Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿) founder and chairman of Uni-President (統一), announced that he will be stepping down from his post, marking the end of an era at the international food and beverages conglomerate

Uni-President chief announces plans to pass leadership torch

By Ted Chen, The China Post
November 13, 2013, 12:08 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿) founder and chairman of Uni-President (統一), yesterday announced that he will be stepping down from his post, marking the end of an era at the international food and beverages conglomerate. Kao will retain his seat on the company’s board of directors, with Alex C. Lo (羅智先) stepping up to the vacated chairmanship, in addition to his current duties as company president. Read more of this post

The design flaws that lead to financial explosions; Interactive systems that allow little room for recovery leave us vulnerable to shocks; The UPS delivery system, although complex, is linear rather than interactive in its complexity, and loosely coupled

November 12, 2013 6:33 pm

The design flaws that lead to financial explosions

By John Kay

Interactive systems that allow little room for recovery leave us vulnerable to shocks

Nuclear power and financial systems both have the capacity to blow up the world. Perhaps there are lessons from one for the other. Charles Perrow, the organisational sociologist, was prompted by the 1979nuclear incident at Three Mile Island to investigate breakdowns in complex systems. The accident is still the most serious nuclear plant failure in a western economy. Read more of this post

The Case Against Too Much Independence on the Board; While crony-filled boards are gone, Steven M. Davidoff argues there is no evidence that a supermajority of independent directors does any better

NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 10:42 AM

The Case Against Too Much Independence on the Board

By STEVEN M. DAVIDOFF

Regulators and institutional investors keep pushing the independent directors as the cure-all for what ails America’s corporations. Yet that independence, like innovation itself, can be too much of a good thing. Decades ago, the boards of corporate America were occupied by the C.E.O. and the C.E.O.’s handpicked friends and colleagues. Today the independent director, an outside director who is not beholden to the chief, dominates the corporate board. Read more of this post

Russia’s economy: The S word; Will the stagnating economy bring about much-needed structural reform?

Russia’s economy: The S word; Will the stagnating economy bring about much-needed structural reform?

Nov 9th 2013 | MOSCOW |From the print edition

STAGNATION has a particularly unpleasant resonance to the Russian ear, conjuring up memories of the ossified gerontocracy of the Brezhnev era. But with year-on-year GDP growth at just 1.2% last quarter and growth in investment and industrial production nearing zero, stagnation seems to be the most apt description of the Russian economy. Speaking at an investment forum last month, Alexei Ulyukayev, the economic-development minister, paraphrased an old joke: “Practically, there is no economic development,” he said, “but the economic-development minister is here in front of you!” Read more of this post

Ottawa’s $3.7-billion credit crisis bailout actually made money

Ottawa’s $3.7-billion credit crisis bailout actually made money

Barry Critchley | 12/11/13 | Last Updated: 12/11/13 6:32 PM ET
The Canadian Secured Credit Facility, one of the federal government’s key emergency responses to the global credit crisis, may be the most financially successful government program in recent history. The reason: every penny of capital that was provided has now been repaid and the government received market interest rates along the way. Accordingly, thanks to the receipt of the final payment in the past week, the book is closed on this bailout and taxpayers are more than whole. Read more of this post

Markets Evolve, as Does Financial Fraud

NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 7:01 AM

Markets Evolve, as Does Financial Fraud

By PETER J. HENNING

It is usually the case that there are not new frauds, just new avenues for deception. As the financial world has evolved into a high-speed race to trade assets while investment strategies are kept secret, both regulators and investors face the challenge of finding the fine line between permissible trading and manipulation aimed at generating unfair profits. Read more of this post

James Packer outlines plan to turn Sri Lanka into gambling mecca

James Packer outlines plan to turn Sri Lanka into gambling mecca

November 13, 2013 – 4:02PM

Colin Kruger

Just days after receiving approval to build a $1.5 billion luxury hotel and casino at Sydney Harbour development Barangaroo, James Packer is making his most public pitch yet to build a $400 million casino resort in Sri Lanka. In a speech to be delivered to delegates at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Colombo overnight – a conference being held ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – Mr Packer said a luxury casino resort is a necessity if Sri Lanka is to achieve its potential to become ‘‘a leading tourist mecca for the rising middle class of India, China and the rest of Asia.’’ Read more of this post

How Much Popularity Can Low Volatility Stand?

How Much Popularity Can Low Volatility Stand?

