The 17 billion euros is related to net financing needs ... while the larger figure, 23...is a gross financing concept," he said. The larger number also includes additional buffers to allow for weaker fiscal developments and additional costs in banks, he said. Cyprus will also raise taxes, cut spending and implement structural reforms to improve its public finances and to be able to eventually repay its debt, that is to fall to 104 percent of GDP in 2020 from a peak of above 126 percent in 2015. "The Eurogroup is confident that determined action in line with the reform measures spelled out in the MoU will allow the Cypriot economy to return to a sustainable path based on sound public finances, balanced growth and financial stability," the statement said. But international lenders now forecast the Cypriot economy will contract almost 9 percent this year and almost 4 percent in next year before returning to weak growth in 2015 and 2016. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades appealed to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy to do more to help revive growth in Cyprus, possibly through the use of the EU's structural funds. Such funds are paid out from the EU's long-term budget to all of its underdeveloped regions to co-finance projects with national authorities that help them expand and bring their wealth to the EU average. "We will try to reallocate structural funds so that we can use them as effectively as possible to support the kind of economic activities in Cyprus that will help the country to return to recovery ... for growing and investment and employment," Rehn said. The flow of such funds is spread over the seven years of the EU budget, but can be accelerated to increase the amount of money in the earlier years at the cost of the outer ones -- this method has been employed to help Greece already. (Additional reporting by Luke Baker in Brussels; editing Jeremy Gaunt)

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commentsCommunity banks team up to fight the megabanks By Blake Ellis @CNNMoney February 17, 2012: 5:39 AM ET Hundreds of small community banks across the country are joining forces under the national brand Kasasa, in order to take on big banks.NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Faced with growing competition from the likes of Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, more than 100 community banks have joined forces to take on the megabanks.Once rivals, these smaller financial institutions have banded together under a common brand called Kasasa. A total of 128 banks and credit unions across 35 states have joined this brand alliance to pool their advertising and marketing resources and offer more competitive products to their customers. The banks' customers still conduct business directly with their individual bank (and their account is still FDIC-insured through the bank), but they are also getting the added benefits of being part of the broader network. For example, customers of member banks are able to open free Kasasa-branded rewards checking accounts and Kasasa high-interest savings accounts. Started in 2009, Kasasa is the brainchild of Gabe Krajicek, the CEO of BancVue, which serves as the parent company of the alliance. Once a bank joins Kasasa, the company trains the staff on setting up Kasasa-branded accounts and handles all of the marketing and promotion for the banks. 'I dumped my bank!'In exchange, the bank pays a series of fees, both upfront and ongoing. There's a setup fee, a monthly software license fee and a success fee for each Kasasa-branded account that the bank opens. All of these costs depend on the size of the institution. Plus, the banks give a portion of their marketing and advertising budget to Kasasa. For many of the banks that have joined Kasasa, the fees have been worth it. Fighting a megabank invasion: As the megabanks kept opening branches in his area, David Krause, CEO of Pioneer Bank in St. James, Minn., reached out to his competitors to discuss banding together."I've been in banking for 25 years and viewed every other bank as a competitor," said Krause. "But over the past couple years, I've realized that other banks like us that serve their communities shouldn't be the ones we're competing with. We should really be highlighting our strengths and looking at megabanks as the competition."A small community bank with six branches and only $223 million in deposits, his outfit was no match for banks like Bank of America, with nearly $1 trillion in deposits. Pioneer didn't have the resources to market itself or offer products that could compete with the big banks in terms of online features, rates and incentives. 0:00 / 2:03 Community cash: In each other we trustSo last year, Krause held a meeting at a local hotel with a handful of other community bank presidents. And by the time the meeting was over, he had convinced two other banks to join Kasasa. Pioneer Bank currently offers three of Kasasa's products and has more than 1,500 Kasasa account holders with deposits totaling more than $14 million. In the first 15 months that the bank has offered the accounts, checking and savings deposits have increased 25%, compared to an increase of only 5% for the 15 months prior to that. Economies of scale: The more banks that sign on from a specific region, the more money Kasasa has to reach potential customers in that area. By getting seven banks in Ohio to join forces, for example, Kasasa was able to become the official sponsor of the Cleveland Cavaliers this January -- something one of the seven community banks would never have had the resources to do on its own, said Krajicek.Are big banks really changing their ways?Momentum has been picking up recently as more consumers seek alternatives to fee-heavy big banks. Last year, Kasasa nearly doubled the number of community banks and credit unions in its network. Nearly all of the new members joined in the last four months of 2011. At the rate things are going, Krajicek expects to double its membership by the end of the year and hit 1,000 members in three to five years. It is currently in discussions with 49 additional institutions. By the end of the first quarter, it expects to have an advertising budget of about $13.5 million.Jeff Elsea, CEO of the Bank of Weston in Missouri, is one of the network's new recruits. After watching the number of community banks shrink from 10 to 3 as banks like Chase and Bank of America popped up in the area, he started reaching out to his rivals. "[Megabanks] come in and put a branch here and there, and because of their marketing power they can run four-page ads all over the 'Kansas City Star,' they have billboards everywhere, and us little people can't do that," said Elsea.Funny money? 11 local currenciesOver the first two years of becoming part of Kasasa, the bank has generated $12 million in new deposits -- about a 10% increase -- which is a "big deal" for a bank with only about $100 million in total deposits, he said.While some bankers were initially skeptical about teaming up with their rivals, he's confident that they will soon be following his lead."They were curious as to why in the world I would be calling them up and getting them to meet up, and the first time we got together there was some skepticism, but once they see the results we've had, I think they'll be coming back around," he said. Related ArticlesLocal currencies: 'In the U.S. we don't trust' No more fees: Company to launch free ATMs 'I'm addicted to my big bank' America's most loyal bank customers

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Goldman’s Robinson gets her close-up By Mark DeCambre July 25, 2012 | 4:00am Hello, Mrs. Robinson! Goldman Sachs Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Beshel Robinson — considered a rising star within the Wall Street firm and a candidate to succeed her boss, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar — just held her first audition for the job. Robinson, who until now has mostly operated behind the scenes of the storied investment bank, took center stage yesterday during a conference call to discuss the firm’s fiscal health, prompted by recent bank downgrades, Europe’s debt crisis and sweeping regulatory reform. During the 35-minute call that kicked off at noon, Robinson, who along with Viniar fielded questions from analysts and investors, said the bank has significantly bolstered its balance sheet since 2008, and boasted around $170 billion in liquid assets at the end of the second quarter. “I was impressed with her when I met her,” said Brad Hintz, a veteran bank analyst at Sanford Bernstein. “What I think [Goldman] now is giving her is more limelight.” Although Viniar hasn’t announced his intention to leave the bank, it’s been an open secret in the firm for a while that the 56-year-old is keen to exit and is just waiting for Wall Street’s unprecedented roller-coaster ride to abate. More than just a bean-counter, Viniar enjoys the respect of investors and has played an instrumental role helping craft the firm’s business strategy during the financial crisis. He joined the firm in 1980 as an investment banker after graduating from Harvard Business School and has been CFO since 1999. Robinson, who is married to Goldman Managing Director Samuel Robinson, shares several similarities with Viniar. Both held the treasurer job and worked their way up the ranks. Robinson joined Goldman fresh out of college and has been steeped in the firm’s culture. She earned her MBA at Columbia University at night while still working at the firm. Ultimately, it may take multiple execs to replace Viniar when he decides to hang it up given the many lines of business that report to him, sources said. The market has… The market has winners, but… Twitter

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Budget Use Of Pensions Sows Trouble In San Diego By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH San Diego is caught in a financial bind, facing the possibility of a bankruptcy filing, largely because of a $1.2 billion shortfall in its pension fund for municipal workers. For years the city has spent money from illusory pension fund earnings, according to the authors of a new report released yesterday. Yet the practice, which the authors called dangerous, is sanctioned by law in California and other places and is commonplace among cities that offer pensions to their workers. The findings raise the possibility that other communities will face similar financial disasters. At the core of San Diego's troubles, according to the report, is its use, year after year, of pension fund earnings that exceeded projections to pay for a variety of local projects, including expenses associated with playing host to the 1996 Republican National Convention and paying health insurance premiums for retired teachers and firefighters. But actuarial projections are long-term averages, and when the above-average earnings are used in a good year, that does not leave any money to offset the inevitable bad year. The idea that a pension fund provides ''free money'' that a city can spend is ''dangerous and widely misused,'' said the report, which was commissioned in February by the mayor of San Diego in an effort to identify flaws in the city's financial reporting procedures and to recommend corrections. Many local governments harness illusory pension money as San Diego did, the authors said. ''This was not something done by stealth. This was not unique to San Diego,'' said Richard Carl Sauer, a former official of the Securities and Exchange Commission and now a partner in the Washington office of the law firm of Vinson & Elkins. ''Any number of municipalities have used surplus earnings to cover budget items.'' Mr. Sauer and the new report's other author, Paul S. Maco, said they were not aware of any single source of detailed information on the handling of state and local pension funds. Therefore, they said, it was impossible to predict how many other localities might end up in San Diego's situation. ''One thing that is fair to say is that part of the story in San Diego is that people were not taking a very close look,'' said Mr. Maco, a former S.E.C. lawyer who oversaw the agency's work on Orange County, which declared bankruptcy in 1994. He, too, is now a partner with Vinson & Elkins in Washington, specializing in securities law and public finance. ''If there's one message that comes from this,'' he said, ''it's that cities should take a very close look at the status of their obligation to fund their pension system.'' Though San Diego's troubles are thought to have been brewing for more than two decades, their severity was not widely understood until recently. For many of the years when the city was setting the stage for its current problems, it was winning awards for the quality of its financial reports and being given high ratings by credit agencies. These days, San Diego is unable to issue bonds because of errors in its 2003 annual report, which is being redone. In addition, the S.E.C. and the Justice Department are investigating its financial management and legal disclosures. The awareness of a problem started with the appointment in 1997 of a registered investment adviser, Diann Shipione, as a trustee of the city retirement system. Ms. Shipione said in an interview that she was increasingly troubled by the way the city was handling the pension fund, but other trustees rebuffed her questions and challenges. She went public with her concerns when she read the prospectus for a municipal sewer bond issue and realized that the city was not disclosing the magnitude of its pension debt, raising the possibility that one day the bondholders and the pensioners would be competing for the same money. Cities are not held to the same standards of disclosure that corporations are when they issue stocks and bonds. The only relevant provisions of the federal securities laws are broad prohibitions of significant omissions and misstatements. Until now, the S.E.C. has never brought an enforcement action over a city's pension disclosures, Mr. Maco said. The basic cause of San Diego's troubles is the tension between the obligations of its pension fund, which come due over many decades, and its annual budget, which has to be balanced. When actuaries calculate the value of a pension fund, they project the rate of return the fund will achieve on its investments, generally basing that on the kind of investments in the fund. The projected returns are used to calculate the amount the city will have to pay into the fund every year to keep it sound. In reality, the pension fund is unlikely to return exactly what the actuary said it would in any single year. But over the long term, the excess returns in the good years are supposed to offset poor returns or losses in the bad years. ''When above-average returns are defined as 'surplus' and siphoned off for other uses,'' the report said, ''the result may be the depletion of the system's financial strength'' because there is no financial cushion for the bad years. That appears to be what happened in San Diego. In 1980, city officials noticed that the pension fund was producing what came to be known as ''surplus earnings.'' They withdrew this hypothetical surplus and used it to finance a cost-of-living adjustment for the city's retirees. Soon after that, the city found more ''surplus'' pension money, and used it to pay the premiums for its retirees' health insurance. ''We call that concept 'shaving off the mountaintops,''' said Rick Roeder, the actuary for the retirement board. He said that because he worked for the pension fund, and not the city, he had been unaware of the extent of the problems that were brewing. Years ago, corporations also withdrew actuarial surpluses from their pension funds, and put the money to work in the business. But the practice became fiercely controversial in the 1980's, when disputed surpluses became a factor in corporate takeovers. Congress eventually imposed steep excise taxes on these withdrawals, making the ''free money'' suddenly look very costly. Today, companies rarely withdraw pension money for business purposes. Publicly traded companies, though, are still able to factor their illusory pension earnings into their bottom lines. San Diego authorities continued to rely on the pension fund's ''surplus earnings'' until 1996. The routine was thrown off that year by a number of increases in promised employee benefits. The city and its labor unions reached a temporary agreement that the pension fund could make do with smaller contributions for a time. That gravely weakened the pension fund, but a roaring stock market concealed the problem. The temporary underfunding became permanent. It was at this point, according to the new report, that the city's financial disclosures ''began to exhibit significant inaccuracies and omissions.'' The authors do not cite individuals for particular blame, but instead describe ''a failure of city personnel to understand the increasing complexities'' building up in the pension fund and ''poor communications with outside professionals,'' like the actuary, who could have advised them of the risks they were taking on. They recommend that the city adopt higher disclosure standards, similar to those set in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the wake of the Enron scandal. Photo: Paul S. Maco, left, and Richard Carl Sauer, authors of a report criticizing San Diego financing practices, at a news conference there yesterday. (Photo by Alan Decker for The New York Times)(pg. C4)

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Shortlist for World Bank presidency Tradition of US appointee taking helm of global lender faces challenge from emerging economies-backed candidates. The World Bank has confirmed that three candidates are in contention for the presidency [Reuters] US President Barack Obama has nominated Korean-American Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank - a job that emerging economies are contesting for the first time. While Washington retains the largest single voting share and can expect the support of European nations and Japan, the bank's second-largest voting member, some developing countries have also put through their nominations. Angola, Nigeria and South Africa threw their support behind Nigerian economist and finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while Brazil put forward a nomination of Jose Antonio Ocampo, who previously served as head of Colombia's national bank. The World Bank board of member countries has promised to make a decision by the time of the IMF and World Bank semi-annual meetings on April 21. The current head of the global lender, Robert Zoellick, is due to step down in June. Jim Yong Kim, 52 [Reuters] President of Dartmouth College, a US Ivy League university. Born in South Korea, he grew up in rural Iowa in the US. Kim studied medicine and anthropology at Harvard and taught medicine in several universities. Between 2003 and 2007, he led a World Health Organisation initiative to bring antiretroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries. He co-founded a non-profit organisation, Partners in Health, which works with impoverished communities from Haiti to Russia. His nomination is backed by the US, which traditionally appoints the head of the global development lender, and has drawn support from South Korea and France. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, 57 An economist and the Nigerian finance minister who has spent more than two decades in numerous positions at the World Bank. Okonjo-Iweala was born in southern Nigeria and studied economics at Harvard. She earned a doctorate in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.In her most recent position at the Bank, she was managing director under current Word Bank chairman Robert Zoellick. She was subsequently appointed by the new Nigerian government to oversee financial reforms. Her nomination is supported by African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa and Angola. Jose Antonio Ocampo, 59 Currently a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York. Ocampo is a US-trained economist and has served in the Colombian government as well as the UN.He held the ministerial posts of agriculture minister and planning. He was also the chairman of Colombia's Central Bank. He was the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean for six years.From 2003-2007, he was UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs. Ocampo was nominated for the role by Brazil. Jim Yong Kim Jose Antonio Ocampo Columbia University in NY Economic Commission for Latin America School of International and Public Affairs Nigerian government Colombia's government Colombian government Columbia University in New York School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York

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Performance Services Company Education My Attain Managed FuturesManaged ForexCustom Portfolios Managed Futures BrokerAttain Fund PlatformConsulting & Partnerships Our TeamCareersContact us Alternative InvestmentsManaged FuturesFREE NEWSLETTER Take a Tour Sign up now to receive our free newsletter Research & Analysis Home Meet the Futures Industry: A Breakdown of Terminology, Roles and Responsibilities July 23, 2012 These days, the futures industry has been in the spotlight in a way we've never seen. Granted, we can think of better reasons to pay attention to our corner of the world, but the enhanced attention to our space has highlighted another issue- the fact that the public, at large, has little understanding of the futures industry in general. From reporters referring to FCMs as brokers, to the press using the term managed futures funds, to a seemingly never ending stream of questions related to what, exactly, an FCM does, it appears that the only thing that's clear is a desperate need for clarity. Understanding the distinctions between various actors in this space is important to both investors and media alike. It can help provide guidance on who to work with, and what to be thinking about when making investment decisions. It's also pretty critical to establishing wider spread understanding of the significance in what's been happening in our industry. So let's break it down- who the players are, who they answer to, and how those roles might be evolving in the coming months and years. The Players In the futures industry, professionals can fall into a wide variety of buckets, but each category serves a unique function in the space. Most of us are familiar with the idea of a stock exchange, like the New York Stock Exchange. The futures industry has their own futures exchanges, with some of the largest players in the space being the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). There are also a wide variety of foreign exchanges out there, trading different (and sometimes similar) markets. The function of the exchanges is similar to what you see on the stocks side of things- the matching of buyers and sellers for products listed at the exchange, or quite simply – the facilitation of trades. But just as you cannot walk off the street into the New York Stock Exchange and buy some shares of Apple, you have to be working through the proper parties to trade in the futures markets. These parties are called Futures Commission Merchants, or FCMs. These agents are essentially vouching for you with the exchanges; they verify your identity, send over the required margin to place a trade, confirm that you have the funds to back up your trading behavior, and keep you informed of your account balances and needed action. There are two types of FCMs- clearing and non-clearing. A clearing FCM holds a membership with an exchange, and, as such, is responsible for posting the required amount of money to hold any futures positions to the various futures exchanges they have memberships with. However, the cost of maintaining a seat on an exchange and the operational support for the necessary transactions gave birth to non-clearing FCMs. These firms will work with a clearing entity which helps direct the movement of customer cash for trading purposes alone, leaving the remainder of the FCM duties on the non-clearing FCM in question. For context, MFGlobal was a clearing FCM, while PFGBest was a non-clearing FCM that worked with Jeffries as their clearing FCM. What are the differences between the two? Clearing FCMs are generally a little lower cost, as there's only one entity involved in the clearing process. However, many of these firms will focus on larger investors, while non-clearing FCMs, in our experience, tend to do a better job with client relations. Moreover, non-clearing FCMs have the ability to move their book of business if the clearing party's integrity is somehow compromised. Such moves, however, are rare, with only a few that we can recollect in recent times. Some people like professional traders, commercial hedgers, and large institutional investors may trade enough that an FCM is all they need to conduct their business. Especially since the dawn of electronic trading platforms, more and more investors will simply trade through whichever FCM they've partnered with. That being said, many investors seeking futures markets access will work through another actor- an Introducing Broker. Broadly speaking, an introducing broker is the person or firm most futures market participants have a relationship with. They are the people you call to talk about what Corn might do next week, about which managed futures program is doing well in the current environment, or which electronic trading platform provides the bells and whistles you are looking for. As alluded to, most of these brokers will specialize in specific types of access points, be they retail trading brokers, facilitating the trading of individuals who like to place their own trades either over the phone or via an online platform; hedging transaction brokers for farmers and commodity consumers; or folks like us, who specialize in managed futures recommendations (more on that in a moment). What kind of firm you work with will depend on the type of business you're looking to do. There are also distinctions to be drawn in broker affiliation. For instance, an Independent Introducing Broker has the ability to establish a clearing relationship with any firm they choose, and can move that business as they see fit. In contrast, a Guaranteed Introducing Broker, or GIB, is affiliated with one clearing firm alone. They will align themselves with an FCM in order to avoid having to meet certain net capital requirements, relying instead on the capitalization of the FCMs from a compliance perspective. However, should that FCM go down in flames, they're sinking with them. Again, using a broad brush, this is part of the reason we always recommend investors seek out independent brokers. Now, as we pointed out above – not all futures trading is done via a trader placing trades on their own or via their broker. In fact, we don't recommend investors trade futures on their own, at all. Futures trading is complex, and presents the risk of substantial losses, as the NFA likes us to say. In our experience, most people who trade futures on their own end up losing more often than they win. This is why we work in the managed futures space; where we believe that professional money managers can do a better job than a trading amateur when it comes to harnessing the potential value of futures markets. These money managers are called Commodity Trading Advisors, or CTAs, even though the press frequently refers to them as Commodity trading funds or commodity hedge funds, or the like. Essentially, a CTA will trade on behalf of client in identified markets according to a specifically outlined strategy. They may be systematically driven, or trade on a discretionary basis, but the structure of the programs is outlined, along with past performance, in a disclosure document that investors must sign off on before investing. Investors sign a limited power of attorney which gives trading authority in a specific account, and that account only, to the program manager, who then trades on their behalf according to the agreed upon strategy. Assuming you're operating in the futures markets and not forex (we'll get to that in a second), those investing with a CTA have their money held in a segregated account which has been introduced to a FCM by an Introducing Broker. Assuming said FCM is not PFGBest or MFGlobal and no fraud is taking place, that money cannot be touched, and is the property of the investor. The CTA will trade each clients' individual account, and with that separation of funds comes the ability for daily transparency and liquidity; after all, it is your account which you can view as often as you like and take mo alone. Now, many CTAs are also registered as a Commodity Pool Operator, or CPO, which is similar to a CTA in essentially every way except how the investors access the strategy of the manager. Unlike a CTA where the manager places trades directly in the client’s own account, a commodity pool, or Fund run by a CPO, pools together investor money and places trades in a single account owned by the Fund. Because an investors money is invested in the name of the fund, not the name of the investor, this leads to slightly lower levels of liquidity and transparency. The tarde off is that such funds, CPOs, tend to offer lower minimum investment thresholds than are available for individually managed accounts, as they rely on the pooled funds and not individual account balances to trade. You can’t trade 1/8 of a contract, but you can get 1/8 of what’s needed to trade 1 contract from 8 people in order to trade one contract. Both CTAs and CPOs require accounts at clearing firms to trade the products of different futures exchanges on behalf of clients, or the fund; while some CTAs will work with introducing brokers to expand their distribution. The Referees So we know who the players are and the board on which they play, but who's monitoring the game and enforcing the rules? Well, we've made our thoughts on how well they do their job pretty clear by this point, but understanding what they should be doing is pretty important when it comes to comprehending recent developments. In 1974, Congress passed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974, which President Ford signed into law. It had become clear, as trading increased in frequency, that there was a need for legal oversight. The passing of the bill overhauled the Commodity Exchange Act and created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission), an independent agency with far more authority over futures trading than its predecessor, the Commodity Exchange Authority. The bill also allowed for the development of a self-regulatory body for the industry that would complement the actions of the CFTC. In 1976, a group of industry participants, lead by the then Chairman of the CME Leo Melamed, formed the National Futures Association Organizing Committee. The goal was to reflect a large cross-section of business and regional interests, because without full cooperation across the industry, the efforts would not be a success. The process was a slow one, but in 1982, Robert K. Wilmouth, former president of the Chicago Board of Trade, became the NFA’s first president. The rest, as they say, is history. The NFA became a self-regulating body operating under the authority of the CFTC. What are the differences? The answer, it turns out, was not exactly easy to track down. Our past research had indicated that the CFTC writes the rules and enforces them for non-NFA members (think exchanges), and the NFA enforces the rules for its members unless the infraction is a large one. Essentially, the NFA has a long list of compliance rules which members must abide by. Included in these rules are all of the CFTC regulations, while others are derived from the industry in order to uphold the highest levels of integrity among members- in theory, at least. As the NFA website explains, “With certain exceptions, all persons and organizations that intend to do business as futures professionals must register under the Commodity Exchange Act.” The NFA will then conduct audits of its members and generally monitor their behavior. If they find something out of line, they will issue a reprimand that can range from a letter of warning to expulsion from the organization and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Again, in theory. When does the CFTC step up to the plate? Legally, they could get involved in any case alleging an infraction of their regulations, but in practice, they usually only get involved in the punitive process if the offender is not an NFA member (meaning the NFA has no jurisdiction), or if the violation was severe. While it is possible that someone could be punished by the CFTC and NFA, it doesn’t often happen that way. The futures industry is pretty large and sprawling, making the task of regulating the industry a difficult one. While the NFA may be tasked with being the frontline regulator on most issues, general surveillance of FCMs is largely conducted by a group of self-regulatory organizations who hold designated responsibilities for a list of FCMs, known as DSROs. Outside of the NFA, each other DSRO is an exchange of some form, including the CME, ICE, Kansas City Board of Trade and Minneapolis Grain Exchange. Their job is to closely monitor the balances of segregated funds accounts. At this point, it's important to understand the massive distinction between "segregated" and "secured" funds. Futures clients enjoy the benefits of having their funds "segregated." Barring out and out fraud at an FCM, these funds may not be touched for any purpose other than trading by or on behalf of the investor. The Refco bankruptcy is a recent example of the benefits derived from these protections; those with funds in segregated accounts didn't lose a penny, with their balances being transferred to new clearing firms. Secured funds are a whole different ballgame. Typically, this is money for those trading forex- think currencies. Although it is also how US FCMs enable trading on foreign commodity exchanges. So if you want to trade some Euro Bund futures on Eurex, the FCM will convert some of your segregated account balance to a secured balance, and then transfer that secured money to the foreign exchange. This caused all sorts of problems in the MF Global case, as the UK regulators in particular have been stubborn about returning money posted in their country as margin, claiming the UK investors have priority on that money. Secured funds, in the case of bankruptcy, essentially become part of the general creditor claims – although there is some precedent for customer funds to have prioritiy even if they aren’t segregated funds. Should it be this way? In our opinion, no, but currently, it's where things stand. At the end of the day, though, these regulators answer to the CFTC, which answers to Congress. Unfortunately, as we've seen in the MFGlobal and PFGBest cases, accountability among the regulatory bodies has been slim, and answers for investors are in short supply. We've outlined ways investors might be able to up their protection in light of these deficiencies, but in the long-term, we're hoping the necessary reforms are put into place. How These Concepts Might Evolve Recent scandals have called into question the general infrastructure of the futures industry, forcing us to consider a wider universe of where things go from here. From a regulatory perspective, we've got a wide berth of changes we'd like to see made, but that's been covered by now (see here for more). Right now, we're looking at what happens to the role of the FCM moving forward. There are two components to consider. Initially, the FCM business model has languished in an era of lower interest rates. Hedgeworld had a great article up on the subject, despite some terminology issues. The thrust of it (bracketed terms replaced for accuracy- to the authors, please note that a broker and FCM are not the same thing, and cannot be used interchangeably): Long before Peregrine Financial Group's dramatic collapse last week, months before MF Global's meltdown triggered an industry-wide crisis of confidence, the world of the independently owned [FCM] was not a happy one. Even as trading volumes handled by these relatively small futures commission merchants boomed over the past decade, profits were dwindling: electronic trading, the rise of the hedge fund and rapid-fire algorithmic trader, and the slump in interest rates had upended their century-old business model. Some turned to speculating with their own money, trade finance or market research to bolster earnings; others have been sold, further depleting the ranks of an industry which saw market share halved in 10 years. Two, MF Global and Peregrine, allegedly looted their customers' money to try to stay afloat. "The root cause of issues at both firms was the lack of profitability," said Gary DeWaal, general counsel of [FCM] Newedge, which is owned by two French banks and is one of the world's largest futures [FCMs]. "That caused the principals to do things that, in the end, were probably not such a good idea," he deadpanned. But, really, the bigger concern is protection of client funds. Can the concepts exist in harmony? Perhaps... industry chatter is leaning toward the idea of having exchanges hold funds on behalf of FCMs, returning interest gained on funds back to them, and allowing them to focus on serving clients. The CME alluded to a similar idea in an email to clients this morning. Generally speaking, we're not opposed to the idea, but there are some complications to consider. For instance, a big portion of futures trading takes place of foreign futures exchanges. While we might trust the CME with funds, for U.S. investors, the idea of entrusting custody of their funds to entities which do not answer to U.S. law is a tidbit unnerving. Further, not all investors fund their accounts in cash. In the past, many used treasury bills as collateral, and as the PFGBest bankruptcy hearing on specifically identifiable property (SIP) highlighted, others continue to fund their accounts with things like precious metals or blue chip stocks. How does this get handled in a world where FCMs aren't holding customer assets? We don't have the answers, but we think they need to be found before any decisions are made. There's no way around it- this is a complex industry, and we face even more complex challenges on the horizon. But before we can tackle those issues, it's important that our discussion come from an informed place, and we hope these clarifications can help us get there. In the meantime, we'll keep on fighting, hoping that logic and reason prevail. IMPORTANT RISK DISCLOSURE Was this article particularly interesting or helpful to you? Forward this email to a friend who might find it useful. Not on our mailing list? Sign up now to receive this weekly newsletter. Feature | Week In Review: Grains and Energies Continue the Ascent Grains and Energies Continue the Ascent In indices, the Dow and the S&P 500 happened to post the same increase: 0.48%, while the Nasdaq was up 1.41%, the S&P Mid-Cap 400 E-mini fell -0.26%, and the Russel 2000 E-mini fell -1.24%. In bonds, US 10-year notes were up 0.27%, and US 30-year bonds gained 0.39%. In currencies, the US Dollar rose 0.12%, the Japanese Yen rose 1.01%, the British Pound gained 0.32%, the Euro lost -0.68%, and the Swiss Franc fell -0.68%. Metals all slid lower last week, as Gold was down -0.58%, Silver lost -0.24%, Copper fell -1.60%, Platinum lost -1.44%, and Palladium lost -1.63%. Energies, on the other hand, posted increases across the board, as Crude was up 5.43%, Heating Oil gained 4.88%, RBOB Gasoline was up 4.51%, and Natural Gas was up 7.20%.The remarkable drought throughout the Midwest continued to wreak havoc on supply expectations in grains, sending Corn up 11.34% to a 2 year high, Wheat up 11.27% to a 2 year high, and Soy up 10.21% to yet another new all-time record. In meats, Live Cattle rose 0.64%, and Live Hogs gained 3.65%. In Softs, Cocoa rose 0.59%, Orange Juice lost -10.24%, Cotton rose 0.39%, Coffee gained 0.46%, and Sugar rose 5.24%. IMPORTANT RISK DISCLOSURE Futures based investments are often complex and can carry the risk of substantial losses. They are intended for sophisticated investors and are not suitable for everyone. The ability to withstand losses and to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points which can adversely affect investor returns. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. The performance data for the various Commodity Trading Advisor ("CTA") and Managed Forex programs listed above are compiled from various sources, including Barclay Hedge, Attain Capital Management, LLC's ("Attain") own estimates of performance based on account managed by advisors on its books, and reports directly from the advisors. These performance figures should not be relied on independent of the individual advisor's disclosure document, which has important information regarding the method of calculation used, whether or not the performance includes proprietary results, and other important footnotes on the advisor's track record. The dollar based performance data for the various trading systems listed above represent the actual profits and losses achieved on a single contract basis in client accounts, and are inclusive of a $50 per round turn commission ($30 per e-mini contracts). Except where noted, the gains/losses are for closed out trades. The actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to: starting account balances, market behavior, the duration and extent of investor's participation (whether or not all signals are taken) in the specified system and money management techniques. Because of this, actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors may be materially different than the percentage gains/losses as presented on this website. Please read carefully the CFTC required disclaimer regarding hypothetical results below. HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN; IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK OF ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT TRADING RESULTS. Feature | Week In Review: Grains and Energies Continue the Ascent Copyright © 2014 Attain Capital Management, licensed Managed Futures, Trading System & Commodity Brokers. All Rights Reserved. Legal & Disclaimers

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> Commerce & Economy SAMPLE PLAY AUDIO SAMPLE http%3A%2F%2Fsamples.audible.com%2Fnb%2Fwsjs%2F999991%2Fnb_wsjs_999991_sample.mp3+flashcontent12S15MCM8H5T4RRDYC820 The Wall Street Journal on Audible.com 1-Month Subscription Written by: The Wall Street Journal Narrated by: The Wall Street Journal Length: 1 hr Release Date:11-09-98 Publisher: Dow Jones & Company Inc. NewspaperMagazine 4.10 (123 ratings) Here's a creative way to make the best use of your morning commute: listen to The Wall Street Journal. Each morning, you'll get the must-hear stories from the Journal's front page, as well as the most popular columns and briefings from Marketplace, Money & Investing, and more. And, every Friday, you'll get a bonus delivery: features, columns, and reviews from the Weekend Journal. The Wall Street Journal on Audible.com 12-Month Subscription By The Wall Street Journal Narrated By The Wall Street Journal Here's a creative way to make the best use of your morning commute: listen to The Wall Street Journal. Each morning, you'll get the must-hear stories from the Journal's front page, as well as the most popular columns and briefings from Marketplace, Money & Investing, and more. And, every Friday, you'll get a bonus delivery: features, columns, and reviews from the Weekend Journal. "It has been about 5 months into my subscription." The New York Times Audio Digest,12-Month Subscription "Excellent encapsulation of NYT" Guide to Financial Markets (6th edition): The Economist By Marc Levinson Narrated By Philip Franks The definitive guide to why different financial markets exist and how they operate. This edition brings the listener right up to speed with the latest developments in financial instruments and provides a clear and incisive guide to this complex world that even those who work in it often find hard to understand. With chapters on the markets that deal with money, foreign exchange, equities, bonds, commodities, financial futures, options, and other derivatives, it looks at why these markets exist, how they work and who trades in them, and it gives a run-down of the factors that affect prices and rates. PHIL says: "This sharpened my understanding" BBC Newshour, 12-Month Subscription By Owen Bennett-Jones, Lyse Doucet, Robin Lustig, and others Narrated By BBC Newshour Global news and analysis from the BBC World Service. Join our leading team of presenters for the best interviews, features and analysis of world events. BBC Newshour, 1-Month Subscription Everett Leiter says: "Excellent - but no section navigation" Guide to Investment Strategy (3rd edition): The Economist By Peter Stanyer The global financial crisis that erupted in 2008 exposed the flaws in many investment strategies. This book explores the controversies that surround the management of wealth and provides guidance on how to construct investment strategies that are appropriate for each investor. With its detailed analysis, supported by data and anecdotes, it is above all a practical guide. It shows how the insights of behavioural analysis are widely reflected in investor behaviour, while emphasising the importance of basing investment strategy on the principles of traditional finance. Forbes, 12-Month Subscription Harvard Business Review, January/February 2014 "What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews" by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen. "Focusing Capital on the Long Term" by Dominic Barton and Mark Wiseman. "The Big Lie of Strategic Planning" by Roger L. Martin. "The New Patterns of Innovation" by Rashik Parmar, Ian Mackenzie, David Cohn, and David Gann. "From Superstorms to Factory Fires: Managing Unpredictable Supply-Chain Disruptions" by David Simchi-Levi, William Schmidt, and Yehua Wei. Scientific American, April 2014 By Scientific American "The First Starlight": The first stars ended the dark ages of the universe. "Rise of the Human Predator": Surprising new insights into how our ancestors became skilled hunters. "Journey to Bottom of the Sea": High-tech submersibles are poised to explore the ocean’s deepest trenches in an effort to tackle long-standing questions about exotic creatures, the source of tsunamis and the origins of life on earth. "The Genetic Geography of the Brain": The first detailed maps of what our genes are doing inside our brains challenge a long-held theory of how our gray matter works. Delivery: Monday-Friday by 6:30 am ETTo get the latest The Wall Street Journal on Audible.com, click here. Or, you can find back issues by searching the complete archive. (P) and ©Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Boss Talk The Morning Read from The Wall Street Journal, April 04, 2014 "Pretty Good, but could be Great" I subscribe to the print and Audible versions of the Wall Street Journal. Most days, I don't have time to unwrap the WSJ, let alone skim it. So, I make do with the Audible service. The WSJ Audible subscription is pretty good. Each day there is at least one article that is relevant to me. These are articles that I would read if I was perusing the WSJ in print. However, the WSJ Audible subscription could be greatly improved by making a two changes. First, I would like the service to read all of the the "What's News" blurbs from the front page. "What's News" is a good briefing. I also believe this would drive listeners to purchase the print version of the WSJ, if an article that they found compelling was not featured on the audible service. Second, I would like to hear more Marketplace articles. Finance and Money and Investing are good topics, but charts and graphs are not well suited to audio communication. If time length is a concern, I recommend adding the above content and removing the editorial. While the editor's opinions are interesting, hard business news and facts are a higher priority for me. BOISE, ID, USA "A great service" The WSJ is a great newspaper. The problem is that not a lot of people have the time to sit down and read (much less absorb) the volumes of information delivered in a daily paper the size of the Journal. If reading it isn't part of your job description, it's a difficult thing to accomplish if you have other demands on your time. This service goes a long way towards resolving this problem. The daily read gives you the "high points" from the journal, including major stories, major financial news and editorials. The mixture of political vs financial news fluctuates on a day to day basis, but generally there is more financial news then political. The financial news covered usually includes large business transactions (or rumors thereof), product releases from major companies, coverage of the stock & bond markets, interest rates, and predictions of the future of the economy. There is also coverage of the affairs of corporate executives, fund managers and other folks who can influence financial markets. Sometimes the stories dive pretty deep into numbers, which can be difficult to keep track of via audio. But hey, it is the WSJ after all. The political coverage is generally related to major news stories, geo-political events, budgetary policy, and some amount of "right vs. left" politics. There is also a daily editorial which tends to focus more on political matters. The editorial is my favorite part of the daily read. So, if you'd like get the highlights from the WSJ, but don't have time to read it, this is a great service. I've had it for a month, and I'm hooked. The WSJ is now part of my daily commute. There's a certain confidence that comes from having listened to the daily read before I walk into work. The information has already come in handy a couple of times. You might be surprised how often some subject will come up in the office, and you'll be able to throw out some information you picked up from the Journal. Deerfield, NH, USA "Good Read" Nice balance...good combination of financial, world, national news. Love that the articles are complete...not just summaries or abstracts...and VERY good. Also touch on headlines of the print version that I don't subscribe to so if something gets my interest I can pick it up on way in to work. Weekend journal is usually quite good and is a nice bonus. I agree with other reviewers about the editorials. Not being so conservative myself I found them kind of "out there." Now, though, they are a part I look forward to just to hear "the other side" and maybe get my blood going! Overall I think a great value! KIllerShrew Grand Ledge, MI "Could be much better" As a pretty busy person with not much time to read, I was excited to see that there was an audio version of the WSJ available. I download these issues to my PDA and listen to them in the car on the way to work or while taking my moring walk. In general I've liked the subscription but I'm getting a little frustrated with the fact that it often spends way too much time on "human interest" articles rather than on business related topics. For example, this morning's edition spent 25% of the entire program's 1-hour length on a story about a child with cancer. Although it was an interesting story and worthy of telling, it's not the reason that I subscribe to this program. I can get that type of news from other sources. It also spends too much time on national and world events. Yes, these events often have a business impact, but I can get that information from dozens of other sources. I need a program that is going to digest and give me the best of what is going on in the business world. I would also recommend that they not always read entire articles but maybe the first half of them. If what I've heard piques my interest, I can then go to the paper or on-line editions for more complete coverage. I would rather get 10 partial articles than 5 complete articles. The only time I'd like to hear the entire article is when it is really crucial and/or has widespread business impact. I don't want to hear an entire article on Philadelphia's tax situation (again, from this morning's edition). Overall, it's an OK subscription and I will probably keep ordering it for another month or two. But if it doesn't start improving, I may start looking for other sources of getting my business information. Bryan, TX, USA "Audio version is well done" Would rate this 3.5 if I could. I read a story or two from the print version fairly frequently, but rarely find time to read more, although I'm always impressed with the articles when I read them, so I looked forward to the audio version. The audio version is well done as far as picking a variety of stories to read and the narrators are pleasing to the ears. It is chaptered so that you can fast forward through stories that you don't want to listen to. Having someone else pick the stories (rather than me reading what I want) made it more evident that the paper leans to the right just a bit. I know, all publications are politically motivated in some way and many are much more obvious about it than the Journal, but it is a bit annoying sometimes. Nevertheless, I'm sticking with the Journal because it is a high quality publication in general. More Less "I agree it could be a lot better" I agree that the audio WSJ could be a lot better. More What's News and Marketplace blurb's would be great, I mean come on, we download this for a quick take on US and world business. The Top news story is interesting and all, but an "abridged" version would be appreciated, cutout the repeats and asides. Although some people dislike the editorial I find it interesting, however, an abridged version here would be nice as well. Likewise, personal journal is interesting and all but I think most people download the WSJ for Business news, not to listen to how Mrs. Jones washes her dog while selling popcorn people on ebay, again, an abridged version would spark interest but not bore the listener. I guess my review is that there should be a careful review of the articles while hitting the highpoints, so listeners can here what they really want, which I believe is pretty unanimous... Business news. Cut the long winded articles and put more content. I probably will finish out my subscription this month and not be back unless there is a change. More Less Hendersonville, TN, USA "Add International" Love listening to the WSJ! Hate local DJ's idiotic banter and this is a wonderful use of my time. I would prefer the main story from the International section over a Personal Journal article. Both would be even better - then I could choose. Audible: Create a web page for the Reader. Listening to the same voice every day it would be nice to see a picture and brief bio or something. Also provide a way to interact/provide feedback. Joong SeoulKorea, Republic Of "Great service!" I believe this is one of the best services I've purchased by paying less than $100. Since I'm a foreinger, reading the wall street journal takes much time and figuring out correct pronunciations for the jargons on the Wall Street journal is quite difficult. I believe there will be huge demand for this service in Asian countries. Besides, providing the scripts will be really helpful to your foreigner audience. Thank audible.com for introducing great service. More Less "WSJ in brief" Missing the newspaper has been hard, recently, so I was delighted to find an audible subscription to the WSJ. I have enjoyed over twenty of their books, now, and am very happy with this offering. Highlights: Weekend edition, discussing wine, travel and restaurant cuisine. The marketplace, summing up the best and worst of the previous day. Some of the front page article choices. Also, the readers have amazing voices. I would use the terms exciting and relaxing to describe them, while avoiding insighting stress (pretty hard) or boredom. Worst: Editorial. In the hour or so I am able to enjoy the WSJ on audible in the morning, I am more interested in events and news coverage, rather than someone elses opinion. What about just reading the brief synapses on the front page to help out those of use who truly listen to this for the news? More Less Berkeley, CA, USA "Very good, but..." I been listening to the audio WSJ for about 6 months now, and it is an important part of my daily routine (during my workout). Some impressions: Pros: * Enjoy the grabbag nature of front page stories -- a good mix of current affairs and backgrounders. * Heard on the Street is great - almost always fodder for ideas. * The weekly rotation of Marketplace stories adds variety (Cubicle Culture, Tech Journal, & Science Friday are favorites). * Narrator is good, although one short-term stand-in had me snoozing. * The editorials are uneven, and not just because of my own (moderate) political inclinations. Many of the free trade/regulatory ones are well-reasoned and informative. However, the political ones are often shoddy and tiresome -- sometimes taken right from Ken Mehlmann's latest RNC talking points. Surely, the WSJ can do better? * Personal journal is a bit fluffy, although it occasionally throws up a winner. * Yesterday's Markets could be a little less numbers-focused, although it might be useful for some.

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Customer Insight/Business Intelligence Big Data: Where to Begin? Jonathan CamhiSee more from JonathanConnect directly with Jonathan Bio| Contact Bank Systems & Technology got an early exclusive look at a report to be released tomorrow by Celent that highlights the difficulties many financial institutions are facing in moving towards a data-driven business model. Tags: Celent, Microsoft, Big Data, Analytics, Data Management, Fraud, Business Intelligence Financial institutions are still grappling with understanding the concept of big data and how it can be applied in their organizations, according to new research by Celent that will be released tomorrow. Celent surveyed IT executives at 33 financial institutions - including banks and insurers, large and small - for a study commissioned by Microsoft on where institutions stand on implementing big data projects. Bank Systems & Technology got an exclusive first look at the research before its publication tomorrow by Celent. Few of the institutions in the study had much experience with big data projects. Only 24% of the banks in the study had implemented a big data solution, with roughly an equal percentage in the pilot phase of its first big data initiative. Despite this lack of hands-on experience, most of the executives surveyed (60%) said that big data and analytics are a significant competitive advantage for financial institutions. And 90% of the respondents said they think that successful big data initiatives will define the winners in financial services in the future. The biggest barrier preventing organizations from pursuing big data initiatives, according to the study, was lack of analytical talent, which was cited by half of the respondents as a major impediment. Other barriers cited by the executives included data privacy (43%), lack of business sponsorship (39%) and lack of a clearly defined business case (39%). [See Related: 7 Big Data Players To Watch] Much of the data in the organizations represented in the study exists in independent silos, making it difficult to know where to start in applying big data and anaylitcs. “Few of the respondents knew where the big data function resided in their institution,” Colin Kerr, the industry solution manager for Microsoft’s worldwide banking team, said of the research. “Some people decided to be early movers in this area, but others are still grappling with where to begin.” The research showed that financial institutions also have a number of different ways of defining big data. When asked how their organization defines big data, the responses varied widely. The most popular definitions centered around using semi-structured and unstructured data or using predictive analytics and modeling. But others simply defined it as handling a greater volume of data than the organization could currently analyze or real-time data analysis. This lack of an easy definition makes things even more murky for banks that are trying to figure out how to use big data. “It’s about how do you want to grow your business, or defend your business? It’s about recognizing how do I maximize the use of data in my organization so that each business group can derive benefit?” Microsoft’s Colin Kerr says. Many institutions are still struggling to answer those questions, he adds. Although few of the institutions in the study had implemented big data initiatives, those that had projects that had been up and running for more than a year had seen positive results. The study found that 70% of the initiatives that had been running that long had met or exceeded business expectations. Most of the banks that have big data projects in progress are larger institutions, with community banks lagging well behind in this area. The two areas that banks said they were most interested in applying big data were risk and fraud monitoring (95%), and product and service marketing (75%). Kerr noted that there are examples of banks combining these two areas in one data-driven project. For instance, banks can use big data to analyze their credit scoring for credit card applicants. If a bank wants to lower its acceptance score by 10 points, they can use analysis to determine the impact on their default rates on the risk side, and target customers and examine pricing on the marketing side, Kerr said. But to successfully deliver big data initiatives banks are going to have to change their culture and embrace a data-driven business model, the report suggested. Executives and staff have to understand the growing importance of data and the opportunities it provides, the report noted, while taking better care in managing the flow of information through the organization to overcome silos. This begins with the collection of the data all the way through its storage, use and, eventually, its deletion.ABOUT THE AUTHORJonathan Camhi is a graduate of the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, where he focused on international reporting and interned at the Hindustan Times in Delhi, ...See more from Jonathan

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King, Sherman Reintroduce Supplemental Capital Bill February 14, 2013 • Reprints Reps. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) Thursday reintroduced a bill that would permit the NCUA to allow healthy and well-managed credit unions to accept supplemental forms of capital. NASCUS said in a release that state credit union regulators have long recognized credit unions are disadvantaged by a capital structure limited to retained earnings. This legislation would provide the solution to this problem, the group said. "NASCUS applauds the introduction of this bill and enthusiastically supports its intent and passage by Congress," said NASCUS President/CEO Mary Martha Fortney. "For NASCUS and state regulators, access to supplemental capital for credit unions has always been a matter of safety and soundness." NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker said capital reform is one of his organization’s five key points for regulatory relief, making the bill a priority. “We are pleased that the legislation preserves the not-for-profit structure of credit unions and ensures that ownership remains with the credit union’s members,” he said. CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney said the bill would improve safety and soundness by allowing credit unions to develop a capital cushion, reducing risk to the NCUSIF. H.R. 3993, a supplemental capital bill introduced during the 112th Congress, had 45 co-sponsors but never advanced beyond committee. No companion bill was introduced in the Senate. Show Comments

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Stocks Hit Highs While Uncertain Credit Union Members Continue to Save March 22, 2013 • Reprints The Dow Jones industrial average in recent days has ended a surge that the markets hadn’t seen in 17 years. For some, it was one more sign that the nation’s economy may be continuing to move along the road to recovery. Industry watchers said the Dow’s ascension, which started at close to 14,254 on March 5 and peaked at 14,514 on March 15, was fueled by several factors, including a spike in gas prices. Investors may have either been spooked by the record rise or made some adjustments to their portfolio mix. For credit union members, who tend to err on the side of conservative, the Dow’s increase might have aligned with their savings, which were up in January, according to CUNA Mutual Group’s March Credit Union Trends Report. The timing of the Dow’s record movement coincides with the latest update from an initiative between CU Solutions Group and SaveUp. According to the Michigan Credit Union League & Affiliates, which owns CU Solutions Group, SaveUp is a free rewards program that encourages consumers to make positive changes to their financial behaviors. More than 40 credit unions have signed on with SaveUp since the alliance launched six months ago. Every time members contribute to their savings or retirement accounts, pay down their credit cards, mortgages or other loans or engage with SaveUp’s financial education content, they earn credits they can use to win prizes from sponsors such as Virgin America, Banana Republic and GameStop, as well as a $2 million jackpot, CUSG said. For the $737 million Northeast Credit Union in Portsmouth, N.H., SaveUp has served several roles particularly with certain member niches and their spending and long-term planning goals, said Andrea Pruna, vice president of marketing at Northeast. “SaveUp is a great innovative tool to engage with the Gen Y market, reward positive member behavior and help plan our marketing tactics using its incredibly useful data reports,” Pruna said. Unlike their baby boomer counterparts, Gen X and Gen Y have a bit more time to plan for retirement. To target these younger members, SaveUp recently released its first U.S. Consumer Savings and Debt Report with its major findings focused on the financial habits of Gen X and Gen Y. With Gen X, average mortgage debt was $181,706, which was 21% above the U.S. average. Average student loan debt and credit card debt were $44,270 and $8,801, respectively. Gen Y had less debt averages, according to SaveUp. The average mortgage debt was more than $161,000, which was 7.5% above the U.S. average. Average student loan debt and credit card debt were $40,273 and $4,113, respectively. “Our recent data report shows that young people are bearing a disproportionate share of the country’s non-asset debt, and if credit unions can engage younger Americans to offer them better terms, and longer term financial services, there is a real benefit to all sides,” said Priya Haji, CEO and co-founder of SaveUp. Meanwhile, despite the Dow’s winning streak and more consumers paying down debt, retiring comfortably remains elusive for some. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey, released on March 19, the percentage of workers confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement is essentially unchanged from the record lows observed in 2011. While more than half expressed some level of confidence, with 13% being very confident and 38% somewhat confident of being able to afford a comfortable retirement, 21% were not too confident, and 28% were not at all confident. The latter figure is the highest level of those not at all confident recorded during the 23 years of the survey, EBRI said. One reason that retirement confidence has remained low despite a brightening economic outlook is that some workers may be waking up to just how much they may need to save, according to EBRI. Asked how much they believe they will need to save to achieve a financially secure retirement, a striking number of workers cited large savings targets: 20% said they need to save between 20% to 29% of their income and 23% indicated they need to save 30% or more. “Aggressive as those savings targets appear to be, they may not be based on a careful analysis of their individual circumstances,” said Jack VanDerhei, EBRI research director and co-author of the report. “Only 46% report they and/or their spouse have tried to calculate how much money they will need to have saved by the time they retire so that they can live comfortably in retirement.”

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Men's Wearhouse Board Outlines Why It Fired Zimmer Dan Radovsky | The Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW ) board of directors, which abruptly terminated 64-year-old company co-founder George Zimmer from his position as executive chairman last week, today commented on why it was severing its ties with the company's iconic face and voice. The board said Zimmer "had difficulty accepting the fact that Men's Wearhouse is a public company with an independent Board of Directors and that he has not been the Chief Executive Officer for two years. He advocated for significant changes that would enable him to regain control ... " According to the board of directors, issues of contention included: A refusal to support CEO Doug Ewert and his management team unless they "acquiesced to his demands." Zimmer handed over the CEO title to Ewert in 2011. An expectation of "veto power over significant corporate decisions" including executive compensation. A desire to take the company private despite the board's belief that "such a transaction would be highly risky." Men's Wearhouse's annual shareholders meeting, which was to be held on June 19, has been postponed to a to-be-announced date in order to renominate its current slate of directors, but without Zimmer. Zimmer, best-known for his gravely voiced television sales pitch -- "You'll like the way you look. I guarantee it." -- submitted his letter of resignation from the board on Monday. Zimmer said in the letter that it's clear from his firing that the board is determined to avoid addressing his growing concerns with recent board decisions and the company's direction. Zimmer built Men's Wearhouse from one small Texas store using a cigar box as a cash register to one of North America's largest men's clothing sellers with 1,143 locations. Zimmer still owns 3.5% of Men's Wearhouse shares. -- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. Fool contributor Dan Radovsky has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Men's Wearhous…

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Help | Connect | Sign up|Log in Nathan Vardi, Forbes Staff Following the money trail Herbalife Shares Surge And Close At New 2013 High Shares of Herbalife, the controversial nutritional supplements seller, surged by more than 6.6% on Monday and closed at their highest level this year. Herbalife’s stock has now returned 57% in 2013, making it one of the best-performing major stocks in the nation this year. The stock closed at $52.30 on Monday, higher than $50.54, which was its closing price May 21 and the stock’s previous highest close in 2013. The run-up of Herbalife’s stock is terrible news for William Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager who has placed a $1 billion bet against Herbalife’s stock and has been publicly calling the company a pyramid scheme since December. Ackman’s Pershing Square hedge fund underperformed the U.S. stock market in the first half of the year, returning about 6% after fees, weighed down by its big Herbalife Herbalife short. For Ackman, the start of the second half of 2013 has again seen Pershing Square’s Herbalife bet continue to move in the wrong direction. In total, Pershing Square Capital Management oversees about $12 billion, but Ackman has not been able to keep up with the gains of the U.S. stock market for the last 30 months. The drama over Herbalife has been one of the most watched Wall Street stories of 2013. Ackman has battled billionaires Dan Loeb and Carl Icahn over the stock—culminating in Icahn and Ackman, who don’t like each other, engaging in a famous verbal slugfest on CNBC. Icahn has taken a 16.5% stake in Herbalife this year and gotten two representatives on the company’s board of directors. Icahn is the big winner of the Herbalife stock surge that seems to have the wind at its back this summer. Icahn’s investment funds returned 9.4% for the year through June 10 and his publicly-traded Icahn Enterprises has seen its shares rise by more than 50% this year. Icahn’s support has helped shield Herbalife’s stock from Ackman’s assault. The company also recorded some good-looking financial numbers in the first quarter, when Herbalife’s earnings rose nearly 10% to $118.8 million and its first-quarter sales reached $1.1 billion. The stock has also overcome the sudden resignation of KPMG as the company’s auditor after one of KPMG’s partners was accused of trading Herbalife stock on inside information. Herbalife hired PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers as its new auditor in May. It has certainly been an eventful year for Herbalife, but so far the stock has come out on top. Carl Icahn Knows How To Drive Billionaire Rivals Crazy Nathan Vardi I spend most of my time digging into Wall Street, hedge funds and private equity firms, looking for both the good and the bad. I also focus on the intersection of business and the law. I have worked at Forbes since 2000. More from Nathan Vardi Nathan Vardi’s RSS Feed Nathan Vardi’s Profile

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Baines Electronics Corp. (B) by Jay W. Lorsch Keywords: Electronics Industry; Format: Print Find at Harvard Lorsch, Jay W. "Baines Electronics Corp. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 470-090, October 1969. Jay W. Lorsch Louis E. Kirstein Professor of Human Relations Olympus (A) Jay W. Lorsch and Suraj Srinivasan As 2012 approached the woes of the financial crisis seemed to be fading, companies were resuming business as usual and some of the scrutiny on corporate governance practices began to recede as well. That is until another major financial scandal emerged in Japan in the fall of 2011. It was slowly revealed that the 92-year-old camera and medical photo-imaging company, Olympus, had been hiding its losses for more than a decade - to the tune of $1.7 billion - long before the current economic pressures, slow job growth, and poor investor confidence plagued the global economy. The fraud renewed the focus on corporate governance policies world-wide, but especially in Japan, where the lack of board independence and a deep-rooted corporate culture entrenched in personal loyalties fostered an environment that made it difficult for scandals such as this to be unveiled, let alone for whistleblowers to come forward about them. Citation:Lorsch, Jay W., and Suraj Srinivasan. "Olympus (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 114-072, February 2014. | HBS Case Collection | April 2011 Boardroom Change in Norway Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton In 2003, the Norwegian Parliament amended the Public Limited Companies Act in order to achieve greater representation of women on corporate boards. According to the amendment, all state-owned companies and public limited companies were required to have at least 40% women on their boards. This case uses first-hand accounts from Norwegian directors to document the Norwegian business community's reaction to the quota, how Norwegian boards sought women directors, and the transferability of the quota law to other nations. Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Gender Characteristics; Corporate Governance; Norway; Citation:Lorsch, Jay W., and Melissa Barton. "Boardroom Change in Norway." Harvard Business School Case 411-089, April 2011. (Revised December 2013.) United Rentals (B) Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante In April 2012, Jenne Britell, the Chairman of the board of directors of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was preparing her notes for an upcoming stockholders' meeting. It was a meeting unlike most other meetings she had chaired. Stockholders were about to vote on a transaction that was perhaps the ultimate fulfillment of the founders' original vision. She was reminded of the company's founding just 15 years earlier and its meteoric growth. With a considerable sense of achievement and satisfaction, she reflected on her tenure as board chair commencing five years ago. Elected to the board in 2006 and then unanimously selected by her peers as Chairman in June 2008, Britell led the board through the aftermath of a tumultuous period that included senior management and board changes, a SEC investigation, financial restatements, the jilting of the company by Cerberus Capital Management in a transaction to acquire URI, and the deepest recession to hit the global economy since the Great Depression. At the meeting, stockholders would be asked to consider approval of a merger agreement between URI, the largest equipment rental company in the world, with RSC, the second largest equipment rental company in the world and URI's largest competitor. The meeting would mark the triumph of a new governance model and company strategy whose development and implementation Britell and CEO Michael Kneeland had led. As Britell reflected on the hard won gains, she also looked forward to the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead as the company managed the integration of RSC's operations with URI and the integration of three new board members from the acquired company. She also reflected on how governance and strategy could continue to evolve as the company planned for the next five years. Keywords: corporate governance; boards of directors; board committees; chairman; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; North America; Citation:Lorsch, Jay W., and Kathleen Durante. "United Rentals (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 414-031, July 2013. (Revised October 2013.)

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Media ContactAleis Stokes(202) 821-4457Media ContactKaren Tyson (202) 821-4454 ICBA to Financial Crisis Commission: Too-Big-to-Fail Must End Despite Challenges, Community Banks Continue To LendWashington, D.C. (January 13, 2010)—The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that too-big-to-fail institutions and shadow banks were the root cause of the financial crisis and that our nation’s more than 8,000 community banks are still meeting the credit needs of their communities and helping in the nation’s economic recovery. ICBA also made recommendations to help community banks continue to lend to the increasingly important small-business sector. “A little more than a year ago, key elements of our financial system nearly collapsed due to the failure of systemic-risk and shadow institutions to adequately manage their highly risky and irresponsible activities,” said C.R. “Rusty” Cloutier, a past ICBA chairman and president and CEO of MidSouth Bank, Lafayette, La. “By contrast, community banks like mine stuck to their knitting and had no role in the economic crisis. Community banks are engaged in relationship, rather than transaction, banking. We know our customers and operate under the quaint but effective practice of only lending money to people who can pay it back.”Cloutier said that while community banks did not cause the economic crisis, they have been affected because of less demand for credit, a decline in overall loan quality, heavier FDIC assessments and a suffocating examination environment. He said that regulators are overreacting and are forcing community banks to be overly conservative in underwriting all types of loans. While this is to be expected during a deep recession, the regulatory pendulum has swung too far in the direction of overkill and choking off credit to credit-worthy customers. Despite these challenges, Cloutier assured the commission that the vast majority of community banks remain well-capitalized and committed to taking deposits and making loans on Main Street. “Community banks specialize in small-business relationship lending,” said Cloutier. “We serve a vital role in small-business lending and local economic activity not supported by Wall Street.” While community banks represent about 12 percent of all bank assets, they make 31 percent of all small-business loans less than $1 million and more than half of all small-business loans less than $100,000. In contrast, banks with more than $100 billion in assets—the nation’s largest financial firms—make only 22 percent of small-business loans. ICBA recommended the following to enhance lending to small businesses: Maintain diversity in Small Business Administration (SBA) lending options to meet the needs of both small and large SBA-loan-program users,Restore reasonable value to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock, Extend the five-year net-operating-loss (NOL) carryback through 2010,Allow new IRAs as eligible Subchapter S Corporation shareholders,Allow community bank S Corporations to issue certain preferred stock, andPreserve the 35 percent top marginal tax rate on Subchapter S income.Cloutier concluded by telling the commission that the best financial reforms will protect small businesses from being crushed by the destabilizing effects of too-big-to-fail institutions. “A diverse and competitive financial system with regulatory checks and balances will best serve the needs of small businesses,” he said. Cloutier is author of the newly released book Big Bad Banks, which explores the financial crisis and the role that too-big-to-fail institutions and lack of regulation played in the economy’s downfall. ICBA | 1615 L Street NW Suite 900 | Washington, DC | 20036 | info@icba.org | (202) 659-8111

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Article|McKinsey Quarterly What’s right with the US economy The secret behind the new economy isn’t information technology but old-fashioned competition and managerial innovation. | byWilliam W. Lewis, Vincent Palmade, Baudouin Regout, and Allen P. Webb As companies attempt to cope with an economic downturn and the United States fights a war on terrorism, many wonder whether the long-term health of the US economy will be undermined. The answer depends on what happens to the productivity growth rate—the main determinant of how fast the economy can grow. At issue is whether the near doubling of US productivity growth rates during the late 1990s, from 1.4 percent (1972–95) to 2.5 percent (1995–2000), can continue. Our yearlong research1 1.The study on which this article is based involved a collaboration of the McKinsey Global Institute, the Firm’s high-technology practice, and the San Francisco office. Greg Hughes, James Manyika, Lenny Mendonca, and Mike Nevens helped lead the project. The research team, which deserves special recognition, included Angelique Augereau, Mike Cho, Brad Johnson, Brent Neiman, Gabriela Olazabal, Matt Sandler, Sandra Schrauf, Kevin Stange, Andrew Tilton, and Eric Xin. indicates that many of the product, service, and process innovations underlying the productivity acceleration of the late 1990s will continue to generate productivity growth rates above the 1972–95 trend for the next several years, although probably not as high as those of 1995 to 1999. Higher productivity, in turn, will boost economic growth. Surprisingly, the primary source of the productivity gains of 1995 to 1999 was not increased demand resulting from the stock market bubble, as some economists have claimed. Nor was information technology the source, though companies accelerated the pace of their IT investments during those years.2 2.Between 1987 and 1995, information technology investments by US companies rose by a compound annual rate of 11 percent. Between 1995 and 1999, this compound annual growth rate jumped to 20.2 percent. Rather, managerial and technological innovations in only six highly competitive industries—wholesale trade, retail trade, securities, semiconductors, computer manufacturing, and telecommunications—were the most important causes (Exhibit 1).3 3.These six sectors accounted for virtually all of the net productivity acceleration and for 74 percent of all positive contributions. The other 70 percent of the economy contributed a mix of small productivity gains and losses that offset each other. In addition, cyclical demand factors were important in some parts of the economy. It is not unusual, we found, for only a small number of sectors to experience a productivity jump during any four-year period. But in the late 1990s, these six sectors, departing from the norm, either enjoyed extremely large leaps in productivity (for instance, semiconductors and computer manufacturing) or accounted for a large share of employment (retail and wholesale). At the national level, the relationship between IT spending and productivity is unclear. Many sectors other than the six jumping ones increased their pace of IT investment but experienced stagnant or even slower productivity growth (Exhibit 2). We found an inconclusive correlation between the acceleration of IT investments and changes in productivity growth. In fact, taken as a group, the other 53 economic sectors had almost no productivity growth. The challenge, then, was to understand what caused the productivity acceleration in the six key sectors. We did a detailed study of these sectors, as well as three others that invested heavily in IT but failed to boost productivity—hotels, long-distance data telephony, and retail banking. Explaining the 1995 productivity acceleration Within the six jumping sectors, the most important cause of the productivity acceleration after 1995 was fundamental changes in the way companies deliver products and services. Sometimes these innovations were aided by technology (whether new or old), sometimes not. In all six sectors, high or increasing competitive intensity was essential to the spread of innovation, and in two sectors, regulatory changes played an important role in raising that intensity. Cyclical demand factors and a shift in consumer purchasing patterns toward higher-value goods were important in explaining the acceleration of productivity in retail, wholesale, and securities. Structural factors: Competition and innovation The bulk of the acceleration in productivity after 1995 can be traced to managerial and technological innovations that improved the basic operations of companies. These innovations were structural and are likely to persist. Sometimes, the catalyst was a dominant player with a superior business model; other times, it was managers using new technology to redesign core operations. In general-merchandise retailing, productivity growth more than tripled after 1995 because competitors started more rapidly adopting Wal-Mart’s innovations—including the large-scale ("big-box") format, "everyday low prices," economies of scale in warehouse logistics and purchasing, and electronic data interchange (EDI) with suppliers (see "Retail: The Wal-Mart effect"). As a result, Wal-Mart’s competitors increased their productivity by 28 percent from 1995 to 1999, while Wal-Mart itself raised the bar further by increasing its own productivity by an additional 22 percent. Although e-commerce grew rapidly during this period, its penetration (0.9 percent of retail sales in 2000) was too low to make a difference in overall retail productivity. We estimate that Internet commerce contributed less than 0.01 percentage points to the 1.33 percent jump in economy-wide productivity growth. The operations of wholesalers underwent similarly dramatic changes during the middle of the 1990s as new warehouse-management systems were adopted (Exhibit 3). Pharmaceuticals wholesalers, for instance, responded to increasing price pressure from large retailers by automating distribution centers. Because each center keeps an inventory of tens of thousands of different items, stocking, picking, and shipping have traditionally been highly labor-intensive. The combination of pre-1995 hardware (bar codes, scanners, picking machines) and software for tracking and controlling inventory allowed wholesalers to automate their flow of goods partially and to increase their labor productivity greatly. In computer manufacturing, nearly all of the productivity acceleration was due to innovations outside the sector itself (see "Computers: Why the party’s over"). Technological improvements in microprocessors and other components (memory, storage devices), as well as the integration of new components (CD-ROMs, DVDs), caused an acceleration in the value of computers produced. At the same time, the popularization of the Internet and the accelerating processing requirements of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems (Exhibit 4) caused a spike in demand for more powerful personal computers. These two factors further contributed to the high productivity growth in the manufacture of computers and semiconductors. Productivity growth in the semiconductor industry accelerated mainly because the performance of the average chip did. Largely in response to competitive pressure from Advanced Micro Devices, Intel took less time to bring out new and better chips than it had done previously. The securities industry was the only sector we studied in which the Internet materially boosted productivity. At the end of 1999, roughly 40 percent of retail securities trades were being conducted on-line, up from virtually zero in 1995, and a given number of frontline employees can now broker ten times as many trades as they could then. Competition from on-line discount brokers, such as E*Trade and Charles Schwab, was critical to the rapid diffusion of these innovations in the traditional brokerage houses. Regulatory changes increased competition and had a significant effect on productivity in some cases. In the securities industry, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s order-handling and 16th rules4 4.The 16th Rule refers to the SEC’s 1997 mandate to quote securities prices in increments of 1/16th rather than 1/8th. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq started experimenting with decimalization even before the SEC’s April 2001 deadline. sharply reduced transaction costs, allowing institutional investors to take advantage of increasingly small price anomalies and boosting trading volumes. In the telecom sector, the licensing of new spectrum for mobile telephony heightened competition and sparked faster price decreases, lifting both penetration and usage. In both the securities industry and the telecom sector, larger volumes allowed industry players to leverage fixed costs. Cyclical demand factors Some of the acceleration in productivity after 1995 was due to demand factors that may not be sustainable. In the securities industry, the soaring stock market led to productivity advances in three different ways (Exhibit 5). First, lofty index values (particularly Nasdaq’s) fueled a surge in on-line retail trading. Second, they also increased the value of assets under management, boosting the productivity of money managers. Finally, they increased the number and value of initial public offerings and of mergers. These factors explain half of the productivity jump observed in the securities industry. In general-merchandise retailing, and most likely in the rest of retail and in wholesale, almost half of the measurable productivity jump reflected the higher value of the goods that consumers increasingly favored. Retailing experts believe that the shift was mainly the result of growing confidence, income, and wealth rather than a marked improvement in the retailers’ techniques of enticement. The role of information technology Contrary to conventional wisdom, the widespread adoption of information and communications technology was not the most important cause of the acceleration in productivity after 1995. Our nine sector case studies clearly show that the relationship between IT and labor productivity is extremely variable. In rare cases, IT can deliver truly extraordinary productivity improvements, expanding labor capacity by an order of magnitude. As mentioned above, on-line securities trading requires only a fraction of the frontline labor employed in traditional channels. In mobile telecommunications, cellular equipment employing new digital standards made better use of the available spectrum, spurring rapid price declines and a spike in usage. In both cases, the product or service itself, being intangible information that could easily be digitized, was highly susceptible to such improvements. In most cases, however, IT was just one of many tools that creative managers used to redesign core business processes, products, or services. A significant portion of Wal-Mart’s business innovations (such as the big-box format) was independent of IT. Where IT did play a role, it was a necessary but not a sufficient enabler of productivity gains. To reap the full productivity benefits of inventory-management systems or EDI, for instance, a business must implement operational-process changes. The same is true of the automation of warehouse and distribution centers in the wholesale sector. To understand why IT is not a panacea, we looked at three sectors that invested heavily in IT but experienced no improvement in productivity growth: hotels, the long-distance data portion of the telecom sector, and retail banking (see "Banking: The IT paradox"). Some spending on IT in these sectors and elsewhere in the economy was designed to maintain capabilities, such as investments in Y2K compliance and more rapid upgrades of personal computers to ensure compatibility with emerging Windows standards. Other IT expenditures, on things such as Internet and corporate-networking equipment, were made to generate future rather than immediate productivity benefits. The confluence of these unusual demand factors explains most of the acceleration in IT spending from 1995 to 1999. It is also possible that IT increases the consumer’s convenience in ways that are not fully captured by government productivity measures. Even so, this would not be sufficient to explain the "IT paradox." Hotels invested heavily in creating central reservation systems that provided customers with some unquantifiable value (for instance, immediate, centralized information on the availability of rooms), but the increase in convenience was probably modest. The added convenience of on-line banking also doesn’t appear in government productivity measures. But even if it were possible to correct for this measurement problem, the small number of on-line transactions would not have been enough to reverse the deceleration of productivity growth in retail banking. Some IT investments do not appear to be delivering the intended results, and whether they ever will remains to be seen. Retail banks and hotels, for instance, have collected significant amounts of customer data that they have yet to use productively. Companies in the retail-banking industry bought an average of two PCs per employee from 1995 to 1999. Some of this computing power was not fully utilized and some, it is likely, never will be.5 5.From 1995 to 1999, banks spent a total of $5,253 per employee (in nominal dollars) on new PCs. Long-distance telephone players made enormous investments in metropolitan and long-haul networks that are currently underutilized and will probably remain so for several years to come. Our conclusion about the effect of IT on productivity is straightforward. IT can be quite valuable when deployed as part of a management plan to reorganize specific core activities of a business. In this respect, it is not different from other forms of capital—new building designs, new materials-handling systems, new semiconductor production tools. But when generic IT solutions are applied to support functions, or when IT represents no more than a "me-too" investment, it is unlikely to move the needle on a company’s productivity. A robust explanation of the recent acceleration in productivity must therefore go well beyond IT. The future of US productivity If the pattern of the two most recent recessions (1981–82 and 1991–92) holds, the impact of a recession on labor productivity over the next four years will be minimal. Even if the tragic attacks of September 11 cause a sharp decline in productivity growth, we would expect an economic recovery, and thus an uptick, prior to 2005. The more important question for the longer term is whether the acceleration in productivity from 1995 to 1999 is sustainable. We estimate that at least half of what occurred in the six jumping sectors can be sustained over the next five years. Wal-Mart still enjoys a sizable productivity advantage over its competitors and will continue to force efficiency improvements in the industry. The limited penetration of warehouse automation (now at just 25 percent), and, to a lesser degree, of mobile telephony and on-line trading, leaves room for further growth, and thus productivity gains, in those sectors. Both the computer-manufacturing and semiconductor industries should benefit from a continuation of the current rate of improvement in the performance of microprocessors. Clearly, however, some of this acceleration will be unsustainable. The burst in demand for personal computers is behind us, and the effects of the stock market bubble on asset valuations, M&A, and securities trading have already largely evaporated. We cannot judge whether consumers will continue to shift their purchasing patterns in favor of higher-value goods at the 1995–99 rate or know what will happen in the portions of the retail and wholesale sectors that we did not study. A larger source of uncertainty about future productivity growth is the behavior of the rest of the economy. A review of the performance of the other 53 sectors over the past two decades reveals that both their contribution to national productivity growth and their average annual productivity growth rate have been quite small. Those figures, however, show considerable volatility—some of it caused by business cycles and some by changes in industry dynamics and structure. If historical precedents hold, this kind of noncyclical volatility could reduce the national rate of productivity growth over the next four years by 0.1 percentage points annually or increase it by as much as 0.4 percentage points annually. It is possible that other sectors of the economy will defy the historical trend and experience extraordinary productivity jumps. The key contributor to such jumps would be innovations, such as Wal-Mart’s improvements in its business system or on-line securities-trading technology, that streamlined labor-intensive activities or leveraged fixed labor costs. Competition, which could be triggered by regulatory changes, is required to diffuse innovation. A quick scan of the economy revealed several sectors showing the first signs of emerging innovators (such as software; media, including motion pictures; insurance carriers; and depository and nondepository institutions) and of promising regulatory changes (electric, gas, and sanitary services as well as pharmaceuticals). However, the number of these sectors, their share of total employment, and the potential magnitude of their jumps are not impressive. Therefore, we believe, continuing volatility in the rest of the economy’s productivity growth rate is likely to encompass the effect of these innovations and regulatory changes. Although uncertainty about the performance of all these factors makes precise predictions impossible, our analysis indicates that overall productivity growth could be as low as 1.6 percent or as high as 2.5 percent. Even our low estimate offers ample reason for optimism about the US economy, regardless of what happens in the short term. The six key sectors will continue to generate above-trend productivity growth for at least several more years. No one can predict when and where the next entrepreneurial initiative will strike outside of these sectors. But healthy levels of competition, 20 years of deregulation, and a long tradition of US ingenuity will allow the country’s economy to continue to define the productivity frontier. Bill Lewis is the director of the McKinsey Global Institute, where Vincent Palmade is a principal; Baudouin Regout is a consultant in McKinsey’s New York office; Allen Webb is a consultant in the Pacific Northwest office. McKinsey QuarterlyThe Quarterly has been shaping the senior-management agenda since 1964.more

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Lightbank Opens an Office in New York January 30, 2013 1 Views 0 Comments Chicago-based venture firm Lightbank is opening an office in New York, part of a plan to expand the number of investments in companies on the East Coast. Lightbank principal Vicki Levine will head up activities at the firm’s New York office. Lightbank, a venture capital firm founded by entrepreneurs Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, today announced the opening of its second location in the Flatiron District of New York. Lightbank’s New York presence will enable the firm to better serve and grow its portfolio in New York and the East Coast, where it will join a community full of promising tech startups. “New York is an active and diverse tech hub that has produced many remarkable companies, and we look forward to collaborating with great entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses,” said Brad Keywell, co-founder of Lightbank. “The New York tech community has deep roots in spaces like ecommerce and media that align with our expertise. By being on the ground, we strengthen our ability to help emerging tech startups develop and scale their businesses.” Lightbank plans to grow the number of investments into companies based in New York and the East Coast region in the coming years, reflective of the increasing amount of venture capital flowing into the region’s startups. The firm will continue to focus on early-stage tech companies, with areas of particular interest including ecommerce, media and health. Since 2010, Lightbank has invested in more than 50 early-stage tech startups across the country, with nearly 20 percent of its portfolio located on the East Coast, including Frank & Oak, Contently, Centzy, Bevel, Ovuline and OnSwipe. Additionally, Lightbank’s Keywell and Lefkofsky have co-founded New York-based MediaOcean and InnerWorkings, both of which have a strong presence in New York. Lightbank principal Vicki Levine will head up activities at the firm’s New York office, with active participation from the firm’s partners. “The New York technology community surrounds its entrepreneurs with resources beyond just capital,” said Keywell. “There is the government’s support, collaboration from large organizations, many world-class conferences and events, hackathons, as well as an increasing number of co-working spaces and accelerators, which all work together to create an ecosystem that we are excited to join.” About Lightbank: Lightbank is a Chicago-based fund focused on early-stage technology companies. Founded by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, who are founders of Groupon, MediaBank, InnerWorkings (NASDAQ:INWK) and Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO), Lightbank not only makes investments of capital, but also takes an active hands-on role in helping entrepreneurs ensure their early- and mid-stage businesses grow and succeed. Private-equity group sees 2014 Brazil fundraising boost: Reuters Carlyle closes Africa fund after raising nearly $700 mln: Reuters Pomona hits overheated market with $1.75 bln Fund VIII Tiger Global raises $1.5B venture fund Real Ventures completes first $50 mln close of third venture fund Pomona Capital closes $1.75 bln for eighth secondaries fund

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Deceuninck secures refinancing deal By: Richard Higgs HOOGLEDE, BELGIUM (July 24, 12:15 p.m. ET) — Belgian PVC window frame maker Deceuninck NV has sealed a 140 million euro ($170 million) refinancing deal allowing the group to develop its strategy over the coming five years.The company, based in Hooglede-Gits in Belgium, has agreed a five-year credit facility with a syndicate of five European banks despite the challenging economic environment. The funding consists of a 100 million euro multi-currency revolving credit facility and a 40 million euro three and a half year term loan.This financing agreement replaces an earlier long term credit deal concluded in September 2009 consisting of a syndicated bank facility due to expire in September 2013 and senior secured notes maturing in September 2014.The new deal enables Deceuninck to repay the senior secured notes in full and allows it to pay a dividend.Banks in the new syndicate include ING, BNP Paribas Fortis, Commerzbank, Banque LB Lux and KBC.Conditions of the latest agreement are easier than for the previous loans, reflecting Deceuninck group’s stronger position since its 2009 financial restructuring. In the first half of 2012, the group reported a 2 percent increase in annual sales amounting to 274.3 million euros against the same period in 2011.“This agreement finally concludes one of the most challenging chapters in the 75 year history of Deceuninck,” said CEO Tom Debusschere in a statement.“This reflects the confidence of the banks in our sound financial position and our long term competitive power. For the next five years, this new facility provides sufficient headroom and flexibility to further execute our strategy and duly respond to an uncertain economic environment,” the chief executive added.Deceuninck has suffered from declining construction markets and soaring PVC costs in recent months although resin prices have eased towards the end of the second quarter. The group has also benefited from rising demand in the latest period in Russia, Turkey and the United States, while volumes in Germany and Belgium remained stable, it reported.The company's Deceuninck North America LLC unit is based in Monroe, Ohio.

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Europeans become less pessimistic about euro By The Associated Press - Red Deer Advocate Published: October 09, 2012 7:36 AM LUXEMBOURG — The European Union’s financial affairs chief is “less pessimistic” about the future of the euro than he was earlier this year — but warned that the region was still a long way to go before the crisis over too much debt is solved. Olli Rehn, the EU’s financial and monetary affairs commissioner, said the organization’s ability to react to the financial crisis in the 17 countries that use the euro has much improved compared with two years ago when the crisis began. He also welcomed the official launch Monday of Europe’s new C500 billion ($647.9 billion) permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism. “We have enough challenges in Europe,” Rehn said as he entered a meeting of finance ministers from the eurozone. He added that while nobody was in a “ party mood,” he was “less pessimistic for the moment of the future prospects of the eurozone than, for instance, in the spring.” In recent months, the EU has acquired significant new powers designed to help it resolve the current crisis and prevent new ones. These include the power to closely monitor national budgets and, where needed, demand changes in them. Also in the works is a central banking supervisor. The new ESM is designed to reassure investors that the EU is better equipped to contain whatever crises erupt in the eurozone. “Today is a good day for Europe,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who is also chairman of the ESM’s board of governors. The new fund will eventually have C500 billion at its disposal that it will use to buy up the bonds of countries whose borrowing costs are becoming unmanageable and also lend money to them if that’s not enough. It will also lend money to countries that need to prop up failing banks, including handling Spain’s bank bailout. It is expected that the fund will eventually be able to lend money directly to banks. The ESM will eventually replace a temporary bailout fund, known as the EFSF, but the two will overlap for the time being while the EFSF continues to handle the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The eurozone finance ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, are expected Monday to assess developments rather than make major new decisions. The countries considered in the most tenuous financial condition now are Greece and Spain. International lenders are still preparing a report on Greece, and no new disbursement of bailout money will be approved until that report. And, while some have speculated that Spain may need to request help in keeping the cost of its borrowing down, Spanish officials have made no request. In the absence of that, EU officials cannot act. “Spain has to do its part and we will do everything about the public deficits and the economic reforms,” Spain’s finance minister, Luis de Guindos, said. “And on the other hand, we have to move forward on eliminating all the doubts there are on the future of the euro. That is fundamental. Spain will have difficulties recovering while there are doubts about the future of euro.” Find out what's happening in your community and submit your own local events. All Community Events

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Bradford & Bingley Situated in the town of Bingley, the British operated Bradford & Bingley was nationalized in 2008. The aftermath witnessed the institution�s division into two parts. The nationalized public limited company retained its mortgage book, while the network of branches and all deposits were sold to Abbey National. To combat the effects of the mortgage crisis, the bank launched a 2008 new issue which totaled �400 million. The shares were ill-received by the shareholders and in September, the company�s share price reached its lowest levels. As a result, 370 people lost their jobs and the bank decided to seek assistance by the Government and Financial Service Authorities. Various sources announced that Bradford & Bingley will be entirely nationalized due to the absence of interested buyers. It became obvious that the bank�s savings business (worth �20 billion) will be acquired by Grupo Santander. The corporation paid the price of �612 million which covered �208 million of offshore capital. The bank was acquired through Abbey, the Santander�s subsidiary. At present, the retail deposit branches of the bank are managed by Santander. The transfer was conducted by Morgan Stanley, acting on behalf of HM`s Treasury. Currently, the bank has no offers for mortgage packages, although existing

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Search The Glass Hammer August 19th, 2013 | 6:00 am Voice of Experience: Maan Huey Lim, Partner, PwC Singapore filed under Voices of Experience Welcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long! By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City) “To be very candid,” began Maan Huey Lim, Tax Partner at PwC, Singapore, “Early on, when I started I was very much focused on the technical work. To be a good tax advisor, you need to spend a lot of time going though the legislation, and deciding how it would work in the real world. I spent a lot of time doing the work, but as a result, I spent less time on soft skills.” But over the course of her career, her focus has expanded. She continued, “Don’t get me wrong – my clients loved me because I was doing top notch work. But as I progress, I find my focus changing. I’m spending my time really talking to people and engaging with the team around me. It’s such an important part of the business. I could not see as much when I was starting out. As an associate, a lot of your focus is on getting a good foundation, learning tax laws, and writing good advice. But it’s also important that you are really connecting and engaging with the team and clients you are working with.” “You get so much more out of talking to people. You learn useful information, and the more you get to know people the more business comes to you along the way,” she added. Career at PwC Lim was born in Singapore and lived there for her entire life. After finishing college she joined PwC’s Singapore office as an associate. “I’m proud to say I’m still doing my first job,” she said. After a few years as a manager, she was able to go on a secondment in New York for the firm. “It was a great time to be in New York – this was 2007 to 2008. During 2007 the economy was doing really well and there was a lot of interesting work.” She recalled a client that brought her a significant amount of pride while she was on her secondment. As a junior manager, she built up an account of over seven-digit fees on that client. “It was amazing, especially coming from a background where I was not US trained. My partners were all surprised given my level of seniority, and also being only the second Asian woman on that team of 30 people.” “There were question marks about how well I would integrate with the team,” she explained. Lim worked with PwC’s international transition office so that she would be successful in her role. She was prepared for people to view her as the stereotypical demure Asian woman, and was worried she may have trouble integrating into an environment where she didn’t fit the stereotype. “But now I am great friends with a lot of my colleagues from that team. The transition office helped tremendously.” Lim moved back home to Singapore in 2008, she continued, “and it was a great time to be in Asia where the next growth was happening.” Last year, after only 11 years with the firm, she was made a partner. Lim counts being made partner – one of the firm’s youngest – as one of her highest achievements. “For the past 11 years, I’ve been able to touch all sorts of areas in the financial service sector. Due to regulatory pressure on banks, I’ve been spending a lot more time on asset management. Banking and capital markets and asset finance are key areas of interest to me.” Now as a partner, Lim is also keenly focused on building business. “Our clients come to us wanting the best advice. How do I grow the business? It’s exciting to be in a position to grow a business, thinking of ways to be entrepreneurial and chasing the next dollar,” she said with a laugh. “It’s exciting to think about ways to be out in the market and relevant to our clients.” Advice for Professional Women Lim believes one of the key challenges women face in the professional services industry has to do with flexibility. “In terms of what I can see and people that I know, this is a client servicing industry and it can be very consuming and demanding in terms of time. As women, we have many hats to wear – wife, mother, somebody’s daughter – and this can be particularly challenging.” “There are many talented women in my organization who have made the decision to let their career take a backseat to other priorities, and family or children are some key reasons,” she continued. “PwC is always trying to give people the flexibility to balance their personal priorities.” Some of the advice she shares with junior women in her group is to “get a life and a partner,” she said with a laugh. She explained, “We are very fortunate because there are some really talented and hard working female colleagues here. But I worry for them – I walked through this journey myself, and now I ask myself how I would have done things differently. I appreciate the hard work they put in for our clients. But I try to remind them that while it’s important to work hard, one of the things that helped me to be successful is my husband, who supports and guides me. He’s mentored me throughout my whole journey with the firm.” She continued, “It’s no disrespect to the people who choose to be single. But it’s great to have someone who cheers for you all the way and picks you up when you are down. Life is a long journey.” Lim encouraged women who are more senior go easier on themselves. “I’m always mindful about giving peer advice – everybody has a great way of doing things in their own manner. But women tend to be too hard on themselves, I think. We need to learn to give ourselves a break.” “As women, we tend to have too much to do on our to-do list and we beat ourselves up when things don’t go well. We need to relax a little and let go.” Lim says she has benefited from actively seeking opportunities to “let go.” She explained, “The firm has always been really good for me. When I came back from New York in 2008, after a year I told the firm I wanted to go on sabbatical, and the firm said go ahead.” “I’m really fortunate to be the recipient of anything I need from the firm, and I have seen this for a number of colleagues – flexibility, part time work, working from home. In Singapore, this has slowly been taking place.” In Her Personal Time Outside work, Lim says she travels as much as possible. “My team would tell you – even prior to my admission to the partnership, in a year, I’d still take time to go out of the country quite a number of times. Singapore is a small place, but you do get quite a lot of exposure to what’s happening around the world. That said, it’s important to venture out to see what else is out there.” “It’s also the only way I can stop myself from working,” she said with a laugh. “You must always spend time to recharge your batteries.” comment... « At Work, Giving is the New Getting Spotlight on Asia: The Future of Professional Women in Corporate Asia » The Glass Hammer The Glass Hammer is an online community designed for women executives in financial services, law and business. Visit us daily to discover issues that matter, share experiences, and plan networking, your career and your life. Get a new job right here! Subscribe to The Glass Hammer Weekly Newsletter Don't miss that crucial career-enhancing article. Enter your email address below to subscribe to The Glass Hammer's weekly email newsletter. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact us. 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Breaking the Glass Ceiling Life After Corporate Spotlight on People Voices of Experience Ask A Career Coach Extraordinary Lives Intrepid Women Series Green is Good Men Who "Get It" Mentors and Sponsors Analysts and Associates Queen of the City Returners Weekly Polls Women and Philanthropy Albourne Village anti9to5guide.com Career Advice Blogs Corporette Evolved Employer Forte Foundation Ms.JD law blog for women My Work Butterfly News on Women PwC’s Gender Agenda Blog The Clayman Institute for Gender Research w2wlink WITI Women for Hire Work+Life Fit Inc. Are you a Mentor to someone? I'd like to, but I'm not sure how. I don't think I'm senior enough to be a mentor. or view results » © 2007 Evolved People Media LLC. All rights reserved.

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Resource Center Current & Past Issues eNewsletters This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the top of any article. Treasurers Need to Get out More When treasury and finance professionals have an insular world view, they may be setting their companies up for unpleasant surprises. By Meg Waters May 22, 2013 • Reprints For treasurers and other finance managers who’ve spent their careers in the United States, bribery and corruption may seem far-removed from reality. But for those who are responsible for financial management in other parts of the world, an insular attitude may be setting them—and their companies—up for some unpleasant surprises. A recent global study by Ernst & Young titled “Navigating today’s complex business risks: Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa Fraud Survey 2013” reveals that some activities which seem taboo to most businesspeople in the United States are not as uncommon in the developing world. “Sometimes it’s a challenge for U.S.-based finance managers or treasury folks who have never worked abroad to understand that people in their foreign subsidiaries may have a completely different perspective on how the world works,” says Brian Loughman, Americas leader for fraud investigation and dispute services with Ernst & Young. “That can lead to attitudes that could be very prevalent in India or Africa but would be incomprehensible to the average American. The culture will have an impact on how transactions get recorded. It will have an impact on the level of detail that gets recorded in the system, on what people think of as being normal, and on what people think is important versus what they think isn’t important.” The survey polled more than 3,000 board members, executives, managers, and employees in 36 countries around the world. In rapid-growth markets, 26 percent of respondents have heard of people “cooking the books” in their company within the past year; see Figure 1, below. In the developed world, this number is half as large, although among respondents from all regions of the globe, 42 percent of board members and 24 percent of finance staff are aware of occurrences of financial manipulation in their organization. Bribery and corruption are also more widespread in the developing world than a U.S.-based management team might expect. In the Ernst & Young survey, 57 percent of respondents in the developing world said that bribery or corrupt practices happen widely in business in their country. “What’s interesting is that in a lot of cases, a large percentage felt that bribery and corruption was widespread in their country, but a smaller percentage felt it was applicable to the sector that their business is in,” Loughman says (see figure 3). “Clearly, that can’t hold water. If two-thirds of people think there’s a problem in their country but only 20 percent think it occurs in their industry, finance managers with operations in that country should make sure their controls are attuned to that sort of thing.” “If I were a finance manager sitting in Peoria, Illinois, I’d see this survey as a very good refresher for internal controls,” Loughman adds. “I would look at making sure all the checks and balances in place in my organization were tweaked appropriately to reflect the inherent risks that appear obvious from this survey.” In many companies, treasury plays a key role in overseeing checks and balances that prevent bribery and related activities. One way is to keep a close eye on aspects of performance that can be verified independently, such as cash flows and bank accounts. In one company Loughman worked with, his team discovered bank accounts that the corporate treasury function was unaware of. “It was a very large, U.S.-headquartered company, and treasury really didn’t know how many bank accounts the company had in its overseas network,” he says. “When we went overseas to different locations, we found 10 or 15 bank accounts that treasury didn’t know existed. That’s not to suggest there was any fraud, but things happen over time away from the home office. Treasury could have been leveraging all those accounts, and it created a lot of issues from a governance

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KeyBank Enter my ZIP About Key Please enter a search term. Make this my KeyBank entry page Checking & Cash Management Business Debit Cards Collecting Payments Cash Management | Manage Payables Key Business Online KeyBank Relationship Rewards Lines of Credit Equipment Financing & Leasing Key Merchant Services Key4Women Key Total Banking Financial Tools & Resources Employee Solutions Key@Work Employee Gift Card Manage Employee Benefits 866-KEY4WOM (539-4966) key4women@keybank.... Locate a Relationship Manager We help you meet your business objectives. Find one in your area Maria Coyne Biography Consumer & Small Business Banking Segment Head KeyBank N.A. Member Executive Council KeyCorp Maria C. Coyne is Executive Vice President of the Consumer & Small Business Banking segment at KeyBank, as well as a member of KeyCorp’s Executive Council. She is the founder and leader of the bank’s Key4Women program for women business owners. Maria has served previously as Business Banking Segment Head, and chief administrative officer for Key Community Bank and Director of Client Experience. In 2001, Maria joined KeyBank as a senior vice president in the strategic planning group. Previously, she was a small business strategist with the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and spent more than 10 years with Bank One, serving in various management capacities before becoming director of marketing. Maria holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance degree from the University of Notre Dame. Maria was awarded a certificate for completion of The Key Executive Experience at Weatherhead at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. She is an expert and thought leader on small business topics and has been featured in national publications including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, SmartMoney.com, Enterprising Women, BusinessWeek SmallBiz, American Banker, and U.S. Banker. Maria has been recognized as one of American Banker’s Top 25 Women to Watch of 2011. Maria is a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington, D.C.. She is also a member of the following organizations: The Board of Directors for the Women’s President’s Organization (WPO), and the Forbes Executive Women (FEW) board, all based in New York, N.Y. In Cleveland, Maria is a member of the MacDonald Women’s Health Leadership Council for the University Hospitals Health System, the Finance Council for the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, and the Sovereign Order of St. John, Knights Hospitaller. She is also a founding member of United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council. Maria is the recipient of several awards, including the YWCA “Women of Professional Excellence” Award, The Diversity Journal’s “Women Worth Watching Award,” “The Beaumont Award,” and the KeyBank Diversity Excellence Award. Copyright © 2014 KeyCorp®. All Rights Reserved

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Purchasing / Accounts Payable Monthly Departmental Reports Use of Bradley's Name Operating Account Reports Accounting Transfers Student Organizational Accounts (Agency) Cashier Window Services Controller's OfficeSwords Hall 100(309) 677-3117 HomeOffices & ServicesBusiness AffairsController's OfficeGeneral AccountingStudent Organizational (Agency) Accounts Student Organizational (Agency) Accounts As a service to our student organizations, the university allows organizations to open agency accounts with the Controller’s Office as means to secure their cash. Some organizations find this to be a good alternative to opening a private bank account. All accounts are established using private funds with no university funding. The accounts are non-interest bearing and no service charge is applied. After establishing an account, an organization can deposit funds at the cashiers’ windows in Swords Hall. Goods and services can then be purchased, with payment being made directly out of this account. For purchases made on campus, namely duplicating, postage and conference facilities, the account will be debited at the end of every month automatically for the amount of goods and services used that month. For purchases with vendors outside the university, an invoice must be sent to the organization’s faculty advisor for payment approval. Once the advisor has approved the invoice, it is sent to the Controller’s Office for payment. Provided there is enough money in the account, the university will issue a check on behalf of the organization to the vendor. Some vendors may be reluctant to bill a student organization, preferring to be paid at the time of purchase. In such cases, it may be necessary for a member of the organization to pay and be reimbursed at a later date. For individual reimbursement, a campus requisition asking for reimbursement must be submitted. The requisition must be approved by the faculty advisor and sent or brought to the Controller’s Office with the original invoice showing that payment was made in full. If the amount is under $300 and the account has enough funds, the student will be reimbursed at the cashier’s window. Any amount over $300 will be reimbursed by check. Cut-off dates for checks to be issued to vendors on behalf of the agency account are as follows: If received by 5 p.m. Monday, a check will be issued eight days later on Tuesday. If the Monday deadline is missed, payment will be issued a week later than if it had been received by the deadline. Reimbursement checks follow the university schedule for reimbursement: Requests received by the 15th of the month will be paid by the 1st of the following month. Please note that the accounts and their related organizations, while affiliated with the university, remain entirely separate entities. As such, these accounts and organizations are not afforded the tax-exemption status of Bradley University. Unless the organization has obtained a tax-exemption status of their own, all purchases and sales of goods must include their respective sales tax. The university files no taxes for these organizations and accounts. All related tax issues, including sales, income and payroll, must be handled by the organization itself. Please contact Debra Henry at dah@bradley.edu or 309-677-2616 in the Controller’s Office with any questions or to establish an agency account.