Date: November 11th, 2013 | Category: Equities, Strategy

Craig Lazzara

Global Head of Index Investment Strategy

S&P Dow Jones Indices

The low volatility anomaly — i.e., the tendency for low-volatility or low-beta portfolios to outperform market averages — has been the subject of at least 40 years of academic research.  Given its challenge to what “everyone knows” about risk and return, it’s a fertile field for both professors and practitioners, some of whom recently characterized “the long-term outperformance of low-risk portfolios [as] perhaps the greatest anomaly in finance.” Read more of this post

Hedgies have built a sector on an aura of exclusivity

Last updated: November 12, 2013 10:19 pm

Hedgies have built a sector on an aura of exclusivity

By Jonathan Guthrie

You are a discerning member of the elite. So please read on. We have to be selective, obviously. Just as Goldman Sachs will doubtless be in inviting investors to participate in Petershill II, a private equity fund that will buy stakes in hedge fund partnerships. One can’t give any old Tom, Dick or Harriet access to such an exclusive investment. Or the go-ahead to peruse this incredibly classy column. Read more of this post

Germany is disheartened by America, its one-time mentor, protector and role model

Germany is disheartened by America, its one-time mentor, protector and role model

Nov 9th 2013 |From the print edition

EDWARD SNOWDEN makes a perfect hero for some Germans. As a former contractor of an American spy agency who has been divulging its excesses, he is a “good American” who makes some of his compatriots look like “ugly Americans”. He thus taps into both of the archetypes that Germans have long held about their most important ally. Mr Snowden also placed his own sense of morality above that of his government at the risk of being deemed a traitor. To Germans, who remember two dictatorships in one long lifetime, that is heroism. Read more of this post

Foreign exchange: The big fix; Banks fear a repeat of the costly Libor scandal after traders were suspended over currency concerns

November 12, 2013 8:46 pm

Foreign exchange: The big fix

By Daniel Schäfer, Alice Ross and Delphine Strauss

Banks fear a repeat of the costly Libor scandal after traders were suspended over currency concerns

For years, the chatroom cacophony in the clubby world of foreign exchange traders was peppered with allusions to drinks, drugs and women. But in the spring of 2012, debate in the private Bloomberg chats suddenly turned serious. The conversations centred on a committee meeting of an elite group of the City of London’s most senior currency traders and their counterparts at the Bank of England. Traders were agitated about rumours that BoE representatives may have raised concerns in an April meeting over possible manipulation of daily currency fixings, said people familiar with the interbank chatroom conversations. Read more of this post

Confessions of a Quantitative Easer; Fed Official Who Helped Orchestrate QE: ‘I’m Sorry, America,’ QE Really Was A Huge Wall Street Bailout

Fed Official Who Helped Orchestrate QE: ‘I’m Sorry, America,’ QE Really Was A Huge Wall Street Bailout

STEVEN PERLBERG NOV. 12, 2013, 9:05 AM 13,008 70

Andrew Huszar, a former Federal Reserve employee who executed QE, has written a Wall Street Journal op-ed apologizing for the “unprecedented shopping spree.” Huszar worked at the Fed for seven years before leaving for Wall Street. The central bank recruited him back in 2009 to manage “what was at the heart of QE’s bond-buying spree–a wild attempt to buy $1.25 trillion in mortgage bonds in 12 months.” Read more of this post

Boardrooms Rethink Tactics to Defang Activist Investors

NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 5:06 PM

Boardrooms Rethink Tactics to Defang Activist Investors

By DAVID GELLES

Executives and board members used to fear hostile bids above all else. In response, they devised defense mechanisms like poison pills and staggered boards to thwart attacks. Today, hostile deals are on the wane, but a new threat has emerged that has put boardrooms on edge: activist investors. Read more of this post

Larry Summers: In China and India, Beware of ‘Asiaphoria’

November 12, 2013, 2:31 PM

Larry Summers: In China and India, Beware of ‘Asiaphoria’

With the top leaders of China’s Communist Party scheduled to release today their economic strategy for the coming decade, they would do well to consider the warning of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers: Don’t count on fast growth to continue, and don’t get seduced by what he and fellow economist Lant Pritchett dub “Asiaphoria.” Read more of this post

Investors Still Seeking the Perfect China ETF

Investors Still Seeking the Perfect China ETF

It sounds more like a souped-up race car than a fund: the db X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares Fund (ASHR). As the first exchange-traded fund to give U.S. retail investors exposure to hard-to-access China A-Shares, which had been available only to Chinese citizens and a few qualified foreign institutions, it’s generating a lot of buzz. Read more of this post

Flush with fuel despite recently becoming the world’s largest net oil importer, China targets new markets from Africa to Australia

Flush with fuel, China targets new markets from Africa to Australia

4:31pm EST

By Jessica Jaganathan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – From Africa to Australia, Chinese refiners are exploring new markets to ship surplus oil products such as jet fuel and diesel, putting them on track to compete with global trading houses and refining centers such as Singapore. The switch to being a growing exporter of fuel comes despite China recently becoming the world’s largest net oil importer. The opening of more refineries to process oil has emerged just as the world’s second-biggest economy shifts down a gear so there is less demand for some transport and industrial fuels, which are more sensitive to the pace of growth. Read more of this post

Internet Sows Doubt Over China Reform Plan; “It’s all a bunch of clichés. Looks like this new group doesn’t have what it takes to accomplish actual, meaningful reform.”

November 12, 2013, 9:34 PM

Internet Sows Doubt Over China Reform Plan

China’s Communist Party released the report on its pivotal four-day policy planning meeting in dribs and drabs online on Tuesday evening. Primed by weeks of state media reports promising grand reforms – the party mouthpiece People’s Daily said it “will have an important and far-reaching effect in pushing ahead with socialism with Chinese characteristics” — China’s Internet users were largely underwhelmed. Read more of this post