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Popular Science Monthly/Volume 48/January 1896/Principles of Taxation: US Government III < Popular Science Monthly‎ | Volume 48‎ | January 1896 ←The Smithsonian Institution I Popular Science Monthly Volume 48 January 1896 (1896) Principles of Taxation: US Government III By David Ames Wells A Student's Recollections of Huxley→ Previous in series Next in series First in series 1231618Popular Science Monthly Volume 48 January 1896 — Principles of Taxation: US Government III By David Ames Wells1896 PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION, By DAVID A. WELLS, LL.D.. D. C. L., CORRESPONDANT DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE, ETC. I. — THE COMPARATIVELY RECENT TAX EXPERIENCES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PART II. WITH the close of the war a marked change speedily occurred, in the nature of discontent, in the temper of the people in respect to taxation. But this discontent at the outset was restricted almost exclusively to the so-called "internal revenue taxes," and extended in little or no degree to the war taxes imposed on imports; which last, so long as the internal revenue taxes continued to be levied upon every manufactured product, and also upon the separate constituents of such product, were not only wholly justifiable, but absolutely necessary, if the fiscal burdens of the war between the domestic producers and their foreign competitors were to be equalized. In some instances, through oversight or neglect, the tariff taxation was made actually less upon the imported article than was the internal taxation on the domestic product manufactured from it; one illustration of which was, that the charges imposed on the import of Manilla rope were fifty-six dollars per ton, while the internal taxes on the rope manufactured in the United States from the Manilla fiber ranged from forty-eight to seventy-three dollars per ton. It soon became evident that the country could not endure for any great length of time the war system of taxation, and, furthermore, would not, when a return of peace had made its 304 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ance unnecessary.* And, pending its modification for the pur- pose of reduction, a desire to evade the payment of taxes every- where manifested itself, until it seemed at one time as if the whole country and the Government itself were becoming cor- rupted and demoralized. For example, the revenue receipts from the income tax, without any change in the law, declined from $72,982,000 in 1860 to $66,014,000 in 1867; and those from a uniform tax on distilled spirits, from about $29,000,000 in 1867 to a little in excess of $14,000,000 in 1868. It was under such circumstances that the Revenue Commis- sion entered upon its prescribed duties. The work of investiga- tion devolved mainly on its chairman, the second member being debarred by age and feeble health from any active exertion ; while the third assumed from the outset that the best and most feasible way of meeting the financial difficulties of the situation was to abandon the " whole system" (of existing taxation) "in the short- est time consistent with the general interests of the country," and, by an amendment to the Federal Constitution, authorize and re- quire the Federal Government to levy " a duty, payable in lawful money, of one per centum per annum " on the income of all inter- est-bearing indebtedness issued by the United States and payable in lawful money ; and " a duty, payable in specie, of seven tenths of one per centum on the principal of all indebtedness of the United States, which shall belong to any person or corporation, and the interest on which may be payable in specie." He was also of the opinion that such taxes on the income or principal of the indebted- ness of the United States, should be " in addition to any ordinary duty or tax equally imposed upon all incomes, or directly upon all personal and real property within the United States subject to taxation." A subsequent report to this effect was not received with any marked disfavor by the general public, and had the indorsement of not a few leading American bankers and capitalists. As the aver- age annual rate of interest accruing on the market price of the gold bonds issued by the United States from January, 1862, to Janu- ary, 1866, was 8"82 per cent, and on investments in the debt of the United States payable in lawful money, from 1863 to 1866, was 10'68 per cent, the proposition to levy a tax of one per cent on the The imperative necessity of a speedy abatement of the internal revenne taxes after the termination of the war finds striking illustration in the following examples of actual experience. Thus the tax of six pcsr cent, levied and collected during the fiscal year 1864- '65, on the value of the products of the woolen industry in Massachusetts alone ($48,430,- 6*71) was ecpiivalent to nearly twenty per cent on the whole capital ($14,735,671) in- vested in this business ; while the tax on the value of boots and shoes manufactured in the same State during the same year ($52,915,243) was equal to thirty per cent on the whole capital employed ($10,067,474). �� � PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 305 income or principal of tlie same did not appear unreasonable, espe- cially in the case where no exemption from taxation was stipu- lated in the contract for these issues. But neither the author of the report nor its indorsers could have anticipated that within little more than five years after it was submitted to Congress, the Fed- eral Government could have borrowed $185,000,000 at four and a half per cent interest ; and that twenty-five years afterward would be able to renew a debt of $25,364,500 at two per cent per annum, or at a rate fifty per cent less than loans on the best corporate or private securities would have at the same time commanded. The method of prosecuting the work contemplated by Con- gress of the Commission was at the outset a matter of no little embarrassment. There was practically no material or basis to work on, except the bare statutes authorizing war taxes, and no official collection of these was published by the Government until two years after the commencement of the war. There was no bureau of statistics in the Treasury, and in this department of the Government the officials to whom was assigned the duty of collecting and publishing reliable data relative to the trade and commerce of the country were untrained. No full and reliable statistics concerning any branch of trade or industry in the United States, with possibly a very few exceptions, were then, or ever had been, available. The Treasury received returns of the aggregate of revenue collected and the sources whence it was derived ; but these returns were rarely, if ever, accompanied by any suggestions, derived from administrative experience, of any value. The commercial returns from the customs were hardly worth the paper on which they were written. Thus, for exam- ple, when the duty on the importation of coffee came up for con- sideration as a source of revenue, the value of the coffee imported during the fiscal year 1864-'65 was officially returned at ten and a half cents per pound, while its average invoice price, according to the trade of New York for the same period, was not less than thirteen cents. Again, according to the Treasury statement, the aggregate imports of coffee for the same year, were 104,31 6,581 pounds. Of this amount 82,353,000 pounds, which were retained for domestic consumption, had a returned value of only six and four tenths cents per pound, while the value of 21,962,000 pounds of the same imports which were exported during the same year, had the extraordinary value of nearly twenty-five cents per pound. For the year 1863 the Treasury reported an aggregate import of spirits distilled from grain of 1,064,576 gallons, but of this quan- tity only 45,393 gallons were entered at the ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and San Francisco, leaving an inferential import of 1,019,183 gallons at other ports of the loyal States that practically had no foreign commerce. TOL. XLTIII. 22 �� � 3o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. In tlie Bureau of Internal Revenue a better system prevailed ; but this department of the Treasury being always overburdened with work, and its service largely rendered by assessors and col- lectors who were destitute of business training, contributed but little in the way of deductions from experience. It had, more- over, at one time as its head an official who subsequently in a higher position refused to allow data to be collected in respect to certain taxes, on the ground that the less the people knew about such matters the better it was for the Treasury. Another great source of difficulty experienced by the Commis- sion in conducting investigations with a view of arriving at any correct estimates of the prospective revenue of the country was the abnormal condition of every branch of trade and industry after 1861, due primarily to the war disturbances, and next to the frequent alterations in the rates of taxation. Every advance made in tariff, or internal revenue taxes, was anticipated to such an extent by importers, manufacturers, dealers, and specula- tors that the Government could not fairly test the capacity of any one of its great and legitimate sources of revenue. Thus, for ex- ample, the almost incredible profits made by reason of anticipa- tion of the large and repeated advances in the taxes on distilled spirits have already been pointed out. Of cigars, in like manner, it was estimated that above eighty millions had been made and stored at one time in the city of New York alone, in anticipation of a higher tax ; and in the case of the comparatively insignificant article of matches, on which the tax was only one cent per bunch, the stock accumulated in anticipation of an advance of tax was so large that it was not entirely exhausted for a subsequent period of three years. In the absence of any specific instructions, either from Con- gress or the Secretary of the Treasury, it was difficult for the commission to form an opinion as to the best method of entering upon the comprehension and reform of a scheme of taxation which embraced almost every form of tax that the ingenuity of man could devise, and with an incidence on almost every form of prop- erty, business, profession, or occupation that was capable of yield- ing to the state a revenue. The conclusion arrived at, after no little consideration, involved a complete abandonment of any idea of endeavoring to enter upon and comprehend the whole field of inquiry at the outset ; and in its place, and in accordance with the maxim attributed to Emerson, that the eye sees only what it brings to itself to see, it was determined to take up and study spe- cifically the sources of public revenue in the order of their impor- tance ; and give no attention to any other subject, or attempt to theorize, until everything that domestic experience or the expe- rience of other countries could teach concerning them had been made familiar. In practically carrying out this idea, the chair- man of the commission put himself in direct and frequent com- munication with revenue officials and representative business men from every section of the country ; and availing himself of the power to take testimony, under oath, he often came into the pos- session of important facts which in daily life had been screened from the eye of the public. The result was that the commission presented to Congress, in January, 1866, a report which gave for the first time a full, clear, and exact statement of the curious and complex scheme of internal and customs revenue that had been evolved, as it were, out of the financial necessities contingent on the prosecution of a gigantic war : which involved the raising by taxation during the war period (and exclusive of loans) of an ag- gregate of over $2,000,000,000, and a not infrequent daily disburse- ment (expenditure) of over two millions of dollars ; and in addi- tion to this feature the report contained special and elaborate ex- hibits on distilled spirits, fermented liquors, petroleum, cotton, tea, coffee, sugar, spices, proprietary articles, and patent medicines as sources of Government income, with estimates of the amount of revenue which the Treasury might annually expect if taxation at various rates on the same was to be continued ; the whole being really the first practical attempt in the United States to gather and use national statistics for great national purposes. On the termination by statute of the Revenue Commission, in January, 1866, its chairman was appointed to an office specially created by Congress, for a period of four years, with the title of "Special Commissioner of the Revenue" of the United States; and the duties of which were thus defined by statute : He shall from time to time report through the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress, either in the form of hill or otherwise, such modifications of the rates of taxation, .or of the methods of collect- ing the revenues, and such other facts pertaining to the trade, in- dustry, commerce, or taxation of the country as he may find by actual observation of the law to he conducive to public interest." In this office, and invested with large powers, its incumbent en- tered upon the work of co-operating with the appropriate commit- tees of Congress " Ways and Means " of the House and " Finance " of the Senate in reconstructing the then existing and extraordi- nary system of the United States internal revenue ; and under his initiation and supervision were originated almost all the reforms in this department of the Government that were considered or en- acted by Congress between the close of the war and the year 1870 ; namely, the redrafting of nearly the whole body of complicated and often conflicting statutes ; the reduction and final abolition of the taxes on crude products especially cotton, salt, lumber, pe- troleum, and the metals and most of the taxes on manufactures ; �� � 3o8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, the creation of supervisory districts and the appointment of supervisors ; the origination of the use of stamps for the collec- tion of taxes on distilled spirits, fermented liquors, tobacco, and the sales of stockbrokers (the last in place of a general tax of one twentieth of one per cent on sales) ; and the creation and organi- zation of the Bureau of Statistics as a branch of the national Treasury. These modifications brought the internal revenue du- ties within a reasonable compass, introduced systems where the want of it was working mischief, and by their ready application in administration reconciled the people to a maintenance of im- portant sources of revenue and a continuance of taxes, which have by their stability and steady increase enabled the Government to meet financial exigencies otherwise awkward and dangerous. The service thus rendered met with recognition at the time both in and out of Congress, and was strongly indorsed by those most interested the head of the Treasury and the industries taxed.* The work of taking down the vast and complicated structure of internal taxation, which had been built up during the war, having been once seriously entered upon by Congress (in 1866), it was prosecuted so vigorously that in the comparatively short space of three years the aggregate annual receipts from such taxes were reduced from $310,906,000 in 1866 to $160,039,000 in 1869 a reduction of $150,865,000 and to $102,644,000 in 1872, a further reduction of $57,395,000 ; while the sources of revenue, the annual receipts from each one of which were specifically reported, were reduced from about two hundred and seventy- five in 1866 to nominally sixty- six in 1872; but practically to three distilled spirits, fermented liquors, and tobacco the re- ceipts from which alone in 1893 were $150,865,000 as compared with $91,464,000 in 1872. It should, however, be noted that this remarkable increase of revenue, coincident with a large reduction in the number of taxed articles, was due mainly to an increase of consumption consequent upon an increase of population during the period under consideration (26,230,000) rather than to any " I do not believe that any man appointed by the Government in the civil war has done for his country more work, and more valuable work, than David A. Wells. Into the financial chaos resulting from the war he threw tho whole weight of a strong, clear mind, guided by an honest heart, and he has done more, in my judgment, to bring order out of chaos than any one man in the United States." (SpcecJi of General James A. Garfield, Member of Congress, United States House of Bepreseyitatives, July 13, 1868 ) " There are few of my oflScial acts that I look upon with more satisfaction than the ap- pointment of David A. Wells to be Revenue Commissioner. All the reports that were made by him exhibited the most careful, painstaking, and intelligent investigation. In clearness and accuracy of statement, and in logical force, they have not been surpassed on either side of the Atlantic. Their ability was admitted, even by those who disagreed with the writer in his conclusions.' (Men and Measures of Half a Century, by Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury during the Administrations of Fresidcrds Lincoln, Johnson, and Arthur.) increase in the rate of taxes imposed upon the remaining sources after 1872. Of many other curious and instructive economic experiences, consequent upon the rapid and radical changes in the fiscal policy of the United States during the period under consideration, the following seem especially worthy of notice : The first abatement or repeal of internal taxation on various articles after the war to the extent of about fifty millions in 18G6 was not attended with any general and immediate reduction in the prices of the articles re- lieved, corresponding to the reduction of taxation, but with rather an increase of prices. The explanation of this circumstance was, that the continuance of the heavy war taxation, for a period after the extensive war demands of the Government for various com- modities had ceased, had diminished their production to a point below what would have been the normal consumption of the country ; and that, therefore, prices increased concurrently with the abatement of taxes and a renewal of demand. Such a result was, however, but temporary, and the condition of affairs was soon reversed. The supply of manufactured products quickly be- came equal to or exceeded demand. The price of products fell faster than the price of either labor or capital^ and taxation, which formerly had been paid wholly from profit, now fell mainly upon capital. The general result was a year (1867) of great industrial and commercial depression. The enlarged use of stamps as machinery for the collection of taxes, and their novel application to fermented liquors and dis- tilled spirits, were attended with very striking results. In the case of fermented liquors (beer), it was established almost beyond doubt by the Revenue Commission that previous to 1866 the Gov- ernment was defrauded of its legitimate revenue to an extent of forty per cent, involving an absolute annual loss of about $6,400,000. The adoption, with no little hesitation by Congress in 1866, of the principle, that the payment of the tax on this commodity should be effected by the purchase and affixing a stamp to each barrel sold and removed from the place of manufacture, with the additional requirement that the stamp should be canceled by the retailer or consumer at once, increased the revenue from $3,657,000 in 1865 to $5,115,000 in 1866 the year of first application and to $5,819,000 in 1867 ; and ever since has proved most effective and satisfactory. A recommendation to make use of stamps for the collection of taxes on tobacco was acceded to by Congress in respect to smoking tobacco and snuff, but was refused in respect to chewing tobacco, cigarettes, and cigars ; in the latter case on the assumption that it was impracticable to affix an adhesive paper stamp on the body of a cigar, while the " trade," not long afterward, and at its own volition, demonstrated its entire feasibility. Had the recommen- �� � 310 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. dation in this particular found favor, it would have resulted in an accretion of many millions to the national Treasury, a relief from espionage and other frictions to the trade, and a larger diminution of administrative expenditures both to the trade and the Government. The experience of the Federal Government in its taxation of distilled spirits is extraordinary, and so replete with instruction to economists, moralists, and social reformers as to merit a more extended notice. The product of distilled spirits in the United States for the year 1860, as returned by the census, was about 90,000,000 gall

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Home > Consumer Protection > Financial Education & Literacy > Money Smart Press Releases Money Smart Press Releases LOUISIANA'S COMMUNITY TRUST BANK JOINS MONEY SMART ALLIANCE PROGRAM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MS-15-2003 (10-03-2003) Media Contacts: Rosemary George (202) 898-6530 The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced that Community Trust Bank, headquartered in Choudrant, Louisiana, has joined the Money Smart Alliance Program. The announcement was made at the City Hall of West Monroe, Louisiana, by John F. Carter, FDIC Regional Director, Dallas Regional Office, and Drake Mills, Chief Executive Officer of Community Trust Bank. Community Trust Bank is a $350 million financial institution with eleven branches operating in north Louisiana. As a partner in the FDIC's Money Smart Alliance Program, Community Trust Bank will reach low- and moderate-income individuals by providing staff for training through partnerships developed with community-based organizations, including The Tanner Center, Renewal, Inc., the YWCA, and the West Monroe Public Housing Authority. To date, approximately 100 persons have attended Money Smart sessions taught by Community Trust Bank personnel, with 44 persons receiving Money Smart Certificates of Completion. Community Trust Bank began using the Money Smart Program in August 2002. CEO Mills said, "Community Trust Bank feels that it is our responsibility to provide leadership and training to low- and moderate-income individuals, through our people and our products, to allow anyone desiring to own their own home the opportunity to do so." Mills added, "Immediately after learning of the FDIC's Money Smart Alliance Program, it was an easy decision for Community Trust Bank to become a partner." Community Trust Bank administers Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for Money Smart graduates of The Tanner Center, which is the Department of Labor's One Stop Center in West Monroe, Louisiana. IDAs are asset building tools for low-income families to use in buying a home, paying for post-secondary education and training, and business capitalization. IDAs are managed by community organizations and accounts are held at local financial institutions. Contributions from low-income participants are matched using both private and public sources. Similar to 401(k)s, IDAs make it easier for low-income families to build financial assets. Ms. Tyneka Hill, a recent graduate of the Money Smart Program offered through Community Trust Bank and The Tanner Center, shared her experience at today's event. Through the IDA program, this single mother of two children saved $1,000 and funds of $4,000 were "matched" toward the down payment on a new home. In August, Ms. Hill became a homeowner in the city of West Monroe. "The Money Smart classes I took helped me understand how to make things work for me," said Ms. Hill "I didn't mind going even though I was required to go for the (IDA) program. It was hard, but I did it!" FDIC Regional Director Carter commented, "It is both heartwarming and rewarding to hear Ms. Hill's success story. This is another fine day for the Money Smart program and all of its participants and partners. We at the FDIC truly appreciate the vision and commitment of CEO Mills and Community Trust Bank to making a tangible difference in their community. " The FDIC developed the Money Smart curriculum to help low- and moderate-income adults enhance their money management skills, understand basic financial services offered by the financial mainstream and build their financial confidence to use banking services effectively. The Money Smart curriculum includes ten comprehensive instructor-led modules covering basic financial topics including an introduction to bank services, tips on obtaining credit and information on buying a home. It can be easily reproduced for wide dissemination and has no copyright restrictions. Money Smart is free to users. In addition to the English version, Spanish, Chinese and Korean CD-ROM versions are now available. A Vietnamese version of Money Smart is scheduled for release later this year. Any organization interested in financial education can use Money Smart. For information and instructions on how to obtain copies of the curriculum go to www.fdic.gov or call 1-877-275-3342 or (202) 942-3404. Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 9,267 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars - insured financial institutions fund its operations. Last Updated 10/03/2003 communications@fdic.gov Home |

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Home / Money / Personal Finance / Budgeting & Saving More Stuff Like This Does a smartphone raise your risk of identity theft? Top 10 Hobbies That Can Pay Off Puzzles: Messy Desk How to Make a Million Dollars by Lee Ann Obringer and Laurie L. Dove Introduction to How to Make a Million Dollars The Millionaire Lifestyle Millionaire Strategies Investments and Compound Interest You could always hit it big at a casino and make a lot of cash -- but the odds of becoming a millionaire aren't good. Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority Now we answer the question you've been dying to know: How can I become a millionaire?Most millionaires are self-made people. They set a goal to become a millionaire -- or at least a goal to achieve financial freedom. Some invested in a higher education that set them on some of the world's most lucrative career paths -- physician, lawyer or CEO, to name a few -- and then implemented aggressive saving and investing strategies.Others (in fact, most) took an entrepreneurial approach by turning a good idea into a successful business. Although people who are self-employed make up less than 20 percent of the workforce in the U.S., they comprise a whopping two-thirds of the nation's millionaires [source: Stanley].Of course, starting your own business means taking risks, but with the right idea and a good marketing plan, success could be yours. Some of the hottest sectors include green construction, which is expected to reach a value of $140 billion by 2013, and mobile app development. In 2012, there were about 1 million apps available in Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market, with more being added each day. In the App Store, for example, monthly user downloads reached the 1 billion mark in 2012. Sell just a fraction of this figure -- say, 500,000 apps -- for $2 each, and you'll earn a million dollars [source: Thurner]. We'll explore more millionaire-maker ideas in an upcoming section, too.Another strategy involves a degree of luck and skill. If you have extreme athletic talent, you stand a chance of making millions as a professional athlete. LeBron James, for example, went straight from high school to the NBA and got a $90 million contract from Nike before he had even played a single professional basketball game [source:

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http://reason.org/news/show/rep-ron-pauls-bill-to-audit-th Rep. Ron Paul's Bill to Audit the Federal Reserve 'Gutted' in Committee November 2, 2009, 2:03pm A WorldNetDaily story reports that the bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) that would call for an audit of the Federal Reserve has been "gutted" in a congressional committee. The legislation, H.R. 1207, would also close loopholes that prevent transparency of Fed actions. It currently has over 300 co-sponsors in the House. In a telephone interview with a Bloomberg reporter, Paul said that the bill had been stripped of measures closing loopholes that protect the Fed and blamed Rep. Melvin "Mel" Watt (D-NC), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, for ripping the teeth out of the legislation. Watt has significant ties to the banking industry and received the largest share of his 2008 campaign contributions—over one-third of his total contributions for the cycle—from the finance, insurance, and real estate industry. Watt's four largest contributors were Bank of America, headquartered in Watt's district in Charlotte, Wachovia Corp., American Express, and the American Bankers Association. Paul vowed to try to restore the gutted provisions of the bill through an amendment when it comes to the House floor for a vote. The veil of secrecy that shrouds the Fed has only made it more mysterious, and monetary policy that much more complex and obscure, to the average American taxpayer. Political discourse over subjects like deficits and inflation tends to focus on fiscal policy, but this is only one half of the equation. It is time for more people to ask why the Fed should have a government-granted monopoly for the creation of money and what it does with its powers to alter the value of money and interest. Below is an excerpt of the WND article quoting Rep. Paul on some of his criticisms of the Fed: Paul long has been a critic of the secrecy of the Federal Reserve. "Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar," he said earlier. "Since 1913, the dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy." "Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations," Paul said when the plan to audit the Fed was introduced. "While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed's susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests." Paul has warned, "The Federal Reserve can enter into agreements with foreign central banks and foreign governments, and the GAO is prohibited from auditing or even seeing these agreements. Why should a government-established agency, whose police force has federal law enforcement powers, and whose notes have legal tender status in this country, be allowed to enter into agreements with foreign powers and foreign banking institutions with no oversight? Particularly when hundreds of billions of dollars of currency swaps have been announced and implemented, the Fed's negotiations with the European Central Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, and other institutions should face increased scrutiny, most especially because of their significant effect on foreign policy. If the State Department were able to do this, it would be characterized as a rogue agency and brought to heel, and if a private individual did this he might face prosecution under the Logan Act, yet the Fed avoids both fates."

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hide States probing top U.S. banks over debt collection Thursday, March 07, 2013 3:18 p.m. EST A Bank of America logo is seen outside a bank branch in Charlotte, North Carolina January 19, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Keane By Aruna Viswanatha and Rick Rothacker (Reuters) - The largest U.S. banks face a multi-state investigation into whether they helped debt collectors pursue faulty judgments against credit card customers, according to people familiar with the matter. At issue is whether weak record-keeping by banks or a failure to pass accurate information to collection agencies harmed consumers. The allegations against the banks echo those central to last year's $25 billion federal-state mortgage settlement to resolve charges that the banks "robo-signed" documents and pursued foreclosures with faulty information. This latest probe targets the same banks, including Bank of America , JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup and Wells Fargo , said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are continuing. As with the mortgage cases, the investigation focuses on the banks' poor paperwork and their weak tracking of the debts. When they sold delinquent credit card debt to the buyers, often at only a few cents on the dollar, they allegedly failed to provide them with the evidence that the borrowers owed the money. It is unclear, however, if the incomplete information was used to pursue borrowers who were not delinquent. Representatives of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo declined to comment for this story. The American Bankers Association also declined to comment. Mark Schiffman, vice president for public affairs at ACA International, an organization that represents debt collectors, said the industry agrees it needs proper information to pursue debts owed, but said policymakers could better define which documentation is necessary. While states are still considering their options in how to proceed against the banks, the issue is "moving up in importance" and action could come soon, one state official said. The probe against the banks marks an expansion of the scrutiny that to date has largely focused on the debt collectors. Along with state attorneys general, federal agencies including the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have been investigating the firms who buy the delinquent debt and then seek to collect on it. In one of the more notable cases, the FTC last year accused debt buyer Asset Acceptance of misrepresenting that consumers owed a debt when it could not substantiate its representations. The FTC also charged that the firm failed to disclose debts that were too old to be legally collected and repeatedly called third parties who did not owe a debt. Asset Acceptance neither admitted nor denied the findings, but agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the charges. The FTC does not have jurisdiction over the banks who sold the credit card debt, but two sources familiar with the matter said the CFPB could join in the larger action being coordinated by the states. FOLLOWING THE PAPERWORK Investigators are finding that the banks often did not provide buyers of the debt with evidence that individual credit card accounts were delinquent. Instead the banks only provided basic information about how much money they thought was owed and who the borrower was, without providing original contracts, past statements, or other additional documentation. In a speech last week, CFPB Director Richard Cordray told state attorneys general he wanted to work with them in addressing key priorities, including problems in debt collection. A CFPB spokeswoman said the agency "coordinates closely with the prudential and state regulators to oversee consumer financial markets, with the goal of effectively using the combined federal-state resources to effectively oversee the markets." The multi-state inquiry into the banks is led by Iowa, people familiar with the matter said, the state that also led state involvement in the mortgage deal. "Our office is leading a multistate working group that is looking into debt buying and debt collection practices, and how these practices impact consumers," Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, said. "Because this is an open case, we can't discuss specifics." Schiffman, the spokesman for the organization representing debt collectors, said the industry is limited by what information debt sellers, including banks, provide them with. "The challenge for our industry is that, we're not in control of the documentation that's available," he said. "It comes from the creditor." Banks could argue that they were not the ones who directly pursued the judgments, and were simply selling off bad debt for pennies on the dollar. FLOODING THE COURTS Despite a lack of documentation, consumer advocates and people familiar with the investigations say debt buyers still pursued court rulings that allowed them to potentially garnish wages and debit bank accounts. Consumers usually fail to contest the court proceedings, these people said, because they often don't receive the notices, don't know how to respond, or cannot take the day off work, and courts enter default judgments against them. "A lot of these debt buyers are flooding state courts attempting to collect debts that they've bought for pennies on the dollar," said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. "They're filing these affidavits about how much is owed, and who owes it, but the reality is, they have no information." While the banks are not themselves pursuing the questionable judgments on credit card debt, they could be liable for aiding and abetting the practice by providing information they cannot confirm as accurate, people familiar with the states' legal theories said. Experts could not predict what kind of liability banks could face in related actions, but a recent FTC study hints at the potential billions at stake. The agency examined $143 billion in debt, most of it from credit cards, sold to debt buyers in the past three years. It found that customers disputed some 3.2 percent of the debts, or about $4.6 billion of the debt studied. The FTC said it receives more complaints from consumers about debt collectors, including debt buyers, than about any other industry. (Reporting By Aruna Viswanatha in Washington, D.C., and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, N.C.; Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Diane Bartz; Editing by Karey Van Hall and Tim Dobbyn)

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Core Systems Lloyds Banking Group Keeps It Simple With BPM Greg MacSweeneyEditorial DirectorSee more from GregConnect directly with Greg Bio| Contact The U.K.'s largest bank has identified 200 initiatives that need to be completed in order to simplify the entire banking organization. Tags: Core Systems Replacement, Business Process Management, BPM, Lloyds Banking Group, Pegasystems When most people think of LLoyds Bank, they think of the bank founded in 1765 that is now called Lloyds TSB. However, Lloyds TSB is only part of the much younger, and larger, Lloyds Banking Group that was hastily thrown together during the 2008 financial crisis when Lloyds acquired the failing HBOS. The result is the largest retail bank in the United Kingdom with 90,000 employees, 14 bank brands, 30 million customers and, unfortunately, duplicate, redundant and scattered core systems and processes, said Annette Barnes, Group Change Program Director for Lloyds Banking Group at the PegaWorld 2013 conference in Orlando, Fla. "The first order of business was to get all 30 million customers onto one core system," Barnes said during her presentation titled "Transforming Banking, Simplifying IT." The core system consolidation is just one of over 200 initiatives that Lloyds decided it needed to complete in order to complete its goal. To help manage all of the changes, Lloyds is using business process management (BPM) software from Pegasystems. The move to a single core system would also help Lloyds Banking Group to achieve its primary goal of becoming the best bank in the U.K. by making banking simple: from simple customer interaction to simple products to simple service, according to Barnes. "We wanted to put customers first, and not just talk about it, but actually do it," Barnes told the audience of over 2,000 attendees. "We want to make sure banking is simple and to do that, the products and services need to be simple." [For more on how other banks are approaching core systems replacement, read: The Core Systems Dilemma".] In order to move the bank to a more streamlined model, Lloyds has invested over £2 billion. However, simplifying the bank is easier said than done. "Simplifying is where the hard work is," Barnes said. "How do you really simplify? This was a simplification process for the whole bank, for insurance, retail and wealth customers. In the end, it has to be simple for everyone." Simplifying a bank with a broad set of products and customers, along with employees who support the business, is difficult. For instance, Lloyds had over 1,000 legal entities, each signifying a separate part of the business. "Over 1,000 legal entities is far too many," Barnes said. "Lloyds is going through the process of cutting the number of legal entities in half." Under new regulations in both the U.S. and U.K., getting a grasp on legal entity identifiers (LEIs) will be important. Another example of complexity: following the acquisition of HBOS, Lloyds Banking Group found itself with 450 Lloyds offices and data center facilities -- in addition to more than 3,000 retail branches. "We are significantly reducing the number of office locations" and "we need to make sure that our technology -- our data centers, servers, tools, along with the focus on reducing energy consumption -- is right" so that it matches what Lloyds is doing with its simplification goal, Barnes added. To date, Lloyds is approximately half-way through the process of simplifying and streamlining the bank, reports Barnes. Lloyds has identified over 200 initiatives that need attention as it transforms the bank. Lloyds has seen some successful returns on its BPM project already. For instance, the customer interactions in the Pensions and Investments business were completely manual. "When a customer spoke with a [bank employee], there were often 700 manual steps for the colleague to take," such as filing forms and completing paperwork, Barnes said. "We have reduced the number of steps to 23," and the bank has seen its customer service complaints drop. In another area, Lloyds customers who wanted to close an unused account, or consolidate separate accounts, the customer needed to go through a complicated process. "It used to take 30 minutes to close an account," she said, noting that closing an account should be a relatively simple transaction. "Thirty minutes is unacceptable. Now we have reduced the time it takes to close an account to three minutes." Lloyds has also seen its customer service ratings and scores improve. Reportable complaints per 1,000 accounts, which are tracked by the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority (FSA), have fallen significantly "and are significantly [lower] than other competitors," Barnes says.ABOUT THE AUTHORGreg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology.See more from Greg

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May 25,2007 00:00 by Michael_Kinsman Every year about this time, people look at hiring forecasts for college graduates as a measure of how well the economy is doing. This spring, the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that the number ofcollege graduates being hired is soaring. Its most recent study claims that employers will hire 19.2 percent more college grads than last year. Things must be booming. But don't get excited just yet. There are reasons for this hiring surge. While it does show optimism on the part of employers that there are better economic times ahead, it also confirms that employers specifically want to hire young people. They like young people because they possess the most current skills, will work for lower salaries and, generally, are easier to manage. But remember, the hiring study includes only 243 of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. businesses and also doesn't look at the other end of the spectrum. Another study by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that there has been a surge of startup businesses in the past two years and the fastest growing number of self-employed workers are ages 55 to 64. The study indicates that the number of people 55 and over working for themselves has climbed from 2.1 million to 2.7 million in 2006. A 29 percent increase. Comparably, over that period the percent of people of all ages working for themselves has risen just 10 percent. "It may be a foregone conclusion that many baby boomers - either out of desire or necessity - will work beyond the 'retirement age' of 65," says John Challenger, the firm's chief executive. "What some employers may have expected is that a growing number of the these baby boomers are abandoning traditional employment for self-employment." One reason for this shift is the mounting apprehension in older workers that they will be targeted for layoffs, cutbacks, or other cost-reduction methods in the years ahead. Two decades of eroding job security appears to finally have sunk in with these individuals. Although changing jobs can be disruptive, starting a business or going to work for yourself as an older worker is not necessarily bad. It makes good sense. "In many respects, these individuals are better suited than their younger counterparts for entrepreneurship, since they have a deeper foundation in business operations and probably have built a larger network of professional contacts who are critical in drumming up customers," Challenger says. So when you see that employers are ramping up to hire young people, don't assume they are just being bullish on the economy. The flip side is that employers have to replace some of their oldest and most effective workers who are leaving the fold. Copley News Service

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House Passes Privacy Disclosure Exemption December 12, 2012 • Reprints H.R. 5817, the bill that would provide an exemption to Gramm-Leach-Bliley annual privacy notification requirements, passed the House as expected by voice vote on Wednesday. Should the bill become law, credit unions would only be required to provide privacy disclosures to members when they first open their account, and again only when the policy changes. Currently, financial institutions are required to send the disclosure annual via mail, regardless of whether it has changed. “This legislation eliminates an unnecessary, redundant and costly annual privacy policy notice requirement. It will save credit unions valuable staff resources, lower the cost of financial services, and reverse the negative environmental impact caused by such a requirement, while not harming consumers,” said NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Dan Berger. The bill now awaits consideration by the Senate. Credit union lobbyists have said that while the bill is not controversial, it does lack familiarity in the Senate, so the upper chamber would have to be educated on the issue. “Since there has been no companion bill introduced in the Senate, it hasn’t made a lot of sense to talk about the legislation, especially given the other things we have been working on in Senate,” said CUNA Senior Vice President of Legislative Affairs Ryan Donovan. “We will reach out and see what appetite the Senate has for one more piece of regulatory legislation.” CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney agreed. He said the bill “would eliminate a costly and unnecessary compliance burden by eliminating repetitive notices that are often ignored by consumers. Further, it enhances consumer protection by ensuring that when a consumer receives a privacy notification, it has significance and is not redundant.” Show Comments

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HarborOne Members Approve Conversion to Bank March 18, 2013 • Reprints Members of the $1.8 billion HarborOne Credit Union in Brockton, Mass., have approved converting its 96-year-old credit union into a mutual co-operative bank charter. “HarborOne members voted to approve the charter change,” James Rice, HarborOne’s vice president of marketing, said Monday. “Nearly 62% of voting members cast their ballots in favor of the proposal.” Also Read: HarborOne Bank Conversion May Take Months to Complete Operating as a credit union since 1917, HarborOne has grown to become the largest state-charted credit union in New England. Nevertheless, the longstanding credit union has said its reasons to convert were the flexibility to expand HarborOne’s markets and customer base, increase its lending authority, including small business lending, and gain access to additional capital. HarborOne’s 139,078 members were mailed ballots on Feb. 19. Eligible members cast their ballot by postage-paid return mail, placed the confidential ballot envelope in a lockbox at one of the CU’s fourteen branches, or voted in person during a special meeting March 11. HarborOne’s President/CEO James Blake has told Boston media that because HarborOne’s field of membership is limited to four counties, the credit union has been forced to turn down $70 million in mortgages and other consumer loans from potential members who live outside its market. But soon after the conversion plan was announced Feb. 16, 2012, and approved by HarborOne’s board a month later, it sparked an industry-wide debate and criticism from some credit union leaders. Steve Bisker in Washington, D.C., disputed HarborOne’s reasons for mulling the move, saying HarborOne was at only 20% of its member business lending cap, based on his examination of HarborOne’s preliminary online notice filed with regulators. “The stated ‘consequences of conversion’ are inaccurate or misleading at best,” Bisker told Credit Union Times in March 2012, pointing to what he said are inconsistencies on HarborOne’s stated need for more capital to lend and its prospects for increased membership under a mutual charter. But industry analysts argued credit union frustration over NCUA assessments coupled with the inability to raise capital and expand business lending to compete with banks apparently helped spur HarborOne CU’s proposal to convert to a bank. “Margins have been pretty thin for awhile now and credit unions see no way to build capital and they don’t like paying those assessments while seeing so much uncertainty ahead,” Alan Theriault of Portland, Maine, a conversion specialist, told the Credit Union Times in February. He also said that at least one billion-dollar CU was ready to make the switch and so were a handful of $200-$400 million CUs. Richard S. Garabedian, a partner at the Luse Gorman Pomerenk & Schick law firm in Washington, D.C., said, “I’d say the corporate crisis and the sense of many credit unions feeling boxed in” by the onslaught of new regulations and tighter NCUA exam restrictions triggers moves like HarborOne. Except for the $1.4 billion Technology CU of San Jose, Calif. and a few smaller CUs with conversion plans, there has been a lull in activity, but the trend may be about to change, Garabedian said in a Credit Union Times article last February. Nevertheless, members of Technology CU overwhelming rejected to convert their institution to a mutual bank in September. Of the total 18,000 votes cast, 14,000 voted no to the conversion and 4,000 voted in favor of it. Small credit unions fail, while large credit unions bail. That's just more assessment money the rest of us will have to pay. I've been in this industry for 30 years... mhoward1

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3 FTSE Shares for the Week Ahead Alan Oscroft | LONDON -- The summer lull for company news continues while we await the next rush of reports due to start coming through in July. But we do have a few key full-year results to come next week from representatives of varied sectors. Here's a quick look at three companies due to bring us their annual figures. Berkeley Group (LSE: BKG ) Wednesday will bring us full-year results from Berkeley Group, the residential-property holding company that offers some classic growth characteristics. Berkeley has raised its earnings per share strongly for the past two years, keeping its price-to-earnings ratio modest and its PEG ratio below 0.7, which is generally considered good value by growth investors. And with forecasts for this year suggesting further EPS growth of nearly 50%, the PEG falls to 0.3. Also, the firm has started paying dividends this year, with an interim payment of 15 pence per share being announced after first-half pre-tax profits soared by 40%. The full-year dividend yield should be around a modest 1.7%, but the firm's latest update said the group was on course to return cash of £568 million to shareholders by no later than September 2015 -- and that would provide a double-digit dividend yield. And the share price? It's up about 70% over the past 12 months, though the shares are still only on a forward P/E of about 14. Ashtead (LSE: AHT ) On Thursday we will have full-year figures from equipment-rental firm Ashtead Group, and we really have an investing success story here: Ashtead shares have soared by more than 150% over the past year to 613 pence, although they have been even higher. Forecasts are looking great, too, with a 75% rise in earnings expected for the year to April 2013 and a further 25% currently suggested for the following year. There's not much of a dividend yield yet, with only 0.8% expected this year, but payout advances are expected in the coming years. We're unlikely to see any nasty surprises from Ashtead, as earlier third-quarter numbers showed revenue up 19%, underlying pre-tax profit up a massive 85%, and underlying EPS up a similar 83%. At the time, chief executive Geoff Drabble said, "we now anticipate a full-year profit ahead of our earlier expectations." Dixons (LSE: DXNS ) We will have annual results from Dixons Retail on Thursday, too, and we'll have a firmer idea of how the company's turnaround is going. According to May's trading update, things are looking good at Dixons. The high-street retailer said it had a "strong performance across the year," with multichannel like-for-like sales up 7% -- which is pretty good for a business that, just a few years ago, didn't seem to know what Internet shopping was. This year is forecast to bring a 15% rise in EPS, putting the shares on a P/E of more than 30. But it's really just the start of the expected recovery in profits, with further forecasts suggesting the P/E will be down to about 14 by 2015. Dixons shares have done well -- in fact, they're the best performer of the year of the three companies here, having more than three-bagged to reach a current price of 42 pence. Is there further to go? There could well be. Finally, dividends can add nicely to your investment returns -- they can be spent or reinvested, according to your needs. Whether you're investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome. And that's why I recommend the brand-new Fool report "The Motley Fool's Top Income Share For 2013," in which our top analysts identify a share they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today. Alan Oscroft has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Berkeley Group Holdings. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Ashtead Group CAPS Rating: BKG Berkeley Group Hol… CAPS Rating: DXNS Dixons Retail

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Morning Outlook Instant View: Fed to keep buying bonds, boosts 2014 forecasts Published June 19, 2013Reuters The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it would keep buying $85 billion in bonds per month and gave no explicit indication that it was close to scaling back the program, despite intense market speculation it could soon start drawing it to a close. KEY POINTS: * Describing the economy as expanding moderately, Fed officials cited further improvement in labor market conditions, and noted inflation had been running below the Fed's 2 percent long term goal. * They also reiterated that unemployment is still too high for their comfort, reinforcing their desire to keep buying assets until the outlook for jobs improves substantially, but offered a slightly more upbeat assessment of the balance of risks to the nation's growth. * In fresh quarterly projections, 14 of the 19 members of the Fed's policy-setting committee said they did not think it would be appropriate to raise rates until sometime in 2015. * Three officials saw 2014 as the year that rates would lift off from near zero, versus four policymakers back in March. One official continued to anticipate the first rate hike in 2016 and one in 2013. COMMENTS: BRIAN LEVITT, SENIOR ECONOMIST AT OPPENHEIMERFUNDS IN NEW YORK, NY: "The Fed is obviously more optimistic than they had otherwise been about the U.S. economy and I think it confirms a lot of the better economic conditions that we had been seeing too. "Certainly the Treasury market is telling us something. The Fed does not appear to be as worried about things as they had suggested in prior statements and that signals to the market that they are taking somewhat of a more hawkish tone. "They're more sanguine about U.S. economic growth and they're less likely to be dovish on monetary policy. I would view this as good news. It's a long process of normalization, it doesn't mean tight conditions overnight, and the fundamentals of the equity market still look reasonable. "I don't think investors should be eliminating equity positions because the Fed is beginning a long process of policy normalization. "Investors always freak out at what looks like a sea change in policy, but typically policy normalization and or tightening is coincident with improving macro conditions and a generally healthy environment for stocks. "It's a slight change in language that suggests that the Fed is more optimistic than they were in the May statement. After Bernanke's comments a few week ago suggesting that tapering could be in the offing, that's what the market's trying to price in." MICHAEL MATOUSEK, HEAD TRADER AT U.S. GLOBAL INVESTORS INC., SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: "Right when it first came out I think everyone was shooting first and asking questions later because you had gold selloff, you had the dollar rally, and you had 10-year yields pop up. So basically with the yields going up that means people are selling off their bonds, they want to own the dollar, and they're not looking at gold right now. "It seems like a l

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The Rise of the State: Profitable Investing and Geopolitics in the 21st Century, Past and Prologue By Yiannis G. Mostrous, David F. Dittman, Elliott H. Gue This chapter is from the book Rise of the State, The: Profitable Investing and Geopolitics in the 21st Century The authors of The Rise of the State introduce their book, which posits that sustainable economic growth increases geopolitical power, which in turn allows for greater assertion in the pursuit of economic greatness. Consequently the investments made by the new powers, domestically and internationally, are more aggressive as well as different in nature than before. Past and Prologue At a party during a trip to China in the 1930s Nikos Kazantzakis, one of the foremost writers and thinkers to emerge from Greece in the 20th century, became involved in a deep conversation with a mandarin. Kazantzakis noted that both the communists and the Japanese were advancing toward Beijing from different directions. Was the man scared? Kazantzakis asked. The mandarin, at one time China's ambassador to France, smiled. "Communism is ephemeral, Japan is ephemeral, but China is eternal," he said. China is not new to the power game. For 500 years Imperial China was the world's preeminent force. At the height of its influence, between 1440 and 1433 AD, China's navy was the most formidable in the world in terms of sheer size as well as reach. Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho commanded ships that weighed 1,500 tons, with firepower and cargo capacity incomprehensible to his European counterparts. Control of the seas and the extensive trade relationships it facilitated were the foundation of China's economic and political superiority. Because of a strategic decision to shift resources to strengthening its defenses against potential land invaders, by 1436 the mighty Chinese navy had been disassembled. The end of its power was not far off. More than 500 years on and China is leading emerging economies in a rebalancing of the world's economic and geopolitical order. The increase in global trade, coupled with pragmatic leadership, set the stage for the awakening of what was a slumbering dragon. Furthermore, other countries that have also benefited from free trade and that also enjoy continentlike characteristics complement the rise of China's star, Brazil, India, and Russia—the remaining three elements of the BRIC mosaic—are each in its own right important elements in the world's transformation. Only in the aftermath of the crisis that nearly ruined the financial system in 2008-09 did the majority of people start understanding the growing importance of these emerging nations to global economic well-being. For the first time in financial history, major emerging economies were able not only to avoid total destruction when the developed economies were in dire straits, but also the leaders among them have actually delivered solid growth amid what was otherwise the worst economic downturn in seven decades. The relative resilience of these economies, primarily China and India, has helped the global economy absorb what would otherwise have been fatal blows. The multiyear process that resulted in these economies playing a prominent role in stabilizing the global system, unfolded while the West was engorging itself on cheap credit and unsustainable consumption. During these fat years of self-congratulation, relatively little attention was paid by the West to the serious structural reform that Asian countries, in particular, in the wake of the regional crisis of 1997-98, had undertaken. The reality is that strong economic growth in the emerging world allowed the majority of the Anglo-Saxon economies to follow spendthrift fiscal and easy monetary policies, prolong the economic cycle on the upside, shorten it on the downside, and only delay an inevitable reckoning. Responding to what now looms as the first in a series of upsets that will result in its eventual decline as the global hegemonic power, U.S. leaders—financial and political—managed, sadly, to discredit John Maynard Keynes in the eyes of the majority of Westerners. This result, however, springs from the vanity and hunger for power that led those who would relegate Keynesianism to history's dust heap to disregard Lord Keynes' advice in 1946 that the "classical medicine"—letting a recession run its natural course—must also be allowed to work and that government intervention would be ineffective in the long term otherwise. Our sophisticated society ignored substance in favor of superficiality and so the financial system continues to wither. Western countries, typified by the largest, the United States, lived beyond their means for too long, all the while developing a sense of invulnerability to the economic cycle and contempt for other growth models. It was not just the greed of "evil bankers" that brought the Western financial system to its knees. The greed of the public, the most dangerous of all avarice, also played a great role. The failure of the state to effectively monitor markets beforehand led directly to inevitable, extraordinary intervention after the fact of the near-collapse of the financial system—the de jure and de facto control of the economy by the state. What we have, too, is the looming danger of moral hazard, a culture in other words of nonpayment, where everyone has recourse to a central authority. Because neither side of the great American political divide properly understands even what are considered well-known theories on the role of government in the economy, and the people who elect them aren't seriously concerned because they've effectively voted themselves rich, the door is now open, at least partially, to the destruction of the free market-based model of growth. This is the breach the West has opened. But the crisis of 2008 also revealed that there are different ways to foster economic development, and that these varying structures can also lead to positive outcomes. Beginning in the mid-2000s serious economic researchers warned that "the cross-country evidence on the growth benefits of capital-account openness is inconclusive and lacks robustness." As the global recession that closed the decade revealed, relying less, not more, on foreign capital for growth has been a better recipe for success than the majority of economic experts and other Western commentators would have had us believe. The financial crisis demonstrated that countries that followed gradual approaches toward more open capital accounts had one less thing to worry about once the situation deteriorated rapidly in late 2008. Others, those in a hurry to follow the Holy Grail of Western financial success had significantly more exposure to cover. Until recently a substantial part of Western elites propped up the idea that emerging economies would support the spending habits of their Western customers in perpetuity by financing their consumption via the endless purchase of bonds. These export-based economies in need of destination markets for their products had no alternative. This assumption is as false today as it was in the waning days of the 20th century when it was first advanced. What most expert commentators failed to notice was that while these economies did lend money to their Western customers, they were at the same time strengthening their own financial infrastructure. The primary manifestation of this maturation is the rapid expansion of existing and proliferation of new sovereign wealth funds (SWF). The strong growth of these investment vehicles has set in motion a process through which emerging economies will evolve from creditors into owners. The rise of SWFs is a direct consequence of globalization. Oil-related SWFs have been around since the early 1950s; the expansion of global trade and the gradual opening of international markets have endowed nonresource-rich, export-based economies to support the creation of similar state-owned asset managers. Without free trade, SWFs would have remained what they have always been, namely a loose pool of money trying to find ways to diversify away from oil. Asian nations have been at the forefront of this SWF process. The structural economic boom in the emerging economies has allowed new players such as China to enter the investment arena with money that's basically controlled by the state but is allocated primarily with investment returns in mind. Nevertheless, only the most naïve observer would suggest that investment decisions made by SWFs are entirely devoid of geopolitical considerations; the long-term economic development of one particular nation-state is inevitably a matter of strategic importance to its neighbors, and vice versa. Sovereign influence is a fact of international capital flows and always has been. That SWFs overtly owned by the states that sponsor them has nevertheless aroused a great deal of suspicion among the US- and EU-based commentariat. Despite the short-term distractions caused by ambitious politicians, SWFs are here to stay. And the most significant investment development for the next decade will be SWFs soliciting funds from individual investors in their respective countries on a widespread basis. Singapore's Temasek Holdings, in the summer of 2009, was the first SWF to raise funds from institutional investors, making the next leap all the more possible to imagine. That SWFs will eventually tap their own citizens is not so far-fetched; in fact, the domestic base is theoretically preferable to foreign institutions because the latter are prone to withdraw funds for reasons other than investment performance. Right now we can only contemplate the impact allowing, for example, Chinese to invest in China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's primary SWF, would have on the global financial system. Apart from the pure amount of funds that would be at its disposal, this would represent yet another step toward a global system in which government plays not simply a supportive, nurturing role but a robust, active role in economic and financial decisions. Governments in the major emerging economies are already deeply entrenched in the financial game. Governments in the Western economies are, alarmingly, increasing their presence in it. Greater interconnectedness between the public and private sector is the inevitable outcome. The rise of the state, the way it is viewed here, is about two things. First, geopolitical developments will have increasingly greater influence on the way investment funds are allocated as the coming decade unfolds. Second, government will have greater involvement in people's financial affairs—this is the great legacy the financial crisis of 2008 will leave with us. The recent course of action undertaken by the US government provides a good example of what you should expect from duly constituted authorities around the world in the future. The US government now controls outright or has significant financial interests in some of the biggest, most important industries in the economy. It essentially owns nearly 50 percent of the domestic mortgage market. It owns an iconic automobile manufacturer. It controls large stakes in the major financial institutions that have only gotten bigger since they were deemed "too big to fail." Only hope informs the view that governmental involvement will be relatively short-lived or easily rolled back and that things will return to "normal" sooner rather than later. The financial problems the US federal and state governments face are of unprecedented proportion. The makeup of American society is also changing. The Baby Boomers—around 70 million people born between 1946 and 1960—are entering their 50s and 60s, and their financial needs are changing rapidly. Saving is now more important than spending. The idea of a safety net is a lot more personal, which makes people more amendable to the idea of greater government involvement in their financial affairs. American individual investors have stepped up their purchases of US government bonds, another indication of alignment of interests with the state and their search for income. History clearly demonstrates that governments are reluctant to give up control of the economy. Successful challenges to authority in matters of commerce usually come from the people, during times of strong growth, as entrepreneurs struggle against burdens placed on them by the state. If, therefore, we've entered a period of structural stagnation and deregulation is viewed suspiciously by the majority of the people, it's impossible to imagine government ceding control soon. We are in the early stages of an economic and social transformation the end of which could see governments in control over—though not owners of—the means of production. This is not a new idea. The Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter discussed this outcome, in the context of a market-based economy, in his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in the early 1940s. The liberal democracies of the West have now reached the point where implementation of a mild version of the ideas Schumpeter expressed can't be dismissed out of hand. Such a shift will be gradual and relatively seamless, through a democratic process, thus engendering relatively little opposition. This is a book about ideas, the main one of which is that sustainable economic growth increases geopolitical power, which in turn allows for greater assertion in the pursuit of economic greatness. Consequently the investments made by the new powers, domestically and internationally, are more aggressive as well as different in nature than before. As the book was written with the long-term investor in mind, we have identified the investment themes we believe will emerge as our forecast for the next decade. The majority of these themes share the characteristic that governmental involvement is present usually as a facilitator, but often as a partner to the private sector. Our energy theme is a good example, as governments are now more involved in every phase of the production chain, while also supporting new energy alternatives through elaborate subsidized schemes. We also name many companies as potential investment candidates, but these recommendations are simply points of departure for more rigorous analysis the realities of time and space don't allow here. At the same time, noninvestors will also benefit from understanding the themes we address. The political and economic rise of new powers will affect everyone. The ability to separate reality from fiction is, after all, the most useful characteristic of a citizen of a democracy. We hope you find The Rise of the State a useful tool as you make your way through what is a fast-changing world, where the blurring of private and public will only increase. Yiannis G. Mostrous Inner Voice of Trading, The: Eliminate the Noise, and Profit from the Strategies That Are Right for You (paperback) By Michael Martin Rule Based Investing: Designing Effective Quantitative Strategies for Foreign Exchange, Interest Rates, Emerging Markets, Equity Indices, and Volatility By Chiente Hsu Stocks Under Rocks: How to Uncover Overlooked, Profitable Market Opportunities By Peter Ricchiuti SearchHomeTopicsBusiness AnalyticsBusiness CommunicationEntrepreneurship

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Back-Door Bank Runs in Europe Have Started By: Bob Adelmann 12/12/2011 Print In his interview at King World News, James Turk, founder of GoldMoney and author of The Collapse of the Dollar, noted in his travels around Europe that “there is one common trait, regardless of which country I am in: people are really frightened about the possibility of the collapse of the euro. Money continues to move out of the European banking system, which explains why central banks stepped in with some money printing last week.” He then went on to explain that there are only three sources of funding available to a bank: its customers lending it capital through checking and savings accounts, the issuing of long-term bonds which it sells to bond investors, and short-term financing provided mostly through money market funds. If any of these sources dries up, it puts the bank almost immediately into a precarious financial position. He said that the day before the world’s central banks stepped in to make short-term money more available was “frightening:” Even though I’ve been saying this has been coming, last week was truly frightening with the banking system about to fall into the abyss. Had the central banks not stepped in it would have been a Lehman moment. Sadly, they haven’t solved the problem. They have bought time and whether that time is one or two weeks or maybe a month, we will soon find out. Photo: AP Images Published in

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Wall Street: Main bout debt limit, not shutdown Investors worry that a debt default would be a devastating economic punch. / Rungroj Yongrit, epa by Adam Shell, USA TODAYby Adam Shell, USA TODAY Filed Under NEW YORK - As fights go, Wall Street views the slugfest between Democrats and Republicans over the government shutdown as the undercard event. The main bout is the coming showdown over raising the debt ceiling and making sure the U.S. has enough cash to pay its bills and avoid the unthinkable: defaulting on its debt. "The shutdown is a sideshow," says Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets. "It's all about the debt ceiling and potential default." There's a big difference between the hit to confidence and the economy due to the government temporarily closing for business, and the more serious threat of putting the full faith and credit of the USA at risk. On Thursday, which marked Day 3 of the government's partial shutdown, volatility in the stock market began to rise. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 180 points before finishing down 137 points and below 15,000. Fears of a drawn-out fight over the shutdown have shifted to worries that Congress won't agree to bump up the nation's borrowing limit in time to avert disaster. The U.S. Treasury said it will be virtually out of cash on Oct. 17. Still, there's a belief on Wall Street that the consequences of the U.S. not meeting its financial obligations would be so devastating to the economy and markets that there's virtually no way Congress will allow the first-ever U.S. default. The U.S. not making timely interest and principal payments to holders of U.S. government debt is "the single most bearish scenario," says Adam Parker, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley. And Congress knows that. "There is a 0% chance that the U.S. will default," Parker says. The reason is simple: The financial fallout in the summer of 2011 is a deterrent of sorts, as Congress doesn't want to see that horror movie again. In August 2011, a last-hour Congressional vote to raise the debt ceiling was too little too late, and resulted in the U.S. getting its triple-A credit rating downgraded and intensifying a stock sell-off that knocked the Standard & Poor's index down almost 20%. The U.S. Treasury warned Thursday that a default "has the potential to be catastrophic." It said it could spark a financial crisis and recession that "could echo the events of 2008 or worse." Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, agrees with the Treasury's assessment, even though he, too, says the risk of default is "effectively zero." "A default would be a 10 on the Richter Scale," says LaVorgna. LaVorgna says the bad memories of the 2008 financial crisis are causing the market to get "nervous" as the political dysfunction drags on. David Bianco, chief U.S. equity strategist at Deutsche Bank, says it would be "lights out" for the stock market if the U.S. defaults. Even if the U.S. briefly missed payments unrelated to its bonds, the market could fall 10% to 15%. And if interest payments are missed? "It will result in the worst bear market in U.S. history," Bianco warns. The upshot: Markets will likely rally sharply once the period of political dysfunction ends, says Belski, noting that U.S. companies are in great shape relative to the rest of the world and will be helped by improving economies around the globe. Copyright 2014 USATODAY.comRead the original story: Wall Street: Main bout debt limit, not shutdown When it comes to political brinkmanship, the market's story line has unthinkable ending. A link to this page will be included in your message.

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Obama nominates White to SEC, renominates Cordray Mary Jo White / Dennis Cook, AP by By David Jackson, USA TODAYby By David Jackson, USA TODAY Filed Under President Obama nominated former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White on Thursday to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, pledging tough enforcement of new Wall Street regulations. "We need to keep going after irresponsible behavior in the financial industry so that taxpayers don't have to keep paying the price," Obama said at the White House. Also promising to uphold new laws protecting consumers, Obama will also renominated Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Obama had made Cordray a recess appointment after Senate Republicans opposed his initial nomination; the president praised Cordray's work in the position, saying he has "proved to be a champion of American consumers." In urging the Senate to quickly confirm White and Cordray, Obama said mis-behavior in the financial industry led to the near-meltdown of the economy in 2008. That is why he signed new regulations into law during his first term, Obama said, affecting banks, mortgage brokers, credit card companies, and other lenders. "But it's not enough to change the law," Obama said. "We also need cops on the beat to enforce the law." During the Clinton administration, White served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. She specialized in white-collar crime, a key reason for her selection as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. During her tenure, White's office also won convictions related to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa, and put mob boss John Gotti behind bars. "You don't mess with Mary Jo," Obama said. WHITE HAS A RECORD: As a successful prosecutor White -- who noted that Thursday was her 43rd wedding anniversary -- said she would work with other SEC officials to "fulfill the agency's mission to protect investors and to ensure the strength, efficiency and the transparency of our capital markets." If confirmed by the Senate, White, 65, would replace Elisse Walter, the acting chair in the wake of Mary Schapiro's resignation in December. Senate Republicans have criticized the new financial regulations, saying they will slow economic growth and cost jobs. The GOP has also attacked creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the brainchild of Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren - now a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. In 2011, Obama nominated Cordray, a former attorney general from Ohio, to lead the new bureau, but Republicans blocked him. The president then made Cordray a recess appointment, a tenure that expires at the end of the year. U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, criticized both the creation of the bureau and Cordray's nomination, saying the new federal law "places vast, unprecedented and unchecked power completely in the hands of a single person." In thanking Obama for his re-nomination, Cordray said he and his agency have focused on "making consumer finance markets work better for the American people. We approach this work with open minds, open ears, and great determination." Copyright 2014 USATODAY.comRead the original story: Obama nominates White to SEC, renominates Cordray President Obama nominated Mary Jo White for the Securities and Exchange Commission. A link to this page will be included in your message.

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Categories:Company/Commercial,Corporate King & Wood Mallesons acts on Domino's Pizza expansion into Japanese market King & Wood Mallesons has advised Morgan Stanley (underwriters) on an A$156m accelerated renounceable entitlement offer that will be used to partially fund Domino’s Pizza Enterprises’ (DPE) acquisition of a 75 per cent interest in Domino’s Pizza Japan (DPJ). DPE will enter into a strategic partnership with Bain Capital, which will retain a 25 per cent interest in DPJ for a minimum of three years.Under the deal, DPE negotiated new debt facilities with a five-year term from relationship banks in Australia to enable DPE to on-lend approximately A$101m of debt to DPJ. The facilities provided are denominated in Australian dollars (which will be swapped into Japanese yen) and Japanese yen.The King & Wood Mallesons team was led by corporate M&A partner David Eliakim, who was supported by solicitor Hoda Nahlous.

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COMMENTS State Treasurer: Economy slow, but there is good news State Treasurer Janet Cowell takes the time Tuesday at the library in Graham to read to children from a book for kids teaching the importance of finance. Sam Roberts / Times-News By Steve Huffman / Times-News Published: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 17:13 PM. Janet Cowell said regardless where she travels in North Carolina, she’s frequently asked about the state’s finances. She understands why. “We’ve got growth, but it’s kind of anemic growth,” said Cowell, North Carolina’s treasurer. “It’s not like we’re completely out of the woods.” Still, having said as much, Cowell barely paused before pointing out there’s much to like about the state’s economy and said there’s reason to believe brighter economic times aren’t far away. The state’s bond rating, Cowell noted, remains AAA — one of only nine states in the nation that can say as much. The state’s economy is diversified, Cowell continued — not overly dependent on a single employer. The unemployment rate remains above the national average, but there have been signs of life in that department. “And we’re very conservative with our debt,” Cowell said, pointing to the fact that North Carolina’s debt amounts to 4 percent of its revenue — a figure many states would love to have. Cowell visited Alamance County on Wednesday to read to children at the Graham branch of the Alamance County Public Library as part of her “Financial Literacy Tour.” Her storytime centered on “Patches the Pig” — the story offering Cowell the opportunity to introduce to children the reasons for the importance of saving money and financial fitness. Following her library visit, Cowell and two of her aides traveled to the Times-News for a brief one-on-one with editors. “We’re going to have continued budgetary constraints,” Cowell warned at one point. Cowell, a Democrat, is a two-term treasurer — having been re-elected last November. Prior to that, she served in the state legislature and before that was a member of the Raleigh City Council. Cowell said the most important issue being weighed as Gov. Pat McCrory prepares his budget for the coming fiscal year revolves around the $2.7 billion State Health Plan. “It’s the biggest issue, bigger than retirement,” Cowell said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to have to make some difficult choices.” Alamance County Commissioner Linda Massey introduced Cowell to parents and employees when she spoke at the Graham Library. Massey said she was pleased Cowell decided to speak in Alamance County — noting the stop was one of only six she had on her “Financial Literacy Tour.” “It was really good for all the little ones,” Massey said. She said Cowell used an overhead projector to display pages from “Patches the Pig.” At the end of her story reading, Cowell encouraged the children to deposit play money in a piggy bank. “They were very attentive,” Massey said. Of her own involvement — as well as the involvement of a handful of other county leaders in attendance, Massey said, “We were just on the sidelines.” She said local political leaders didn’t attempt to do any political wrangling with Cowell during her brief stop. “There was nothing discussed about the state,” Massey said. “I did have the privilege of introducing her.”

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Jan 15, 2014 6:14PM ET / America, You Are Sexist and It's Making You Poorer Danielle Wiener-Bronner Image by iofoto via Shutterstock. (IOFOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK) Hedge funds headed up by women yield higher returns than those led by men, according to a recent study, but investors won't reconsider how they handle their finances because they're clingy and emotional and probably on their periods or something. According to a study conducted by Rothstein Kass, a business consulting firm, hedge funds led by female executives have consistently outperformed ones run by their male-counterparts, as well as the overall industry benchmark, for the past several years. Rothstein Kass writes in a press release: For the six and a half years ending June 2013, the Rothstein Kass Women in Alternative Investments (WAI) Hedge Fund Index returned 6 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 4.2 percent and the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index dropped -1.1 percent during the same period. Although performance comparisons are more difficult in the private equity space, a small sample of women-owned or-managed private equity funds reported net returns of 14.8 percent in 2012, topping the Cambridge Associates LLC private equity fund index number of 13.8 percent. The firm's report, “Women in Alternative Investments: A Marathon, Not a Sprint” surveyed 440 senior female hedge fund managers, investors and service providers over the course of five weeks and analyzed their responses. The authors analyzed 82 hedge funds altogether. According to the New York Times, the report shows that even though women are better hedge fund leaders than men, more men get the job: Of the women surveyed, only 15.5 percent said their firm was owned or managed by a woman. Among hedge funds in particular, 21.4 percent were owned or managed by women. About 42 percent of the respondents said their firm had no general partners who were women. And nearly 40 percent of the firms included in the survey had no women on their investment committees. You'd think that savvy, sophisticated hedge funds seekers would jump at the opportunity to invest in rare, successful firms. "What?" you'd think they'd say, "I can safely bet that this fund will grow my many dollars, and nobody else seems to know about it, and it's not any riskier than normal hedge funds? Sign me up, butler!" You'd think that the best-kept secret in alternative finance would soon not be a secret at all, to the point where smart, competent, attractive young b-school grads would have to work so much harder than their female counterparts just to be considered for jobs they're equally, if not more, qualified for. But even though survey respondents said they expect more female finance executives to break into the industry in the coming years, it sounds like these sophisticated investors aren't interested, according to the report: The lion’s share of investors percent, 73.5 percent, anticipates that their allocations to women-owned or -managed funds will remain the same in 2014. However, 24.5 percent expect allocations to increase somewhat, and 2 percent expect allocations to women-owned or -managed funds to increase significantly. But why wouldn't investors jump at this golden financial opportunity? Roughly 93 percent of the investors polled have no specified mandate to invest in women-owned or -managed funds. Oh, that explains it. Investors don't have a specific mandate to invest in women-owned or -managed funds. But, they do have another mandate, right? A "use this money to make more money" mandate? You'd think that according to that mandate, investors would be interested in investing in women-owned or -managed funds even though nobody told them to do it, specifically. The investors further explained that: “Lack of supply” of women-owned or -managed funds was cited as one of the most common reasons why investors do not have specific women-owned or -managed fund investment mandates. Oh, so there just aren't enough women who are operating or managing funds to warrant a mandate to invest in these (rare! lucrative!) operations. That's weird, because last we checked supply rises to meet demand, so if demand is lacking — perhaps for irrational reasons like entrenched sexism and a boys-club economics — supply won't change. Maybe the investors don't trust female hedge fund managers because they read this part of a CNBC article called "Are Women Worse Investors Than Men?": Women's reluctance to take risks, and the potential shortfall they face in retirement, have been a growing concern among policymakers and women's advocates. An opinion survey from Prudential insurance company last year found that while some 70 percent of men are willing to take financial risks, fewer than half of women were. But forgot to read this part: But the new report, released by the online rewards program for savings and debt-management SaveUp.com, is based on actual account balances entered by 20,000 of the site's users during the past month, and provides a remarkably clear and up-to-date snapshot of men's and women's financial habits. The figures are stark and startling. The average man with a savings account had a balance of nearly twice as much as the average woman, and is taking an even greater advantage of high-yield tax-deferred instruments: Men's average IRA balance was 72 percent more than the average woman's, and they have 30 percent more in taxable investments. "Risk-averse" may be kind of a reductive way to think about the investing practices of a woman with half the savings and a fraction of the prospect of post-retirement stability of her male counterpart, who knows that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, and that female executives, when they do break through the glass ceiling, are vilified and harassed and questioned in a way no man would be. Women have been earning more college degrees than men for years, but are still underrepresented in business graduate programs. So until women overrepresent in academic settings to correct a problem of underrepresentation in the working world, we recommend you patronize hedge funds run by women. We have a feeling they'll be underutilized for a long time. Online Ad Revenue Surpassed TV's for the First Time, Sort Of JPMorgan's Profit Falls to a Lowly $5.27 Billion in the First Quarter danielle@thewire.com Follow @@dwbronner

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Top 10 Wealthiest U.S. Cities: 2012 Capgemini’s latest study shows the wealthiest five U.S. metro areas would be among the top 15 wealthiest markets in the world America’s wealthiest may have seen a slight downturn in their fortunes last year, but they’re still doing better than their counterparts in other parts of the globe. According to the Capgemini 2012 Metro Wealth Index, which looks at the changing populations of high net worth individuals in the United States’ largest metro areas between 2010 and 2011, economic uncertainty led to a 1.2% decline in HNWIs – yet the top five U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) all remained among the top 15 largest wealth markets worldwide. In fact, the U.S. remains the largest HNWI country globally, says the report released Nov. 27 by technology and outsourcing consultant Capgemini in partnership with RBC Wealth Management. “Each of the top five U.S. MSAs on its own is large enough to earn a ranking spot as one of the top 15 wealth markets in the world,” said Jean Lassignardie, chief sales and marketing offi

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American Funds Throws Gauntlet to Passive Investors Capital Group set to add 30 to sales staff and share more info on its actively managed funds to win over more investors, advisors Watch out, Vanguard. Capital Group wants the active investing crowd to up its game. The group, which has about $1.2 trillion of investor and institutional assets under management (or roughly half of Vanguard’s global AUM) in its American Funds and other products, released a study on Monday highlighting how often its funds have beaten the S&P 500. It’s also beefing up its sales force in the hopes of stemming recent outflows and finding more ways to work with financial advisors. According to Capital Group, the American Funds general sales force, which works with all types of financial advisors, will be expanded to 145 from 115 over the next six to eight months. The organization also has a separate group of institutional wholesalers, 10 of whom focus on the RIA channel. “Recently, conversations about investing have become too narrowly focused,” said James F. Rothenberg, chairman of Capital Group, in a press release. “It has become apparent that there is only one voice out there, a voice contending that passive investing is more attractive. We need to challenge that assumption.” Numbers in Focus

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Resource Center Current & Past Issues eNewsletters This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the top of any article. Consultants' Commentary: FX T&R presents consultants’ insights on timely topics with this inaugural column: Brazil’s real has the wind in its sails. By Javier Paz March 6, 2012 • Reprints The possible benefits of holding Brazilian short-term instruments or Brazilian reais may have been overlooked by treasurers as a result of the perceived contagion risk at the macro level over the past eight months. During the bout of concern over Europe’s debt problems in mid-September, the real weakened to U.S. $1.95 from U.S. $1.54 in late July. The latest reading at U.S. $1.72 shows considerable potential for the real to appreciate against the greenback over coming months. In addition to the impetus favoring all risky assets (the tide lifting all boats), the Brazilian real has the wind in its sails as the result of other fundamentals. First, Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, is demonstrating steady resolve to continue the policies and priorities of her successful predecessor, Lula da Silva. These efforts continue to attract institutional funds, particularly to Brazilian equities and infrastructure-related bonds, which also benefited as of December from the elimination of the tax on financial transactions (IOF tax) due from foreigners. Second, Brazil will be the center of the universe for billions of soccer-loving people throughout the world when it hosts the World Cup in June and July of 2014. This fact may be lost on North Americans, but putting on this event means Brazilians have to be ready to welcome the world as they never have before. The country is investing in infrastructure and cleaning up the shanty towns (favelas) of Rio de Janeiro, and the process is not always pretty. The occasional pushback from organized crime to these efforts is predictable, but it’s a radically different story from what is happening in Mexico, where drug cartels act with near impunity, much as they did in Colombia before President Uribe took office. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to compare Brazil’s crime reduction efforts to what Rudolph Giuliani did as mayor of New York City. Third, demand for Brazilian short-term instruments is not limited to foreign institutional funds and hot money. There is a little understood relationship between Brazil and Japan, with tens of thousands of Japanese citizens raised in Brazil living in Tokyo. The appetite for carry trades from Japanese retail investors and traders is well known. Carry trades allow these investors to buy the currencies of countries with high overnight yields and sell currencies with low overnight yields. The latest investment figures show Japanese investors have moved out of euro-denominated positions—to the tune of more than U.S. $10 billion over the past six months—and switched much of that to carry-rich currencies like the Australian dollar. Japanese banks and retail brokers are starting to promote the Brazilian real as a safe destination for such carry trades, particularly as the yen begins to weaken against the U.S. dollar and the Brazilian real continues to gain against the U.S. dollar. Fourth, Brazilian stock exchange and futures market operator BM&F Bovespa is close to launching a state-of-the-art

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You are here Editorials Jesse Richard's Commentary Dear Lou Dobbs, Who Owns the Federal Reserve? Dear Lou Dobbs, Who Owns the Federal Reserve? Tuesday, 18 March 2008 12:19 Jesse Richard Originally published July, 2007. "It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." - Henry FordMay I suggest that everyone who reads this message send a letter to Lou Dobbs, Mr. American Middle Class Champion, and ask him to explain exactly who owns the Federal Reserve and why we allow the Federal Reserve to continue to control our entire economy. Then ask him why he, and everyone else in the media, have refused to explain this to the American people.As Lou says every day: It's time for answers!Write to Lou Dobbs here:http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?9The real answer to this question is that the Federal Reserve is like a big Mafia loan shark. It owns our nation in the same way a loan shark owns his "clients!" There is absolutely no difference between the two.No matter what the situation, whenever there is news related to the Federal Reserve a big, loud, coordinated, conspiratorial lie of omission is committed by every single news outlet in our nation. What is this lie? It is keeping up the false impression that the Federal Reserve is part of our government! The Fed is a private, for profit bank, that controls our government and economy. They control the money supply, inflation, depression, recessions, etc. They are not accountable to Congress, the executive branch or anyone in government.The revolutionary war was started primarily to get away from a similar situation in England where the Bank of England held the same control over their nation. Revolutionaries realized this and they put an end to it. Unfortunately some traitors in the Senate reversed our true liberation and now we have a private bank controlling our personal financial status.Let me ask you a simple question: what country in its right mind would create a system that would force it to lend itself money and have to repay the money WITH INTEREST? What country would charge itself interest? What nation would put itself out of business by making it bankrupt because of interest? The answer is none! America is not charging itself interest on its debt, the privately owned central bankers are doing this and they are hiding in plain sight! Congress (with the exception of Ron Paul), every US president and every single member of the corporate media are either part of the conspiracy or just plain stupid! Two presidents tried to stop this outrage, and they were both assassinated. Lincoln was set to bypass the central banks in order to finance the Civil War. The banks were going to charge him 24-36% interest on the loans. So Lincoln had Congress pass a law authorizing the printing of full legal tender. These treasury notes would be used to finance the war. Lincoln wrote: "... (we) gave the people of this Republic the greatest blessing they have ever had - their own paper money to pay their own debts..." Now go and research the person who supposedly killed Lincoln and how he relates to bankers.After Lincoln was assassinated Congress revoked the Greenback Law and enacted the National Banking Act. The national banks were to be privately owned and the national bank notes they issued were to be interest-bearing. The Act also provided that the Greenbacks should be retired from circulation as soon as they came back to the Treasury in payment of taxes.John F. Kennedy was the next brave man to take on the Federal Reserve. On June 4, 1963, President Kennedy signed a Presidential Executive Order 11110. This order virtually stripped the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Government at interest. Kennedy declared the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business. This order gave the Treasury Department the authority to issue silver certificates against any silver in the treasury. This executive order still stands today. No president since has had the courage to invoke it for it would mean their demise. The US government is a front for the real controllers; the central bankers.Debt keeps the central banks in control of the world. Nations that eliminate their debt end up on the hit list. When you see nations "liberated" by the US or its allies what normally follows is a central bank extending loans to these liberated nations. The World Bank always comes to the rescue. What a joke this is like having a loan shark come to the rescue of someone who needs food money for his kids!War is the single biggest money making business for the central bankers. Nations go into tremendous debt to finance war. Interestingly enough, but in no way surprising to those of us who know better, the architects of both Vietnam and the Iraq invasion both went on to become the head of the World Bank; Robert McNamara and Paul Wolfowitz. It is the central banks that push the world towards military conflict.Look at your money; it say "Federal Reserve Note!" It is not an American government currency backed by an asset. It is fiat currency backed by nothing. The Federal Reserve lends these notes to the government, with interest! What a scam! How do we permit this? Oh, I know, we permit this because most people don't know about it...thanks to the criminals in the media. For if the people knew, perhaps Henry Ford's words would ring true and we would indeed take to the streets to stop this crime!The Federal Reserve is a private bank that owns the sole right to dictate monetary policy for our nation. As a matter of fact shortly after George W. Bush was placed in office by very powerful people, not by the electorate, the Federal Reserve announced that they would no longer report how much money was being printed. Imagine that! Well you don't have to imagine that because it happened, and your media did not tell you about it, and your Congress sat quiet. Americans let this happen because Americans are pretty much stupid people. They laugh at intelligent people as they dedicate themselves to being suckers who worship a little flag as opposed to a legitimate government. This is the biggest scam and conspiracy on our planet and we must make this part of our daily discussion. Ask questions, and DEMAND answers!Please start by writing to Lou Dobbs!http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?9Think about it! REFERENCES: THE MONEY MASTERS THE SECRET BIRTH OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE Money As DebtUPDATE: Some people have commented that the president of the United States appoints the head of the Federal Reserve and that is proof that the Fed is indeed part of the government. Well people, the president does present his selection to Congress for approval...but that selection comes from a list of candidates given to him by the Federal Reserve!!! It's a show, people!Kids...this is not a joke. It is also not a secret. It is public record...not a theory. The Fed is a private for profit bank that does not answer to Congress or the President and it is unconstitutional. It is another responsibility given to Congress by our Constitution that has been ignored or illegally assigned elsewhere by Congress; just as the power to declare war has been signed over to George W. Bush. Look it up...take a minute...this is a huge issue and one that should not be dismissed so quickly because you just became aware of it by reading a blog. Go do some homework. I did...now help me take back our nation! I am fighting for YOU! The least you can do is check your facts before you dismiss what I have written.

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Forging a Path Along Utah's Corporate Trail A tradition of pioneering spirit has built Utah into one of the nation’s stro...Read More Plan BRob Behunin Sections PeopleNatalie GochnourSpecial SectionFit to LeadLegal BriefsDie CharitablyIndustry OutlookCommercial Real EstateExecutive HealthUnclutter Your WorldExecutive GetawaysAfter You Say "I Do"FocusA SURE ThingFeaturesTop of the HeapFeaturesBuilding a FoundationExecutive LivingTaste the DifferenceEntrepreneurEdgeGuardian AngelsBusiness TrendsSpeak for YourselfSpecial SectionBuild Out Article Sarah Ryther-Francom A tradition of pioneering spirit has built Utah into one of the nation’s strongest states for business today. Each year, a group of lasting companies are profiled in Utah Business. The 12 companies that make up this year’s list have created a legacy of quality, integrity and service. The selected companies are exemplary not only for their longevity – each company reaches back at least 50 years – but for their commitment to Utah’s economy and community. Enduring through economic ups and downs, these companies have built a heritage along Utah’s corporate horizon. Savage Services Corporation Allen Alexander, President & CEO Neal Savage, Vice Chairman When Kenneth Savage returned from the Navy in 1946, he had nothing more than $600 and a dream to open his own business. With the help of his father, Cornelius Savage, Kenneth’s dream became a reality when he purchased a KB-5 International truck and started C.A. Savage and Son. With the added help of his younger brothers, Neal and Luke, the company took flight. “[C.A. Savage and Son] had pretty humble beginnings,” says Allen Alexander, current CEO and president of Savage Services Corporation. “The company began with the brothers hauling coal from the mines in central Utah to hospitals, churches and businesses. They would load and unload that truck with shovels, all by hand.” According to Alexander, more than 60 years of dedication and hard work turned the company into what it is today. Originally focusing on hauling coal and timber, the company has grown to include real estate development, equipment manufacturing, rail operation and more. Savage Services Corporation now operates more than 100 locations across the United States and Canada. Alexander says that the company’s longtime success can be attributed to the brothers’ dedication to see the company grow, no matter the cost. “The three brothers had a desire to continue the business long past themselves,” says Alexander. “Their long-term view included keeping most of the earnings of the business in the business, so it would continue to grow. And even though the company is family owned, the brothers were always committed to putting the best leadership in place. They made sure that the business was run professionally with a long-term view.” Alexander says that what makes Savage Services Corporation unique is its commitment to customers and employees. “At the end of the day, we have a lot of equipment, but anybody can have those things. What sets us apart is that we are a group of committed people who are safe, professional and well trained. We work together and understand our customers’ needs. Together we make a great company.” Cyprus Credit Union Dale Catten, President and CEO “People can make a difference when they work together,” says Dale Catten, CEO and president of Cyprus Credit Union. That notion - people helping people - is what led to the establishment of Cyprus Credit Union, says Catten. The credit union started in 1928 by a small group of Utah Copper Company employees. “They needed reasonable financial services and decided that they could utilize and help each other,” Catten says. With assets totaling less than $100 and a shoe box-sized filing cabinet holding their records, Cyprus Credit Union was formed. Since its establishment the credit union has experienced ups and downs, but has become a staple in Utah’s financial realm. Today, Cyprus Credit Union has grown into a full service financial institution, surpassing more than $500 million in assets and including approximately 70,000 members. Catten says that what keeps the credit union unique from other financial institutions is its ability to build and maintain relationships. “From the very beginning, [Cyprus Credit Union] was made up of Kennecott employees and their families, and everyone knew everyone,” he says. “Today, we still try to know all of our members and our goal is to maintain our ‘we know you’ attitude. We’ve created a situation where families - generation after generation - can participate with us and belong to our community.” With a proven history of success, Catten says that Cyprus Credit Union is ready to face whatever comes in the future. “Evolution of the [financial] industry was quiet for a long time, but now it’s changing almost on a daily basis. We are always looking at new products and services for the very distant future. We’re always ready to help our new members with our services,” he says. “We’re all about people helping people,” he adds. “It’s the cooperative nature of our industry and that helps make our employees and customers happy.” Kennecott Utah Copper Andrew Harding, President & CEO 1903 At the heart of Utah’s pioneer spirit is the mining community, says Andrew Harding, current president and CEO of Kennecott Utah Copper. “Mining has championed the state of Utah for over 100 years. We have plans to extend the company’s life through 2036, but mining and the production of copper could last much longer than that,” says Harding. The original Utah Copper Company was created in 1903 to mine and process low grade copper ore. During that time, most mining experts agreed that the company would never make money: the ore grade was too low. During the next 100 years, however, those experts were proven wrong time and time again, as the company continually experienced success, says Harding. Accomplishments have continued in recent years, says Harding. In 2007, production of refined copper rose to 292,800 tons, exceeding 2006 levels of 240,200, a 22 percent increase. Last year gold reached a 7 percent increase over 2002 and silver increased by 5 percent over 2002. Harding says that the biggest challenge that Kennecott Utah Copper and the mining industry as a whole have faced is the changing corporate and social attitudes towards the environment. “Mining by its very nature has an impact on the environment. The approach that Kennecott is taking is guided by a philosophy to balance the impact on the environment, the social impacts and the need to make a return for the shareholder,” Harding says. “We’ve spent a lot of time bringing Kennecott into the modern age. In the 1990s, our smelter was cleanest in the world. Now, years later, it’s still the cleanest smelter in the world.” Utah Banker’s Association Howard Headlee, President 1908 Utah is quickly becoming a global financial center, and much of that can be attributed to the Utah Bankers Association (UBA), says Howard Headlee, CEO and president of the UBA. Celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year, UBA has a history of helping Utah’s banks find success. Since its establishment in 1908, the UBA has worked to promote, protect and provide for Utah’s banking industry, says Headlee. “The Utah Bankers Association instills trust and draws attention to the positive things that the banking industry does. We also protect the industry from misguided regulations, bad laws and other things that would hurt [a bank’s] ability to serve its customers. The Utah Banking Association provides banks with a number of products and services.” Headlee says that the UBA has helped Utah’s banks through challenging times and is prepared to help banks face future economic ups and downs. “People can look back on the challenges we’ve faced through the Great Depression, World War I and World War II and see the cooperative way bankers worked together to get through those challenges,” Headlee says. “The banking industry in Utah has come through [economic] incidents with flying colors and that’s promoted trust internationally and within the state of Utah.” Headlee says that the UBA’s bedrock of principles includes integrity, honesty and trust. “Economic environments change. Our main challenge, then, is operating in a way to maintain that trust and promote that trust.” Banks are integral to the community, Headlee says. “People must always be able to rely on banks and trust banks with their most important assets. Our history shows that we operate in a way to maintain that trust and promote that trust and be at the heart of the community.” The Layton Companies David Layton, President and CEO 1953 Though he originally wanted to be a banker, Allen Layton found his true calling when he started Layton Construction, says David Layton, Allen’s son and current CEO and president of The Layton Companies. “My dad grew up during the Great Depression, living in a tiny house in Davis County. He always wanted to become a banker because he saw the bankers making the money. One day he looked through a surveying instrument on a construction site and from that day on, he wanted to become a civil engineer,” says Layton. “Later on, my dad got called into World War II and was injured in the Battle of the Bulge. He was given a full medical disability by the government, but instead of retiring, he decided that he was going to fulfill his dream and established Layton Construction.” Since its opening in 1953, Layton Construction has grown from a one-man operation to include more than 800 employees and multiple companies. Today, the company, now named The Layton Companies, has revenues surpassing $300 million and is ranked the 77th largest commercial contractor in the United States. At present, the company is working on the Real Soccer Stadium, expansion of the University of Utah Medical Center and has donated its services to build a Rose Park community center. Layton says that the company has experienced long-lasting success because it was built on a foundation of honesty and fairness. “My dad used to say, ‘Our word is our bond.’ We’ve brought that idea into the company today with the phrase ‘constructing with integrity.’ Our principles are to build with quality and integrity, have truth and honor in the way we deal with our customers and clients and have unity in the way we work as an organization.” Layton says that the company has also experienced success because it invests in its employees. “We invest heavily in our people. In the end, it’s really about people working with people to deliver a project.” Westminster College Michael Bassis, President 1875 Since its founding in 1875 as a preparatory school, Westminster College has evolved into an independent liberal arts college and is now considered to be one of Utah’s points of pride. “[Westminster] has grown into an institution that combines the best qualities of a small liberal arts college with the best qualities of a small university,” says Michael Bassis, president of Westminster College. Today, the school offers 37 undergraduate programs and 10 graduate programs — programs that have earned the school national acclaim from the likes of U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review, among others. But times weren’t always so rosy for Westminster College. In 1929, a devastating fire destroyed 14,000 books in the school’s library. In the 1970s, Westminster College faced near financial ruin. And, until the 1980s, the school’s iconic building, Converse Hall, was painted Pepto-Bismol pink. “It looked like a pink submarine,” jokes Bassis. Since then, the school has received a major makeover, with new buildings and seven educational centers added and an expansion of its athletic program. “Our campus has really become something,” says Bassis. “But you need more than just the right look and feel to be a good school and that’s what makes us unique: we offer outstanding education.” Bassis says that what makes Westminster exceptional are the school’s strategic teaching guidelines. “We have a very single-minded focus on our students and their learning. Our faculty develops personal relationships with their students and our faculty cares about students as people,” he says. “In addition to the traditional subject matter, we teach subjects like critical thinking, ethical awareness, collaboration, integrative thinking and applied problem solving. Westminster emphasizes active and engaged learning. Our students learn through experience and collaboration.” While Bassis says that he’s enjoyed watching the school’s evolution, what he enjoys most is when students leave Westminster. “Students come into Westminster as shy and naïve individuals. When they graduate, they are self-confident individuals who have ideas about themselves and the world. I get the most joy out of watching them understand the contributions that they can make." Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce Steven Densley, President 1887 Established by a group of fruit farmers in 1887, the Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce is now helping Utah Valley become the Beehive State’s technology center, says Steve Densley, president of the Provo Orem Chamber of Commerce. “This valley, which was once full of farmers, has become more and more known as Silicon Valley,” he says. Since its beginning more than 100 years ago, the Provo Orem Chamber has witnessed dramatic changes in Utah County, Densley says. “Geneva Steel was a big part of the community. When it closed, we absorbed those jobs into the community, which was a challenge, but we did it,” he says. “Then Novell came and led the charge in information technology. It’s been interesting to see the community change.” Densley says that the proximity of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College makes the Provo/Orem area a young, vibrant community. He adds, however, that the area’s youthful population also poses challenges for the business community. “There are probably about 60,000 college-aged kids in Utah County, so businesses have to remember that we have a vast amount of turnover,” Densley says. “The extreme transient nature hurts us because the students don’t have a vested interest in our future, but it also helps because we have many highly talented young people with new ideas and the community remains vibrant and creative.” Because the area is full of creativity and innovation, Densley says that one of the chamber’s main goals is to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into businesses. “We have so many people that want to own and run their own businesses,” he says. “We’re here to help people who are ready to go into business and to encourage those who aren’t really ready to wait.” All in all, Densley says that he’s encouraged by the area’s dynamic economic situation. “We’ve got a talented, young workforce with many who are multi-lingual. Our transportation system is growing, which will help businesses grow. We also have a high sense of educational value. Collectively, we’ve got tremendous potential,” Densley says. Gossner Foods Dolores Gossner Wheeler, President and CEO 1966 Edwin Gossner brought the art of Swiss cheese making straight from the Swiss Alps to the Rocky Mountains when he opened Gossner Foods, says Dolores Gossner Wheeler, Edwin’s daughter and current CEO and president of Gossner Foods. “[Gossner Foods] started out in the middle of the hay field and we’ve just continued to grow over the years,” says Wheeler. “We now have 250 to 300 farming families in Utah and Idaho that send milk to us.” Since opening in 1966, Gossner Foods has focused on producing Swiss cheese — a product that has a growing national reputation, Wheeler says. The company has since expanded its products to include more than 30 cheese varieties, including cheddar, Monterey Jack and Muenster. Beyond cheese, Gossner Foods is also well known for its milk product that can be kept un-refrigerated for months. This milk is popular in communities around the world where refrigeration is limited, and is also widely used in the U.S. Military. Gossner says that it’s a combination of vision and determination that has made Gossner Foods a long-lasting Utah company. “Our family, the farmers and our employees are all determined to put out the best product. It all comes down to being a great company that has great people,” she says. Gossner adds that if any company wants to reach success, it must invest in its employees. “We have employees who have been with us for years and have worked their way up the company. If you give your employees opportunities and a future, your company will have longevity and continue to grow,” she says. “Our people live the dream and the vision of Gossner Foods with us. We have longevity and that means that we’re here to stay.” Fabian & Clendenin Peter Billings, President 1919 A true American story is how Peter Billings describes law firm Fabian and Clendenin’s beginning in Utah. “Fabian and Clendenin was started by two soldiers [Harold Fabian and Beverly Clendenin] who met during World War I and decided to start a law firm. After they returned from the war, they put the firm together in 1919,” says Billings, current president of the firm. Fabian and Clendenin has played an integral role in shaping and protecting Utah’s environment, says Billings. “In the 1920s, the firm was hired secretly to buy up the land in what is now Teton National Park,” he says. “The firm also helped establish the state park system, Dead Horse Point and Sugar House Park. Fabian and Clendenin has a long history in preserving Utah’s environment and natural resources.” Today, the two-man firm has evolved to include more than 50 attorneys. Though the firm is made up of a diverse group of attorneys from across the United States, Billings says that what makes Fabian and Clendenin unique is its commitment to Utah-based values. “We compete with many national and regional firms and we always have Utah values at the heart of our business,” he says. “We look only at our local community rather than national.” Billings adds that Fabian and Clendenin has an underlying principle of service, which has led the firm to enduring success. “The standard for success for any law firm has got to be to provide good service,” he says. “Our organization has kept going because we’ve attracted people who genuinely like each other, work well together and share a common philosophy of service to the client.” MHTN Architects Bryce Jones, President and CEO 1923 If you can dream it, MHTN Architects can build it, says Bryce Jones, CEO and president of MHTN Architects. “We love to see an idea born, grow out of the ground and become real,” Jones says. “We listen to our clients, try to solve their problems and concerns, and make their visions turn into reality.” Established in 1923, MHTN Architects is one of Utah’s oldest architectural companies, with projects found throughout Utah, including the historic Saltair site and Deseret News building to the modern Main Street Plaza and Salt Palace Expansion. In recent years, MHTN Architects has experienced above average success, with doubled gross revenues, says Jones. The firm has also received numerous local and national awards, and is considered to be one of Utah’s top full service architectural companies. Jones says that the MHTN Architects’ longtime success is due to the company’s original philosophy to focus on effective communication with the customer. “MHTN Architects’ original founders were very sensitive to the needs of their clients and we feel the same way today,” Jones says. “We solve our client’s problems through communication. We think of ourselves as good listeners who will answer our clients’ needs.” As MHTN Architects moves into the future, Jones says that the firm hopes to continue building Utah. “The growth of the Wasatch Front has provided an opportunity for our firm to help with that growth and meet the demands of today’s clients,” he says. “We enjoy helping Utah grow.” Granite Mill W. Gary Sandberg, President and CEO 1907 Not many can travel from one end of Utah to the other and see a grandparent’s standing legacy. “There is work all over that was done by my grandfather and my father,” says W. Gary Sandberg, current CEO and president of Granite Mill. “[Granite Mill’s] legacy goes back 100 years and we plan to continue the legacy.” Granite Mill was founded by Swedish immigrant Fred R. Sandberg in 1907. Though its original focus was residential and church construction, Granite Mill’s reach eventually extended to schools, hospitals and hotels. Today, Granite Mill is a full service architectural firm with work found throughout Utah, including the Grand America Hotel, Abravanel Hall and the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Granite Mill’s work can also be seen around the world, as the company has worked on more than 20 LDS temples. Sandberg says that one of the main reasons Granite Mill has experienced success over the years is due to its employees. “We don’t just build cabinets, we build people,” Sandberg says. “Our people are honest, skillful and have integrity. Our employees that are with us and want to be with us will have jobs for life. Our average employee has been with us over 18 years.” As for the future of Granite Mill, Sandberg says he’s going to take one day at a time. “Every day is a new day, with new equipment, machinery, market changes and, of course, there are always ups and downs. By building on the solid foundation that we have, we’re prepared to face any future challenges.” Sandberg says that what keeps him excited about the company is the knowledge that he’s building a legacy for future generations. “We create something that our employees can show their children and grandchildren,” he says, adding, “My grandfather used to say in a broken Swedish accent, ‘We don’t do all the mill work around, we just do the best.’ Today, we still live by that notion — we don’t expect to do it all, but everything we do is the very best mill work. Granite Mill was built on a legacy of integrity, service and quality. We hope to carry on the tradition.” Les Olson Company Larry Olson, President and Co-CEO Jim Olson, Co-CEO 1956 Maintaining a family-centered philosophy is what makes the Les Olson Company successful, say brothers Larry and Jim Olson. “Everyone is family,” says Larry Olson, current CEO and president of the Les Olson Company. “We’re a family business and all of our employees are family.” The Les Olson Company was established in 1956 with little more than a dream. “We all remember the night our dad came home and told Mom he had quit his job,” says Olson. “He was no longer going to work for someone else. All 12 of us kids broke open our piggy banks and invested our money – a total of $63. The family business was formed and Dad began selling out of the trunk of the family car.” More than 50 years later, the Les Olson Company has grown to be one of the nation’s largest independent dealers of Sharp multifunctional digital systems and employs more than 200 people across Utah and Nevada. Olson says the company is unique because it follows old-fashion customer service standards. “We provide the highest quality, state-of-the-art business equipment at the fairest prices possible backed by superior service and support. As we strive to accomplish this mission, we remember that our father always said, ‘People are important.’ We do our best to treat everyone with respect,” he says. Along the same line, the brothers agree that also key to the company’s success is remembering that the customer is always right. “From the beginning, Dad focused his efforts on customer service, continually reminding us that he was not our boss, the customer was. Dad always said, ‘Anyone can sell a machine, but if you can’t provide service you’re out of business.’ We strive each day to provide the best service possible to all of our customers. “We continually strive to follow the principles and practices established by our parents to keep the business strong,” Olson adds. “Family values are always at the heart of who we are. We strive to be honest and fair in all our dealings with our customers.” Utah Business Social

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T. Rowe Price Retirement 2030 Fund (TRRCX) Tax ID The objective is to provide the highest total return over time consistent with an emphasis on both capital growth and income. To invest in a diversified portfolio of other T. Rowe Price stock and bond funds that represent various asset classes and sectors. As the fund nears its target retirement date, its allocation between T. Rowe Price stock and bond funds will become more conservative over time based on a pre-determined �glide path�. The allocations shown in the glide path are referred to as �neutral� allocations because they do not reflect the tactical decisions made by T. Rowe Price to overweight or underweight a particular asset class or sector based on its market outlook. The target allocations assigned to the broad asset classes (stock and bonds), which reflect these strategic decisions resulting from market outlook, are not expected to vary from the neutral allocations set forth in the glide path by more than plus (+) or minus (-) five (5) percentage points. While the fund does not guarantee a level of income, it continues to serve as a post-retirement investment vehicle with allocations designed to provide an income stream through retirement. Investor Profile Individuals seeking long-term capital appreciation, who want a broadly diversified, professionally managed mutual fund portfolio. It is important to note that the retirement year of the fund you select should not necessarily represent the specific year you intend to start drawing retirement assets. It should be a guide only. You should choose the Retirement Fund with the target date closest to the year you reach age 65. Appropriate for both regular and tax-deferred accounts, such as IRAs. Risk/Reward Potential* Click on the risk/reward spectrum below to view the funds in that category This fund provides a simplified option for retirement investing including professional management, broad-based diversification, and low-cost management fees. The principal value of the Retirement Funds is not guaranteed at any time, including at or after the target date, which is the approximate date when investors turn age 65. The funds invest in a broad range of underlying mutual funds that include stocks, bonds, and short-term investments and are subject to the risks of different areas of the market. The funds emphasize potential capital appreciation during the early phases of retirement asset accumulation, balance the need for appreciation with the need for income as retirement approaches, and focus more on income and principal stability during retirement. The funds maintain a substantial allocation to equities both prior to and after the target date, which can result in greater volatility. In general, the stock portion of the portfolio is subject to market risk, or falling share prices. The bond portion will be affected by interest rate and credit risk. *Funds are placed in general risk/return categories based on their past performance or, for newer funds, the performance of the types of securities in which they invest. There is no assurance past trends will continue. See Glossary for additional details on all data elements. Open an Account Retirement Planning Information

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The Buffett Mystery By Peter Raymond A supporter of Obama's economic plan and a Keynesian disciple, Warren Buffett seems unable to decide if we are still in a recession.On September 13, Bloomberg reported that Buffett announced he was "a huge bull in this market." He seemed self-assured that the economy was in no longer contracting and that "we will not have a double-dip recession at all. I see our businesses coming back almost across the board."Buffett blamed the negative perception of the economy mostly on the media, which did not reflect his view of the business environment. The current economic doldrums apparently are a figment induced by negative reporting, which has no bearing on reality in the business world. "I've seen sentiment turn sour in the last three months or so, generally in the media," Buffett said, and then he added, "I don't see that in our businesses. I see we're employing more people than a month ago, two months ago."Nine days later, during a CNBC interview on September 22, he said, "We're still in a recession. And...and we're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out of it." What happened to change his mind so quickly?The interview went downhill from here. "I just think that...when a country needs more income and we do, we're only taking in 15 percent of GDP, I mean, that...that...when a country needs more income, they should get it from the people that have it." Here is a better idea: fiscal responsibility. When pressed if it was a prudent idea to raise taxes at this time, Buffett said, "I think...sure. On some people. Yeah." Well, sir, based on your sudden reversal on the recession, I am not sure I trust your cavalier attitude about taking even more money from the struggling job-producers and investors. To be or not to be a Keynesian?Buffett then began his solo point and counterpoint debate between his inner Keynesian and free marketer.Keynesian: "The government did the right thing in...in terms of...of getting the economy going again." In fact, "we've got three tools, really, in fighting a recession. And the ones you read about are monetary policy, which is the Fed. And, of course, fiscal policy."Free marketer: "I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of...of American capitalism. We had many recessions in the history of this country when nobody even heard of fiscal policy or monetary policy. The country always comes back." Keynesian: "And...and...it's...it's important to have the right monetary policy. It's important for...to have the right fiscal policy." Free marketer: "But it's nowhere near as important as just the normal regenerative capacity of American capitalism."Keynesian: "But...but I mean, we've used up a lot of bullets. And we talk about stimulus. But the truth is, we're running a...federal deficit that's nine percent of GDP. That is stimulative as all get-out. I mean, that is more stimulative than any policy we've followed since World War II. And, of course, World War II, we had a huge stimulus and it...it took us out of...a depression. But we are...it doesn't depend on calling it the 'Stimulus Bill' to be stimulating. I mean, if...if...if the government is spending $3 for every $2 it takes in, that is...that is fiscal stimulus."Free marketer: "It isn't kick-starting things as much as the American public would like. I'm sure as much as the administration or Congress would like. It's probably had some effect, probably less than the economists thought it would have going into this."With the debate concluded, Buffett finally divulged the real reason for our economic malaise. It is our fault because we do not like Washington. "Sentiment has turned very sour in the last three or four or five months. It's been generally sour on Congress and Washington, but it seems to have taken a turn for the worse. I...I hope we get over it pretty soon, because it's...it's not productive. We will come back regardless of how people feel about Washington. But...but it's not helpful to...to have people...as unhappy as they are about what's...what's going on in Washington. And...I'm...I'm not sure exactly what's gonna get us out of that, but we'll get out of it."Fortunately, Buffett knows who will lead us out of this recession. If you guessed big business and new college graduates, then you are correct. "What will take us out of this is people like these 23 people that...that we gave a diploma to today. And big business. I mean, everybody glorifies small business. God bless 'em, you know? And...and I'm not supposed to talk about mother on Father's Day."Now let's recap what we have learned from Mr. Buffett. We were not in a recession early this month, but we are now. Government intervention policies were not necessary in the past, but are necessary now and in the future. Higher taxes on the wealthy will not hurt the recovery. The politicians should take whatever they spend, and we should love them for it. Small businesses play an insignificant role in an economic recovery in comparison to big businesses and college graduates. And the winner of the Keynesian versus the free marketer debate is the Keynesian.

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Leominster CU President/CEO Paul Gilbody Departs By Marc Rapport January 18, 2013 • Reprints The $619 million Leominster Credit Union in Leominster, Mass., said Friday it has accepted the immediate resignation of its president/CEO, Paul Gilbody, after less than six months on the job. “(Board Chairman Anthony) Gasbarro indicated that Gilbody, who was named to the position in August 2012, resigned on amicable terms,” the 51,800-member credit union said in a news release. Senior Vice President Carol Southworth, who has been with the credit union since 2011, was named interim president/CEO while a search for a permanent successor is conducted, Leominster CU said. “We have every confidence that the management of the credit union will be in good hands under Carol’s leadership, and that she has the full support of LCU’s board and executive management team,” Gasbarro said. Gilbody was a 25-year bank veteran when he was hired away from Bay State Savings Bank in Worcester, Mass., where he was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also had been a vice president at Fleet Bank. Southworth, who has been in charge of Leominster CU’s seven branches and call center, financial education and security, also is a former Fleet Bank manager and a 20-year financial services veteran. He had been hired to replace Gordon Edmonds, who retired after five years in the credit union’s top job. Show Comments

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AEA FCU Names Brian Mendivil Interim CEO February 08, 2013 • Reprints Brian Mendivil, who has served as executive vice president for AEA Federal Credit Union for the past two years, was recently named the new interim CEO for the conserved credit union. The NCUA confirmed the appointment with Credit Union Times on Friday. Mendivil introduced himself to members in a letter posted on AEA’s website. “As your interim CEO, I will put over 21 years of financial management experience to work for you. My commitment is to continue steering AEA Federal Credit Union on its positive course, while maintaining a members-first philosophy,” Mendivil wrote. A native Arizonan, Mendivil said he is looking forward to his new role. “Although my name may not be familiar to you, I have served as AEA’s executive vice president for the past two years” Mendivil said. “In my role as EVP, I have been actively involved in AEA’s re-emergence as a strong financial organization serving residents of Yuma and La Paz counties. “It has also allowed me to meet many AEA members, community leaders, and business partners. I have enjoyed getting to know the warmhearted and spirited city I now call home,” Mendivil said. Mendivil succeeds Tom Martin, who served as interim CEO since December 2010. William Liddle, a former lending executive at the $231 million AEA in Yuma, Ariz., was convicted last summer of conspiracy, fraud, wire fraud and transactional money laundering for his role in a business lending kickback scheme that resulted in $25 million in losses for the credit union. Liddle was sentenced to 15 years in prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of more than $25 million. Liddle, along with his wife, Rhonda, and Frank Ruiz, an Arizona businessman, were arrested on Dec. 2, 2010 for their roles in approving questionable AEA business loans in exchange for nearly $1 million, according to the Arizona Office of the U.S. Attorney. After two years under NCUA conservatorship, AEA appears to be on the mend. The NCUA recently said the credit union posted 2012 year-end net income of $3.15 million. Total assets at the end of the fourth quarter stood at $231 million, and the net worth ratio improved by 137 basis points from year-end 2011, ending the fourth quarter at 4.02%.

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Help | Connect | Sign up|Log in Lawrence Hunter, Contributor I write about the intersection of economics and politics. A Libertarian's Thoughts On the Double Bind That Is Social Security A couple of examples illustrate the magnitudes involved. (All amounts are in expressed in constant 2011 dollars adjusted to present value at age 65 using a 2 percent real interest rate.) A two-earner married couple both retiring in 2011, who both earned the average wage ($43,500 in 2011) throughout their working careers would pay a lifetime-value of Social Security taxes equal to $611,000 and expect to receive a lifetime-value of Social Security benefits equal to only $560,000. Right out the gate, then, this typical couple pays nine percent more in Social Security taxes than they can hope to recover in Social Security benefits. But what if Social Security were repealed and compensation were paid, say, by grandfathering all current retirees so they received all their promised benefits (still a negative return)? And, what if compensation also were expanded to grandfather in benefits, to a lesser extent, of older workers—the extent of the grandfathering being dependent upon how far past the point of no return a worker had gone in being able to replace Social Security benefits by accumulating retirement savings through private investment of the freed-up Social Security taxes he no longer would have to pay)? Wouldn’t it then be possible to repeal the program for all workers who have not passed the point of no return? In theory, yes but let’s look at the data to see what it implies. A couple of average earners age 47 will turn 65 in 2030. By then, they will have paid the government a lifetime-value of Social Security taxes amounting to $826,000, and they will receive benefits having an expected lifetime value of only $721,000, a 15 percent discrepancy that measures the increasing magnitude of the theft Social Security is becoming. [Had they been permitted to invest that same sum during their working careers and earned the average, after-tax rate of return to capital during that period—approximately three percent real—the lifetime value of their funds would have equaled slightly more than a million dollars at age 65.] If Social Security were repealed next year, the value of the Social Security taxes this couple already paid since they began work at age 18 in 1983 would amount to $369,000, which would become, in effect, abandoned assets. What is this couple’s chance of recouping lost benefits by investing the freed-up income they no longer will be forced to pay in Social Security taxes after repeal? Using Steuerle’s and Rennane’s same assumptions, the couple would be able to accumulate at age 65 only $277,000 by investing their freed-up Social Security taxes. So, under uncompensated repeal, this couple not only would be forced to forfeit without recompense all the taxes they had paid prior to repeal ($369,000), they also would fall short of replacing the repealed Social Security benefits ($721,000) by some $440,000. Without providing compensation well down the age ladder, it is clear the theft problem gets worse after repeal for a significantly sized cohort of workers too old to dig themselves out of the hole Social Security dug them into and too young to benefit from the Social Security windfall that profited their elders. A few back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that most workers currently over the age of 30 would be harmed to some extent by an uncompensated repeal solution. For example, the 47 year-old couple of average earners passed the point of no return around 1995. In other words, had Social Security been repealed in 1995 when they were 30, the couple would have been able to accumulate a lifetime value of retirement benefits of approximately $692,000 at age 65 by investing their freed-up Social Security taxes at an after-tax, three-percent real rate of return, which still would fall four percent short of replacing the pre-repeal value of their promised lifetime Social Security benefits of $721,000. Don’t get caught up in the details of a compensation scheme. The idea of compensation for restitution lost under repeal is used here merely as a heuristic, not a blueprint for further social engineering. The best and most practical solution to the Social Security dilemma is simply to allow workers the freedom to opt out of the program. Because Social Security has become such a bad deal, and gets worse everyday, an increasing number of younger workers will opt out, and the program will go the way of the horse and buggy without the need to actually repeal it. Allowing workers the option to remain in Social Security—unadulterated by benefit cuts, COLA chiseling, means testing, higher minimum retirement ages and other re-engineering devices—eliminates the need to concoct a compensation scheme, which itself is likely to turn into a politically manipulated boondoggle. As usual, free people exercising their freedom to choose, is the best alternative to anything the criminal enterprise called government dreams up. Page + expand 10 comments Lawrence Hunter I am the chairman of Revolution PAC as well as the president and co-founder of the Social Security Institute (along with Mike Korbey). I also serve on the Advisory Board of Gold Standard 2012. Previously, I was chief economist to Jack Kemp at Empower America, former staff director of the congressional Joint Economic Committee, former vice president and chief economist of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former Reagan White House adviser. More from Lawrence Hunter Lawrence Hunter’s RSS Feed Lawrence Hunter’s Profile Lawrence Hunter’s Website

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Two more businesses open in Rouses Point ROUSES POINT — Two more new businesses have opened in downtown Rouses Point with assistance from Microenterprise Program grants. Rose Letourneau opened Border Boutique, located at 117 Lake St., on May 21. Tammy and Richard Seguin opened the RP Beer Emporium, located at 77A Lake St., on May 24. Both received $35,000 through the grant program, which has so far provided funds to five businesses in the village. FASHIONS FOR ALL Border Boutique offers a variety of fashions for everyone in the family, Letourneau said, as well as a section dedicated to wedding gowns and formal wear. “I started thinking about this venture a year-and-a-half ago. There was nothing like this in Rouse Point,” she said. That includes clothing for children from newborns to size 14, men’s wear, girl’s juniors fashions in sizes from 0 to 15 for those 12 years and up, misses sizes from small to extra large, women’s from sizes 14W to 18 W and women’s plus from 1X to 3X. The store also carries footwear, purses and wallets, ties and belts, hats and scarves, undergarments, perfume, fine jewelry and more. The slogan is “Fashions and More at Hometown Prices.” Letourneau said she gets a lot of her inventory from Canada, where she works with two companies and is on the verge of working with a third. She has also acquired goods from Massachusetts, Florida and Tennessee. Renovations of 3,600 square feet at the former Kathy’s Furniture have been ongoing since mid-February, Letourneau said. There are several wall displays, multiple clothing racks and display cases for the jewelry. She is now assisted by one full-time and one part-time employee. Border Boutique is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Cash, checks and major credit cards are accepted. Canadian money is currently accepted at par. EMPORIUM RENOVATION The owners of RP Beer Emporium bought the West’s Liquors and Wines building in December and had been renovating the space until they opened. They offer 71 brands of beer at present, and plan to expand that as the business grows. The selection includes domestics, craft beers and micro-brewery offerings. Gluten-free products such as Redbridge sorghum-based beer and Angry Orchard cider products are included. There are also several non-alcohol beers. Customers can choose a package of all one type or build their own six-pack of several different types. The latter goes for $9.96 a six-pack. A variety of Seagrams Escapes and Mike’s Hard products are also available. RP Beer Emporium also carries cheese spreads, sausages and bacon from Oscars, located in Warrensburg. They also carry Fire in the Mountains salsa, which is made in Milton, Vt. There is a selection of jams and jellies from Surprenant’s Berry Farm in Mooers and Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, based in Grand Isle, Vt. Cabot cheese will soon be available. “We’re looking for more local food vendors,” Mr. Seguin said. There are also chips and other snacks, as well as picnic supplies. “We have the stuff to use for a party, combined with your favorite beer,” he said. They also carry a variety of mixers and juices for the people who shop at the liquor store so they can get what they need in one stop. The shop is within walking distance from the marinas in Rouses Point, which should really propel business in the warm weather months. GRANT HELPFUL The grant funds helped speed the opening of the business, Mr. Seguin said. “Otherwise, it would’ve taken a couple years,” he said. There are two employees at present, with a third coming on board soon to work on weekends. The Seguins fill in as needed. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Payment can be by cash, check or major credit card. Mr. Seguin said they are in the process of setting up a gift-card program. Mrs. Seguin said several businesses have agreed to work together to promote downtown during the town-wide garage sale scheduled for June 22. Several area vendors will have exhibits in the village park, and customers can get cards stamped at local businesses to qualify for a raffle drawing. RP Beer Emporium also has a Facebook page. For more information, call 297-2752. OTHERS RECEIVED FUNDS Letourneau said Melissa McManus, the village community development consultant, was very helpful in securing the grant funds. “I just think that’s a wonderful program,” Letourneau said. The other three businesses to receive grant funds are expected to open or expand in the near future. Those are a bed and breakfast owned by Bill and Ann Carey that is going in the old part of the former Cedar Hedge Nursing Home; Northeastern Woodworking, which Scott Bleau already operates from his home (he plans a storefront display in downtown Rouses Point); and Border Runners, a freight forwarding business under development by Ron LeBlanc. McManus said these businesses show the benefits of the Microenterprise Program, which was awarded funding from the New York State Office of Homes and Community Renewal through the 2011 North Country Regional Economic Development Council plan. The five new businesses, along with The Squirrel’s Nest Restaurant, owned by Melissa Baker, have provided positive signs of growth in Rouses Point, she said. “When we applied for this grant funding, this is exactly what we hoped would happen,” McManus said. The program requires successful applicants to go through 16 hours of business training. That was provided by Jim Murphy of the Adirondack Economic Development Corp. based in Saranac Lake. Email Dan Heathdheath@pressrepublican.com

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Veteran banker tackles industry shortcomings Book Review: How banks can make their future brighter By Ed O’Leary Comments: comments Broke: America’s Banking System: Common Sense Ideas To Fix Banking In America. By Richard J. Parsons. Risk Management Association. 181 pp. Refreshingly, Richard Parson’s Broke: America’s Banking System is not the more or less typical retrospective of the Great Recession and the enumeration of the difficulties experienced by the financial service industry. It’s not a “show and tell” of greed and avarice. One recent count says there are over 300 of those out there now. Rather, Broke is an authoritatively written, wide-angle perspective perhaps best summarized by the late cartoonist Walt Kelly’s trademark line: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” But, more importantly, Parsons suggests what can be done about this. Importantly, Parsons is an “us.” The book is an inside-outside point of view by a senior bank executive who has experienced the events of the last 35 years firsthand. Parsons’ book proposes a wide range of related activities around which our banking system and its supervisory structures should be reengineered and rethought—including the political context in which banking is operated and regulated. Parsons is a recently retired executive vice-president at Bank of America. He rose steadily through the managerial ranks and is a veteran of many types of financial experience, ranging from community banking and credit underwriting to P&L responsibility for a variety of business lines. He speaks from broad experience and the perspective of a veteran of the crises of our industry dating from the 1980s. He says he left day-to-day banking in order to study his industry and see how it could be improved. (You can read more about him on LinkedIn and on his own website.) Broke consists of the observations and suggestions he came up with, and they are well worth reading. We have a talent shortage and it’s acute The author has a clever way of making this point—at all levels of our industry—by using the analogy of a professional sports franchise. The success of any pro sports franchise consists of a delicate balance of ingredients: qualified athletes, numbers of fans willing to pay to attend games, qualified referees and umpires, and owners willing to take risks for a commensurate financial reward. If any of these factors are not in some sort of balance, the results are subpar. Not enough fans and teams play to half-empty stadiums. Not enough referees, and a game risks the loss of its professional luster. Insufficiently talented athletes, and the fans won’t pay for consistently mediocre performances. A bank is in its own way quite similar. It requires talented employees, talented managers, sufficient numbers of customers, directors who can govern, and a template of constructive regulatory oversight so that these constituencies exist in some sort of reasonable balance. We seem to have had difficulties in recent years in getting these factors sized properly. The result? Our collective industry performance has been inconsistent and in many instances dramatically unsatisfactory. As our industry has consolidated primarily through the impacts of technology, we have run many qualified and experienced people out of the business through layoffs and attrition. Then, about 20 years ago, as Parsons recounts, banks started to dismantle or starve internal training programs that historically had developed generations of lenders. These activities had a technological impetus as credit scoring systems reduced the immediate need for a predictable stream of trained credit analysts and underwriters. Bank delivery systems of credit services became branch or retail products and were increasingly delivered by staff with lower levels of functional credit experience. The talent shortage isn’t limited to bankers with credit skills. The skill sets needed to competently run a large financial service enterprise are always pressing and acute as talented people with fungible skills can find satisfying work doing similar sorts of things in non-banking enterprises. We have a shortage of qualified directors Parsons has a great deal to say about directorship, with two entire chapters devoted to the subject, and many other references. Bank directorships are positions of considerable responsibility. Yet so many banks, particularly at the community bank level, treat directors as volunteers, as demonstrated by the nominal compensation they receive relative to the responsibilities they undertake. Relatively few occupying these positions today possess any formal training. Firsthand knowledge of the banking environment from a community perspective remains important. But no longer should it be the primary qualification for service on a bank board. In a risk management environment, the job is much more complex. A telling comment from Parsons regarding prequalifications to being a bank board member: “… if someone has the time and is honest, he or she is qualified to be a director of a U.S. bank. Standards and testing for basic knowledge do not exist. Individual banks’ board-nominating committees presumably establish their own definition and test. … Despite our nation’s history of high bank failure rates, we see little evidence that director selection has evolved from the 1950s era of paint-by-number banking.” The author makes a strong point that the entry of de novo banks into the banking system further tightens the labor market, draining talent away from existing institutions. There are extensive and interesting tabulations of de novo banking activity that appear correlated with bank failures in selected state jurisdictions. Bankers and bank directors should be “certified” The experience and competence levels of bankers vary widely between large and small banks. Their abilities to detect and anticipate risk, especially the very large systemic risks, are not well developed and their record of accomplishment has been woefully deficient during this last economic cycle. While the very large banks devote considerable resources to this effort, the smaller banks cannot. In part this is due to lack of knowledge of where to effectively begin the process and the lack of resources that can economically be devoted to this activity, while struggling to achieve a reasonable return on equity. The author makes a convincing argument that self-policing of the banking industry in this manner by bankers would be a convincing response to our many critics who have charged that we succumbed in recent years to the temptations of greed and avarice. Parsons provides serious food for thought: What more serious and credible efforts might we undertake demonstrating that we are serious about true reform and restructuring our business models? Bank directors face similar needs as bank officers for formal, structured assistance in the technical aspects of banking. They do not have the right to “bet the bank,” whether they do so by the unwitting adoption of certain risk-taking strategies, or by exercising oversight they are clearly not qualified for. They have serious gaps in their knowledge and understanding of how the banking business works as it relates to the management of risk. Our regulatory structures are obsolete and should be changed The talent shortage isn’t limited to officers and directors, in Parsons’ view. The regulatory community is experiencing a similar decline in its available talent pool as well, during an environment where regulatory demands are evolving in complexity and scale. But Parsons sees the need for more fundamental change. While Parsons knows well the industry’s regulatory challenges, he does more than merely recite the inventory of burden. While regulatory oversight has been significantly changed due to the passage of the Dodd-Frank legislation, the author draws a fascinating analogy about the nation’s banking history, starting with the congressional revocation of the Charter of the Bank of the United States. At the time, this marked the end of any move toward a consolidation of banking power and influence and reflected the political mood of a largely agrarian society at the beginning of the middle years of the 19th century. Events culminated during the Civil War that caused President Lincoln to call for the National Banking Act that is largely understood as creating the vehicle for financing the war by the Northern. It also marked the beginning of a pattern of successive banking regulation, including such significant legislation as the Federal Reserve Act, the Glass-Steagall Act, the establishment of FDIC, and most recently Dodd-Frank. Parsons points out that each major piece of legislation was introduced addressing one or a combination of issues needing attention at the time, but leaving previous legislative initiatives largely intact. The author likened this to a house whose construction began in 1863 (the National Banking Act) with each major banking law in succeeding years being an add-on to the original structure—each a single-purpose room. Before too long, following this analogy, there existed a Federal Reserve Room, an FDIC Room, and so on, each designed with a specific purpose in mind but not considering the totality of the regulatory challenges represented by each of the other rooms. The result is a dysfunctional architectural composite that lacks harmony within its own wall and that fails to harmonize with the existing reality of the times. The recent history of the patchwork form of banking organization and regulation this country maintains has resulted in inconsistent quality of bank examinations and individual and composite assessments of safety and soundness. Overlapping and confusing accountability and authority can be destabilizing, in Parson’s view. He believes this has contributed in some significant ways to the dysfunctional supervisory environment of the recent past. The author also joins the proponents of change for the way safety and soundness is calculated and communicated among banking supervisors and between and among the regulators and the regulated. The CAMELS rating, he maintains, is largely “backward looking” and should be revised to include more forward-looking elements of review, including new ways of anticipating and identifying emerging risk areas. Is banking regulation up to the task? Sheila Bair’s book, Bull By The Horns, published two years ago, paints a vivid picture of regulatory bodies not only not coordinating their activities, but in many cases overtly and deliberately failing to cooperate with each other. If the primary purpose of bank supervision is to reduce systemic risk, then this condition undermines a critical component of bank supervisory expectations and results. Indeed, Parson believes that the varying economic results of banking activity across the 50 states make it clear that our current system isn’t working. There are wide variations among the states in failures, new charters, and individual bank profitability. The lack of consistency suggests that the system is not capable of achieving sustainable and superior results nationally and that our overall results are inhibited in unknown and perhaps substantial ways. He has deep concern about the viability of the community banking portion of our industry. Part of this is the burden of regulation—the mindless sort of routines that tend to apply regardless of institutional size or the relative threat of systemic risk. The community banks in the United States are where the majority of small business credit is originated and serviced. To not protect and nurture this part of our overall national entrepreneurial infrastructure is very short sighted, Parsons argues. Yet, lack of regulatory cooperation, married to regulatory deadlock, makes overall accountability murky. Who has the overall responsibility of getting the process of risk identification and management right? The answer to that question should be very clear to all parties and participants—but it isn’t. One question that should be revisited is the degree to which banks should be saddled with social issues such as the Community Reinvestment Act and disparate impact concerns. These questions are different from the currently contested issues of what constitutes appropriate residential mortgage origination practices or issues addressed in anti-discrimination laws and truth in lending considerations. Imposing such burdens on banks leads to unintended consequences. Parsons argues that banks were drawn into in the implementation of increasingly aggressive (and risky) home ownership penetration rates of those of lower income through political manipulation of the government sponsored entities (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the last 20 or so years. The resulting problems were foreseeable—and in fact foreseen by many—and completely avoidable, had there been a more sensible application of “social expectations” by the legislators. A worthwhile read for officers and directors Broke is a remarkable little volume with value and indeed wisdom for all participants in America’s banking industry. My only quibble is over the price that the Risk Management Association charges. The per copy price tag of $35 probably limits the extent of its distribution. Perhaps RMA should consider publishing this book through e-book distribution channels to lower the cost and widen its access to more participant/readers. Many players should be reading this book. If you'd like to join our corps of book reviewers, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , executive editor and digital content manager, and describe the types of books you like to read for business, the most recent such book you've read, and whether you have written for publication before. Topics: Management, Viewpoints, Books for Bankers, Tweet Ed O’Leary Veteran lender and workout expert Ed O'Leary spent more than 40 years in bank commercial credit and related functions, working with both major banks as well as community banking institutions. He earned his workout spurs in the dark days of the 1980s and early 1990s in both oil patch and commercial real estate lending. O'Leary began his banking career at The Bank of New York in 1964, and worked at banks in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He served as a faculty member and thesis advisor at ABA's Stonier Graduate School of Banking for more than two decades, and served as long as a faculty member for ABA's undergraduate and graduate commercial lending schools. Today he works as a consultant and expert witness, and serves as instructor for ABA e-learning courses and has been a frequent speaker in ABA's Bank Director Telephone Briefing series. You can e-mail him at etoleary@att.net. O'Leary's website can be found at www.etoleary.com. The internet of things and banks Are you ready for EMV? Phased approach toward same-day ACH settlement planned People still rule, but digital needs upgrading Innovation, transparency hallmark virtual currency regs Latest from Ed O’Leary Advice to a young lender 3 ways to keep talent pool filled Talent pools you’re missing “What were they thinking?” 5 fundamentals to help your community bank survive back to top Get ABA Banking Journal Newsletters

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Opportunity for Businesswomen is Meeting Focus Contact: Peg Strain Washington, DC -- Widening opportunities for women business owners is the focus of a Thursday General Services Administration program featuring speakers including Rep. Constance A. Morella, GSA Administrator David J. Barram and women's group representatives. "Access to Opportunities 2000" is a program aimed at assisting businesswomen who want to do business with the federal government and will include a panel moderated by Debbi Jarvis, Channel 4 news anchor. Panel members include: Susan Phillips Bari, president of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council; Denise Lloyd, businesswoman and past president of the DC Chamber of Commerce. Jackie A. Robinson, associate administrator for Enterprise Development; Marcia Riley-Elliot of EA Inc. and leaders of women's organizations will share information about how their organizations assist women entrepreneurs. The panel also features: Sherrye Henry, assistant administrator of the Office of Women's Business Ownership in the U.S. Small Business Administration and Mary Ann Mitchell, chairperson of the National Black Business Council, Inc. Additionally, Amy Millman, executive director of the National Women's Business Council; Hilary Cohen, regional director of the Women Presidents' Educational Organization and Cristina Caballero, president and chief executive officer of the Dialogue on Diversity in Washington are panelists. Representatives from GSA and other federal agencies will provide business counseling during the forum, which is hosted by GSA's Small Business Program. During the last fiscal year, the office awarded more than $3 million in contracts to small, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses. GSA is second only to the U.S. Department of Defense in contracting to small businesses. WHAT: Access to Opportunities 2000 LOCATION: U.S. General Services Administration, 1800 F St., NW, first floor Last Reviewed 2010-04-30

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New Zealand's twin Towers to be combined Financial services group Tower has announced it will bring all of its operations in New Zealand into one organisation and appoint one chief executive. The company now has two divisions: Tower New Zealand Insurance & Operations and Tower New Zealand Investment Businesses. Tower's group managing director, Keith Taylor, said a more streamlined and cohesive structure would greatly enhance the company's ability to leverage the brand's strength. He said a search program for the new chief executive position had begun and was expected to take several months. The company last week announced plans to spin off its Australian wealth management business and list it on the Australian Stock Exchange by the end of the year. Mr Taylor said then that the company had been criticised for having too diverse a business, incorporating insurance and related investment as well as wealth management. "Tower is a leading wholesale fund manager [and] also has a strong position in the insurance markets in which it operates," he said yesterday. "We are committed to both of these businesses, and the strategy for Tower NZ over the next few years is one of substantial growth a

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NovaGold Resources Inc. and Coast Mountain Power Corp. via Marketwired News Releases July 28, 2006 at 20:38 PM EDT Coast Mountain Power Shareholders Approve Purchase by NovaGold NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX: NG)(AMEX: NG) and Coast Mountain Power Corp. (TSX VENTURE: MW) are pleased to announce that the shareholders of Coast Mountain have voted to approve the Plan of Arrangement by which NovaGold will acquire all of the outstanding common shares and stock options of Coast Mountain. Subject to the satisfaction of the remaining conditions, including approval of the Arrangement by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, it is anticipated the Arrangement will be completed and become effective on August 3, 2006. Assuming an effective date of August 3, 2006, Coast Mountain shareholders will receive approximately 0.1245 NovaGold common shares for each Coast Mountain common share based upon the weighted average trading price of NovaGold common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange over the 10 consecutive trading days ending 3 business days prior to the effective date. Due to the recent significant increase in NovaGold's share price, the 10 day weighted average price of NovaGold shares is approximately C$17.66 compared with the closing price on Friday July 28 of C$19.08 which would value each Coast Mountain share at approximately C$2.38 representing an 8% increase in value to Coast Mountain shareholders. Coast Mountain is a "green power" company with run-of-river hydro-electric projects located near NovaGold's Galore Creek copper-gold project in Northwestern British Columbia. Coast Mountain's largest asset is the Forrest Kerr run-of-river hydroelectric project which is designed to generate and transmit up to 115 megawatts of electricity into the British Columbia hydroelectric grid. Forrest Kerr qualifies as a "green power" project under BC Hydro's Green Power Initiative designed to encourage the development of renewable, low-impact and socially responsible power generation in the Province of British Columbia. The project has received all critical approvals and permits necessary for construction of the hydroelectric plant and power transmission lines to connect to the BC Hydro grid. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and CEO of NovaGold, stated, "We are pleased that the Coast Mountain shareholders have voted to support NovaGold's purchase of Coast Mountain Power Corp. We believe that the rapid development of the Forest Kerr run-of-river hydro-electric project and associated transmission lines, which will bring power to the Galore Creek area, represents a major milestone towards the development of Galore Creek. This very low cost, "green" energy source will minimize the overall environmental impact of the Galore Creek project and fits well with our corporate approach to sustainable development. In addition, our vision is to apply the knowledge and expertise in renewable "green power" brought by the Coast Mountain team to NovaGold's other existing and future projects." About Barrick's Unsolicited Take-Over Offer for NovaGold On Monday July 24, 2006 Barrick Gold Corporation (TSX: ABX)(NYSE: ABX) announced that it intends to make an unsolicited offer to purchase all of the shares of NovaGold. In response to the announcement, NovaGold has retained Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as an additional financial advisor along with RBC Dominion Securities Inc., a member company of RBC Capital Markets. In addition, the Company has retained Borden Ladner Gervais, LLP and Dorsey & Whitney as legal advisors. A special committee of the Board of Directors has been appointed and NovaGold will look at all possible alternatives, including any competing offers it may receive, to maximize shareholder value. While that process is underway, NovaGold shareholders should await the results of our review and the recommendation of the NovaGold Board before making any decisions with respect to the Barrick offer. After the formal bid offer is received from Barrick, NovaGold will issue a Directors' Circular that will contain important information for shareholders, including the Board of Directors' recommendation regarding the offer. About NovaGold NovaGold is rapidly advancing three of North America's largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits: the Galore Creek copper-gold project, the Donlin Creek gold project in partnership with Barrick Gold, the high-grade Ambler copper-zinc-silver-gold project in partnership with Rio Tinto, as well as the Company's Nome Operations including: Rock Creek, Big Hurrah and Nome Gold. NovaGold is well financed with no long-term debt, and has one of the largest resource bases of any exploration or development stage precious metals company. Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and that are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including: risks related to the exploration stage of NovaGold's projects; market fluctuations in prices for securities of exploration stage companies; uncertainties about the availability of additional financing; uncertainties related to fluctuations in gold prices; and other risks and uncertainties described in NovaGold's registration statement on Form 40-F and Reports on Form 6-K filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in NovaGold's most recent Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. NovaGold disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements in this Press Release are qualified by this cautionary statement. Greg Johnson, Vice President, Corporate Communications & Strategic Development (604) 669-6227 or Toll Free: 1-866-669-6227 Don MacDonald, CA Senior Vice President & CFO (604) 669-6227 or Toll Free: 1-866-669-6227info@novagold.netwww.novagold.net Coast Mountain Power Corp. Daniel Woznow Vice President, Projects (604) 681-8680 Related Stocks:

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First Quantum Minerals Delivers Letter to Inmet Warning Against Improper Defensive Tactics VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/12/13 -- First Quantum Minerals Ltd. ("First Quantum") (TSX:FM) (LSE:FQM) today announced that it has delivered the following letter to David Beatty, Chairman of the Board of Inmet Mining Corporation, in response to reports received by First Quantum regarding a proposed sale of a further minority interest in the Cobre Panama project: "Dear David, First Quantum published details on 9 January 2012 of its previously announced proposal to create a new force in mining, with a globally significant position in copper, through a merger with Inmet. First Quantum is pleased that Inmet's largest single shareholder, and one with representation on the Inmet Board, has already expressed public support for our proposal. We have also noted Inmet's response to our offer for the Inmet shares (the "Offer"), including the establishment of a Special Committee to examine its merits. First Quantum has been approached, directly and indirectly through its financial advisors, by a number of shareholders of Inmet who have expressed concern that Inmet is proposing to complete a sale of a further minority interest in the Cobre Panama project. These concerns are apparently based upon discussions with a senior executive officer of Inmet. As you know, it is a condition of First Quantum's Offer that Inmet and its subsidiaries not take any action which might have the effect of materially diminishing the economic value to First Quantum of the acquisition of Inmet shares or make it inadvisable for First Quantum to proceed with the Offer. We are therefore very concerned that the Special Committee could be contemplating steps which could deprive Inmet shareholders the opportunity to consider our Offer. You have stated that the Special Committee will advise on the potential risks of receiving First Quantum shares as consideration. It is not obvious how any such risks could be properly evaluated without talking to us. We have offered on numerous occasions to have an open discussion and exchange of information, including through mutual site visits. We submit that such a constructive engagement is the only sensible way to be able to provide the advice you seek to provide to your shareholders. You have also stated that the Special Committee and its financial advisors will conduct a process to investigate all potential strategic alternatives that may enhance shareholder value, some of which pre-date our Offer. We are troubled that this statement may relate to the sale of an additional minority interest in Cobre Panama, as suggested by the concerns raised with us by your shareholders. First Quantum believes that shareholders of Inmet should be given a real opportunity to decide between our offer and any such "strategic alternative". Indeed, we consider that any attempt to complete such a transaction during the currency of our Offer would be inappropriate in the circumstances and constitute an improper short term defensive tactic in response to our long term strategic proposal. It risks being value destroying, further reducing the flexibility of developing Cobre Panama without in any way diminishing the execution risk. Inmet has already sold a 20% minority interest in Cobre Panama as well as most of its anticipated precious metals stream. We believe strongly that the net effect of these actions has either been to divert value from Inmet shareholders to others or to reduce Inmet's operational flexibility. In our view, it would be regrettable to contemplate any further initiatives during the currency of our Offer that might have a similar effect. Now is not the time to take such a step. Even assuming that there is merit in such a strategic alternative, we see no reason that it cannot be deferred until after shareholders have had a proper chance to make their own determination in respect of First Quantum's proposal. First Quantum encourages the Board of Inmet to embrace the vision that underpins First Quantum's proposal and recognize, as Inmet's largest shareholder has, that it is a very serious "strategic alternative" already available to Inmet. Short term maneuvers are not the right answer. In our view, the correct way forward is to engage in a constructive dialogue with us and to understand the value our proposal has for all shareholders. We ask that these matters be given appropriate consideration by the Board of Inmet in discharging its fiduciary duties and that the Board publicly confirm that it will not take any such steps which could have the effect of our Offer being withdrawn. I would be pleased to discuss this or other matters, including First Quantum's continuing desire to work together on a friendly basis with Inmet's management team and directors in an effort to turn First Quantum's vision for a combined entity into a reality, with you at your convenience. In any event, as First Quantum believes that this is a matter of general concern to Inmet's shareholders, a copy of this letter will be publicly disseminated by way of press release. Yours truly, CIO, CTO & Developer Resources (Signed) "Philip Pascall" Philip Pascall, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer First Quantum Minerals Ltd." Commenting upon the letter, Philip Pascall, CEO and Chairman of First Quantum, said: "Any sale of a further minority interest in the Cobre Panama project during the currency of our Offer would, in First Quantum's view, be unnecessary and could deprive Inmet's shareholders of the chance to participate in the exciting opportunity represented by our Offer. In the circumstances, First Quantum thought it important to put its views on such a sale on record with the Inmet Board and to encourage the Inmet Board not to proceed with such a sale without first giving Inmet shareholders a full opportunity to make their own determination regarding the merits of our Offer." About First Quantum First Quantum is a leading international mining company with a global portfolio of copper and nickel assets located in Africa, Australia, South America and Europe. For the twelve months ended 30 September 2012, First Quantum generated revenue and adjusted EBITDA of US$2,743 million and US$1,014 million respectively and produced 290 kt of copper, 32 kt of nickel and 181 koz of gold. A diverse portfolio of profitable operating assets and quality growth projects makes First Quantum one of the fastest-growing mining companies in the world. First Quantum produced well over 300,000 mt of copper metal, more than 36,000 mt of nickel and 200,000 ozs of gold in 2012. First Quantum is listed on the Toronto, London and Lusaka Stock Exchanges, with a market capitalization of approximately US$10.5 billion. First Quantum has earned a strong reputation as an industry leading developer of high-quality base metals projects globally. Although a significant copper producer currently, First Quantum is itself in a phase of transformational growth, with an anticipated tripling of copper production by the end of 2018. To achieve this growth, the First Quantum team is building on its significant experience in project development, with a proven record of successfully developing resource assets. The capital intensity of our Kansanshi and Sentinel developments, for example, at approximately US$5,000 / tonne and US$6,000 / tonne, respectively, are among the lowest in the industry. Importantly, First Quantum has consistently delivered superior shareholder returns, averaging 32 percent per annum over the period 2000 to 2011. Forward Looking Information Certain statements and information in this press release, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to the anticipated completion of the proposed Offer and the anticipated strategic and operational benefits of the Offer. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "projects", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release, First Quantum has made numerous assumptions including, among other things, assumptions about the price of copper, gold, cobalt, nickel, PGE, and sulphuric acid, and other anticipated costs and expenditures. Although management of First Quantum believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, uncertainties surrounding the ability to realize operational synergies following completion of the Offer, reliance on Inmet's publicly available information which may not fully identify all risks related to its performance, success in integrating the retail distribution systems, and the integration of supply chain management processes, future production volumes and costs, costs for inputs such as oil, power and sulphur, political stability in Zambia, Peru, Mauritania, Finland, Turkey, Spain, Panama and Australia, adverse weather conditions in any of the foregoing countries, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, water supply, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations, and the production of off-spec material. See First Quantum's annual information form for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information. Although we have attempted to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in the forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors, many of which are beyond the control of First Quantum, that might cause actual results, performances, achievements or events to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. While First Quantum may elect to update the forward-looking statements at any time, First Quantum does not undertake to update them at any particular time or in response to any particular event, other than as may be required by applicable securities laws. Investors and others should not assume that any forward-looking statement in this press release represent management's estimate as of any date other than the date of this press release. For further information visit our web site at www.first-quantum.com First Quantum Minerals Ltd. - North American contact: Sharon Loung Director, Investor Relations (647) 346-3934 or Toll Free: 1 (888) 688-6577 (604) 688-3818 (FAX)sharon.loung@fqml.com First Quantum Minerals Ltd. - United Kingdom contact: Clive Newall +44 140 327 3494 (FAX)clive.newall@fqml.com www.first-quantum.com Jefferies International Peter Bacchus Harmony Communications Brian Cattell Senior Partner +44 20 7016 9155 or +44 7786 241 145 Top Stories Virtualization Astoria Financial Corporation Reports First Quarter Earnings Per Common Share Of $0.30 Top Six Ruby on Rails Deployment Methods in AWS: Pros & Cons Heartbleed Vulnerability Assessment With CloudPassage Halo Routing: How DevOps Bridges IT Gaps & Enables Software-Defined Something The Top 5 Business VoIP Providers of 2014, Announced by TheDigest.com 21st century Modern Alarm systems continue to play a key role in various institutions and industries IoT, Code Halos, Meaning-Making and Digital Transformation Where You Mitigate Heartbleed Matters UPDATE: OpenFL Launches Stereoscopic 3D Support at GDC in a Working Relationship With Sungame Corp Message Systems Names Phillip Merrick As CEO Case Study: IoT in the Field Force Automation Cisco and Partners to Build World's Largest Global Intercloud Mirantis and Ericsson in One of the Largest OpenStack Software Deals in History Cloud Expo Names Industry Thought Leader Vanessa Alvarez Conference Chair Pluribus Networks Expands to Europe with Deployments in the UK, France, Netherlands, Italy and Portugal Spanning Joins Cloud Security Alliance New Cloud Service Offers Email Signature Management for Office 365 and Google Apps Building Video Calling with PubNub and WebRTC Net Neutrality, Internet of Things and Google: Three Forces Colliding XML How to effectively build a hybrid SaaS API management strategy GovIT Why Obama Administration Should Have Paid More Attention to Load Testing Andrea Austin and Loree Farrar Join InsideView to Enhance and Grow Company Global Digital Marketing Software Market Report SoftServe Taps Global Design Leader and Adobe Veteran to Spearhead Design Center of Excellence Embarcadero Scales to Big Models and Data Warehouses with Enhanced Database Tools New PubNub App Template for WebRTC FuseTalk 3.0 from e-Zone Media

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Economists predicting moderate growth in 2013 By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer Published: Feb 25, 2013 at 10:11 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Business economists expect 2013 will be another year of sub-par growth for the U.S. economy, reflecting uncertainty stemming from the budget battles in Washington and Europe's on-going debt problems. But they think the economy will improve as the year progresses and by 2014 will grow at the fastest pace in nine years.In its latest survey of top forecasters, the National Association for Business Economics said it expected the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, to expand at an annual rate of 2 percent this year, slightly worse than last year's lackluster 2.2 percent growth.For 2014, however, the NABE forecasters believe the economy will be growing at a rate of 2.8 percent, which would be the best performance since 2005. The GDP, the economy's total output of goods and services, shrank in 2008 and 2009 as the country went through the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s.Since then economic growth has been modest as the economy has been held back by a variety of factors including prolonged unemployment.The latest quarterly forecast from NABE is based on responses from 49 forecasters gathered from Jan. 28 through Feb. 5. On growth, it represented a slight downgrade from the survey released in December which forecast the economy would grow 2.1 percent this year.The NABE panelists were pessimistic about the effects the budget battles in Washington would have on growth. Nearly all felt growth would be reduced this year, given the uncertainty surrounding the budget. One-half of the panelists felt the drag would shave less than one-half percentage point from growth while one-third put the drag at between one-half and a full percentage point knocked off growth this year.The panelists saw the economy strengthening as the budget uncertainty is resolved. They forecast growth in the second half of this year would average above a rate of 2.5 percent and get stronger next year."While the NABE forecasters see fiscal threats, they are optimistic that there will be some resolution toward the second half of this year and that will result in an improvement in many of the numbers is 2014," said Nayantara Hensel, an economics professor at the National Defense University in Washington and a member of the NABE forecasting panel.The next budget deadline will occur Friday when across-the-board spending cuts totaling $85 billion, known as a sequester, are scheduled to go into effect.Congress and President Barack Obama averted the so-called fiscal cliff at the end of December with a deal that allowed tax rates to rise on individuals making more than $400,000 and families making more than $450,000 per year. That deal also allowed the temporary 2 percentage point cut in Social Security payroll taxes, which was in effect for two years, to expire.The tax increases in the fiscal-cliff deal, especially the rise in Social Security payroll taxes, will mean slower growth this year. It will mean that a worker earning $50,000 annually will see his Social Security tax go up by $1,000.That will slow consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The NABE panel forecast consumer spending will rise at an annual rate of 1.9 percent this year but will accelerate in 2014 to a growth rate of 2.5 percent.The NABE panelists were also pessimistic about Europe's on-going budget troubles, which have hurt the U.S. economy by cutting into export sales. Over one-third of the panelists said they believe Spain will need a larger bailout package this year and one-fourth think that on-going debt troubles in Italy will force that country to take bailout support as well."The problems in Europe and our own domestic fiscal drama will keep the investment outlook subdued," said Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America and a member of the NABE panel.Among other predictions in the latest NABE survey:—Unemployment, currently at 7.9 percent, will decline slowly to 7.5 percent by the end of this year and to 7 percent by the end of 2014, with average monthly job growth of 170,000 this year and 193,000 in 2014.—Inflation will remain modest at around 2 percent, giving the Federal Reserve leeway to keep a key short-term interest rate at a record low near zero this year and in 2014.—New home construction, which is finally rebounding after the housing bust, will jump 25.6 percent this year and another 17.3 percent in 2014, pushing construction next year to 1.15 million homes.

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All That Glitters is Gold By Baldwins on July 18, 2012 10:51 AM As the Great British summer and all the Olympic celebrations draw to a close Baldwin’s will be busily preparing to sell part two of the landmark Bentley Collection, the ultimate collection of British gold Sovereigns. Due to be held on the 27th September in London the second part of the collection will comprise approximately 540 Sovereigns (the largest part) including the most complete date runs of all the colonial mints. Part two of this staggering collection contains some of the rarest of all the colonial mint sovereigns including the key coin in the collection, the fabled 1920 Sydney mint sovereign. The collector began the collection with the prime focus of attaining a complete date run of the London mint series but, quickly began to develop an interest in the colonial mint issues. Sovereigns that carry a small letter either under the bust or shield, or on the ground-line under St. George are colonial issues and the type of letter denotes which mint the coin derives from. His interest awakened, the collector proceeded on a quest to find and purchase as many coins as he could from the Sydney, Melbourne and Perth mints in Australia; the Ottowa mint in Canada; Bombay in India and the Pretoria mint in South Africa. In keeping with the rest of this collection only the finest examples of the coins were obtained by a collector with a keen eye for quality. The 1920 sovereign is one of the rarest Australian coins ever to be auctioned and is one of only four known to exist. Most specimens are housed in institutions and so this auction offers a very rare opportunity to own one of the worlds’ most sought after coins. Estimated to sell for between £300,000 and £400,000 this piece was sold to the vendor at public auction in 2006 for the then record of AUD$582,500. Although Mint record shows 360,000 Sovereigns were struck in the year 1920 it is a matter of conjecture as to how many were actually dated 1920 and, therefore, why so few remain. Some believe that many must have been melted down; others think that 1919 dated coins are included in this calendar mintage figure. Either way it wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century that collectors began to discover how rare the coin was. Strong pre-sale interest from the Australian market could likely see this piece go back to the homeland. Of the 540 lots in this sale, 250 were minted in Australia and include a complete date run of 115 Sydney mint coins, every year that they were active (1855-1926) is covered. The most interesting of all the lots is the Adelaide token. The one included in this collection is the 1852 type 2 engraved by Joshua Payne. In the 1840’s there was very little cash in Australia and the population of 50,000 people were forced to trade in gold dust. Pressure was mounting to establish a mint and begin production of coinage. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor was so convinced of the need for currency that he signed an Act allowing the coins to be minted without following the legal regulations. These intriguing coin-tokens were never officially given the Royal seal of approval to circulate as a coin and were therefore only circulated for a short time as a gold token. While these were similar to Sovereigns in all but name they did not depict the St. George and the Dragon, nor the queen’s head. As soon as the powers in London became aware of what had happened 40,000 British currency sovereigns were dispatched and quickly put in to circulation, bringing an end to the Assay office coining their own tokens which ceased on 17th February 1853. It is thought that this example will achieve in the region of £20,000 – 25,000. Other highlights from the Sydney mint selection include an 1855 Victoria Gold Sovereign, minted in the initial year of production this is one of the hardest specimens to find in a high grade of preservation; and an 1887 Victoria Proof Gold Sovereign depicting the Jubilee type bust of the Queen which is the rarest Jubilee style coin from the Sydney mint. The Melbourne and Perth mints are also well covered with 100 pieces from Melbourne and 34 from Perth. Of which, the 1887 Victoria Melbourne mint gold sovereign, the rarest Victorian shield reverse type coin as it was the final issue before the Jubilee issue of 1887. The Australian Mints continued with the shield reverse long after the London Royal Mint ceased, as they were more readily accepted in trade with Asia over the St. George reverse piece. The 1926 George V Perth mint gold sovereign is the rarest currency from the mint and is represented in the collection by a superb quality piece. The coin depicts the King’s portrait on the obverse and carries the iconic St. George and the dragon reverse. It is remarked by the cataloguer that the coin seems to have become rarer over time; this therefore presents a rare opportunity to purchase what may well become one of the rarest of the sovereign series. The Canadian mint in Ottawa did not produce coins every year due to lack of demand. As such, this collection contains coins from every year that the mint was active. Amongst the highlights in this section is the 1916 C George V, Ottawa Mint, Imperial type. This coin is the rarest Canadian currency sovereign in commerce today. Representing the pinnacle of the series it presents the biggest challenge for any collector to obtain. Another opportunity to purchase a rare and interesting coin from the Ottawa mint comes in the form of the 1908 C Edward VII Specimen Proof Gold Sovereign. The coin comes from the first batch of sovereigns issued by the mint and is one of only 646 struck. This ultra low mintage makes the coin incredibly scarce and highly desirable. The initial coins issued by the mint were all struck to a satin finish and this example has been fantastically preserved. Finally the 1911 C George V specimen strike Gold Sovereign, Imperial type included here is the finest known specimen in private hands. Struck to a specimen finish this highly prized and very rare coin was undoubtedly produced as a presentation piece for the Coronation year of George V, making it a rather special coin and a must have for the serious collector. On to India and South Africa and of the five lots from the Bombay Mint the 1918 I George V, specimen Gold Sovereign of the Imperial type is without doubt the highlight. One of the most interesting and unusual pieces in the collection the coin itself cannot be found in any of the standard reference works on the subject. Struck to a specimen finish it is highly likely that the was produced as a presentation piece for the establishment of the Imperial Bombay Mint. From the South African selection two sovereigns from the initial mintage in 1874 depict President Burgers. The first of the coins from the Republic of South Africa, the 1874 Proof Gold Een Pond is the rarer of the two and referred to as the coarse beard variety. This particular coin is a superb example of the coin which was struck at the Heaton mint and displays the Arms of the Republic on the reverse. The second of the two, also an 1874 Proof Gold Een Pond is the more frequently encountered fine beard variety. Nevertheless it is still a major rarity and not many have survived in the pristine condition that we find this one in. Also present in the collection is the 1898 Republic of South Africa Gold Een Pond, depicturing the bust of President Kruger. This particular example is one of only 130 coins that were counter-stamped with the date ‘99’under the bust. Very few of these coins survived, making this extremely fine coin a true rarity. The final highlight from the South Africa section comes in the form of the George V 1923 SA, Gold Sovereign, Imperial type from the Pretoria mint. The 1923 is the rarest example of the initial striking from the Pretoria mint. As sovereigns were only struck on demand, from gold brought in to the mint, only 406 of these coins were ever struck for currency. This sought-after piece is, of course, one of the best extant. The first part of the Bentley Collection sold in May 2012 for £899,346 (including Buyer’s Premium.) The remaining two parts will be sold on 27th September 2012 in conjunction with Coinex, the UK’s largest numismatic convention and May 2013. Both are estimated to exceed the total for part one. Bidders are strongly encouraged to attend these landmark auctions where possible, although the sale will be broadcast over the internet using the services of www.the-saleroom.com. Catalogues will be available online at www.baldwin.co.uk and can also be purchased through our website. A hard-bound edition of all three catalogues will be available soon after the final event in May 2013. A H Baldwin to offer highly important “Bentley Collection” of milled gold Sovereigns Enough to leave the King speechless… George VI gold coin set sells for $147,300 Gold Dollars – Gold Dollar Type 2 (Indian Head) 1854-1856 Gold Dollars – Gold Dollar Type 1 (Liberty Head) 1849-1854 Gold Bugs Rejoice as Gold Hits Record Price Gold Dollars – Gold Dollar Type III (Large Head) 1856-1889 Is There a Price Relationship Between Gold Bullion and Rare Gold Coins? London Gold Market Report – Asian Gold Demand Still Lacking Tags: 2012, Auction News, Auctoin Prewviews, Baldwins, Bentley Collection, British Gold Sovereigns. September, Part 2 Be the first one to leave a comment. Site language Translator World Coins Advertise on CoinWeek Auctions Advertise on CoinWeek World Gold Coins LLC. Copyright © 2014 All rights reserved. No portion of this site may be reproduced or copied without Written Permission PO Box 916909 Longwood, Florida 32791-6909 | Office Hrs M-S 7:00AM-7:00PM | Toll Free: 800-579-5228 | Email:news@coinweek.com

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Stock photo / sufinawaz Where to get the best deal on beer, haircuts, movies By Amrita Jayakumar Thu May 30, 2013, 12:15 PM CDT Looking for a good deal on a six-pack of beer? Try Charlotte. A haircut that won't burn a hole in your wallet? Harlingen, Texas, is your best bet. A trip to the movies? Hilo, Hawaii, is supposed to be nice this time of year. That's according to the latest cost-of-living index, released last week by the Council for Community and Economic Research, which takes into account the average price of everything from a bottle of shampoo to a mortgage in more than 300 urban areas. The areas ranked as the most expensive places to live in the first quarter included most of the usual suspects, with New York's Manhattan and Brooklyn boroughs taking the top two slots on the list. And for the third year in a row, Washington snagged a spot in the top 10, driven by the region's high-priced housing market and relative immunity from the economic downturn. "Since the beginning of the Great Recession, Washington has catapulted itself into the top 10 based on the housing market," said Dean Frutiger, project manager for the Cost of Living Index at the council. Washington, which took ninth place in the first quarter, had traditionally remained just shy of the top 10 high-cost urban areas, often swapping places with Boston, Frutiger said. Overall, the Washington area was about 42 percent more expensive compared with the national average. Housing in the region was more than twice as expensive as in the rest of the country. Groceries were about 13 percent more expensive, while health care was 1.6 percent more expensive. The region's cost of living dropped slightly from the same time last year but was higher than in 2011. For the third consecutive year, the city with the lowest cost of living was Harlingen, Texas. On average, a haircut there costs $7.38, compared with $16.17 in Washington. A movie ticket in Hilo will set you back only $5.68. In Manhattan, it's $13.50. CullmanTimes.com - Cullman, Alabama. All rights Long-term unemployed are still strong hires, study shows People who have been out of work for an extended period, once hired, tend to be just as productive on the job as those with more typical work histories, according to an analysis of almost 20,000 employees. CEMS holds groundbreaking Cook chosen as Public Social Worker of the Year Angel Cook of the Cullman County Health Department was selected as Public Health Social Worker of the Year for 2014. She was recognized March 7 at the Public Health Social Work Seminar held in Montgomery. First Apple, now Google hit with kids' app lawsuit Last month, 4- and 5-year-old brothers in New York quickly spent $65.95 in real money to buy virtual goods in Marvel's Run Jump Splash game on the family tablet. They were able to rack up the charges without entering a password. And for that, the boys' mother has joined a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday against Google, accusing the company of deceiving consumers about its in-app purchase system, which critics say makes it too easy for kids to spend money on their Android devices. Alfa Insurance honors local agent Alfa Insurance Agent Whit Ford of West Point received the Distinguished Service Award – Bronze Level for 2013 during the company’s annual awards ceremony in Birmingham. Target seeks new technology head after data breach Target Corp., still reeling from a security breach that exposed the personal information of tens of millions of customers, is seeking a new top technology executive to help prevent future attacks. Staples to close 225 stores as online competition hurts sales Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office-supplies chain, will close as many as 12 percent of its North American stores and cut as much as $500 million in costs as online competition continues to hurt sales. Five things you should know about the Netflix-Comcast deal Now Comcast and Netflix have announced that they will directly interconnect their networks, rather than having Netflix traffic flow first through a third-party network. With this, another layer of Internet architecture - interconnection and peering - is under the microscope. Kristin (Brown) Thompson with Strong LLC relocating to NYC to open new office Strong Advertising Agency, announced that Kristin, a 2007 Cullman High School graduate, has opened a new office in Manhattan and working in the New York/New Jersey area serving as the marketing contact for advertising clients for merchandising and creative content development. She began working at Strong, LLC in Birmingham as an Account Executive Assistant in 2012 and was promoted to Account Executive after 6 months of employment. US News names its 'Best Cars for the Money' U.S. News & World Report Wednesday announced its annual Best Cars for the Money list on its Best Cars website.

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Wachovia Says Corporates Knew MBS Risks April 09, 2012 • Reprints In filing to dismiss its lawsuit alleging securities fraud, lawyers for Wachovia Capital Markets asked the NCUA a question that has haunted the regulator ever since the collapse of U.S. Central FCU: why didn’t the corporate more carefully consider the risks involved in purchasing $122 million worth of Alt-A backed MBS? According to court documents filed April 4 in Kansas City, Wachovia, since purchased by Wells Fargo, contests NCUA’s claim that the MBS offering documents contained “untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts” in violation of the federal Securities Act of 1933 and the Kansas Uniform Securities Act, and loan originators “systematically abandoned” disclosed underwriting guidelines. Not so, says Wachovia’s legal team. For example, disclosures provided to the corporates revealed that 73% of the adjustable rate, interest-only loans offered by Wachovia required little or no documentation of borrowers, and that “exceptions to the underwriting standards are permitted when compensating factors are present,” court documents state. Wachovia disclosures also revealed that most of the loans in the pools would not meet Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac requirements, that they are likely to experience rates of delinquency, foreclosure or bankruptcy that are higher, and that may be substantially higher, than those underwritten to conforming guidelines, and that ratings could be lowered or withdrawn. The motion to dismiss also contains numerous technicalities, including challenges to NCUA’s applicable statutes of repose and statutes of limitations. That motion follows federal Judge George Wu’s ruling in December that a similar NCUA suit against RBS Securities, filed in WesCorp’s federal district in Los Angeles, failed to meet required statutes of limitations. Wachovia also picked apart the legal precedents NCUA cited in its claim, including one from a case that has since been dismissed for failure to state a claim. Show Comments

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Our cookie policy has changed. Review our cookies policy for more details and to change your cookie preferences. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. A pretty picture Contemporary art has continued to rise in value despite weak stockmarkets and a growing number of sales from hard-pressed corporate collectors. The trend may not last Oct 22nd 2002 | From the print edition TWENTY years ago, investors piled into contemporary art as a hedge against inflation. Now, many of the same investors are finding their art collections are a useful foil against declining share prices and the lingering threat of deflation. While technology shares have tumbled in value by around 70% since the beginning of 2000, fine art has climbed by around 20%, according to an index compiled by Artprice.com, a division of France's Server group. Specialist bits of the art market have done even better, allowing for the difficulty in compiling indices of this sort. Selected works of contemporary paintings jumped in value by 16% during the first six months of this year. At the beginning of last year, Bruce Nauman's Henry Moore Bound to Fail, a wax sculpture, sold at auction for $9m, a record for a contemporary work. Although this has yet to be topped, the market remains buoyant. During the first six months of this year, the top 20 contemporary works of art sold for a combined total of $17m, again according to Artprice; that compares with a figure for the same period last year of $28m. Even photography has been enjoying a boom. An auction by Sotheby's in New York this week of photographs from the Museum of Modern Art is expected to fetch top prices. A print by Man Ray, an American photographer who died in 1976, is expected to change hands for up to $250,000. Famous landscapes by Ansel Adams, another American, are likely to go for tens of thousands of dollars each. Related itemsArt: Cut-price classJun 13th 2002Princely collecting: Bagging canvasesApr 11th 2002Auction houses: Affairs of the artAug 30th 2001Related topicsPainting Consumer Cyclicals Anybody who bought well-known examples of contemporary photography a decade ago would have seen the value of his investment rise by an average of just over 5% a year. Ten years ago, the record price of $560,000 paid recently for a print by the German photographer, Andreas Gursky, would have been unthinkable. Such high prices are surprising, given the slump in financial markets and the amount of contemporary art being put on to the market by hard-pressed corporate collectors. Enron, a bankrupt energy trader, recently sold a sculpture by Martin Puryear to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, for $782,000. Vivendi Universal, a struggling media giant, has said it intends to sell a collection of art displayed since 1959 in the Four Seasons restaurant in New York's Seagram Building, a popular haunt of the city's well-to-do. Vivendi acquired the art—which includes lithographs by Roy Lichtenstein, tapestries by Juan Miro and some works by Pablo Picasso—as part of a collection that runs to 2,500 pieces, when it bought Seagram's media businesses in 2000. Even if they are not (yet) sellers, many companies have cut back sharply on the amount they spend on art. J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, which boast two of the finest collections of art in corporate hands, recently admitted that they had cut their budgets for buying new work. This is partly political: they do not want to be seen splashing out on art while laying off thousands of employees; but it is also evidence of tighter budgets. Dresdner Bank, which has a big collection that includes works by Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti, is another bank that for the moment has stopped buying new work. Mergers have also caused some banks to think again. DZ Bank—formed from the merger of Germany's DG and GZ Banks—has said it has no plans to add to its celebrated collection of contemporary photography. Last year Aer Lingus, Ireland's flag carrier, raised badly needed cash from the sale of its collection of art in Dublin. The future of Jefferson Smurfit's collection of 20th century Irish art is also in question since the packaging group was bought by Madison Dearborn Partners, an American private-equity firm. In Australia, a collection of a hundred or so works of art owned by Fairfax, a newspaper publisher, is soon to be put under the hammer. The collection, which includes works by artists such as Russell Drysdale and Arthur Boyd, is expected to be sold by Sotheby's—not in this case because Fairfax needs the money but because the collection is not part of its business and is no longer in tune with its corporate image. Public galleries would like to buy some of the works coming on to the market; but, like many corporate collectors, they are also feeling the pinch. Nicholas Serota, director of London's Tate Gallery (which includes Tate Modern as well as the renamed Tate Britain), recently complained that he could no longer afford to buy major works of art. Not only has government funding slipped to a level last seen two decades ago, he says, but the level of corporate donations and bequests has also tailed off. About half of the Tate's income now comes from donations, sponsorship, ticket sales and other commercial sources. Whether prices for contemporary art continue to hold up depends as always on the buoyancy of the wider economy. A recent sale by Sotheby's of early 20th century German paintings and watercolours collected by Paul Beck and his son, Helmut, went better than many had expected. But few American buyers attended the sale in London. A better test of the market's strength is likely to be next month's auctions of impressionist and modern art in New York. From the print edition Recommend6

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Honoree Denis P. Kelleher, founder and chairman of Wall Street Access Irish Diaspora speaks out on IMF bailout AMY FERAN There is anger, but no despair, over Ireland's plight from Irish American business leaders.The Irish Voice attended our sister publication Irish America magazine’s Business 100 luncheon on Tuesday, November 30 at the New York Yacht Club, and asked some of the honorees and guests for their take on the Irish financial crises and bailouts.Honoree Denis P. Kelleher, founder and chairman of Wall Street Access, believes the EU bailout was probably in the best interests of the Irish people. “Europe has to keep Europe together, everyone tied together by common currency. Ireland had to accept help from somewhere after all, ” said Kelleher.Kelleher believes Ireland has lost credibility and sensibility, and that the damage will be dangerous and lasting.“What happened has reinforced my thoughts that most politicians are disingenuous and they only care about being elected,” he added.“The Irish government needs to accept some real pain, cut out the idiotic socialist spending, the excessive giveaways like the minimum wage, and tax breaks to institutions to promote development, which has led to ghost towns,” says Kelleher."The bankers were crooks, they gamed the system,” added Kelleher, a native of Co. Kerry. “They got away with it far too long -- where was the oversight?”Ireland can get back on its feet, he says, but they need honest institutions and an "end to all the nonsense" that brought the banks down. He called for real input from Irish America and a new attitude from back home.“They need to get back to basics and do the right thing, which is to own up to their faults and apologize,” he says.Ireland needs to play to its strengths, Kelleher believes. Those strengths include hospitality and the food industry.“I’ve seen Ireland go from being a Third World country to being top of the heap, and now it’s on the way to being a Third World country again,” he adds.Emmett O’Connell, Business 100 honoree, believes that the EU pushed Ireland into accepting a bailout package for reasons beyond the Emerald Isle.“The bond holders in the banks got away with too much. The EU bailout amounts to countries like France, Germany and the U.K. saving their own banks because they lent to Ireland,” he said.“The European Central Bank is making Ireland the fall guy. The French, German and U.K. banks were most exposed to Irish banks,” he says.“The past 10 years in Ireland was a fool’s paradise.”His recommendations to Ireland to get out of this mess? Simple.“Leave the euro. Restore the Irish pound (punt). Devalue the punt against the euro.”O’Connell has staunchly opposed Ireland’s part in the European Union. “For every one euro Ireland brings to the EU, they take five euro worth of fish from the Irish seas,” he explained.Honoree Peggy Smyth, vice president at Hamilton Sundstrand, shared her views on the Ireland’s bailout from the EU, a decision she believes was not taken lightly.“The bailout was a difficult decision that was made carefully. But if the government believes it’s in the best interest of the people, then we should trust that,” she said.“People are skeptical about the government, but they do have the most intimate knowledge of finances,” she says.Smyth believes the world should learn from Ireland’s boom and bust.“We can take what’s happening in Ireland as a lesson of how quickly fortunes can change,” she says.Smyth wonders about the consequences of letting the Irish banks fail.“I do think that the Irish government should have taken it slower regarding backing the banks, so that they had a clearer picture of what exactly would be."A positive outlook on Ireland’s misfortune is refreshing, and Brian Stack, managing director of CIE Tours, maintains just that.“Things are not as bad as they appear. The Irish banks have assets, and in three or four years things will be fine,” he feels.The bailout, according to Stack, is simply “a line of credit. It might be used, or it might not be used,” he adds.“At a 5.8% interest rate, it’s a pretty good option.”Martin Kehoe, who works in the finance industry, says that Ireland has lost track of its priorities.“The long term consequences can be positive if Ireland invests in its base -- education and keeping multinationals based in Ireland,” said Kehoe.“The last five years saw Ireland lose sight of sensible policy. The political parties in Ireland need to be more unified, put politics aside and find a common ground for the good of the country.”Honoree Kieran Claffey of Price Waterhouse Coopers, has some recommendations for the EU bailout money.“The funding from the EU should be segregated between the government and the banking sectors,” he said.Claffey, like many others, believes that Ireland’s low corporation tax is “key to maintaining a safe future.”Claffey doesn’t place much hope in the Irish politicians.“History has shown that governments have a short-term outlook on these things, and that the long-term decisions and implications weren’t thought through,” he said.Earl Hurd of 1-800-FLOWERS, believes that the EU’s persistence on Ireland to accept a bailout package was fueled by jealousy.“Ireland was bullied into taking that bailout -- the rest of the EU was jealous of the boom in Ireland. They used this opportunity to level the playing field,” he says.Hurl believes that the Irish banks should have suffered the consequences of their own actions.“Sometimes in life, people fail. The Irish government should have let the banks fail, and pay for the consequences, just like with people,” he said.Mike Hemingway, Business 100 honoree, believes the Irish government and the Irish banks “are in bed together.”Hemmingway believes that the EU bailout was needed “to bring order to chaos.”What should the Irish government do now?“Resign, en masse,” replied Hemmingway. Submit MostPopular

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LTL news: YRCW says it is on track for positive Q2 EBITDA Following a June announcement in which it said it expects to achieve positive EBITDA on a consolidated basis for the second quarter, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider YRC Worldwide Inc. said it expects second quarter EBITDA within a range of $35 million to $45 million. YRCW officials said this does not include its YRC Logistics business, which it recently sold to Austin Ventures and will be reported as discontinued operations. And when including the expected adjusted EBITDA loss from discontinued operations of $9 million to $11 million, YRCW said it expects second quarter EBITDA to be within a range of $24 to $36 million. And as of June 30, YRCW said its cash and cash equivalents were $142 million, compared to $130 million at the end of the first quarter. This is a positive sign for the company, which has incurred losses of more than $2 billion over the last 11 quarters. In terms of tonnage for the second quarter, YRCW said tonnage per day for YRC National was 27,000, and 26,900 at YRC Regional, which were up 11.0 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, compared to the first quarter. YRCW announced in June it amended its asset-backed securitization (ABS) facility as part of an effort to reduce the impact of negative effects that the 2009 integration of Yellow Transportation and Roadway has had on the ability of the company to borrow under the facility. With this amendment, YRCW said it will now be able to borrow additional amounts under the facility for the rest of this quarter. The previous amount it was able to borrow under the old ABS was $22 million, and an updated figure was not made available by the company. YRCW also said last month that with a need to fund working capital for business growth, the expected net cash usage from operating activities creates liquidity pressure for the company. And it is taking steps to address its short-term liquidity needs through various measures, including: -implementing further cost actions and efficiency improvements; -seeking additional and return business from customers; -engaging in discussions with the company’s lending group under its credit agreement; -pursuing the sale of non-strategic assets or business lines; -actively managing receipts and disbursements, including amounts and timing, focusing on reducing day’s sales outstanding and managing day’s payables outstanding; -pursuing the company’s litigation against the trustee under the indenture related to the company’s 5% contingent convertible notes; if the company is successful in its litigation and meets the closing conditions under a note purchase agreement to sell and issue additional 6% convertible notes, the company can utilize the remaining $20.2 million of proceeds held in an escrow for general corporate purposes; and -considering the sale of additional equity or pursuing other capital market transactions. Like many other LTL players, YRCW appears to be benefiting from the economic revival occurring in the LTL industry, according to Satish Jindel, president of Pittsburgh-based SJ Consulting. Almost all LTL carriers, according to Jindel, are experiencing high single/low double digit gains, adding that it is good to see YRCW get a share of that. “The thing that is cautionary for me is that…YRCW needs to grow at a faster rate than other LTL carriers just because the company has lost a lot of business in the last several months and needs to regain that,” said Jindel. “And because they are still in difficult financial condition—but not as bad as 2009—they need to strengthen their operating business and the outlook for the second half of 2010 in our view may or may not be as good as the first half.” Reasons for this cited by Jindel include how some sectors that contributed to first half tonnage growth may not be as active in the second half, as well as consumers tightening spending again, which could mean that the economic recovery may ultimately lack momentum throughout the rest of the year. News · All topics

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search Millionaire's Taxes Hit a Reality Roadblock Josh Barro PRINTER FRIENDLY This month, Governor Tim Pawlenty successfully resisted an attempt to institute a “Millionaire’s Tax” on high-income people in Minnesota. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie is standing firm in his insistence that a temporary high-income tax surcharge won’t be extended this year. By taking these stances, Pawlenty and Christie are bucking a trend that took (mostly blue) states by storm last year, for the long-term benefit of their states’ budgets and economies. Minnesota’s budget scramble arose when the state Supreme Court invalidated $3 billion in budget cuts that Pawlenty had imposed unilaterally. The legislature responded by sending a budget-closing bill to Pawlenty, which would have raised the top income tax rate from 7.85% to 9.1% for single taxpayers making over $113,110 per year (or married couples over $200,000). As such the tax would kick in at a lower income than other states’ taxes on the well-off - but not by much, as Oregon has a Millionaire’s Tax threshold of $125,000, followed by Hawaii and Maryland at $150,000. In any case, Minnesota will not test the question of whether a taxpayer who just barely passes the Social Security tax cap can really be liable for “Millionaire’s Tax”, or at least not this year. Pawlenty promptly vetoed the bill, and won the ensuing showdown. This weekend, in an overnight session, the legislature passed a budget closing the gap solely with spending cuts - largely legislating what the Governor had tried, and failed, to do by fiat. Meanwhile in New Jersey, the Democratic-controlled legislature wants to extend 2009’s temporary income tax increase to apply in 2010, but Christie has repeatedly said that he will veto any tax increase bill. Lately, Christie’s insistence that he won’t raise taxes has taken on a General Sherman-meets-Green Eggs and Ham vibe. “Let me be real clear on [the tax increase],” Christie said earlier this month. “They can call it whatever they want to call it. They can package it however they want to package it. They can send it to me with a bow on it. They can send it to me in a nice box, gift-wrapped. They can throw it over the transom and leave it there and hope nobody smells it. No matter how they send it to me, it is going back. It is going back with a veto on it. We are not raising taxes in the state of New Jersey this year.” Pawlenty’s and Christie’s actions go against a national trend. Since 2008, eight states have imposed income tax increases that apply only to high-income people: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, only three states raised the income tax in a broad-based manner: California raised rates on all tax brackets, Delaware raised income tax for people making more than $60,000, and Ohio cancelled a scheduled income tax cut. These tax increases have been saleable to voters as a tax on somebody else; Oregon’s Millionaire’s tax (and associated business tax increases) were even approved by voter referendum. Californians, on the other hand, were asked to approve a broad-based tax increase and rejected it. It’s not surprising that Millionaire’s Taxes are tempting for legislators. But states increase their reliance on high-income taxpayers at their peril, for two reasons. One is that wealthy people tend to have the most volatile incomes, especially because they often have significant capital gain income that goes away when stock markets crash. California, which has the most progressive income tax code of any state, has seen some of the country’s wildest revenue swings in the recession, contributing to its worst-in-the-country fiscal situation. High volatility is even being seen with brand-new Millionaire’s Taxes. As economic projections were revised downward through 2009, states realized they would not get as much revenue as expected from new taxes. New York raised its top rate for taxpayers earning over $500,000 from 6.85% to 8.97%, expecting to raise an extra $4 billion in 2009 - and has already fallen at least 10% short, with the gap likely to widen due to weaker-than-expected revenues with 2009 tax filings in April of this year. Even more importantly, increased tax progressivity appears to have negative effects on states’ economic prospects. A recent paper by Prof. Barry Poulson of the University of Colorado looked at states’ economic growth and tax progressivity over time. He found that higher marginal tax rates correlated with lower economic growth, and greater tax regressivity correlated with higher economic growth. This result isn’t surprising. Because barriers to mobility are so much lower between states than countries, states are less able to impose greater tax progressivity (i.e., higher rates on high income people) without driving taxpayers and/or capital to lower tax jurisdictions. Federal tax changes to come in 2011, which will reduce high-income taxpayers’ ability to deduct the cost of paying state income taxes, will heighten the competitive advantage of low-tax states over high-tax ones. This story should particularly hit home for New Jersey residents. The 2009 tax surcharge was an increase to the state’s already-existing Millionaire’s Tax, enacted in 2004. A recent Boston College study found that, while New Jersey experienced a net wealth inflow of $98 billion from 1999 to 2003, this changed to an outflow of $70 billion from 2004 to 2008, as wealthy people chose to settle elsewhere. Extending an even-higher Millionaire’s Tax could be expected to exacerbate the wealth flight. Of course, revenue volatility and effects on economic growth are most important if these taxes become a permanent feature of state tax codes. Will they? Like many of the Millionaire’s Taxes enacted or increased in the last two years, the proposals in Minnesota and New Jersey were for temporary increases: Minnesota’s would have expired in 2013, and New Jersey’s was to apply for 2010 only. But taxpayers reasonably fear that these increases could be made permanent. Milton Friedman’s observation that “There is no thing so permanent as a temporary government program” is often applied also to tax increases. In fact, the record is more mixed, and temporary tax increases sometimes do sunset: notably, New York raised income taxes temporarily in 2002, and California in the early 1990s, with both states allowing the increases to sunset after several years. But tax increases in the current budget cycle are far more likely to be permanent. A temporary tax increase can be expected to sunset if it is used to close a cyclical deficit; when the economy improves and the state’s finances return to normal, previous tax levels should be sufficient to cover government spending. California’s tech bubble of the 1990s and New York’s finance bubble of the 2000s helped matters by inflating tax revenues as the states climbed out of recession. Today, most states face significant structural deficits in addition to cyclical deficits, and these can only be closed with permanent spending cuts or tax increases. In the absence of permanent reforms to spending programs, taxpayers can expect that “temporary” tax increases will be here to stay - and that states enacting Millionaire’s Taxes will suffer competitive disadvantages on a permanent basis. In this context, Governors like Christie and Pawlenty are wise to draw a line in the sand against tax changes that would make their states’ tax codes less efficient and less competitive. Their alternative solution - spending reforms that will bring their states’ budgets toward sustainability at current tax levels - bodes better for their states’ economic prospects. Original Source: http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/05/18/millionaires_taxes_hit_a_reality_roadblock_98474.html

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Vigor Industrial to Acquire Todd Shipyards Todd Shipyards Corp. (NYSE: TOD) and Vigor Industrial LLC announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Vigor will acquire the stock of Todd for $22.27 per share, or approximately $130m. The transaction is structured as an all cash tender offer. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by Todd’s board of directors, Vigor will offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Todd’s common stock for $22.27 in cash per share. This represents a premium of 31% over the average closing price of Todd’s common stock during the three month period ended December 21, 2010. The price of Todd’s stock has climbed steadily during the year from a low of $13.98 to its recent 52 week high closing price of $21.00. The tender offer is scheduled to commence no later than December 30, 2010 and will expire on January 28, 2011 unless extended. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011. “We are pleased about the addition of Todd to the Vigor family,” said Frank Foti, the President of Vigor. “Todd is Puget Sound’s leading shipyard and the combination of Vigor and Todd will create the largest and most capable marine services company in the Pacific Northwest. This transaction will be good for the customers and employees of both companies and will broaden our capabilities. The combination of resources and capabilities will allow the combined companies to expand both the scope and capacity of their ship repair and new construction business.” “This transaction is a testament to the excellent work Todd has done to revitalize our business. Not only is this transaction good for our stockholders, but it’s good for the shipyard and our employees,” said Stephen G. Welch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Todd. “We believe that the addition of Todd’s products to Vigor will help create a stronger, more diversified company with long-term advantages for both companies’ customers and employees.” Todd’s management will remain intact and all contracts will remain in place. The acquisition will allow for stable utilization of facilities while continuing to strengthen the combined companies’ industry presence and opportunities for growth. Todd’s directors and officers and certain other stockholders who own an aggregate of approximately 15.3 percent of Todd’s outstanding stock have entered into agreements pursuant to which they have agreed to tender their shares in the tender offer and to vote their shares in favor of a merger if a vote is required by law. Vigor has obtained financing commitments to purchase all outstanding shares and refinance existing indebtedness. Under the terms of the agreement, the transaction is conditioned upon, among other things, satisfaction of the minimum tender condition of approximately 67 percent of Todd’s common shares, the expiration of all applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and other customary closing conditions. In the event that the minimum tender condition is not met, and in certain other circumstances, the parties have agreed to complete the transaction through a one-step merger after receipt of shareholder approval. Under the terms of the agreement, Todd may solicit superior proposals from third parties through January 28, 2011, subject to extension at Todd’s option as provided in the agreement. It is not anticipated that any developments will be disclosed with regard to this process unless Todd’s Board of Directors makes a decision with respect to a potential superior proposal. There is no guaranty that this process will result in a superior proposal. K&L Gates LLP is acting as legal advisor to Vigor. Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. is acting as Todd’s legal advisor. Houlihan Lokey Financial Advisors, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Todd’s Transaction Committee.

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Court Reduces Horizon Lines' Fine To $15 Million REDUCED FINE REMOVES MAY 21ST DEFAULT POTENTIAL RELATED TO CONVERTIBLE NOTES AND IS EXPECTED TO FACILITATE REFINANCING Company Intends to Proceed with Puerto Rico Class Action Settlement CHARLOTTE, NC (April 28, 2011) - Horizon Lines, Inc. (NYSE: HRZ) today announced that a federal court has granted a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce the company's fine related to federal antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico tradelane from $45 million to $15 million. As a result of the reduced fine, Horizon Lines is no longer facing the prospect of a May 21, 2011, default under its convertible note indenture. The company could have been declared in default by the convertible note holders on any judgment over $15 million that the company was unable to pay, bond, or otherwise discharge in full within 60 days of the March 22, 2011 judgment. "We are greatly appreciative of this action by the Department of Justice, which also allows the company to proceed with settlement of the class action litigation in Puerto Rico," said Michael T. Avara, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "The fine reduction will preserve our company's financial flexibility, and we are confident that it will facilitate our efforts to secure new long-term financing. We remain in constructive discussions as we continue to move forward with our refinancing efforts." The reduced fine of $15 million is payable over five years without interest, with $1 million payable within 30 days of March 24, 2011 (which has been paid), $1 million on or before the first anniversary, $2 million on the second anniversary, $3 million on the third anniversary, and $4 million annually on the fourth and fifth anniversaries. Stephen H. Fraser, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "While our customers have been overwhelmingly supportive since we filed the 10-K, our company has faced a challenging business environment through the first-quarter. We have been operating under increasingly tight constraints imposed by certain of our suppliers due to the going-concern audit opinion, which resulted in part from the note holders' decision to not grant us a waiver. This, in turn, has reduced our liquidity. The fine reduction should help give our business partners renewed confidence in our company's ability to continue supporting our customers and providing superior service. We look forward to executing a comprehensive refinancing with the note holders or other partners that will better position Horizon Lines for long-term success." Mr. Fraser continued: "In addition to our loyal customers and suppliers, I want to thank the dedicated associates of Horizon Lines for their hard work and unrelenting focus on customer service, safety and operational excellence. The associates of Horizon Lines are truly this company's greatest asset, and with their support, I am confident that we have a bright future ahead." Company Intends to Proceed with Puerto Rico Class Action Settlement Horizon Lines also announced that the plaintiffs in the direct purchaser antitrust class action in Puerto Rico will not object to the company paying the remainder of the $10 million due under the settlement agreement in two equal installments, with the first due within 30 days after final approval by the court and the second due within 60 days after final approval by the court. As a result, the company does not intend to exercise its right to terminate the agreement. Source: Horizon Lines

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› Allemagne › A New Agenda for Trade A New Agenda for Trade Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, delivered at the Trade Policy Luncheon Discussion “Standstill in the Doha Round - are bilateral free-trade agreements a way out of the dead-end?” Berlin, 30 October 2012 Dear State Secretary, dear Pascal, ladies and gentlemen: Let me start by thanking you, Madame Herkes, for your initiative to bring us together to discuss the benefits of multilateral and bilateral trade agreements and exchange on what could be our future narrative for trade. It has been almost 11 years since the Doha Development Agenda was launched and a successful conclusion remains elusive. Meanwhile, world trade has changed dramatically with the onset of the global economic crisis and creeping protectionism, evidenced in the regular monitoring of protectionist measures that we do for the G20. At the same time, our economic interdependence is increasing due, in part, to the emergence of global value chains. We need to re-think the role of trade and the tools of trade policy, and to re-invigorate efforts to open markets further. Attention in Geneva is now moving to negotiate separately one issue on which progress appears feasible: trade facilitation. The benefits of an agreement here are substantial; an OECD study estimates that reducing global trade costs by 1% would increase world-wide income by more than USD 40 billion, 65% of which would accrue to developing countries. It is also the case that lengthy or unreliable export and import times not only reduce trade volumes but also the probability that firms will enter export markets for time-sensitive products. There are also on-going negotiations within the WTO to conclude an International Services Agreement, but with a reduced number of players. And increasing attention is being focused on concluding regional or bilateral trade agreements. By January 2012, the WTO had received 511 notifications of free trade agreements, while 319 were in force. It is important to ensure that these efforts complement, rather than compete with, multilateral market opening. I am convinced that increased trade openness, accompanied by appropriate active labour market and social protection policies, is a core component of an effective G20 structural policy response to the current economic challenges. We have repeated this message at the OECD for some time and provided evidence-based recommendations in this regard. Ambitious market opening in traditionally high support sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing is required, but it is also essential to open markets for services trade. Services not only provide the bulk of new employment and income in many countries. In areas such as the financial and telecommunications sectors, they also provide vital input for the production of other goods and services. Germany in particular needs to deregulate in some services sectors. It ranks, for example, 22 out of 27 OECD countries in terms of strictness in the professional services sector. The whole process of producing goods, from raw materials to finished products, is increasingly carried out wherever the necessary skills and materials are available at competitive cost and quality. Advances in information and communications technologies have helped make the emergence of global value chains possible for both goods and services. I do not have to tell you in Germany, and in particular to the people around this table, that manufactured goods still account for the largest share of international trade (75%). But improvements in technology, standardisation, infrastructure growth and decreasing data transmission costs have all facilitated the sourcing of services from abroad. In particular, “knowledge work” such as data entry or research and consultancy services can easily be carried out via the Internet and e-mail, and through tele- and video-conferencing. Here, Germany has a lot to catch-up in order to be better prepared for a knowledge-based economy. In effect, the share of services in trade is significantly under-estimated because of measurement difficulties associated with electronic transmissions, and because services are often embedded in physical goods. Moreover, most trade today is in intermediate inputs – over 50% of global goods trade and over 70% of global services trade. Firms are importing world class inputs in order to improve their productivity and competitiveness, in both domestic and export markets. To put it simply: you need to import in order to export successfully. Together with the WTO, we have recently launched an initiative to study this phenomenon and distill its policy implications. This is not an academic exercise, and has the potential to affect the political debate and, one would hope, the trade negotiating tactics of countries. While it is common to hear concerns that imports threaten domestic jobs, the reality is that jobs are increasingly created as part of global value chains. Trade flows in value-added terms will indicate where these jobs are created and highlight the benefits of trade for all economies involved in the value chain. Let me illustrate this with a product such as a motor vehicle. With gross flows of exports, the full value of the car is attributed to the exporting country, let’s say Germany. But it is relatively easy to break this value down into the direct content provided by domestic, in this case around 80%, and foreign suppliers, thus around 20%. But this does not tell the whole story. It doesn't reflect the upstream impact of German suppliers to the motor vehicle industry who may have sourced their components, or parts of them, from abroad. If you look at the value-added content of German motor vehicles by accounting for all of these upstream effects, then a significantly smaller share of the export of the motor car, around 70%, generates value-added in Germany. When account is taken of the importance of global value chains in world trade, mercantilist-styled “beggar thy neighbor” strategies turn out to be “beggar thyself” miscalculations. For example, a study of the European shoe industry highlights that shoes “manufactured in Asia” incorporate between 50% and 80% of European Union value-added. In 2006, anti-dumping rights were introduced by the European Commission on shoes imported from China and Vietnam. An analysis in value-added terms would have revealed that the incidence of the anti-dumping rights fell more on EU value-added than on that of its trading partners. We should not be naïve: we know that hard evidence will not be enough to unlock the negotiations in Geneva. But it is a useful place to start. And if we were to start focusing on the implications of looking at trade in value added terms, then we will begin to better understand why countries are clamoring for free trade areas in the absence of progress in the DDA. Countries want to ensure that their businesses do not miss out on being part of these global value chains. Ideally, our objective in trade policymaking is to promote initiatives that lower trade costs and reduce discrimination. Such initiatives can deliver better growth and employment outcomes. This was confirmed by the International Collaborative Initiative on Trade and Employment (ICITE), led by the OECD and involving 10 international and regional organizations. Their conclusions are clear: open markets further; protect workers, not jobs. It also means: invest in education and skills training to allow workers to seize newly emerging opportunities, and in robust safety nets to assist those unable to adapt on their own. When such supporting policies are in place, trade-generated growth is more inclusive. As a result, trade and market openness becomes a more potent tool for generating better quality jobs and boosting growth. Stepping back from the multilateral trading system would leave everyone worse-off. In the current environment of anaemic growth and high unemployment, we are in particularly dire need for vigorous and concerted multilateral efforts to move forward and reduce barriers to economic integration. OECD will continue to bring to you and to the world our evidence-based analysis and policy options in support of a job-rich and sustainable recovery. Meeting with Chancellor Merkel and Heads of International Organisations (Berlin, 30th - 31st October 2012) Also Available A New Agenda for Trade

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Ed Whitfield on Tax Reform Republican Representative (KY-1) Voted NO on extending AMT exemptions to avoid hitting middle-income. Congressional Summary: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to:increase and extend through 2008 the alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amounts;extend through 2008 the offset of personal tax credits against AMT tax liabilities;treat net income and loss from an investment services partnership interest as ordinary income and loss; deny major integrated oil companies a tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production of oil or gas.Wikipedia.com Explanation: The AMT became operative in 1970. It was intended to target 155 high-income households that had been eligible for so many tax benefits that they owed little or no income tax under the tax code of the time. However, when Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the AMT was greatly expanded to aim at a different set of deductions that most Americans receive. The AMT sets a minimum tax rate of 26% or 28% on some taxpayers so that they cannot use certain types of deductions to lower their tax. By contrast, the rate for a corporation is 20%. Affected taxpayers are those who have what are known as "tax preference items". These include long-term capital gains, accelerated depreciation, & percentage depletion.Because the AMT is not indexed to inflation, an increasing number of upper-middle-income taxpayers have been finding themselves subject to this tax. In 2006, an IRS report highlighted the AMT as the single most serious problem with the tax code. For 2007, the AMT Exemption was not fully phased until [income reaches] $415,000 for joint returns. Within the $150,000 to $415,000 range, AMT liability typically increases as income increases above $150,000.OnTheIssues.org Explanation: This vote extends the AMT exemption, and hence avoids the AMT affecting more upper-middle-income people. This vote has no permanent effect on the AMT, although voting YES implies that one would support the same permanent AMT change. Reference: Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act; Bill H.R.6275 Voted NO on paying for AMT relief by closing offshore business loopholes. H.R.4351: To provide individuals temporary relief from the alternative minimum tax (AMT), via an offset of nonrefundable personal tax credits. [The AMT was originally intended to apply only to people with very high incomes, to ensure that they paid a fair amount of income tax. As inflation occurred, more people became subject to the AMT, and now it applies to people at upper-middle-class income levels as well. Both sides agree that the AMT should be changed to apply only to the wealthy; at issue in this bill is whether the cost of that change should be offset with a tax increase elsewhere or with no offset at all. -- ed.]Proponents support voting YES because:Rep. RANGEL: We have the opportunity to provide relief to upward of some 25 million people from being hit by a $50 billion tax increase, which it was never thought could happen to these people. Almost apart from this, we have an opportunity to close a very unfair tax provision, that certainly no one has come to me to defend, which prevents a handful of people from having unlimited funds being shipped overseas under deferred compensation and escaping liability. Nobody, liberal or conservative, believes that these AMT taxpayers should be hit by a tax that we didn't intend. But also, no one has the guts to defend the offshore deferred compensation. So what is the problem?Opponents recommend voting NO because:Rep. McCRERY: This is a bill that would patch the AMT, and then increase other taxes for the patch costs. Republicans are for patching the AMT. Where we differ is over the question of whether we need to pay for the patch by raising other taxes. The President's budget includes a 1-year patch on the AMT without a pay-for. That is what the Senate passed by a rather large vote very recently, 88-5. The President has said he won't sign the bill that is before us today. Republicans have argued against applying PAYGO to the AMT patch. In many ways PAYGO has shown itself to be a farce. Reference: AMT Relief Act; Bill HR4351 Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends. Vote to reduce federal spending by $56.1 billion over five years by retaining a reduced tax rate on capital gains and dividends, as well as. Decreasing the number of people that will be required to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)Allowing for deductions of state and local general sales taxes through 2007 instead of 2006Lengthening tax credits for research expensesIncreasing the age limit for eligibility for food stamp recipients from 25 to 35 yearsContinuing reduced tax rates of 15% and 5% on capital gains and dividends through 2010Extending through 2007 the expense allowances for environmental remediation costs (the cost of cleanup of sites where petroleum products have been released or disposed) Reference: Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act; Bill HR 4297 Voted YES on providing tax relief and simplification. Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 Extension of Family Tax Provisions Repeals the scheduled reduction (15 to 10 percent) for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2005, of the refundability of the child tax credit. Extends through 2005 the increased exemption from the alternative minimum tax for individual taxpayers. Extends through 2005 the following expiring tax provisions: the tax credit for increasing research activities; the work opportunity tax credit; the welfare-to-work tax credit; the authority for issuance of qualified zone academy bonds; the charitable deduction for donations by corporations of computer technology and equipment used for educational purposes; the tax deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers; the expensing of environmental remediation costs; the designation of a District of Columbia enterprise zone Reference: Bill sponsored by Bill Rep Thomas [R, CA-22]; Bill H.R.1308 Voted YES on making permanent an increase in the child tax credit. Vote to pass a bill that would permanently extend the $1,000 per child tax credit that is scheduled to revert to $700 per child in 2005. It would raise the amount of income a taxpayer may earn before the credit begins to phase out from $75,000 to $125,000 for single individuals and from $110,000 to $250,000 for married couples. It also would permit military personnel to include combat pay in their gross earnings in order to calculate eligibility for the child tax credit. Reference: Child Credit Preservation and Expansion Act; Bill HR 4359 Voted YES on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty. Vote to pass a bill that would permanently extend tax provisions eliminating the so-called marriage penalty. The bill would make the standard deduction for married couples double that of single taxpayers. It would also increase the upper limit of the 15 percent tax bracket for married couples to twice that of singles. It also would make permanent higher income limits for married couples eligible to receive the refundable earned-income tax credit. Reference: Marriage Penalty Relief; Bill HR 4181 Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Vote to pass a bill that would permanently extend the cuts in last year's $1.35 trillion tax reduction package, many of which are set to expire in 2010. It would extend relief of the marriage penalty, reductions in income tax rates, doubling of the child tax credit, elimination of the estate tax, and the expansion of pension and education provisions. The bill also would revise a variety of Internal Revenue Service tax provisions, including interest, and penalty collection provisions. The penalties would change for the failure to pay estimated taxes; waive minor, first-time error penalties; exclude interest on unintentional overpayments from taxable income; and allow the IRS greater discretion in the disciplining of employees who have violated policies. Reference: Bill sponsored by Lewis, R-KY; Bill HR 586 Voted YES on $99 B economic stimulus: capital gains & income tax cuts. Vote to pass a bill that would grant $99.5 billion in federal tax cuts in fiscal 2002, for businesses and individuals.The bill would allow more individuals to receive immediate $300 refunds, and lower the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 18%. Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years. Vote to pass a bill that would cut all income tax rates and make other tax cuts of $958.2 billion over 10 years. The bill would convert the five existing tax rate brackets, which range from 15 to 39.6 percent, to a system of four brackets with rates of 10 to 33 percent. Reference: Bill sponsored by Thomas, R-CA; Bill HR 1836 Voted YES on eliminating the Estate Tax ("death tax"). Vote to pass a bill that would gradually reduce revenue by $185.5 billion over 10 years with a repeal of the estate tax by 2011. Reference: Bill sponsored by Dunn, R-WA; Bill HR 8 Voted YES on eliminating the "marriage penalty". Vote on a bill that would reduce taxes for married couple by approximately $195 billion over 10 years by removing provisions that make taxes for married couples higher than those for two single people. The bill is identical to HR 6 that was passed by the House in February, 2000. Reference: Bill sponsored by Archer, R-TX; Bill HR 4810 Voted YES on $46 billion in tax cuts for small business. Provide an estimated $46 billion in tax cuts over five years. Raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years. Reduce estate and gift taxes, grant a full deduction on health insurance for self-employed individuals, increase the deductible percentage of business meal expenses to 60 percent in 2002, and designate 15 renewal communities in urban rural areas. Reference: Bill sponsored by Lazio, R-NY; Bill HR 3081 Phaseout the death tax. Whitfield co-sponsored the Death Tax Elimination Act: Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to phaseout the estate and gift taxes over a 10-year period. Summary: Repeals, effective January 1, 2011, current provisions relating to the basis of property acquired from a decedent. Provides with respect to property acquired from a decedent dying on January 1, 2011, or later that:property shall be treated as transferred by gift; and the basis of the person acquiring the property shall be the lesser of the adjusted basis of the decedent or the fair market value of the property at the date of the decedent's death. Requires specified information to be reported concerning non-cash assets over $1.3 million transferred at death and certain gifts exceeding $25,000. Makes the exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence available to heirs. Revises current provisions concerning the transfer of farm real to provide that gain on such exchange shall be recognized to the estate only to the extent that the fair market value of such property exceeds such value on the date of death. Provides a similar rule for certain trusts. Amends the special rules for allocation of the generation-skipping tax (GST) exemption to provide that if any individual makes an indirect skip during such individual's lifetime, any unused portion of such individual's GST exemption shall be allocated to the property transferred to the extent necessary to make the inclusion ratio for such property zero; and if the amount of the indirect skip exceeds such unused portion, the entire unused portion shall be allocated to the property transferred. Provides that, if an allocation of the GST exemption to any transfers of property is deemed to have been made at the close of an estate tax inclusion period, the value of the property shall be its value at such time. Source: House Resolution Sponsorship 01-HR8 on Mar 14, 2001 Rated 60% by NTU, indicating "Satisfactory" on tax votes. Whitfield scores 60% by NTU on tax-lowering policies Every year National Taxpayers Union (NTU) rates U.S. Representatives and Senators on their actual votes�every vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers. NTU assigned weights to the votes, reflecting the importance of each vote�s effect. NTU has no partisan axe to grind. All Members of Congress are treated the same regardless of political affiliation. Our only constituency is the overburdened American taxpayer. Grades are given impartially, based on the Taxpayer Score. The Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and regulation and opposing higher taxes. In general, a higher score is better because it means a Member of Congress voted to lessen or limit the burden on taxpayers. The Taxpayer Score can range between zero and 100. We do not expect anyone to score a 100, nor has any legislator ever scored a perfect 100 in the multi-year history of the comprehensive NTU scoring system. A high score does not mean that the Member of Congress was opposed to all spending or all programs. High-scoring Members have indicated that they would vote for many programs if the amount of spending were lower. A Member who wants to increase spending on some programs can achieve a high score if he or she votes for offsetting cuts in other programs. A zero score would indicate that the Member of Congress approved every spending proposal and opposed every pro-taxpayer reform. Source: NTU website 03n-NTU on Dec 31, 2003 Rated 0% by the CTJ, indicating opposition to progressive taxation. Whitfield scores 0% by the CTJ on taxationissues OnTheIssues.org interprets the 2005-2006 CTJ scores as follows: 0% - 20%: opposes progressive taxation (approx. 235 members)21% - 79%: mixed record on progressive taxation (approx. 39 members)80%-100%: favors progressive taxation (approx. 190 members)About CTJ (from their website, www.ctj.org): Citizens for Tax Justice, founded in 1979, is not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on federal, state and local tax policies and their impact upon our nation. CTJ's mission is to give ordinary people a greater voice in the development of tax laws. Against the armies of special interest lobbyists for corporations and the wealthy, CTJ fights for: Fair taxes for middle and low-income families Requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share Closing corporate tax loopholes Adequately funding important government services Reducing the federal debt Taxation that minimizes distortion of economic markets Source: CTJ website 06n-CTJ on Dec 31, 2006 Replace income tax & employment tax with FairTax. Whitfield signed H.R.25 & S.296 Repeals the income tax, employment tax, and estate and gift tax. Imposes a national sales tax on the use or consumption in the United States of taxable property or services. Sets the sales tax rate at 23% in 2011, with adjustments to the rate in subsequent years. Allows exemptions from the tax for property or services purchased for business, export, or investment purposes, and for state government functions. Prohibits the funding of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after FY2013. Establishes in the Department of the Treasury: (1) an Excise Tax Bureau to administer excise taxes not administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and (2) a Sales Tax Bureau to administer the national sales tax. Terminates the sales tax imposed by this Act if the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (authorizing an income tax) is not repealed within seven years after the enactment of this Act. Source: Fair Tax Act 09-HR25 on Jan 6, 2009 Taxpayer Protection Pledge: no new taxes. Whitfield signed Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" Politicians often run for office saying they won't raise taxes, but then quickly turn their backs on the taxpayer. The idea of the Pledge is simple enough: Make them put their no-new-taxes rhetoric in writing.In the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, candidates and incumbents solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases. While ATR has the role of promoting and monitoring the Pledge, the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is actually made to a candidate's constituents, who are entitled to know where candidates stand before sending them to the capitol. Since the Pledge is a prerequisite for many voters, it is considered binding as long as an individual holds the office for which he or she signed the Pledge.Since its rollout with the endorsement of President Reagan in 1986, the pledge has become de rigeur for Republicans seeking office, and is a necessity for Democrats running in Republican districts. Source: Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" 10-ATR on Aug 12, 2010 Supports the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Whitfield signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge against raising taxes [The ATR, Americans for Tax Reform, run by conservative lobbyist Grover Norquist, ask legislators to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in each election cycle. Their self-description:]In the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, candidates and incumbents solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases. Since its rollout in 1986, the pledge has become de rigeur for Republicans seeking office, and is a necessity for Democrats running in Republican districts. Today the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is offered to every candidate for state office and to all incumbents. More than 1,100 state officeholders, from state representative to governor, have signed the Pledge. The Taxpayer Protection Pledge: "I pledge to the taxpayers of my district and to the American people that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates."Opponents' Opinion (from wikipedia.com):In Nov. 2011, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) claimed that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "no taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Source: Taxpayer Protection Pledge 12-ATR on Jan 1, 2012 Repeal the death tax, immediately and with no expiration. Whitfield co-sponsored Death Tax Repeal Act Repeals the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes) is hereby repealed.The repeal shall apply to estates of decedents dying, gifts made, and generation-skipping transfers made after the date of the enactment of this Act.Explanation from ObTheIssues.org:Previously the estate tax was repealed, but with a "sunset clause" which terminated the repeal as of 2012TK; this new act has no such built-in expiration. The previous versions of the estate tax repeal also scaled by year the percentage of an estate not subject to the tax; this new act has no scaling and would take full effect immediately. Source: H.R.147 13-HR0147 on Jan 3, 2013 Repeal marriage tax; cut middle class taxes. Whitfield signed the Contract with America: [As part of the Contract with America, within 100 days we pledge to bring to the House Floor the following bill]:The American Dream Restoration Act:A $500-per-child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle-class tax relief. Source: Contract with America 93-CWA7 on Sep 27, 1994 Click here for definitions & background information on Tax Reform. Click here for a profile of Ed Whitfield. Click here for HouseMatch answers by Ed Whitfield. Click here for a summary of Ed Whitfield's positions on all issues. Click here for other KY politicians. Click here for KY archives. 2012 Governor, House and Senate candidates on Tax Reform: Ed Whitfield on other issues: KY Gubernatorial:Steve BeshearKY Senatorial:Alison GrimesMitch McConnellRand Paul KY politicians KY Archives Contact info:Email Contact FormMailing Address: Rayburn HOB 2411, Washington, DC 20515Phone number: (202) 225-3115

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Treasury and Fed help AIG lay-off CDO risk /risk-magazine/news/1502862/treasury-fed-help-aig-lay-cdo-risk 10 Nov 2008, Mark Pengelly, Risk magazine Through its subsidiary, AIG Financial Products, AIG is saddled with the increasingly expensive credit risk of souring subprime-related CDOs. Despite an infusion of $85 billion for 79.9% of the company by the New York Fed in September, as well as an additional liquidity line extended in October, the company on November 11 reported a $24.5 billion net loss for the third quarter. Under the restructuring plan, AIG and the New York Fed will sponsor two new financial entities – one to deal with the risks of AIG’s shaky CDO of asset-backed securities (ABSs) book and another to close-out AIG’s loss-making securities lending business. The biggest of the vehicles will be collateralised by up to $30 billion from the New York Fed and a $5 billion subordinated loan from AIG. It will then purchase up to around $70 billion of multi-sector CDOs of ABSs on which the firm has written credit default swaps (CDSs), terminating the protection sold on them in the process. According to AIG, multi-sector CDOs of ABSs have accounted for 95% of the writedowns suffered by the firm on its CDS portfolio. Although AIG will take the first $5 billion of any losses on the acquired assets, its exposure will be limited to this amount once the transaction is executed. Meanwhile, both AIG and the Fed will share in any potential upside from the deal. AIG and the Fed are also contributing $1 billion and $22.5 billion, respectively, to another entity that will purchase assets relating to the insurer’s securities lending business. It will buy up bad residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by the securities lending business, limiting AIG’s exposure to them at $1 billion. Similar to the first vehicle, it allows both AIG and the New York Fed to share in any profits that result from the purchases. The second vehicle also removes the need for the securities lending facility established by AIG and the New York Fed on October 8, which allowed the firm to deposit investment-grade fixed-income securities in return for a maximum of $37.8 billion of additional cash collateral. This facility had $19.9 billion outstanding on November 5, according to the insurer. The restructuring plan sees the Treasury injecting new capital into the insurer, purchasing warrants on 2% of AIG’s common stock and investing $40 billion in perpetual preferred stock under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp). The new capital will be used to pay down $25 billion of the $85 billion New York Fed credit facility originally extended on September 16. A number of other terms are being adjusted on the deal, including the reduction of the punitive 8.5% interest rate, which will now come down to 3%. The duration of the loan will also increase from two years to five. AIG chief executive Edward Liddy praised the various measures, saying they would establish a “durable capital structure” for the beleaguered insurer. The US Treasury noted admission to the Tarp meant the company would now have to “comply with the most stringent limitations on executive compensation for its top five senior executives”, as well as limits on golden parachutes and a freeze in the bonus pool for its top 70 executives.See also: CFO replaced in compensation probe at AIG Fed to lend additional $37.8 billion to AIGUS government takes control of AIGAIG secures $20 billion bridge loan, but still downgradedAIG replaces CEO after subprime losses mount Print | Close

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History of ADEW In the mid-1980s, a group of development professionals launched a pioneer micro-finance project in the community of traditional Cairene garbage collectors, Zaballeen. The project was the first of its kind in Egypt and was lauded for making credit accessible to a marginalized community that otherwise had no access to financial services. During the course of the project, the project organizers recognized a unique opportunity to replicate the project's success in additional low-income areas of Cairo. They networked with other development professionals and together identified a target group that was particularly vulnerable: low-income women of female-headed households. In 1987, these twenty men and women officially created the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW). The Association registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs as a private, voluntary, non-governmental organization, and the first ADEW office opened in the low-income area of Manshiet Nasser. ADEW Today Since its beginning as a micro-credit organization, ADEW has extended both its field sites and its services as it has grown. In addition to credit programs, ADEW today offers literacy programs, health services, and legal awareness seminars and operates from 15 offices in 5 different areas with a staff of 200 members. From the beginning, ADEW has recognized the importance of empowering female heads of households. When ADEW was founded in 1987, it was the first feminist NGO in Egypt to deal specifically with this issue. Over the past 17 years, ADEW has emerged as both an influential grassroots organization and a leading advocate for women's rights. Field Sites ADEW is active in some of the poorest areas in Cairo and its suburbs, namely, Manshiet Nasser, Masr El-Qadeema, Dar Essalam, El-Gamalia, Shoubra, Qalyoubiya and Gharbiya. Manshiet Nasser, for example, is a squatter community on the outskirts of the city that sprung up in the 1960s. The population has grown to more than 400,000 inhabitants making Manshiet Nasser one of the largest and most populated squatter communities in Cairo. A large section of the area does not have access to running water, sewage systems or electricity. Most of the roads in Manshiet Nasser are unpaved and too narrow for normal vehicle traffic. The severe slopes and uneven changes in elevation mean that large sections of the District (above 85 meters) do not have access to basic services such as running water and sewage systems. Even at lower levels, potable water is limited and a majority of people rely on pit latrines and old septic tanks and obtain their electricity through illegal taps. The area was once used as a landfill site, so the lower quarry levels are filled with centuries of refuse, resulting in poor foundation conditions vulnerable to leaking sewer and water systems. Health problems arising from the faulty sewage system, as well as from poor nutrition, inadequate vaccinations, and the toxic fumes produced by the burning of refuse in the garbage collectors' area are common. Government programs do not extend to squatter areas yet and relatively few other NGOs and associations work there. 40% of all households in the Manshiet Nasser are female-headed households, 40% of the overall inhabitants are illiterate, and according to a study conducted by one of the NGOs working in the area, only 15% of children over the age of six are enrolled in schools. Manshiet Nasser is divided into the upper part of the hill, inhabited by the Zabaleen (the garbage collectors), and the lower part of the hill, inhabited by a working-class community mainly employed in small informal businesses or as petty vendors. Most residents are immigrants from Upper Egypt. Recent downturns in the Egyptian economy, together with an increase in governmental attempts to restrict the informal sector have had a major impact on the already vulnerable economy in Manshiet Nasser causing the unemployment rate to rise in the area

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Trending – You Say Goodbye and We Say Hello Jason Del Rey ethics statement bio e-mail RSS Follow @DelRey Recent Posts by Jason Del Rey A New Perk for Google Employees? It Could Be Low-Interest Personal Loans. Forget the free gourmet food. If peer-to-peer lending marketplace Lending Club has its way, low-interest loans may be the next big employee perk at Google. According to sources, Google is among the companies Lending Club has been pitching on putting cash holdings to work by offering low-interest loans to employees, with the Lending Club platform facilitating the deals. (Perhaps it has to do with Google’s new late-stage investment fund Google Capital. which happens to have recently led a $125 million investment in Lending Club, by acquiring shares from existing shareholders.) Lending Club’s pitch is part of the company’s strategy to push beyond its initial focus on peer-to-peer loans by opening up its platform to large institutions such as banks and corporations as it eyes a potential 2014 IPO. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment, noting: “There’s nothing to share on Google’s end.” Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche said that his company is not currently working with Google on such an initiative, but would not confirm or deny that talks have taken place. Still, he did confirm that his company is in talks with large companies — with employee counts of Google’s size or larger — about facilitating this type of human-resources benefit. “The program we’re putting in place gives the ability for large companies with lots of employees to make loans to their employees and use their treasury reserves, on which they are earning like one or two percent, and put them to work,” he said in a recent interview. “At the same time, they would be offering a lower interest rate to their employees than what they’re paying on their credit cards or other loans they have. It’s really an HR benefit and recruiting tool.” Laplanche imagines employees using these loans to pay off high-interest credit card debt, large student loans or simply to consolidate debt into one loan, with payments being automatically deducted from paychecks. Lending Club charges an origination fee, typically of about four percent, to borrowers, but some companies may choose to pay that for their employees, Laplanche said. He said it was likely that Lending Club would ink deals with some large corporations in 2014. At the same time, the loans would in theory give corporations better returns on some of their holdings, while also serving as a recruiting and retention tool. They could be a nice perk for part-time workers who may need the help the most. The opening up of the platform began earlier this year, when Lending Club announced that two community banks had begun buying Lending Club loans. One of them, Texas-based Titan Bank, also started using the platform to offer loans to its own customers. Lending Club, which is profitable and will book about $100 million in revenue this year, according to Laplanche, also sees a huge opportunity to facilitate loans to small businesses in the future. The company feels it is in a good position to go public next year, Laplanche said, although it doesn’t need the capital. “There’s no urgency for us to go public but as part of building the brand and establishing Lending Club as the bank of the next decade, I think being a public company is part of building up the brand awareness,” he said. Tagged with: Google, Google Capital, HR benefits, Lending Club, personal loans That Giant Bitcoin Crash in the Wake of China Restrictions? It Never Happened. This Is What It Looks Like Inside an Amazon Warehouse (Photos) By Setting Debit Limits Following Target Breach, Chase Looking Out for Itself, Too As Amazon’s Stock Hits All-Time High, Warehouse Issues Under Scrutiny

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In the Euro Crisis, Greece is a Sideshow to Spain and Italy By Daniel Gross Contrary Indicator Greece is becoming like one of those celebrities who has to do or say ever more outrageous things to continue to stake a claim on public attention. (Ahem, Mr. Trump.) Having sought two bailouts and convinced many bondholders to take a 75 percent haircut on the value of their holdings, Greece has lately resorted to more extreme measures. Like electing several members of the neo-fascist party Golden Dawn to Parliament, as it did last month. Or perhaps by electing a party to run the government that has threatened to default on its debt entirely, as it may do on Sunday.But as is the case with celebrities making outrageous statements, Greece's ability to shock the world is declining. And in fact, given the activity elsewhere in the euro zone, the action in Greece is becoming something of a sideshow.Consider. Holders of Greek bonds have already accepted a three-quarters reduction in the value of their holdings; that means there is only 25 percent to go. A conscious decision by Greece to default on the remainder of its debt and leave the Euro entirely would certainly wreak havoc on the European banks that have lent to Greek private-sector companies. This chart shows Greece's public and private sector had a combined $447 billion in debt outstanding. That's a lot. But the world's financial system could survive the demise of the world's 38th largest economy, one whose output comprises about two percent of the euro zone. The writedown in the value of Greek sovereign debt is already causing Cyprus to seek a bailout. But Cyprus can be easily bailed out by China, Russia, the European Union or a generous billionaire. The European Central Bank, which holds a fair amount of Greek debt, can always print money to make up for the losses on its holdings.Analysts fret that a Greek default and exit would set a bad precedent. Won't countries with unbearable debt loads, like Ireland and Spain, simply default and leave the currency rather than pay them? But there's good reason to doubt a domino theory. Few countries have the toxic mix of a paralyzed political culture, financial mismanagement, corruption and a fundamental inability to collect taxes that Greece possesses.What's more, unlike Italy and Spain, the current subjects of the bond markets' ire, Greece is sufficiently small that it can fail without great consequence. The flipside of 'too big to fail,' is 'too small to matter.' In the U.S., hundreds of small banks failed without taxing the FDIC deposit insurance fund or threatening the system, but behemoths like Citigroup and Bank of America had to be saved at all costs. In today's world, whether you're a company, a business, or a government, you can only go bust if those to whom you owe money can afford it. The world has gotten to a point where it can afford to let Greece go completely tapioca, even if it doesn't like the consequences. But the same can never be said for Spain and Italy, the 10th and 13th largest economies in the world, respectively.Spain's banks are getting more credit, when they really need more capital. Growth is the best cure for a deep recession and a large debt burden. But Spain, which sports a 24 percent unemployment rate, a shrinking economy and a recent history of woefully underestimating the depth of its problems, doesn't show many signs of being able to do so. Meanwhile, investors are now questioning whether Italy — a country with a large debt load and a long history of slow growth — can afford to continually roll over its debt when investors force it to pay well over 6 percent for 10-year bonds.So as the drama of the Greek elections unfolds over the next few days, and as headline writers unfurl puns about Greek tragedies, the Grexit, and the drachma, let's not lose sight of the bigger stories unfolding across around the Mediterranean.Daniel Gross is economics editor at Yahoo! Finance.Follow him on Twitter @grossdm; email him at grossdaniel11@yahoo.com.DebtPolitics & Government Market News Play Investors: Ignore Ukraine, Watch Rates, Buy Blue C 04:32 Play Europe opens mixed after Yellen 01:40 Play Opportunity in stocks that didn't get 'Draghi … 00:55 Copyright 2012 Contrary Indicator

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Russia’s economy: A great run but an uncertain future By : Stephan Mergenthaler and Andrew Bishop Jan 23rd 2013 Stephan Mergenthaler and Andrew D. Bishop on the hurdles Russia faces. The Russian economy has had a great run over the past decade, as evidenced by its sevenfold increase in GDP per capita between 2000 and 2011. Yet despite this impressive growth story, the factors that underpinned Russia’s economic development over the past ten years are fraught with growing uncertainty. As the World Economic Forum’s Scenarios for the Russian Federation highlight, while Russia’s economy has grown substantially over the past years, it has also grown increasingly fragile. Russia has missed an opportunity to use the large energy windfalls of the past decade to reform its institutional environment and make itself more resilient to future shocks. Corruption has surged despite a significant increase in GDP, and growing spending on an ever-larger government apparatus has failed to improve the delivery of public services in sectors ranging from health to infrastructure. In part because of this, popular discontent has been on the rise regardless of the increasing material comfort enjoyed by the country’s growing middle class. Instead of building a more resilient economic model, energy revenues have served Russia to balance these shortcomings, an increasingly unviable option for the future. There is growing evidence that energy abundance may become a global reality sooner rather than later, and not only in the United States whose shale gas revolution is already transforming global energy markets. This could lead to a substantial decline in oil prices, which would hurt the Russian economy in its current composition. Yet even if energy prices remain high, Russia could fail to capitalize on its energy potential. The country critically needs to upgrade investments in its production capacities in order to move beyond ailing legacy fields and exploit untapped potential in less accessible areas including the Arctic. It also needs to adapt its business relationships and supply infrastructure in order to capitalize on new demand centres in the Far East and compete in the global LNG market. Russia has, so far, failed to turn its wealth into a driver of resilience. As highlighted by the report’s Precarious Stability scenario, if Russia’s demanding reforms seem difficult to execute in today’s times of growth, they will be nearly impossible to implement in periods of downturn. For instance, not only can it not be guaranteed that Russia’s energy sector will forever be able to support the country’s economy, but also its dominance could actually threaten Russia’s future economic vitality. This is one takeaway from the Beyond Complacency scenario, in which the proceeds from a booming oil and gas industry fail to improve the country’s institutions and lead to intractable popular discontent. However, by no means is Russia doomed. In fact, sources of opportunity abound, both within the country and in the influences that surround it. As the report’s Regional Rebalancing scenario points out, Russia has not only the ability to benefit from a new global environment of food and water scarcity by further exploiting its natural resources beyond oil and gas, but also the country could unleash enormous potential by embracing the strengths of its diverse and increasingly active regional provinces. There is no reason to assume that Russia will not be able to set itself on a new course of long-term, sustainable growth. Other energy economies have done it before, and just as the Russia of 1993 looked nothing like the Russia of 2013, tomorrow’s Russian Federation may surprise us all. Doing so, however, will require the country to better understand, accept and address the challenges it faces in order to create a brighter future for itself. That is one of the contributions the Forum’s Scenarios for the Russian Federation hopes to have achieved throughout the past year and at the Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters by engaging the country’s most senior policy and business decision-makers. Author: Stephan Mergenthaler is Deputy Head and Andrew D. Bishop is Project Manager with the Strategic Foresight practice at the World Economic Forum, which launches the Scenarios for the Russian Federation at the Annual Meeting on 22 January. This article also appeared on the FT. Image: The sun setting behind a crane in Russia REUTERS/REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin Posted by Stephan Mergenthaler and Andrew Bishop - scenarios for the russian federation Interview: The overlooked risks that... By : Martin Rees 'Dull and old' economies to lead global... By : Nariman Behravesh The ten most popular blog posts of 2013 By : Ceri Parker Video: Digital rights and wrongs By : Alex “Sandy” Pentland A call for resiliency and dynamism By : Dov Seidman The inspiring power of Davos By : Felipe Vergara A big push for global health By : Claudia Gonzalez Davos: an exchange of ideas By : Geoffrey Cape The economics of 2033 By : Barry Eichengreen Will civil society lead the way? By : Peter Prove Davos-Klosters, Switzerland 23 - 27 Jan 2013

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Mendoza comments Behind an expat's wine startup success January 25, 2012: 9:31 AM ET Vines of Mendoza managed to overcome the pangs of the global financial crisis and Argentina's inflation woes by keeping a close eye on costs and cutting deals whenever possible. By Ian Mount, contributor FORTUNE -- Language and cultural differences make it hard to be an expat entrepreneur under any circumstances. It's doubly hard if the main market for your product plunges into a wrenching economic crisis. And it's even more difficult if your costs are in a country that suffers incredibly high inflation. That's the position in which Michael Evans has found himself during the last few years. The Mendoza, Argentina-company he co-founded, Vines of Mendoza, was selling turn-key "vineyard estates" largely to Americans, whose disposable income evaporated following the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and financial crisis. Even worse, as Evans' buyers were disappearing, his costs were rising; Argentina's already high inflation shot past 20% in 2010 and stayed there. Evans knew something would have to be done fast. "I've been through something like this before in 2000, when I was at a dot-com. When something like that happens, you don't know exactly what's going to pass, but you know things will get worse before they get better," says Evans, 46. Faced with tumbling income and soaring inflation, as 2008 moved into 2009, the company cuts costs by 40% by laying off 30% of its staff ("By far, the worst day of my life," says Evans). Breeding armchair Mondavis in Mendoza Vines of Mendoza was born in 2005. At the end of 2004, after a stint on John Kerry's presidential campaign came to naught, Evans visited Argentina with his friend David Garrett, and they ended up touring Mendoza with Pablo Giménez Riili, a member of an old wine family. At the time, Argentina's economy was recovering from its 2001-2002 collapse and peso devaluation. While it had been disastrous for most Argentines, the collapse was great news for the local wine industry, because it lowered production costs and made the wine regions attractive to tourists and investors. Seeing that tourism was set to soar, Evans, Garrett, and Giménez Riili banged out a business plan for a company that would have a tasting room, a hotel, a mail order wine club and, most importantly, a vineyard estate business. More Posted in: Argentina, expatriate, Foreign business, Mendoza Most Popular

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Eyes on the Fed Fed: Low rates will continue Besides slashing its key interest rate to near 0%, the Fed has pumped trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy since 2008 by increasing the size of its balance sheet.By Chris Isidore, senior writerMarch 16, 2010: 3:21 PM ETNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate near 0% once again Tuesday and said rates should stay this low for the foreseeable future.Fed policymakers repeated their prediction that economic conditions are likely to result in "exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period." That promise of an easy-money policy has been in place since March 2009.Facebook Comment on this storySome economists, including Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig believe the Fed needs to drop that promise. Hoenig voted against keeping this language in place for the second straight meeting. He and some Fed critics worry that the central bank could be creating new bubbles in financial markets by keeping rates so low for such a long time.Keith Hembre, chief economist at First American Funds, said he thinks the Fed could drop that language this summer and raise rates late this year or early next year."We'll have to see jobs are being created on a sustainable basis. But we think that's coming in the next few months," he said.The so-called fed funds rate, a benchmark that determines the interest paid by consumers and businesses on a wide variety of loans, has been near 0% since December 2008, as the central bank worked to spur greater lending and economic activity.Joseph Carson, chief economist at AllianceBernstein, said the Fed appears to be underplaying the recovery in the U.S. economy. For example, the Fed did not mention exports, one of the strongest sectors of the economy in recent quarters, in its statement.Carson pointed out that the Fed's own forecasts now project about 4% growth for the U.S. economy in both 2010 and 2011."That growth expectation eventually has to follow through to their rate policy," he said. "Hoenig's arguments are well founded; staying at a 0% funds rate while the economy is starting to grow will eventually lead to imbalances."Besides low interest rates, the Fed has pumped trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy over the last two years through the purchases of mortgage-backed securities, long-term Treasurys and special lending programs.Most of those programs are at or near an end. The Fed said it is close to completing its planned purchases of $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities which it started in November 2008. It has long targeted the end of the first quarter for the completion of this program.Some economists are worried that mortgage rates will start to rise once the Fed is no longer buying mortgages.The Fed did note that despite some signs of a recovery in the U.S. economy, "investment in nonresidential structures is declining, housing starts have been flat at a depressed level, and employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls."The Fed also warned any improvement in the economy is "likely to be moderate for a time." It also said there is no threat of inflation in the near-term.The central bank has a dual mandate to promote economic growth and keep prices pressures in check. If the Fed was worried about inflation returning, it could be forced to raise rates or withdraw some of the cash it has pumped into the economy sooner rather than later.U.S. stocks shot up briefly following the Fed's announcement, but pared some of those gains later Tuesday. Bonds were little changed. Print How high will bond rates go? The Fed and bubble trouble Inflation dove Yellen in line to be No. 2 at Fed The Fed's great rate debate

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hide Olympus ex-CEO to return to Japan, top shareholder cuts stake Tuesday, November 15, 2011 4:54 a.m. EST Men walk past a sign of Olympus Corp outside the company's showroom in Tokyo By Taiga Uranaka and Chikafumi Hodo TOKYO (Reuters) - The former CEO of Olympus Corp, whose revelations about irregular deals and payments exposed an accounting scandal at the camera and medical equipment maker, will return to Japan next week to meet police and authorities investigating the case. "I'll arrive on Wednesday afternoon," Michael Woodford told Reuters by telephone, adding he expected the Japanese authorities to ensure his safety while in the country. Woodford, a Briton, fled Japan after being fired on October 14, and said earlier this month he didn't think it would be safe for him to return to the country. The scandal has raised fears, denied by Olympus, that the deals could be linked to "anti-social forces," a euphemism in Japan for organized crime. Woodford will meet with Japanese police, prosecutors and officials of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, the Japanese financial market regulator. Olympus is under investigation after admitting hiding investment losses for decades and using payments linked to acquisitions to aid the cover-up. Those payments included a $687 million fee paid to obscure financial advisers for Olympus's $2.2 billion purchase of British medical equipment firm Gyrus in 2008. The fee is the world's biggest, according to Thomson Reuters data. The Nikkei business daily said earlier Olympus may sell assets to help pay down debt under a plan aimed at keeping the support of its banks. Their backing is vital because the firm is relatively highly geared and is expected to have to make some hefty writedowns after its accounts are put straight. Katsunori Nagayasu, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association and president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the country's top bank, said it was the responsibility of main creditors to show support for a company in trouble. "But, if a company is found to have problems, like the involvement of anti-social forces, banks are not able to give support," he told reporters. Olympus released a presentation shown to creditors on Wednesday that included a simulation of how it could cut its interest-bearing debt by a third over 3 years to 408 billion yen ($5.3 billion), and still have cash left in the bank. SMALLER HOLDING Olympus' top shareholder, Nippon Life Insurance, has cut its stake in the firm to 5.11 percent from 8.18 percent due to the uncertainties, but will remain an investor as it believes Olympus has a strong core business and technology. "Our basic stance is that we will continue to support Olympus due to the company's high technological strength in its core business and because it is in the public's interest," said Akira Tsuzuki, an official at Nippon Life. Olympus, which employs nearly 40,000 people, is the global leader in endoscopes, and its optical technology may have defense applications. Shares in Olympus, which have lost 70 percent of their value since the scandal broke last month, see-sawed in heavy trade on Thursday, surging by as much as 18 percent then giving up almost all those gains to end 0.95 percent up at 747 yen. Investors are betting the firm will keep its coveted Tokyo Stock Exchange listing, though executives deemed responsible for the scandal may face criminal charges. Fumiyuki Nakanishi, strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, said banks were major shareholders as well as lenders to Olympus and none would benefit from a delisting, which would effectively cut the firm off from equity capital markets. "The big shareholders are the banks. They're the ones that are going to suffer if Olympus shares turn into scrap paper," said Nakanishi, noting Olympus still needed to meet a December 14 deadline for publishing its half-year accounts. TO DELIST, OR NOT? Olympus shares are on a watchlist as a possible prelude to delisting, which would be automatic if it misses next month's deadline. The company has reaffirmed it would announce its earnings by that date. The bourse can still delist the shares depending on the scope of past misstatements. But a securities watchdog source has said it might recommend the company be fined, a move that could decrease the risk of delisting. "Institutions and funds are selling their Olympus holdings, but as long as the company looks as if it might avoid delisting, hedge funds and speculator traders will keep buying it back, looking for short-term gains," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities. But, he added, "the rising trend could turn around quickly" if the company looked like it might miss the deadline. ANNUAL PROFIT In a sign that Olympus expects its core businesses to keep ticking over, it showed creditors a tentative operating profit forecast of 35.6 billion yen for the year to March - some way below a previous forecast of 50 billion yen announced in August, but about the same as last year's profit. Olympus said it may need to erase about 33.4 billion yen ($434 million) in goodwill related to its Gyrus acquisition when it revises past earnings statements. An independent panel commissioned by Olympus is still looking into this. If this were the only revision, such an amount would put a big dent in the company's equity, but not destroy it. At Wednesday's meeting, which involved about 100 bankers, two major creditors -- Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) -- said they would continue to support the firm, multiple sources told Reuters. Olympus' interest-bearing debts were about 650 billion yen ($8.45 billion) on a consolidated basis as of end-March. The two banks have total loans of over 400 billion yen to the firm, which also borrowed about 100 billion yen in syndicated loans, according to banking sources. ($1 = 76.950 Japanese Yen) (Additional reporting by Mari Saito, Yoko Kubota, Lisa Twaronite, Tim Kelly and Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Ian Geoghegan)

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All ContentcloseNews podcastsUse iTunesUse a different playerRSS View all podcasts & RSS feeds Money Coach Interest Rates Up: Could Spell Uncertainty For Home Loans, Retirement Share Tweet E-mail Comments Print By editor Listen Transcript MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, American high school graduation rates are the highest they've been in 40 years, but still, nearly a million students a year drop out. So we'll take a look at what's working and what's not in this area in just a few minutes. But first, we go to matters of personal finance. You might have noticed that interest rates are inching back up. There's talk that the Federal Reserve might be easing up on its efforts to stimulate the economy by keeping interest rates low. If that does happen, and interest rates continue to rise, that affects a lot of people. So we wanted to talk more about this so we've called upon, once again, one of our money coaches, Roben Farzad. He's a contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek and he's with us once again. Welcome back, thanks much for joining us once again. ROBEN FARZAD: Thank you Michel, how are you? MARTIN: So what is going on with interest rates? FARZAD: So you've seen interest rates back up and creep up over the past month or so since Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, gave testimony where he said that they could taper their unprecedented stimulus. In addition to keeping short-term interest rates near zero, the Federal Reserve has been buying on the order of $85 billion a month of bonds and mortgage securities, and that was never intended to be permanent. MARTIN: I guess the point being that it would have to end sometimes. But who would be most affected if it were? And would this be a shock to the economy, which we understand is now growing, but not fast enough to absorb all the people who are unemployed, all the people who are still looking, and all the people who've been harmed by, sort of, the troubles in recent years? FARZAD: Sure. To the extent that interest rates rise, interest rates are embedded in everything. They're baked into everything from home loans, to auto loans, to stock prices, to projects that corporate executives take on for their companies. If the government has to pay more to borrow money over 10 years, then Michel Martin has to pay more, then any person who walks into a home loan office has to pay more. So there's this idea that it would crowd out many people and hurt them in terms of their borrowing costs. MARTIN: What's the argument in favor of easing off on this stimulus and letting interest rates rise? FARZAD: Well, it was never intended to be forever. It was an emergency measure, obviously with a lot of the other things that the Federal Reserve has done in the wake of the financial crisis. As I mentioned, they kept short-term rates at zero percent. Now that they noticed that the stock market and the housing market are resurgent, that job market participation might be inching up, even though the unemployment rate is still uncomfortably high. They're realizing that it's time at some point, this is not permanent, to pull back the stimulus a bit. They're not going to take it all away at once, but maybe you'll take 85 billion a month to 65 billion a month, maybe then you take it to $45 billion a month. And then at that point, you have to convey to the world that well, we're doing this gradually and we want to make sure the economy can stand out on its own. MARTIN: Well, we do understand that the Fed is going to meet later this month. What factors are they likely to evaluate to decide whether to let rates start to go up or not? I mean, you're one of the people who was telling us that, yes, it's true that the housing market is coming back, but a lot of the people buying these homes are investors. So the average homeowner isn't participating in this. I mean, clearly there are, sort of, philosophical questions at work here. But what factors is the Fed likely to consider to decide what to do here? FARZAD: The Fed looks at unemployment and inflation, obviously. Inflation is under check but unemployment is still naggingly high. But they also, I think, implicitly look at other things. They look at the stock market being, pretty much out of record. They look at housing being not just recovering right now, but being hot in certain markets. You have speculators and investors back and not just that, you have people who relied on interest rates being low for refinancing, so existing homeowners. So it affects everyone out there. I mean, it's the rate that's on the tips of every trader's mouth, on the tips of their tongue, that you have to monitor this thing because it's embedded in every risk asset class in the world. MARTIN: Obviously how you react to this depends on who you are. You know, are you trying to buy a house? Are you trying to retire? But being as general as you can, are there things that people can do to prepare for this possibility that interest rates might start rising again? FARZAD: If you're a prospective mortgage holder, you have to ask yourself if you're going to play chicken with this game. You think rates are going to fall back down again and stay on the sidelines and wait for that to happen, or if you think rates are heading higher, it might be a good time to lock in the mortgage that you are eyeing right now. In addition, rising rates, rising bond yields hurt bond investors. I know it sounds opposite to what you would think typically, but you have to look at your bond portfolios and see what the sensitivity would be to rising rates. This is still an open question for the entire economy. How does the economy coming out of this economic calamity deal with more normal interest rates? Ones that are not really set by the Federal Reserves taking on extraordinary policy. MARTIN: Is there anybody who would benefit from interest rates rising? FARZAD: Certain people who have been short the market - short-sellers who have betted that interest rates would rise. Certain people who are out there that thought that inflation would be a factor, who invested, maybe, in gold. It's a very tricky question and because it's not all set by the Federal Reserve, it's set by the market, and we don't know. You could play a thousand different scenarios and how the world would react to higher bond yields and that's why this is so vexingly difficult for traders and for homeowners and for investors right now. MARTIN: It may be a silly question, Roben, but I'm going to ask it anyway, which is, is the Fed open to lobbying? I mean, do people write letters and, you know, bring signs saying, keep the interest rates low 'cause I'm about to buy a house? Does that work? FARZAD: The Fed is an independent body. It's not open to that kind of jawboning. It's supposed to be nonpartisan, but there are certain things that they pay attention to formally, like unemployment and inflation. And I think, informally, if they see the stock market tank, if they see the bond market tank, maybe they would think twice about doing something like this. But, again, it was never intended to be permanent and the tricky thing is, how do you withdraw it gradually to the extent that it was never intended to be permanent. MARTIN: At this time next year, what kind of conversation do you think we'll be having about this? FARZAD: I think we'll be talking about pain in the bond market, frankly. I think that, you know, we're five years into this interest rate policy and sometimes you have to come out of it. I think unemployment is not recovering the way anybody would want it to be recovering. But, you have stock markets at an all-time high, you have housing in certain pockets that's very hot, and the world has to come to terms with a normal U.S. bond market, not one that's being treated under emergency circumstances. And that's the big open question for us. MARTIN: Roben Farzad is a contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek. We caught up with him in Richmond, Virginia. Roben, thank you. FARZAD: My pleasure, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. Related program:Tell Me More on Xtra HD

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Accounting & Tax December 10, 2007December 10, 2007 CFO Europe Magazine The Smell of Money Making scents of the world's perfume industry. Janet Kersnar “We had no choice; we just didn’t have enough money.” That’s how Lyn Harris, owner of high-end perfume company Miller Harris in London, describes her decision not to follow the mass-market route of other perfumers. Rather, shortly after setting up shop in 2000, she launched Nouvelles Editions, a range of limited-edition eaux de parfums sold in beautifully crafted bottles, updated every year according to what’s in fashion, and sold only in her shops for £95 (€132) per 100ml, £30 more than her other perfumes. “It was frustrating that it was so costly having to produce new concepts and packaging with each new launch,” recalls Harris from her stylish boutique on Bruton Street in London’s Mayfair. “[The new range] was a turning point for the brand. Now the sky is the limit.” The new range is just one part of the classically trained perfumer’s global expansion strategy, selling her exclusive fragrances to a niche customer base at shopping hotspots such as London, Paris, New York and Moscow. And along with the limited-run range, the £7m startup now has a bespoke service (with a one-year waiting list) for individually tailored perfumes at £6,000 a bottle. She also recently dabbled in the industry’s hugely popular — some would say too popular — “celebrity” fragrance lines, creating L’air de rien (Air of Nothing) for actress and singer Jane Birkin. “But Jane’s an icon, not a celebrity, right?” asks Harris, almost as if to assure herself that her premium perfumes haven’t crossed the line into the realm of cheaper, mass-market fragrances. As their businesses languish, multinationals in the $30 billion fragrance industry have reason to be envious of Harris — she keeps a tight grip on launches while others glut the market; she sells fragrances to stylish boutiques and upscale perfume counters, not to discount chains or in the neon glare of drugstores; she foregoes marketing as others spend as much as 50% of sales on flashy ad campaigns; and she blends customer knowledge with technical expertise to create bold new fragrances while others — in the words of John Ayres, chairman of the Fragrance Foundation UK — play it safe and produce “bland, consumer-researched smells that don’t offend anybody.” But there’s a limit to their envy. The reality is that the major players want “masstige” — brands that capture the benefits of being both exclusive, prestige products and mass market. For CFOs in the industry, this means learning how to use management tactics employed by other parts of the consumer-goods industry to compete in disciplines such as R&D, marketing and distribution, says Luigi Feola, finance chief of P&G Global Prestige Products, the fragrance division of Ohio-based consumer goods company Procter & Gamble. That is far from straightforward. “The fragrance industry is probably the most difficult part of the consumer-goods sector,” asserts Claudia D’Arpizio, a Rome-based partner at Bain & Company specialising in luxury goods. “It has to follow all the rules of fast-moving consumer goods, but with an intangible twist — attracting consumers to buy something that is not at all linked to real needs.” A Metrics Mess Coty's Michael Fishoff Food Fighters Regulators Fear Big Data Threatens Audit Quality

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Blog entry: December 26, 2012, 9:33 am | Author: SCOTT SUTTELL Ahead of what's supposed to be a pretty heavy snowstorm, this will be quick: Times are tough for traditional retailers, and they're not likely to get any easier as Internet shopping becomes more popular, according to this treatise by a retail expert that includes a comment from Daniel Hurwitz, president and CEO of DDR Corp.The author, Jeff Jordan, is a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz who previously served as president and CEO of OpenTable, which he took public in 2009. Before OpenTable, he was president of PayPal, so he understands the retail landscape.America, he states flatly, “has too many malls.”“I believe we're seeing clear signs that the e-commerce revolution is seriously impacting commercial real estate,” Mr. Jordan writes. (These weak figures for 2012 holiday sales support the claim.)“Online retailers are relentlessly gaining share in many retail categories, and offline players are fighting for progressively smaller pieces of the retail pie,” he says. Mall and shopping center stalwarts “are closing stores by the thousands, and there are few large physical chains opening stores to take their place,” Mr. Jordan writes. “Yet the quantity of commercial real estate targeting retail continues to grow, albeit slowly. Rapidly declining demand for real estate amid growing supply is a recipe for financial disaster.”He performs an analysis of the National Retail Federation's list of the Top 100 retailers in 2012, focusing on merchandise retailers that would likely be located in malls (removing grocery, drug, restaurant and online retailers). Mr. Jordan focused on three measures of retailer health: total sales growth, comp store sales growth and number of stores.“The analysis doesn't paint a very pretty picture regarding the health of the leading physical retailers in the United States,” Mr. Jordan writes. “Total sales growth is mixed and is negative for 20% of the sample. Comp store sales growth — arguably the key measure of retailer health— is also mixed and a quarter of the sample is negative. And note that many of these sales results include the retailers' online segments, so the picture for their physical stores is even worse.”On a positive note, he says most real estate professionals “understand that profound changes are afoot” and are trying to change the retail mix at their shopping centers and to downsize in smart ways.Among those real estate pros is Mr. Hurwitz, who observes, “I don't think we're overbuilt. I think we're under-demolished.” Just a day after Christmas, I feel like a Grinch pointing to this CNNMoney.com list of the worst-performing Fortune 500 stocks of 2012, which includes Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.Cliffs ranked No. 6 on the list, with the stock down 50% as of Dec. 21.“In the first quarter, higher mining and transportation costs contributed to a decline in earnings, despite a boost in revenue,” the website notes. “The story hadn't improved much by the third quarter, when the company announced another round of miserable profits: $85 million for the quarter, down from $601 million the year before.”In November, Goldman Sachs analysts downgraded the stock from hold to sell, and shares went down 12% in a single day, according to CNNMoney.com.“Goldman analysts also noted that the company had repeatedly failed to hit its internal financial targets, and the chances that they'll start hitting those targets any time soon aren't particularly good,” according to the story. “A month later, Goldman issued a further warning about the firm's competition: China's ore producers could ratchet up production by 30% in 2013.” So maybe this lighthearted ranking will keep you in the holiday spirit.TheAtlanticCities.com highlights a report from the Martin Prosperity Institute that rated and ranked U.S. metro areas primed for "converting the Grinch," or, as the site puts it “real-life Whovilles with demographic characteristics that could turn even the strongest-willed holiday-merriment-haters into jolly good fellows.”To create the "Grinch Conversion Index," the institute considered seven key community characteristics, based on elements of the Dr. Seuss story. Among them were population density ("greater amount of merry people within an area"); costume rental stores per capita ("the Grinch can get his Santa disguise"); selected retail outlets per capita ("more presents for the Grinch to steal and eventually return"); musicians, singers, music directors and composers per capita ("to first annoy, then touch the Grinch's heart with singing"); and night-time light ("to draw the Grinch's attention").By these (admittedly, probably nonsensical) standards, Trenton, N.J., took the top spot as the most likely city to convert a Grinch. Most of the top 10 are clustered in the northeastern part of the United States, and Cleveland is tied for fifth with New York City.You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio. Reader Comments

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Passionate About Community Success comes from forging relationships with members and local communities. Libby Vertz The 2011 winners of CUNA’s Community Credit Union of the Year Award have relied on dedication to credit union values and community involvement for their success. CUNA presented the awards during its 2011 Community Credit Union & Growth Conference in San Francisco. Sticking to the credit union mantra of helping people at all times allowed $150 million asset Streator (Ill.) Onized Credit Union to reach its current level of community involvement, says Marketing Director Dana Stillwell. The credit union won a first-place award in the category of credit unions under $250 million in assets. For $952 million asset Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union, it’s been about forming relationships with the community and its members, according to Jayne Walshaw, marketing director. Knoxville TVA Employees received its first-place award in the category of credit unions with more than $250 million in assets. Stillwell and Walshaw offer more insights in this interview with Credit Union Magazine. CU Mag: What’s key to a community credit union’s success? Stillwell: It’s really the philosophy of people helping people. But it’s also important that employees work together as a team between all departments, and that staff truly are part of the community. Walshaw: Staff, on all levels, have to be willing and excited to serve the community. CU Mag: How have you helped members get through the down economy? Get Involved and Show You Care “As financial institutions, we’re serving the members that live, work, or worship in our communities,” says Fidel Gonzalez, president/CEO of First Imperial Credit Union, El Centro, Calif. “We need to show them that we care by supporting different causes in which, in many cases, the members are involved.” The credit union received an honorable mention for its work in the community in the under-$250 million category at the 2011 Community Credit Union & Growth Conference. In the over-$250 million asset category,

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From the February 20, 2013 issue of Credit Union Times Magazine • Subscribe! W2W: EVP Clobes Gets Her Thrills From Finding Solutions By Myriam DiGiovanni February 20, 2013 • Reprints April Clobes April Clobes, executive vice president/chief operating officer at Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, has never set out to make the seemingly impossible possible. She’s just relentless when it comes to finding solutions. “If you don’t enjoy coming to work everyday then you need to be doing something else,” said Clobes, of her personal philosophy. That has helped the latest Credit Union Times Woman to Watch recipient make the most of the opportunities at the East Lansing, Mich.-based $2.3 billion credit union. Since joining the MSUFCU team in 1996 as a marketing specialist, she headed up a newly formed e-commerce department in 2001, which grew into two separate e-commerce and e-services departments encompassing a variety of internal and external electronic platforms. She then took on the additional role of vice president of marketing in 2009, executive vice president in 2010, and was promoted to her current role in 2011. “When I was 20, I had no idea or plans to be doing what I’m doing,” said Clobes. “I had a background in marketing, advertising and loved being creative. The turning point for me has been how what we do truly helps people. We make all our decisions based on whether it’s right for the member or the staff. So I get to be creative as a part of an organization that tries to find solutions to common challenges in our daily lives.” With a strong work ethic developed at an early age, she added that she gets a thrill from finding a way to improve anything from processes to services. “I always say yes,” joked Clobes. “There is always a way, it’s just a matter of figuring it out then getting things done. Innovation is not just doing the latest and greatest thing. It has to make sense so it can be just trying to improve upon something existing.” For example, MSU FCU expanded its electronic services with a mobile app and an updated mobile website created in-house. Using the new app, members can do everything from account transactions and depositing checks via e-deposit for mobile to finding ATMs, current rates and connecting with MSUFCU staffers. “A mobile app and a mobile-optimized website isn’t exactly new, but we did it based on features our members wanted and needed so that’s what makes it innovative,” said Clobes. “We are always striving to find new ways to better serve our members. We really believe that what we’re doing makes a world of difference in people’s lives and are confident in what we can accomplish. At the end of the day, we are not operating on people and no one is dying, so why not try to fix something and give it a whirl.” That doesn’t mean change isn’t scary. But ultimately, for Clobes, it boils down to believing and trusting in your staff to do their jobs well. The result at MSU FCU has helped foster an environment where sharing ideas and implementing change are encouraged. As a leader she is always on the watch for entropy, which she views as the greatest threat to an organization. “We strive to create a great work environment, but if you don’t care or are no longer passionate about what you’re doing, then it’s not a right fit and it can deteriorate the experience for others on the team,” said Clobes. She added that an effective leader is essentially a mentor, whose ultimate goal is to guide and help others to be the best they can be. “I love working with the staff, providing them with the resources, personal mentorship, and opportunities to achieve their personal and professional goals. It’s about helping everyone succeed as well. It’s rewarding to see how it makes for a happier, more engaged staff. I do expect a lot out of people because I know they can do it. What I’ve found when you’re thinking about how can you make the most of all the skills and talent of your staff, they will do their best to exceed those high expectations.” That compassion and caring for others has been the cornerstone of her leadership style. “Everyday is a job interview,” said Clobes. “Sometimes when you’ve been with an organization for a while you get comfortable, stop caring and just do the job. The same way when you first start you give 150% to get noticed, that has to be sustained every day if you want to be a part of the next big opportunity or project. So the same people you’ve been working alongside, in the future one of your peers could be your boss or heading a new project. What have they observed or what’s their experience been with you? People talk so make every moment spent count. Paperwork can wait, people matter so be respectful and do your best everyday.” A nurturer of talent, Clobes’ willingness to share knowledge, advice and resources with anyone who’s interested, has extended beyond the walls of MSU FCU to include other credit unions and organizations throughout the community. With an ever growing and changing competitive landscape credit unions can’t afford to rest. At MSU FCU a competition committee was created a few years ago to evaluate, research, report and help the credit union be aware of the competitive shifts. “I think in terms of relevance, we as an industry haven’t told our story enough as to why we are different and the better alternative,” said Clobes. “One of the biggest myths out there besides consumers thinking they can’t join a credit union, is that credit unions aren’t good corporate citizens because they don’t pay taxes. That’s why it’s so important to share our story and have consumers understand our philanthropy in the communities we serve, the financial education we provide, how much money we can save them, all the good we do simply because it’s how we are structured. We have to keep innovating and thinking of ways to improve. Do we want to be Blackberry or Apple? We have to worry about and be aware of change, if we don’t, then we fall down because our members will go somewhere else.” Show Comments

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Analysts Say SmarTalk Still Strong Nadine M. Kjellberg Even as SmarTalk TeleServices' accounting discrepancy augurs a decrease in earnings and a barrage of shareholder settlements, analysts assert that core business for the company remains strong. SmarTalk's stock prices fell 57 percent as the company last month announced a delay in 1997 and 1998 earnings reports because of questions a new group of independent accountants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP raised about how the company accounted for its $30 million in acquisitions completed in 1997 and the subsequent restructuring charge. The company, a leading provider of prepaid calling card products, recently moved from Los Angeles to its new headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. "The deferred revenue issue does not affect the core business of the company," said Mike Petsky, president of Delta Partners LLC, Manorville, NY, an industry consultant. "Auditors are merely having a debate about how to account for the company's revenue.""These issues have obscured the fact that SmarTalk is dedicated to achieving our mission of being the leader in the prepaid telecommunications industry," said Erich Spangenberg, CEO, SmarTalk. "These issues identified by PWC do not relate to SmarTalk's operations or the company's current cash position." As of press time, a completion date for this process had not been set. No further announcements are expected prior to resolution of the issue.Analysts are confident in the strength of the company, however, as proved by the upgrade to "strong buy" from "buy" last month after released reports said there was no fraud, deception or gross mismanagement by the company and that the review did not relate to SmarTalk's operations or the company's current cash position. Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. said questions raised by the company's accountants have little bearing on the company's fundamentals.Analysts expect the stock to at least double in the next 12 months from its lows of recent days."Shareholders still own the same company, with the same growth prospects and the same value," said Credit Suisse analyst Frank Governali in a statement.The accounting changes, however, could take a toll on current and future earnings, he said. The issues could lead to higher costs or lower revenue, a result of a distracted management team. The drop in share price, as well, could force the company to issue additional shares, diluting estimated 1999 earnings by as much as nine cents a share if the stock remains low. Last month the company raised $30 million through a private placement of equity. If the stock stays low through the fall, the investor would be entitled to an additional 1.4 million shares, increasing shares outstanding by about 4.6 percent.The company could be forced to move a $6 million pretax write-off to 1998, cutting an estimated 12 cents from earnings, but raising 1997 earnings because the write-off would no longer weigh on them. Depending on how the matter is handled, the impact on earnings could be anywhere from 10 cents per share to 63 cents per share, Governali said. But this, he added, will not affect the ongoing business of SmarTalk.News of the review has prompted several shareholder suits against the company, which allege it issued a series of false and misleading statements regarding the company's financial condition and improperly accounted for several acquisitions during a period between Aug. 13, 1997 and Aug. 10, 1998.A class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York by the law firm of Weiss & Yourman on behalf of purchasers of the company's common stock to recover damages caused by defendants' alleged violations of securities laws.The complaint alleges that defendants, while amassing more than $50 million in proceeds from insider sales of the SmarTalk stock, concealed from the investing public that they artificially recognized the sales figures announced during the class Period; they were recognizing revenues prematurely and improperly; SmarTalk's distributors were not selling prepaid cards at the levels represented; SmarTalk's management was encountering severe difficulties in integrating the companies acquired; and defendants were not controlling costs.A class action suit has been commenced, as well, in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of all purchasers of the company's common stock for the period.The complaint charges SmarTalk with issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements and improper accounting, which inflated the price of SmarTalk common stock from Aug. 13, 1997 through Aug. 10, 1998. Plaintiff also alleges that certain defendants took advantage of this price inflation by selling their personal holdings of SmarTalk common stock for proceeds of more than $52 million. Moving Beyond the (Strong)Mail Army Strong Yahoo Q1 OK despite missing analysts' estimates CRM Spending Likely to Shift Toward Marketing, Analysts Say Analysts bullish on FedEx Next Article in Agency 800 Ruling Bans Blocking of Generic Terms Sponsored Links

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Navigation Path: Home > Press > Speeches > By date > 2012 > 24 February 2012 The European Central Bank Press Events Banking Supervision Payments & Markets Interview with The Wall Street Journal Interview with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, conducted by Robert Thomson, Matt Karnitschnig, and Brian Blackstone on 22 February 2012, published on 24 February 2012 WSJ: What inning are we in with Greece until we know if we’re at the resolution to end all resolutions? Mario Draghi: I don’t know baseball. But if we didn’t have that package finalized, there would be no game. So this could be the beginning of a new world for Greece where the pending financing problems have been addressed. Now the policies will have to be enacted. The Greek Government has undertaken very serious commitments in the fiscal policy and in the structural policies areas. But there are implementation risks and probably oncoming elections. The Eurogroup gave reasonable probabilities to the success of the program if the measures, especially the structural measures, were undertaken. Also one could see that there is a different awareness in the Greek public opinion to the extent that what’s happening is painful but necessary. The number of people, who favour default, inflation or even exit from the euro doesn’t seem to be prevalent in Greece. WSJ: Do you think the acute phase of the crisis has passed? It struck us this week that once the deal was decided, we didn’t see the kind of elation we’ve seen after past programs. Draghi: It’s hard to say if the crisis is over. Let us look at the positive changes of the last few months. There is greater stability in financial markets. Many governments have taken decisions on both fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. We have a fiscal compact where the European governments are starting to release national sovereignty for the common intent of being together. The banking system seems less fragile than it was a year ago. Some bond markets have reopened. But the recovery is proceeding very slowly and remains subject of downside risks. I was surprised too that there was no elation after the approval of the package and this probably means that markets want to see the implementation of the policy measures. WSJ: When you look at the risk profile of the package and the deal, is the greatest risk arising from the streets of Greece, or is the greatest risk arising from a lack of growth in Greece? Draghi: In the end it seems the greatest risk is lack of implementation. Some measures are directly targeted to enhance competitiveness and job creation. Others foresee a radi

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This Drilling Stock Is Recovering By Isac Simon | The offshore drilling industry is recovering. Shallow-water drilling seems to be making a comeback. Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE: DO ) beat analysts' estimates to post healthy first-quarter results. And this is not a company that focuses solely on ultra-deepwater drilling. On the road to recovery While ultra-deepwater drilling is arguably the most lucrative segment in the industry, management at Diamond oversaw a decent quarter, thanks to some astute cost-cutting and better rig utilization rates. Total drilling revenue came in at $755 million, which is a 4% drop from last year's first quarter. However, this represents 3% growth over last year's fourth quarter. While on a year-on-year basis things don't look too impressive, what's evident is that the company is making progress after falling behind in the previous quarter. Total operating income stood at $265.4 million, which is 17% lower than that of the year-ago quarter, but a healthy 22% improvement on a sequential basis. Astute management Gross margins improved sequentially by almost 3 percentage points to 47.4%, which is proof that the company is doing a decent job of keeping costs low. It's not that management came up with some ingenious methods to cut costs or had to trade off some essential expenses related to safety. Instead, the company ramped up its efficiency in its normal operations by clamping down costs in supply and repairs. Additionally, rig utilization rates have been impressive. With as many as 15 rigs stationed off the shores of Brazil and at least 10 of them contracted till 2014 and beyond, there's no question of rigs being cold-stacked. And the best part is that the rigs aren't all suited for the ultra-deepwater drilling. Brazil's state-owned Petrobras (NYSE: PBR ) is operating nine rigs (including three with ultra-deepwater-drilling capabilities) with six of them contracted till beyond 2014. However, I'm not too impressed with the status of Diamond's rigs stationed in the Gulf of Mexico, where five of the eight unutilized rigs are located. This is explained by the lousy market conditions in this region. Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO ) has 18 rigs idling in the Gulf, and this has affected the company's performance. But this is an improvement and Hercules is fetching higher dayrates as well. Still, it's high time that these drillers move out of the Gulf given that international offshore drilling is just picking up. Foolish bottom line All in all, Diamond Offshore is making good progress, and I believe it will continue to do so. This year, its stock has actually jumped 21%, which is a good sign. We at The Motley Fool will help you stay up to speed on the top news and analysis on Diamond Offshore. You can start subscribing now by adding the company to your free watchlist. However, if you're looking for more ideas, The Motley Fool has created a new special oil report titled "3 Stocks for $100 Oil," which you can download today, absolutely free. Fool contributor Isac Simon does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this article. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Petrobras. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. CAPS Rating: HERO Hercules Offshore,… CAPS Rating: PBR Petroleo Brasileir…

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Help | Connect | Sign up|Log in Asher Hawkins, Forbes Staff SEC's Revolving Door Often Spins More Than Once The back-and-forth flow of talent between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Wall Street’s favored legal and accounting firms has been steady for decades. But criticism of the so-called “revolving door” hit a fever pitch last week when news broke that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s inspector general has been investigating whether the high level of cross-pollination has led to the squelching of potential SEC actions. At A Glance: SEC Higher-Ups Who Have Gone Through The Revolving Door The internal SEC probe reportedly involves concerns that a private-equity firm was able to avoid fraud charges only after enlisting the help of William McLucas, a former SEC director who’d joined white-shoe law firm WilmerHale (whose Web page bills it as “the industry leader in securities enforcement, regulation and defense.”) There have been no allegations that McLucas acted improperly. Now Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, is turning up the heat by asking the SEC’s Inspector General David Kotz to look into the circumstances surrounding an SEC associate director’s departure to take a job with a high-frequency trading firm. WilmerHale’s links to the SEC don’t end with McLucas. Meredith Cross spent eight years at the SEC in the 1990s before moving to WilmerHale, where until recently she was a partner. In April 2009 she moved back to the SEC once again with the agency appointing Cross director of its Division of Corporate Finance. Some Wall Street law and accounting firms appear to have strong ties not just to the SEC, but to particular units within the regulatory body. The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations is tasked with spotting fraud among stock traders and money managers. Meanwhile, several current or former OCIE higher-ups have worked PricewaterhouseCoopers, the nation’s largest accounting firm, which earns hundreds of millions of dollars annually from Wall Street clients. A year ago OCIE chief Lori Richards announced her resignation from the SEC amid scathing criticism of her and her unit’s failure to detect Bernard Madoff’s massive investment fraud. Richards quickly decamped to PwC. Thomas Biolsi was a PwC staffer until April 2006 when he left to become a close Richards subordinate, heading up the OCIE’s New York office. About one month after Richards announced her departure from the SEC for PwC, Biolsi followed in her footsteps and decided to return to his former employer. When the SEC picked its permanent replacement for Richards six months ago, there was a PwC connection once again–Carlo di Florio was a partner at the firm before being named director of the OCIE. PwC declined to comment for this article. Such limited degrees of separation between the SEC and Wall Street advisors has led to criticism of the commission, most vocally in the blogosphere. What says the SEC about its revolving door? “We have a rigorous program to help employees who are considering leaving the agency comply with both the letter and spirit of the law,” said spokesman John Nester. Former SEC employees are prohibited from working with the commission on any cases that they encountered during their time in public service. Former supervisors are required to wait two years before participating in matters that had been handled by subordinates within a year before their leaving the SEC; anyone higher up than that is also required to wait one year before representing a client involved in an SEC matter. Some firms seem to be especially adept at nurturing talent with SEC experience. Davis Polk & Wardwell, a New York law firm, currently counts among its partners two former SEC higher-ups who began their careers at the firm. Annette Nazareth spent the first five years of her legal career at the law firm and later served in a number of roles at the SEC, including a stint as a commissioner for three years through 2008. Nazareth has since returned to Davis Polk where she is a Washington, D.C., partner in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. “She advises clients across a broad range of complex regulatory matters and transactions. She also works closely with Davis Polk’s SEC enforcement practice, counseling non-financial sector corporations that are subject to government regulatory and enforcement actions,” according to Nazareth’s Davis Polk biography. Linda Chatman Thomsen was at Davis Polk for 15 years before joining the SEC in 1995. She spent 14 years at the SEC, the last four as director of the Enforcement Division, before rejoining Davis Polk in 2009. Like Davis, Thomsen had come under fire after it was revealed that the SEC had been warned repeatedly about, but failed to investigate, a Ponzi scheme allegedly being operated by Bernard Madoff, who at the time was a well-connected member of the securities industry. Davis Polk declined to comment for this article. The SEC’s coziness has, in fact, been a poorly kept secret for years. Forbes wrote seven years ago about the SEC’s coziness with the mutual fund industry. At the time, the magazine noted that Paul Roye, then director of the unit overseeing mutual funds, had joined the SEC after earning his law degree, moved several years later to Dechert, a law firm that regularly represents mutual funds and other Wall Street clients, and then come back to the commission. Two years after that article ran, Roye was back in the private sector. He is now the senior vice president for fund management at Los Angeles investment firm Capital Research and Management. Annette Nazareth Attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm in early 1980s, later to the SEC as director for regulating markets and a commissioner–and now back at Davis Polk. Linda Chatman Thomsen Davis Polk lawyer until 1995, when she went on to various SEC posts, including director of Enforcement Division, and now back at Davis Polk. Paul Roye SEC staff attorney who went to Dechert law firm and then back to the SEC overseeing investment firms. Now an exec at investment firm Capital Research & Management. Meredith Cross Lawyer at King & Spalding law firm, then various SEC jobs involving regulation of corporate finance. Moved to WilmerHale law firm only to return to the SEC as head of corporate finance unit. Lori Richards Climbed SEC ranks before being named head of compliance inspections office in 1995. Last year moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm. Replaced at SEC by now-former PwC partner Carlo di Florio. Thomas Biolsi An examiner at the SEC who moved to compliance office at Prudential Insurance, then to PricewaterhouseCoopers, then to SEC (in compliance office) and now back at PwC.

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John Odling-Smee Republic of Armenia and the IMFRepublic of Azerbaijan and the IMFRepublic of Belarus and the IMFRepublic of Estonia and the IMFGeorgia and the IMFRepublic of Kazakhstan and the IMFKyrgyz Republic and the IMFRepublic of Lithuania and the IMFRepublic of Latvia and the IMFRepublic of Moldova and the IMFRussian Federation and the IMFRepublic of Tajikistan and the IMFTurkmenistan and the IMFUkraine and the IMFRepublic of Uzbekistan and the IMF The IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) -- A Factsheet Press Briefing on Developments in Baltic and CIS Countries Opening Remarks by John Odling-Smee Director, European II Department International Monetary Fund Washington DC, September 28, 2002 Ladies and Gentlemen, greetings. 1. I would like to begin this press conference with a few words on three topics. First, economic developments in the transition economies of the Baltics and CIS states. Second, the progress that has been made under the CIS-7 Initiative that covers the low income CIS countries. Finally, our assessment of recent developments in Russia. Recent economic developments in the region 2. Macroeconomic performance has generally been good in recent years and is expected to remain so: All countries have experienced positive growth in the last two years, and are expected to do so this year and next. Growth in 2002 has slowed compared with 2001, but the slowdown has been milder than in other regions of the world. The pressures in Latin America and other emerging market economies have had only a very modest impact due to the absence of significant trade channels and limited links of the region to international capital markets. Growth in 2003 is expected to continue at similar rates to 2002. Inflation has continued to decline. This year, we expect that all but Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan wil

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Barrick Shakes Up Management - Analyst Blog By Zacks on June 07, 2012 Filed Under: Market Summary, Equity Tickers in this Article: ABX, NEM, AU The world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX), has rung in the changes after a below-par stock performance so far this year. Yesterday, the company ousted Aaron Regent from his position as the CEO and also ended his tenure on the Board, appointing Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jamie Sokalsky in his place. Also, Barrick elevated director John Thornton to the post of Co-Chairman. The leadership changes announced by the company became effective right away. However, Barrick's stock dropped 3.8% post the announcement (which was made before markets opened), after showing signs of initial promise when it opened higher than the previous day's close. Mr. Regent was dismissed for not being able to salvage the dismal stock price performance. The company just about met the Zacks Consensus Estimate on earnings in its recently reported first quarter. Also, Barrick had failed to meet the Zacks Consensus Estimate on top line in the quarter, the reason for which can be attributed to lower gold production. Although the company has managed to increase its earnings over the last two quarters and has also hiked its dividend, the optimism has not rubbed off onto its share price. Barrick's stock is down 10.6% in 2012, underperforming the S&P 500 which has grown 4.57% since New Year's. Mr. Sokalsky will now face the challenge of boosting up the company's stock. Hence, he would have to turn his focus towards the company's growth drivers, which in turn will help Barrick rake in better revenues and post higher profits over time. Barrick's prospects are driven by its aggressive expansion of copper reserves and replacing its gold reserves. The company is about to commence production at a number of mines such as Pueblo Viejo and Pascua-Lama in the near future, which will positively impact its production and cost profile. Moreover, Barrick is an un-hedged gold producer and the company stands to benefit from the appreciation in gold prices. The same applies for its copper business, whose prospects have been further brightened by the acquisition of Equinox Minerals last year. Also, the new CEO would have to contend with macroeconomic concerns as well. Barrick Gold derives its revenues from gold and copper sales, leaving it prone to any negative fluctuation in the prices of these metals. In addition, Barrick Gold's financial health and operations also depend upon prices of other commodities and foreign exchange rates, thereby creating another factor which may negatively impact the company. Moreover, Barrick Gold's rivals, Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM) and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU), are ramping up their operations and recently announced that they will be improving their mines and increase exploration activities. Our long-term Neutral recommendation on Barrick Gold is backed by a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term (1 to 3 months) Hold rating. To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research by Zacks More From Zacks.. AngloGold to Control Serra Grande Barrick to Buy Property in Nevada Metals & Mining Stock Outlook - March 2012 4 Gold Stocks to Shine Brighter Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

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By Electronic and Messenger Delivery Jonathan G. Katz 450 Fifth Street NW Re: File Nos. SR-NASD-2002-21 and SR-NYSE-2002-09 Ladies and Gentlemen: We submit this letter in response to a request for comment by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on proposed rule amendments by the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. ("NASD") and the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") relating to research analyst conflicts of interest.1 We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the matters raised in the proposed amendments (the "Release"). These comments have been prepared by members of the Subcommittee on Market Regulation, the Subcommittee on Securities Registration and the Subcommittee on International Securities Matters (the "Subcommittees") of the Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities (the "Committee"), Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association. A draft of this letter was circulated for comment among members of the Subcommittees and the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the other subcommittees and task forces of the Committee, the officers of the Committee, the members of the Committee's Advisory Committee and the officers of the Section. This letter generally represents the views of those who have reviewed it but does not represent the official position of the American Bar Association, the Section, its officers or the Committee. Various members of our Subcommittees represent broker-dealers, issuers and others who might have interests in the matters raised in the Release. However, in preparing this comment letter we have endeavored to avoid reflecting the interest of any individual client or any particular group. We agree that changes should be made, building on changes already implemented by the industry as reflected in the Securities Industry Association ("SIA") Best Practices for Research, to end or curtail certain practices that potentially undermine analyst independence and objectivity in order to restore the confidence of investors shaken by recent events. Without question, investors and our capital markets benefit from information provided by analysts.2 Further, no one doubts the importance of providing investors with research free from improper influence; such influence potentially undermines investor protection by placing the unwary investor at risk and the perception of such influence can corrode investor confidence. Improper influence can arise from many sources and it is appropriate for self-regulatory organizations ("SROs") to address those potential sources that fall under their purview. Thus, we believe it is appropriate and commendable that the NASD and NYSE have proposed rules designed to address conflicts potentially arising from investment banking activities and investments in subject companies that could bias research. At the same time, it is important to recognize that such rules must be carefully drawn to preserve the strengths of our capital markets. While investor protection and investor confidence are fundamental to the efficiency and success of the American capital markets, dealing with potential analyst conflicts is only one aspect among many that must be addressed, albeit one that has gained considerable media and political attention. Focus on this one aspect should not obscure the need to consider the effects of the proposed rules on other critical elements that make our capital markets the envy of the world. Indeed, the SEC is statutorily obligated to consider whether proposed rules promote efficiency, competition and capital formation. As described below, we are concerned that the proposed rules rely too heavily on measures that disrupt the flow of information to the market place, without considering the harmful effects that will follow. In our view, such measures should be more refined. The new rules should better balance the need to deal with potential analyst conflicts with the effect on markets and capital formation of more restrictive regulation. In particular, we believe the proposed rules should be revised to eliminate quiet periods (restrictions on the publication of post-offering research by members acting as managers and co-managers) and blackout periods (restrictions on the publication of research following an analyst's personal trading in a subject company). We are concerned that these and other provisions of the proposed rules will disrupt the flow of information to the market place, introduce unacceptable inefficiencies to the market, and place broker-dealers and their public company clients seeking to raise capital at a competitive disadvantage. With respect to this last point, we are particularly concerned that the proposals, if adopted without significant change, will provide a distinct competitive disadvantage for capital raising efforts within the U.S. and will have an especially adverse impact on small and mid-sized companies seeking to access capital and gain market recognition. We believe that the goals of the proposed rules can be accomplished without these onerous provisions, and we provide recommendations in this regard. We also have a number of concerns regarding the roles assigned to legal and compliance departments. In particular, we believe the requirement that would interpose the legal/compliance department between research analysts and subject companies is undesirable and unworkable and should be eliminated from the proposed rules. We also believe that the role assigned to the legal/compliance department to review and approve research reports is an inappropriate role, one more suited to supervisory analysts and research management. At the least, we believe that firms should be given the latitude to determine who is best situated for this role and whether such reviews and approvals are necessary prior to publication of the research. If a firm determines that there are effective procedures that do not involve pre-approval by the legal/compliance department, those procedures should be permitted. We strongly support the effort by the SROs' to require more meaningful disclosure. While disclosure can provide investors with useful information to identify an analyst's possible bias or personal interest, the proposed disclosure requirements in several important ways do not provide information so meaningful to investors that the information must accompany each research report, as that term is defined in the proposals. Thus, we recommend that certain of the disclosure requirements be modified and that firms be provided with more flexibility to determine the most appropriate means to provide disclosures to their clients. There are a number of other aspects to the proposed rules that raise issues, which we address below. In some instances (for example, with regard to the international implications of the proposals), our concerns relate to, not what the proposals address, but what they fail to address. We are also concerned that there has been no notice or discussion of an implementation schedule for the rules, which, on their face, present difficult technical and staffing issues. Given the extent and magnitude of the issues raised by the proposed rules and the need for further interpretation, we recommend that they be revised and re-published for comment. The Release has been highly effective in focusing attention on these important issues, and the public and interested parties should be given an opportunity to comment further on the responses to issues that are raised. Re-publication will also provide the SEC, NASD and NYSE the opportunity to address the effect of the proposals on efficiency, competition and capital formation. Notwithstanding our concerns, we support the proposed prohibition of promises of favorable research, specific ratings or price targets or the use of threats to change research, ratings or price targets for the purpose of gaining business. Similarly, limits on the ability of investment banking department or subject companies to bring improper influence to bear on reports are commendable, although we do not agree with the mandatory role assigned to legal/compliance with respect to these limits. We also believe that the prohibition on owning pre-initial public offering ("IPO") securities in the analyst's coverage sectors and the prohibition on personal trading contrary to the analyst's published recommendations can be useful prophylactics intended to bolster the investing public's confidence in research analysts. Additionally, we support the proposed limitation on tying analyst compensation to specific investment banking services and the limitation on investment banking department supervision and control of research analysts, although we suggest that a clarification be made that supervision incidental to a "wall crossing" pursuant to a firm's information barrier procedures will not violate the rule. We comment below on those aspects of the proposals the raise the most significant issues. Restrictions on Information Flow The flow of information, whether from issuers, the government, rating agencies or others, is critical to the markets and to an efficient market place. One of the hallmarks of the U.S. capital markets is the degree to which issuers and other market participants are required to (or voluntarily choose to) provide information to the markets. Over the last decade, both the amount of available information and the speed at which it is disseminated have increased significantly, trends that will continue, if not accelerate. Indeed, the Commission itself is embarked on a mission to enhance and accelerate corporate disclosures and to make more current and continuous the flow of information to the investing public.3 At the same time innovations in technology continue to provide new, faster and more effective ways to communicate information.4 It has long been the role of research analysts to help interpret the information available to the market place to assist investors in making investment decisions. Indeed, if the role of analysts were less critical to an efficient market place, it is likely that there would be less concern over potential conflicts of interest. At a time when more information is available more quickly to investors, the NASD and NYSE propose to slow down, and, most disturbingly, in some instances, stop the flow of research to investors. The proposed NASD and NYSE rules will accomplish this by:5 Banning research by managers and co-managers for 40 calendar days following an initial public offering.6 Banning research by managers and co-managers for 10 calendar days following a secondary offering.7 Banning research for 30 calendar days after an analyst purchases or sells any security issued by the subject company.8 Delaying research by requiring "exception" processes that entail additional reviews of reports prior to distribution.9 Delaying, and, in some instances, preventing the distribution of research by requiring additional disclosures within each report.10 Quiet Periods The effect of the proposed rules will be to limit the information provided to investors. Even assuming that some meaningful research will reach investors following "significant news," it is clear that most research that would otherwise be published will not be.11 No persuasive reason has been given for denying investors information for periods that continue well past the end of selling efforts, simply because the analyst's firm is a manager or co-manager.12 Rather, it appears the NASD and NYSE are unwilling to permit investors to evaluate conflict disclosures during particular periods but instead would require that, during those periods, investors be protected by denying them access to research rather than providing research accompanied by disclosure of the relevant conflicts. In effect, the proposed rules place the NASD and NYSE in the unusual and inappropriate position of determining for investors what research they can receive and when they can receive it. The determination by the NASD and NYSE that there is a need for the proposed quiet periods is particularly of concern because this activity is also effectively regulated by existing rules promulgated by the SEC.13 Those SEC rules were developed over many years, reflect a careful balance of competing interests, and embody the general principal that more, not less, research should be encouraged. Indeed, in recent years, the SEC has indicated concern that the current rules may be too restrictive given today's rapid and global dissemination of information.14 Further, it is important to note that SEC Securities Act Rule 174, unlike the proposed rules, does not actually ban research under any set of circumstances. Written research is permitted if a copy of the IPO final prospectus is delivered with or prior to the research. In the past, the difficulty in delivering a prospectus caused firms to dispense with research for the 40 or 90-day period specified in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act of 1933. Even after the Commission reduced the quiet period to 25 days in 1988, as a practical matter, research was rarely, if ever, published during that period. With the advent of the internet, some firms now make research available virtually immediately through the use of hyperlinks to the prospectus. The more restrictive requirements proposed by the NASD and NYSE will undermine this existing regulatory scheme. For example, immediately following an IPO, a company may be covered by analysts that are only from the firms that served as managers and co-managers. Pursuant to the proposed quiet periods, the issuer will be able to issue earnings reports and press releases or make other announcements for 15 additional days without any research reaching the market. If firms other than the managers and co-managers cover the company, their coverage would be the only coverage for 40 days. The analysts most likely to know the strengths and weaknesses of an issuer will be silenced by the proposed quiet periods. The proposed quiet period for secondary offerings can have an even greater impact on the market place because of the dependence of an existing market on continued research. The ban would be imposed even though there is reduced likelihood of the research overly affecting the trading market for a seasoned issuer. We also believe that the proposed quiet periods will distort the capital raising process by inserting a new element into the process for selecting investment banks. Particularly in the case of IPOs, companies seeking capital will be reluctant to chose as managers the investment banks whose analysts are most familiar with the company in order to ensure that authoritative research can be timely issued following an offering. This negative effect is likely to have a disproportionate impact on small and mid-cap companies that are covered by few, if any, analysts and do not generally have a wide choice of managers. These companies legitimately seek to broaden market interest by encouraging investment banking firms to provide research coverage. The proposed quiet periods also will aggravate the imbalance between research practices within the U.S and those outside the U.S. Many foreign jurisdictions encourage, rather than discourage research during and after securities offerings. This imbalance will serve as another incentive for foreign and multinational companies to limit capital-raising to markets outside the U.S. where investors will have more access to research. This not only would be against our national interest, but also would place U.S. broker-dealers at a competitive disadvantage and exclude U.S. investors from direct investment opportunities in foreign securities offerings. It would also have the perverse effect of encouraging institutional investors, who have easier access to research produced outside the U.S., to seek research not subject to the protections found in research published under U.S. standards. In an apparent attempt to limit the impact of the quiet periods, the proposed rules limit the bans to offerings managed or co-managed by the analyst's firm. This will unfairly burden and discriminate against one particular segment of the investing public -- the clients of each manager and co-manager. In practice, those deprived of meaningful research are likely to be retail investors, since institutional investors typically have many more sources from which to obtain research. For an offering managed or co-managed by several "bulge bracket" firms, millions of investors could be deprived of research from analysts likely to be the most knowledgeable about an issuer at the point when investors most need information. Given the trend toward multiple co-managers (involving all the firms that regularly cover the issuer) the ban can result in a blackout of all coverage even for those companies which could have research published under Rule 139(a). Also, the proposed quiet periods will create an information void that will unfairly advantage those who stand to gain from a lack of information in the market place to the detriment of the investing public. For example, short sellers or a potential acquirer could "leak" information to the market during quiet periods knowing that knowledgeable research analysts are not available to assess that information. Without research analysts "to set the record straight," the value of a company's stock could plummet in volatile times on unsubstantiated rumors -- with the losses absorbed by the investing public.15 Similarly, without research analysts to provide reasoned analysis to debunk a rumor potentially causing an unwarranted increase in a company's value, investors could be harmed when the wrongly inflated value is corrected.16 Finally, if the regime otherwise imposed by these rules works as intended, there should be no need for the proposed quiet periods. Therefore, we strongly recommend the elimination of the proposed quiet periods. To the extent that there are residual concerns that particular risks to investors exist during the proposed quiet periods, we recommend those risks be addressed by requiring specific disclosure describing those risks. Should the final rules, despite our views, include some form of this proposal, we

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Cyprus rushes bailout plan as clock ticks Associated PressThursday, March 21, 2013 5:30am People line up to use an ATM outside a closed Laiki Bank branch in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday. When lines swelled, the bank responded by capping daily withdrawals at 260 euros, or $340, per person. NICOSIA, Cyprus — Politicians moved Thursday to restructure the country's most troubled bank as part of a broader bailout plan that must be in place by Monday to avoid financial ruin. Concerned customers rushed to get cash from ATMs as bank employees protested. Related News/Archive Glafcos Clerides, ex-president of Cyprus who sought reunification, dies at 94 Nearly 70 students withdraw from new charter school Medical marijuana coming down to the wire Cyprus has been told it must raise 5.8 billion euros if it is to receive 10 billion euros from its fellow eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. If it does not find a way by Monday, the European Central Bank said it will cut off emergency support to the banks, letting them collapse. That would throw the country into financial chaos and, ultimately, cause it to leave the eurozone, with unpredictable consequences for the region. Several new bills were being submitted to Parliament on Thursday night, including restructuring the banking sector, setting up an "Investment Solidarity Fund" and restricting banking transactions in times of crisis. Together, they will make up at least part of the alternative plan Cyprus hopes will secure it bailout money. The lawmakers said the bills would be discussed and potentially voted on this morning. The pressure has increased since Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal to seize up to 10 percent of people's bank accounts. Banks have been shut since last weekend to avoid a run and will not open until Tuesday at the earliest. Uncertainty was growing among Cypriots as the deadline approached and it became clear that the country's second-largest bank, Laiki, or Cyprus Popular Bank, would be restructured, a move that would raise an estimated 2 billion euros. Lines of 40 to 50 people formed at Laiki ATMs, which responded by capping daily withdrawals at 260 euros, or $340, per person. Officials said the restructuring would split Laiki into two, with a "bad bank" taking over its soured investments, and a "good bank" retaining the healthy ones. Without the restructure, Laiki would collapse and drag down the rest of the banking system and the economy, officials said. Cyprus rushes bailout plan as clock ticks 03/21/13 [Last modified: Friday, March 22, 2013 12:10am]

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(STRINGER SHANGHAI/Reuters) What does it take to succeed in China today? TARA PERKINS - FINANCIAL SERVICES REPORTER TORONTO — The Globe and Mail Friday, Oct. 15 2010, 5:58 PM EDT "One of the things that I've learned about China is be very very careful, because there are a million arguments about why they can't do something," Mr. Desmarais says. "For many years I doubted them a lot, saying 'There's no way they can achieve these plans at the speed at which they're able to achieve them.' But I think I've found, with the history of having to be able to go so often, that they have a fantastic planning system, they have tremendous determination, they have courage, and a huge amount of brain power to achieve their goals." These are lessons that Power Corp. has been able to impart to other Canadian businesses. Over the years, it has paired up with a number of companies to smooth their entry into China - and make money, by selling its investment in the ventures to the other firm once the project is established. For instance, Power Corp. partnered with Bombardier Inc. on its original train deal in China, Mr. Desmarais noted. The companies worked together to win the contract. Bombardier then built the trains and bought out Power Corp.'s stake in the joint venture that the two firms had established with China National Railway Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corporation. "It took some time, I don't think we saw any significant business until four or five years ago, so

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Resource Center Current & Past Issues eNewsletters This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the top of any article. Starbucks Expects to Pay ‘Significant’ U.K. Taxes Exec says company will pay corporation taxes whether or not it’s profitable. By Leslie Patton, Bloomberg December 6, 2012 • Reprints Starbucks Corp. said it will pay “a significant amount” of corporation tax in the U.K. in 2013 and 2014 after the world’s largest coffee-shop operator came under fire by lawmakers for not paying any corporation tax there. “We are making a commitment that we will propose to pay a significant amount of corporation tax during 2013 and 2014 regardless of whether our company is profitable during these years,” according to the text of a speech to be given today at the London Chamber of Commerce by Kris Engskov, managing director of Starbucks U.K. “We are still working through some of the calculations, but we believe we could pay or prepay” about 10 million pounds ($16.1 million), he said. Starbucks, which has been closing underperforming stores in the U.K. this year, has pledged to build trust in the nation after being criticized by British lawmakers for not paying any tax for the past three years. There has been no suggestion that Seattle-based Starbucks has broken the law. The company has about 760 stores in the U.K. Starbucks will not claim any tax deductions for royalties in the U.K. in 2013 and 2014 and will pay more than is required by law, according to the speech. In the past three years, the company has paid more than 160 million pounds in employee, national insurance and business rates tax, Engskov said in a statement in October. Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. have also been admonished by British lawmakers for using complex accounting methods to minimize tax liabilities in the U.K. while running large operations in the country. Starbucks has more than 18,000 stores worldwide.

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Home Advertise Search National Business Directory Genealogy Helps Find World Info Today'sMortgageRates Great Dealsand Coupons **** Footsteps of history Mottos & Nicknames **** Choose a new in Utah Washington D.C. Our Nation's Welcome to Key to the City's page for Alpine Utah County, Utah The Utah state capital is Salt Lake City. What would you like to know about Alpine Statistics & Facts History & History-related items City Attractions Alpine Government Alpine Schools. Zip Codes Statistics & Facts The population of Alpine is approximately 5,200 (1997). The approximate number of families is 792 (1990). The amount of land area in Alpine is 17.872 sq. kilometers. The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers. The distance from Alpine to Washington DC is 1911 miles. The distance to the Utah state capital is 27 miles. (as the crow flies) Alpine is positioned 40.46 degrees north of the equator and 111.77 degrees west of the prime meridian. Alpine miscellany. Return to Index Alpine location: in the Wasatch Range near Timpanogos Cave National Monument and American Fork Canyon. The climate for Alpine is Moderate. There are approximately 10 to 20 inches of snow each year with much more in the mountain areas. Alpine average annual rainfall is 16 inches per year The average winter temperature is 21 degrees F. The average summer temperature is 83 degrees F. History & History Related Items Alpine history: Alpine was settled in 1849. It was first known as Mountainville. In 1855 Brigham Young named the area for the Swiss Alps. Here is a history page for Alpine. The settling of Alpine: 1849 The incorporation date of Alpine: 19 January 1855 Alpine attractions: John Rowe Movie House and Moyle Historical Park, 606 E. 770 N., Alpine, (801) 756-1194.Built in the mid-1800s by pioneer Moyle, both the house and the adjoining tower are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park includes the 1866 fort, a tower, a granary, a farm equipment display and the restored home.Peppermint Place, 155 E. 200 N., Alpine, (801) 756-7400Tours are given at this candy factory which features more than 600 varieties of candies, music boxes, dolls, and Bavarian cuckoo clocks. City Relic Hall Museum open only on Saturdays during the summer months. Contribute information free or for a small service charge for this community or any other community in the USA Be sure to include the name of the community and its state when contacting Key to the City as you are NOT directly contacting this community. Learn how to advertise on Key to the City Choose a new community in the state of Utah To go to a new state, choose the States page To choose another state, go to the State page. Return to the Top USA City Directory and US City Resource Guide - Key to the City Thanks for visiting Key to the City. Come back again! We'll leave the light on for you! The information on Key to the City is from multiple sources including government, commerce, libraries, individuals and organizations. There is no guarantee of the accuracy or timeliness of the information presented on these pages, therefore, please use at your own risk. Search Key to the City Custom Search OR Search All the Web

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Costs centre stage for HSBC, French bank results Monday, May 6th, 2013 | Finance News Tweet By Steve Slater and Lionel Laurent LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - HSBC is expected to almost double first quarter profits to about $8 billion on Tuesday helped by a fall in costs and bad debts and showing the benefits of a three-year restructuring that is nearly complete. The results will keep HSBC as one of the most profitable and most strongly capitalized banks in the world although Europe's biggest bank still has more to do on costs. HSBC, like many of its rivals in Europe and the United States, has had to cut back to recover from the financial crisis and cope with the harsher business environment and tighter regulation that has followed it. The bank acted sooner more aggressively than many of its peers, some of which are only now making cuts. The bank's Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver has already slashed $3.5 billion in annual expenses - 38,000 jobs have gone. The CEO has struck 52 deals to shed businesses that deliver low profits or lack scale but is struggling to get costs to below a target of 52 percent of income. HSBC's complexity, its unprofitability in many countries and a negative impact on income from low interest rates mean Gulliver is likely to fall short of his cost/income target by the end of this year. He is due to update investors on strategy on May 15, which is likely to include another $1 billion in savings. Costs in the latest quarter are expected to drop to $9.6 billion, from $10.4 billion a year ago, analysts forecast. HSBC is expected to report a pretax profit of $8.1 billion for the three months to the end of March, according to the consensus forecast of 14 analysts provided by the company. The latest quarter will benefit from more than $1 billion of gains from a reclassification of its stake in Industrial Bank in China and other exceptional items, analysts estimate. EURO ZONE BANK TROUBLES Cost-cutting and restructuring will also be the focus at a trio of euro zone banks - France's Societe Generale and Credit Agricole and Germany's Commerzbank - that also report first quarter results on Tuesday. Unlike HSBC, which has offset weakness in Europe with strong growth in Asia, these banks are likely to show the impact of the euro zone crisis more sharply. SocGen and Credit Agricole, France's second and third biggest banks, are expected to post profit falls, partly as a result of record unemployment and weak growth in their home market. SocGen's first quarter net profit is expected to drop 7.8 percent to 675 million euros ($885.36 million), according to the mean estimate of analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenues are seen falling 16.8 percent to 5.26 billion. Credit Agricole is expected to post a one-third fall in earnings to 674.6 million euros, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenues are seen down 28 percent to 3.9 billion euros. In Germany, Commerzbank has already said it continued to lose money in the first quarter due to restructuring charges linked to job cuts. Analysts estimate Germany's second biggest bank's loss at 125 million euros. More details are expected on the bank's planned 2.5 billion euro capital increase to repay some of its state bailout. This could take place in mid-May and follows rival Deutsche Bank's 3 billion euros share sale last week. ($1 = 0.7624 euros) (Reporting by Steve Slater in London, Lionel Laurent in Paris and Arno Schuetze on Frankfurt. Editing by Jane Merriman) Berkshire sells off more Moody’s shares, stake down to 11.1 percent YouTube said set to soon launch pay channels Wal-Mart Stores takes back top spot in Fortune 500 Disney teams with EA on ‘Star Wars’ video games GM recalls 38,197 cars for battery control defect

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commentsGoldman Sachs sued by credit union watchdogBy Charles Riley @CNNMoney August 9, 2011: 4:09 PM ETNEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A federal watchdog for the credit union industry slapped Goldman Sachs with a lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging violations of federal and state laws tied to the sale of mortgage-backed securities.The National Credit Union Administration filed suit in California district court against the financial firm for damages in excess of $491 million. Print The agency, which regulates and charters credit unions, alleges that Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) misrepresented securities it sold to the now-defunct U.S. Central and Western Corporate federal credit unions. Specifically, the NCUA claims that Goldman's misrepresentations caused the credit unions to believe certain investments carried minimal risk, while that was not the case.Those investments -- mortgage-backed securities -- plummeted in value during the 2008 financial crisis, leading to the downfall of the credit unions."Those who caused the problems in the wholesale credit unions should pay for the losses now being paid by retail credit unions." said NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz in a statement.A spokesman for the Goldman had no comment on the lawsuit. At the close of trading, the bank's shares were up slightly. But the stock fell initially after news of the lawsuit broke.The NCUA acts as the liquidating agent for the failed corporate credit unions, and previously filed a series of lawsuits against JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). In sum, the agency is seeking total damages of nearly $2 billion.The credit union regulator vowed to take further action against similar abuses in the future. "Additional law suits may follow," it said. First Published: August 9, 2011: 3:54 PM ET Related ArticlesJPMorgan, RBS sued over securities sales Government seizes 3 middle-man credit unions

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88 U.S. 138 - Vermilye Co v. Adams Express Company Home88 us 138 vermilye co v. adams express company 88 US 138 Vermilye Co v. Adams Express Company 88 U.S. 138 21 Wall. 138 VERMILYE & CO.v.ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY. October Term, 1874 APPEAL from the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York; the case being thus: Vermilye & Co., bankers of New York, having presented to the Treasury of the United States for payment some time after their maturity eight treasury notes issued under the authority of the act of March 5th, 1865, were informed that the Adams Express Company asserted an ownership of the notes, and that they could not be paid until the question of the rightful ownership was settled. The matter resulted in a bill of interpleader, filed by the United States in the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, against both the express company and Vermilye & Co., to which they filed their respective answers, the notes being deposited with the clerk of the court of abide the event of the suit. The notes in controversy, to wit, five of $1000 each, and three of $100 each, came to the possession of the express company to be forwarded for conversion into bonds of the United States, and were started on their way from Louisville in custody of their messenger on the 22d of May, 1868. Shortly after leaving Louisville the car on which were the messenger and the notes, was stopped and entered by robbers, who, after knocking the messenger down, and leaving him for dead, carried off the safe containing these notes, which was found the next day broken open and without the notes in it. The express company, as soon as it could obtain the numbers and other description of the stolen notes, advertised extensively the loss in the newspapers, gave notice at the Treasury Department, and entered there a caveat against their payment or conversion into bonds to any one else, and gave notice to the principal bankers and brokers of the city of New York of the loss and their claim on the notes. On the 29th of May and the 5th of June, respectively, the express company delivered notices to persons behind the counter of Vermilye & Co., at their place of business, which notice sufficiently described the lost notes, cautioned all persons from receiving or negotiating them, and asserted the claim of the express company to the notes. The company paid the owner of the notes, who had delivered them to the company for transportation, and appeared to have done all that could be done to assert their rights in the premises. On the 9th and 12th days of April, 1869, Vermilye & Co. purchased these notes over their counter, at fair prices, in the regular course of business, and forwarded them to the Treasury Department for redemption, where they were met by the caveat of the express company. As already stated, these notes were issued under the act of March 3d, 1865.1 That statute authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow on the credit of the United States any sums of money not exceeding six hundred millions of dollars, for which he should issue bonds or treasury notes in such form as he might prescribe. It also authorized him to make the notes convertible into bonds, and payable or redeemable at such periods as he might think best. Under this statute the notes in controversy were issued, payable to the holder three years after date, and dated July 15th, 1865, bearing interest payable semi-annually, for which coupons were attached, except for the interest of the last six months. That was to be paid with the principal when the notes were presented. On the back of the note was a statement, thus: 'At maturity, convertible at the option of the holder into bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the government, at any time after five years, and payable twenty years from June 15th, 1868, with interest at six per cent. per annum, payable semiannually, in coin.' At the time of the purchase of the notes by Vermilye & Co. more than three years had elapsed from the date of their issue, and the Secretary of the Treasury had given notice that the notes would be paid or converted into bonds at the option of the holder on presentation to the department, and that they had ceased to bear interest. On the hearing, Vermilye & Co. brought several witnesses, bankers and brokers, to show that notes of the sort here under consideration continued to be bought and sold after they had become due and interest had ceased thereon; that it was not customary for dealers in government securities to keep records or lists of the numbers or description of bonds alleged to have been lost, stolen, or altered, or to refer to such lists befo

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See Hi-Res Jpeg image Asia and the Global Economic Crisis Challenges in a Financially Integrated WorldJohn Malcolm Dowling and Pradumna Bickram Rana Palgrave Macmillan, October 2010ISBN: 978-0-230-27363-4, ISBN10: 0-230-27363-7, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 320 pages, 57 b/w tables, 42 charts, 7 figures, Hardcover$120.00Buy other sellers Related ListsEconomicsEconomics of Development & TransitionInternational EconomicsMacroeconomicsFeatured TitlesTop SellersNew ReleasesComing Soon This book provides an analysis of the global economic crisis from an Asian perspective. It examines the impacts of the policy measures adopted, the remaining challenges in rebalancing the global economy, the next steps in regional economic integration in Asia, and issues related to reform of the international financial architecture. Praise"The bursting of residential housing price bubble and the subsequent systematic financial sector meltdown in the U.S. during 2006-2008 dealt a devastating blow and shocked the world economy into its worst downturn since the Great Depression. Many countries have been affected; Asia - the fastest growing region for decades - is no exception. Drawing upon a rich set of data and references, this book provides a timely account of the impact of the global downturn on Asian economies, the ways by which policy makers attempted to remedy the situation, and the daunting challenges that Asia is facing. The crisis is not over. Many analytical and policy issues that are brought to light by the severe downturn remain to be addressed, with a fresh look and in depth. The book offers a good start." -- Wei Ge, Professor of Economics, Bucknell University"There has been a proliferation of books on the anatomy of the global economic crisis (GEC) and, to a lesser extent, on the impact of the crisis on Asia. In contrast, much less has been written on the challenges that Asia faces moving ahead in a financially integrated world. With the faster than expected recovery of Asia from the GEC, a forward looking analysis has become necessary. This book by Dowling and Rana, who have many years of experience working for the Asian Development Bank, very ably fills this gap. The book will be of value to a wide spectrum of readers – academics, policy makers, students of economics, and the general reader." -- Professor Lim Chong Yah, Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics, Director of Economic Growth Center, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore"An important lesson from the Asian Financial Crisis was that in order to manage financial globalization, policy actions were required at the national, regional, and global levels. But the V-shaped recovery resulted in complacency and reform measures were quickly forgotten. This partially set the backdrop for the present global economic crisis. This book authored by two experts on Asia, in addition to providing an analysis of the crisis and its impact on Asia, takes stock of the policy actions implemented by countries to manage financial globalization and identifies the remaining agenda. Policy makers and students alike should benefit enormously from the careful analysis that the authors have offered in this timely book." -- Barry Desker, Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore About the Author(s)By John Malcolm Malcolm Dowling and Pradumna Bickram Bickram RanaJOHN MALCOLM DOWLING has wide experience teaching and researching on Asian economic development topics. He has taught at the University of Colorado, USA, Reading University, UK, Melbourne University, Australia, Singapore Management University, Singapore, Thamassat University, Thailand, and served as Assistant Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines. He has published seven books, seven articles in books and over 60 journal articles. PRADUMNA BICKRAM RANA has taught and researched extensively on topics related to Asian economic development and integration, and theories of financial crisis. He is an Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Prior to that, he was a Senior Director at the Asian Development Bank. He has also taught at the National University of Singapore, Tribhuvan University (Nepal), and Vanderbilt University (USA). Dr Rana has published and edited 15 books, over 20 chapters in books, and over 35 journal articles. Table of ContentsIntroduction The Crisis and How it Unfolded in Industrial CountriesTransmission to Developing Countries in AsiaPolicy Responses - US and OECDImpacts of the Global Crisis on Asia and OutlookPolicy Responses - AsiaWhere we Stand at the Beginning of 2010Asian and Global Initiatives for Rebalancing the Global EconomyImpact of Crisis on Poverty and MDGsIndividual Country Analysis and Prospects Economic Integration in Asia: Trends and PoliciesReform on International Financial Architecture: Progress and Remaining Agenda

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KPMG resigns as auditor for Herbalife, Skechers In this Thursday, Feb. 28 2013, photo, a pair of specialists confer at the post that handles Herbalife on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Accounting firm KPMG has resigned as the auditor for Herbalife, a dietary supplements maker, and the shoe retailer Skechers after a rogue partner allegedly leaked information about the companies to someone who used it for insider trading. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, FIle) CHRISTINA REXRODE NEW YORK (AP) -- Accounting firm KPMG has resigned as the auditor for nutrition company Herbalife and shoe retailer Skechers after a rogue partner allegedly leaked information about the companies to someone who used it to trade stocks.KPMG said it has fired the partner and has no reason to believe there were any problems with the financial reports of Herbalife or Skechers.Skechers said KPMG told it that the ex-partner provided the inside information in exchange for money and is under federal investigation. An SEC spokesman declined to comment. A message left for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles was not immediately returned.KPMG confirmed media reports that the fired partner was Scott London, the executive in charge of the firm's audit practice in Southern California. It wasn't clear who he allegedly leaked information to. There was no answer at a home phone number listed for London.The development is a headache for both Herbalife and Skechers. KPMG withdrew its recent audit reports of both companies, because it felt its own independence had been compromised.David Weinberg, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Skechers, was spending Tuesday looking for a new auditor. He learned the news Monday afternoon, when two KPMG employees came to tell him in person."I don't think it's catastrophic because we have the greatest confidence in the financial statements that were released and that he (the KPMG partner) acted alone," Weinberg said.Still, he called the news "an unfortunate development" as the company prepares to report first-quarter earnings, and said he was shocked when he learned it. He didn't think there was anything he could do differently as he looks for a new auditor: "I don't know that it's up to me to give them a polygraph test," he said.KPMG initially announced late Monday that it had fired a partner who had leaked private information about clients. It said then that it was resigning as auditor for two of its clients, but didn't identify them.Herbalife and Skechers made their own announcements on Tuesday confirming that they were they companies involved.KPMG sought to distance itself from the partner. In its statement, the firm said: "This individual violated the firm's rigorous policies and protections, betrayed the trust of clients as well as colleagues, and acted with deliberate disregard for KPMG's longstanding culture of professionalism and integrity."Investors knew something was wrong when Herbalife shares failed to open along with the rest of the stock market Tuesday morning. Skechers did open as normal, but it was halted later in the morning.Both stocks resumed trading later Tuesday, but with disparate results. Herbalife fell $1.44, or nearly 4 percent, to $36.95. Skechers rose 40 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $21.91.The development comes at an especially awkward time for Herbalife. Activist investor Bill Ackman has publicly attacked Herbalife, saying it distorts the financial information it gives to investors. His rival Carl Icahn has vehemently disagreed and has increased his stake in the company. In February, the dogfight boiled over into the public arena as Ackman and Icahn got in a shouting match on live television.Herbalife has gone on the defensive against Ackman, disputing his characterization of the company and saying that Ackman wants to push the stock down for his own benefit.Timothy Ramey, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co., downgraded Herbalife to neutral from buy. He noted that Tuesday's development was not Herbalife's fault, and said the fundamentals of the business were unchanged. Still, he said, the KPMG development could cause "heightened risk and volatility near-term.""We assume the process of hiring a new auditor will go quickly - maybe days or weeks," Ramey wrote. "However, the new auditor will have to perform its own audit and re-establish its own review of financial controls. We estimate this process could take as long as a year - we guess HLF would be lucky to file their 2013 10-K on time."Late Tuesday, Herbalife issued a statement saying it believes it is in compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing requirements and that it does not expect the exchange to take any actions toward delisting the company. It said it contacted the NYSE about its plans for replacing KPMG.Los Angeles-based Herbalife sells energy drinks and stress management pills and recruits people to work as independent sales staffers. On its website, it promises to "change people's lives" either by the chance to sell Herbalife products, or the chance to take them.Skechers, which is based outside of Los Angeles, is a well-known shoe seller.___AP Business Writers Marcy Gordon and Michelle Chapman contributed.

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ChannelsCustomersRevenueCompliance Matt Williams: Ready for the leadership ride Nebraska community banker is up for the challenges of leading the industry. And he’ll have plenty By Bill Streeter Comments: comments ABA Chairman Matt Williams tackles every obstacle aggressively, from taking a hill by mountain bike to taking on banking challenges in Washington and in their markets. Matt’s good on the long climbs,” says a close friend of Matt Williams, who rides mountain bikes with him on the hilly terrain south of Gothenburg, Neb. The friend attributes that to Williams’ years of running almost every day since he was a high school track star. A few years ago, a bad knee forced him to give up running, so he took up cycling, and pursues that with the same competitive zest that he does with everything he puts his hand to. Being good on a long climb is an ideal attribute for the leaders of the nation’s largest banking trade group. Although the industry faces new challenges seemingly every day, the resolution of these problems is usually a long slog requiring determination and a lot of hard work. Williams, whose term as ABA chairman begins with his election at the association’s Annual Convention this month, understands this well. He’s been part of the ABA leadership team for five years already. He also understands the need to move quickly at times—sort of like being a sprinter and a marathoner, of which he’s done both. People who know the fourth-generation banker, chairman and president of Gothenburg State Bank, say that he has the ability, much like his father, Robert, to look on problems as opportunities. Nothing makes this point more strongly than the ongoing, multi-year community development effort that’s helping Gothenburg draw its young people back home. Four Fortune 500 companies have substantial operations in the farm community of 3,800—not all of them agriculturally related. Williams does not claim credit for all this. But others will tell you that he has been instrumental in local development efforts, devoting up to 40% of his time to it some years. Some may feel that time would be better spent on behalf of the bank’s shareholders, by focusing more on how to grow the bank. But for Williams, the two things are one and the same. Growth for Gothenburg State Bank, currently just under $120 million in assets, comes from the growth of its community. The bank has only two locations, and Williams has deliberately not set up shop in fast-growing communities far afield from Gothenburg. He has chosen instead to grow his own market, and the bank has grown along with it. Deep roots in deep soil Gothenburg is situated about in the middle of Nebraska, two-and-a-half hours west of Lincoln in the Platte River valley. Before the city was founded in 1882, the Oregon Trail wound through the area, as did the route of the Pony Express. Named after Gothenburg, Sweden, the city has been a center of agriculture from the start, with corn and soybeans the dominant crops, along with cattle ranching. In addition to its rich soil and tall prairie grass, Gothenburg (and much of the state) sits atop the vast Ogallala Aquifer. That, plus a network of irrigation canals and reservoirs built in the 1930s and 1940s, have insulated the region’s crops from this year’s drought. Matt Williams’ great-grandfather, a Pennsylvania coal miner, came west for health reasons in the last part of the 19th century and founded two Gothenburg institutions that survive to this day under family control: the 96 Ranch and the Gothenburg State Bank; the bank was founded in 1902. Another local institution, the Presbyterian Church, resulted, in part, from a Williams family member’s vision—in this case, Matt Williams’ great-grandmother. She and five other women organized the formation and building of the church in 1904. It has been a big part of the family’s life ever since. A lifelong lesson Despite having a bank in the family, it was farming that shaped Matt Williams’ work ethic. Even though his father was the bank’s president, he also managed the ranch, where young Williams spent many summers and weekends working. He hauled hay, worked cattle, built and mended fences, and did a host of other farm chores. “You worked no matter what the weather,” he recalls. “It didn’t matter if it was 100 degrees, because the job had to be done.” One summer, when he was about 15, Williams was working on a new bale wagon with the farm’s foreman. After a stint driving, it was his turn to pile bales on the wagon. He tried to keep the pace set by the foreman, but he realized he couldn’t do it. Mortified, he called “time out.” As he says, he hadn’t been prepared for the job—either physically or in terms of knowing the proper techniques—and he vowed not to let that happen again. “It taught me a lot about what you have to do to be prepared,” he says. Since then, Williams has kept himself in shape physically by running (and, now, cycling), and he also makes sure that whatever he undertakes—be it an ABA speech or a visit to a corporate prospect for the community—he is prepared. Life imitates art in Gothenburg Although it’s almost a cliché to say it, nevertheless it’s true that Matt Williams has lived a real-life Wonderful Life. No angels have approached him (at least not that he’s mentioned), but early in life he was forced to choose between the career he really wanted and returning to his hometown to help out at the family bank, much as in the movie, when Jimmy Stewart had to stay behind to run the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan while his younger brother went off to war and fame. While an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, it was law, not banking or agriculture, that most interested Williams. He did very well in law school, inspired by an uncle who was a noted Washington tax attorney. At UNL, he met and married his wife, Sue, a nursing student who supported him through law school. The two looked forward to moving East, where Williams had opportunities to work for large law firms. Life had other ideas. Between Williams’ junior and senior years of law school, his father died of cancer at 56. The family, most of whom were involved in the farming side of the family business, asked Matt if he would come back to help run the bank. That was in 1973 and he was just 24. It was a blow in many ways. But the sense of duty and responsibility to the family outweighed both his desire to pursue the law and the young couple’s natural wish to see the world beyond a small town. After much discussion, they decided to look on it as an opportunity and agreed to come back after he finished law school. Almost 40 years later, there are no regrets. In fact, Williams really can’t imagine living anywhere else or doing another job. Both the bank and the community have benefited from the couple’s decision to come back. For her part, Sue put her RN training to good use, bringing Lamaze childbirth classes to Gothenburg and working at a cardiac rehab facility before staying home to raise the couple’s two children, Robert and Julie. Though never used formally, Williams’ legal training has been useful. “It did teach me a method of critical thinking—how to analyze issues and negotiate solutions—that I’ve used all my life since then,” he says. It also helped develop good communication skills, notes Nebraska Bankers Association President George Beattie. Williams, NBA chairman in 2003-4, usually speaks from points and stands away from the podium. The ag crisis—never again Like many other Midwestern institutions, Gothenburg State Bank got caught up in the lending mistakes of the agricultural crisis of the 1980s. “As a bank and as an industry, we should not have let it get as far as it did,” says Williams. “The problem was, to some degree, everybody was doing it. If we didn’t make the loan, another bank would. I would never say that to justify our actions, however, because in your own bank you are the custodian—you have to make the decisions.” During the crisis, farmers were going broke and that hurt the rest of the local business community as well as the bank. With his legal training, you might have expected Williams to stick to the letter of the contract in dealing with troubled borrowers. Quite the contrary. Duane Oliver, a board member who recently retired as the bank’s operations officer, says that under Williams’ direction, the bank worked with struggling farmers, giving them as much leeway as possible and treating them with dignity. As a result, over the course of the crisis, only two farm customers filed for bankruptcy—far fewer than many other banks experienced. The difficult episode left a lasting impression. “It changed me,” says Williams, “and it changed our management team. You became blood brothers. The oath you swore was, ‘We’re never going to let this happen to our bank again’.” Fast-forward to 2012. Over the past decade, agriculture has enjoyed a string of very profitable years. Land prices in Nebraska increased 40% last year, and people have raised the specter of another bubble. As Williams testified in Congress earlier this year, the situation now is different from the 1980s. Farmers have much less debt, and would be better able to withstand a sharp downturn in land values. However, Williams also is adamant that bankers have to carefully monitor the situation. “We can’t ignore the possibility that this could be a bubble and be sure we are positioned to withstand it.” Work hard; play hard Lest you get the impression that Matt Williams, while he may be a good guy, sounds a little bit like, well, “George Bailey” (did we mention that he sings in his church choir?), his friends and family—and Williams himself—will disabuse you of that notion. It’s true that the years, greater responsibilities, and broken bones have slowed him down a bit. But not much. It was just this past February that he broke his collarbone riding his mountain bike through a patch of mud and ice one morning. Over the years, much of Williams’ energy when not working has been focused on Jeffrey Lake, one of the irrigation reservoirs outside town where his family has had a cabin for many years. The accompanying photo of him, his wife, and grandchildren on a jet ski (p. 38) doesn’t do justice to the adventures he and his friends have had. Years ago, they built a water-ski jump out of barrels and plywood and then launched themselves off it behind a ski boat. There also was a kite-skiing experiment, among other enterprises. In a special category is University of Nebraska football. Williams’ son Robert describes his dad as “a Husker fan to the nth degree.” The family has season tickets, which are probably worth more than Apple stock, considering Husker games have been sold out since 1961. They work hard and play hard on the Great Plains. They also take their music seriously—at least the Williams family always has. Matt’s sister, Jan, is director of the church choir, as were both their father and mother before her. Matt, who led the church children’s choir for years—now led by his daughter, Julie—played trombone in high school and sang and played guitar in a band. He still loves to sing and has a marvelous tenor voice, which he also uses to good effect in the bank’s radio commercials. Still pioneering It’s people that enable Gothenburg State Bank to excel, Williams firmly believes. “We never view ourselves as having limited resources,” he says in tribute to the 28 people the bank employs. In fact his ABA service has been made possible by these employees stepping up to do more. He cites three in particular who have taken on additional executive responsibilities: his long-time executive secretary, Ruthie Franzen; Luke Rickertsen, senior ag lender, board member and Williams’ son-in-law; and Mike Hilderbrand, senior lender and board member. The staff, plus the technology choices community banks now have, has also enabled GSB to stay up with customer expectations. The bank’s slogan is, “Still pioneering.” It connects with the bank’s heritage and with the Pony Express logo it uses. But it means much more. “It’s a slogan we challenge ourselves to live up to,” says Williams, adding, “No customer should have to take a step backwards with products or services to do business with us.” The bank has made a major commitment to technology with online banking, mobile banking, and a recently launched Facebook page. It is rolling out mobile check capture this fall. Not keeping up with technology is slow death for a bank, says Williams. Because 75% of GSB’s loans are agricultural—either direct or ag real estate-related—the bank’s No. 1 ag-loan competitor is Farm Credit. With an advantage resulting from the implicit government guarantee of its bonds, and its tax-advantaged structure, Farm Credit is tough to match on rates. To compete, GSB relies as much as possible on its close knowledge of a customer’s business, and on its expertise in financial analysis. The approach works. Through the second quarter, the subchapter S bank’s return on assets was 1.78% and its return on equity 14.05%. Both figures were down slightly from the previous year, due largely to a lower net interest margin and lower noninterest income—both resulting from the impact of government policies. Net charge-offs were just 0.03% of total loans. Core capital stood at 12.11%. As important, if not more so, than core capital is the bank’s core values. Williams brings them up frequently at the bank’s Friday all-staff meetings. They are: • “Recognize the importance of people—customers and employees. Together we can accomplish much.” • “Conduct ourselves with a sense of responsibility and an unwavering commitment to doing things right. The ethical line is a bright yellow line, not a gray one.” • “Strive to reach our potential—we don’t know how high we can reach.” • “We are the custodians for our business, our community, our families, and, most importantly, ourselves. Custodians take responsibility. They don’t quit, and they don’t blame.” Williams’ son, Robert, a lawyer in Omaha, who is a GSB director, says he thinks the bank’s success is the result of doing things the right way. The chairman’s gavel Matt Williams recognizes that ABA leadership doesn’t really have a starting and ending point because each chairman overlaps with new leaders joining the team as others roll off. Still, each chairman has his or her priorities, and the same values just described will guide Williams in his role as ABA chairman in the coming year. Which issues are most critical varies by each member’s situation, says Williams. “If your bank is struggling on the low side of the capital bar right now, then Basel III and Dodd-Frank’s higher capital requirements are absolutely critical.” For all banks, the piling on of additional rules and regulations under Dodd-Frank is vitally important. The focus on those challenges, as well as the effort to rebuild relationships with regulators, will continue as ABA priorities during Williams’ term. The fact that ABA covers all this and much more was a key reason why Williams got involved with the association. “Matt was convinced ABA was the way to take care of banking; they had the power in Washington,” observes Duane Oliver. Says Williams: “I just felt that ABA makes a difference, and I wanted to be a part of that.” The promise of financial education Beyond the issues described above, Williams has a passion for financial education and already has been working with ABA’s executive staff on several initiatives. “I think it’s a critical issue for the country,” he says. “As a banker, I have experienced situations where a lack of financial knowledge has damaged peoples’ lives. As an industry, it would be great if we could step up and assume a leadership role with financial education. Every bank, regardless of size, can get involved.” As George Beattie observed about Williams, “He doesn’t ask you to do anything he wouldn’t do himself.” So, Gothenburg State Bank has made a significant commitment of time and dollars to bring a financial education curriculum to local schools, among other steps. Williams believes increased support of financial education by banks could help reestablish a concept that has been lost by policymakers: that banking is critical to the economic survival of the country. “I believe we can change how banking and bankers are viewed.” What needs to be done Given the range, number, and complexity of issues the ABA wrestles with, is Williams daunted by the challenge? “Daunted” is not in his lexicon. With the right people, he believes, you can tackle anything—“It’s not the size of the problem, it’s the size of the minds and hearts of the people who are trying to solve it that make the difference.” On that score, he says the industry is well-equipped with the talented professional staff at ABA and the volunteer banker leaders that direct that staff and participate on committees and task forces. But it will take more than that to move the needle, in Williams’ view. It will take a sense of responsibility from a far greater percentage of the industry’s ranks. He acknowledges the difficulties faced by many banks—sometimes from things not of their own doing. But giving in to the difficulties by calling it quits or by pointing fingers will not change anything, he says. To Williams, the only effective response to difficulties is to take responsibility for the future of the industry and to stand up for banking. “It’s our responsibility, as custodians of our industry, to work to repair relationships with regulators; to support BankPAC; to volunteer for association committees and task forces; to help improve the level of financial education; and to tell the stories of the good things bankers do across the country. We can’t depend on anybody else doing that. “One more thing,” he adds: “Recruit another banker to do this with you. It is no longer acceptable to let someone else carry the water.” Matt Williams’ other job The crown jewel was Frito-Lay. It took three years for the Gothenburg, Neb., “sales team” to bring it about, but now one of two Frito-Lay corn-gathering facilities in the United States is based in this small city on the Great Plains. Local banker Matt Williams, president of Gothenburg State Bank, was a driving force in making this happen. He flew to Frito-Lay headquarters in Plano, Texas, with other local representatives to make a crucial presentation. Three other Fortune 500 businesses now have operations in the city of 3,800—recruited by Gothenburg’s development team. “Like many agricultural communities, Gothenburg suffered during the farm crisis of the 1980s,” Williams relates. “A group of citizens made a commitment to be proactive to ensure that Gothenburg had a future. They didn’t just throw up their hands.” He was one of them. As always, funding was needed. The group worked with the city to get an economic development sales tax on the ballot, which passed by just 22 votes. With the proceeds, the group turned their attention to bringing in companies to create jobs—the top priority. Their first success was Baldwin Filters, in 1990, which brought 200 jobs. After Baldwin came Frito-Lay, Monsanto’s Water Utilization Learning Center, and others. In all, more than $60 million has been invested by companies coming into Gothenburg, and 550 new jobs have been added. Also, the tax base has grown from $39 million in 1990 to more than $183 million today, and the city’s population has grown 9%. Much more was involved beyond recruiting new businesses. The companies—and their employees—needed housing, quality health care and educational facilities, plus recreational opportunities. All this was tackled, and the result was an upward spiral of growth and improvement. Williams and others, for example, were instrumental in working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finance a new critical-care facility. Likewise, they helped develop the links-style Wild Horse Golf Club, which now attracts 10,000 outside golf rounds a year. In all these things, the community worked hard to get many people involved so they would have ownership in the broadest sense. “We have always taken the approach that projects shouldn’t be funded only by people who can write large checks,” says Williams. That kind of broad involvement combined with can-do leadership, made all the difference. Williams believes elements of this approach could prove useful to the challenges banks face. Topics: ABA, Tweet Bill Streeter Bill Streeter has been a full-time business journalist for 40 years, 34 of them with ABA Banking Journal. During his time with the magazine, he rose from Assistant Managing Editor to Editor-in-Chief. He has guided the magazine’s editorial direction since 1985 and has been an observer of momentous changes in banking, from the introduction of ATMs to the 2008 financial crisis and passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. In 2012 Streeter became Editor & Publisher, responsible for the Banking Group overall including the magazine, ababj.com, and related e-newsletters. PREPAID CARDS Yes: Prepaid customers are bank customers Loans to first-time homebuyers increase Tale of four cities Underserved Markets: How to reach the unbanked Collectible Ink: A banker and his books Latest from Bill Streeter Why payments need guardrails What can you learn from a juggler? The best investment Principled Politics? Your website is trusted. Don’t waste that asset back to top Get ABA Banking Journal Newsletters Retail Banking Blogs Common Sense ComplianceUDAAP in the future, tenseIf you knew now what you’... Common Sense ComplianceNew law washes away some Biggert-Waters damag…Some relief for homeowner... Common Sense ComplianceATR/QM compliance: Document, document, docume…Good news is, better proc... Common Sense ComplianceUnintended consequences hurt tooWhat’s your favorite Dodd... 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Kaiser Aluminum to Sell Interests in Jamaican Alumina Refinery Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation, a Houston, TX, U.S.-based producer of fabricated aluminum products, alumina, and primary aluminum, has signed an agreement to sell its 65-percent interest in Alpart, a partnership that owns bauxite mining operations and an alumina refinery in Jamaica, to Glencore AG. Glencore AG is a subsidiary of Glencore International AG, a privately owned company organized under the laws of Switzerland. Net cash proceeds are expected, at a minimum, to be in the range of U.S. $160 million to $170 million, subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments. The transaction, which is subject to several closing conditions, includes the interests of Kaiser and certain of its subsidiaries in Alpart and also may include certain alumina sales contracts that are typically sourced from Kaiser's share of alumina production at Alpart. The purchase price could increase significantly depending on which contracts, if any, are ultimately included in the transaction. Kaiser will be responsible for prepayment of its approximately $14-million share of Alpart's outstanding CARIFA loan, which becomes due in full upon consummation of the transaction. The agreement also provides for Glencore to supply Kaiser with alumina of up to 200,000 metric tons in 2004 and up to 100,000 metric tons in 2005 at an agreed percentage of London Metal Exchange aluminum prices. Kaiser expects that, at the minimum end of the expected range of proceeds, the transaction will result in a pre-tax book loss in the range of $50 million. The transaction is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, where Kaiser plans to file a related motion and a copy of the agreement as promptly as practicable. Kaiser anticipates requesting the Court to rule on the motion during a regularly scheduled hearing on Feb. 23, 2004. The transaction is also conditioned upon approval by the lenders under Kaiser's Post-Petition Credit Agreement, as more fully discussed in the company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Subject to the satisfaction of these and certain other conditions, Kaiser expects the transaction to close late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2004. Until the transaction is complete, Kaiser will retain management responsibility for Alpart and will involve appropriate Glencore personnel on transitional issues.

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