Fed turns sour on banks’ physical commodities trading; Any restrictions on banks’ activities would benefit energy companies

January 16, 2014 8:52 am

Fed turns sour on banks’ physical commodities trading

By Gregory Meyer in New York

Any restrictions on banks’ activities would benefit energy companies

Asurprise outcome of the Deepwater Horizon disaster may be to eliminate competition for BP’s formidable energy trading business. Read more of this post

Asia’s Newest Revolutions Are Just Beginning

Asia’s Newest Revolutions Are Just Beginning

Asia’s urban migration is bringing about an “explosive transformation,” the Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid writes in “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia,” “the supportive, stifling, stabilizing bonds of extended relationships weakening and giving way, leaving in their wake insecurity, anxiety, productivity and potential.” Read more of this post

Will an Integrated ASEAN Region Challenge China?

Will an Integrated ASEAN Region Challenge China?

Jan 15, 2014

China’s status as the global darling for foreign investment and trade is facing some competition these days from Southeast Asian nations that, while small, are forming an increasingly important economic bloc. Though the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, comprises a market of 610 million people — less than half the size of China’s — the bloc’s more affluent consumers are looking increasingly attractive, especially to Japanese companies wary of risks stemming from escalating territorial disputes with Beijing. Read more of this post

Who Lost Thailand?

YURIKO KOIKE

JAN 15, 2014

Who Lost Thailand?

TOKYO – Thailand, Southeast Asia’s most developed and sophisticated economy, is teetering on the edge of the political abyss. Yet most of the rest of Asia appears to be averting its eyes from the country’s ongoing and increasingly anarchic unrest. That indifference is not only foolish; it is dangerous. Asia’s democracies now risk confronting the same harsh question that the United States faced when Mao Zedong marched into Beijing, and again when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted the Shah in Iran. Who, they will have to ask, lost Thailand? Read more of this post

Thai PM Says Election Best Way to End Crisis

Thai PM Says Election Best Way to End Crisis

By Thanaporn Promyamyai on 7:56 pm January 15, 2014.
Bangkok. Thailand’s prime minister urged anti-government protesters Wednesday to vent their anger against her at the ballot box, insisting that elections were the best way to solve the country’s deepening political crisis. Read more of this post

Thai graft body to probe rice subsidies, adding to PM’s woes

Thai graft body to probe rice subsidies, adding to PM’s woes

5:52am EST

By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Thai anti-corruption agency said on Thursday it would investigate a money-guzzling rice subsidy program that has fuelled opposition to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, as protesters marched through the capital demanding she resign. Read more of this post

Thai Farmers Begin Deserting Government Over Late Rice Payments

Thai Farmers Begin Deserting Government Over Late Rice Payments

Thailand’s Flagship Rice Subsidy Is Running Out Of Cash

JAKE MAXWELL WATTS, ISABELLA STEGER and WILAWAN WATCHARASAKWET

Updated Jan. 15, 2014 1:10 p.m. ET

Thailand’s flagship rice subsidy is running out of cash and backfiring at a critical time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose political future hinges on support from farmers and other rural voters as her rivals intensify their campaign to remove her from office. Read more of this post

Riot-Hit Singapore Insists Migrant Workers Treated Respectfully

Riot-Hit Singapore Insists Migrant Workers Treated Respectfully

By Agence France-Presse on 4:06 pm January 15, 2014.
Singapore. Singapore on Wednesday denied that a riot last month by some 400 South Asian migrant workers in the city-state was triggered by discontent over their wages and living conditions. Read more of this post

Turkey Seeks Way Out of Judicial Crisis

Turkey Seeks Way Out of Judicial Crisis

By Agence France-Presse on 5:41 pm January 15, 2014.
Turkey’s government was pursuing efforts Wednesday to defuse a row over its plans to exert more control over the judiciary, a move that has stoked concerns about the independence of the country’s institutions in the wake of a damaging corruption scandal. Read more of this post

Richest Coffee Deal in Asia Seen at Super Group: Real M&A

Richest Coffee Deal in Asia Seen at Super Group: Real M&A

Super Group Ltd. (SUPER) may be the best takeover option for beverage companies anxious to corner a piece of Asia’s expanding instant-coffee market, as long as they’re willing to pay up. Read more of this post

ACRA, ISCA sign agreement on financial reporting surveillance

ACRA, ISCA sign agreement on financial reporting surveillance

By Nicole Tan
POSTED: 16 Jan 2014 22:33
More companies will have their financial statements come under closer scrutiny by Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, through a tie-up with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

SINGAPORE: More companies will have their financial statements come under closer scrutiny by Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), through a tie-up with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA). Read more of this post

Would you pay 8% in fees for an illiquid alternatives fund?

Would you pay 8% in fees for an illiquid alternatives fund?

The fees with Blackstone Group’s nontraded fund of hedge funds make 2 and 20 not so bad

By Jason Kephart   |  January 15, 2014 – 12:01 am EST

If the thought of paying the classic “two and 20” to a hedge fund makes you queasy, you may want to look away. Private-equity giant Blackstone Group is soliciting new shares for its $300 million Blackstone Alternative Alpha Fund, which carries a price tag that makes 2% in annual fees and 20% of profits look like a clearance sale. The nontraded fund of hedge funds has all-in annual costs of 8.28%, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more of this post

The Business of Risk Is Booming; As Fines Sting, a Hiring Spree for Compliance Staff

The Business of Risk Is Booming

As Fines Sting, a Hiring Spree for Compliance Staff

GREGORY J. MILLMAN and SAMUEL RUBENFELD

Jan. 15, 2014 8:13 p.m. ET

In a U.S. economy struggling to create jobs, at least one field is booming: compliance. Hefty fines and other penalties have jolted companies, especially banks, into a compliance hiring spree, as governments at home and abroad tighten business laws and regulations and ramp up their enforcement activity. Read more of this post

The Average Hedge Fund These Days Is Basically An Overpriced Index Fund

The Average Hedge Fund These Days Is Basically An Overpriced Index Fund

SAM RO

JAN. 13, 2014, 8:26 AM 3,363 1

There are many types of hedge funds out there offering a variety of strategies. Generally speaking, most hedge funds will try to offer superior returns or stable returns in any market. But according to this chart from Morgan Stanley’s Adam Parker, “hedge funds in aggregate are essentially long the S&P 500.” Read more of this post

Structural change is the answer to the problem of bankers’ bonuses

January 16, 2014 4:41 am

Structural change is the answer to the problem of bankers’ bonuses

By Philip Augar

Regulators must act to open up pay in finance to conventional market forces, says Philip Augar

It is bonus time in the City of London. This annual ritual used to be about bankers, brokers and traders positioning themselves for a life-changing payout. But since the crash, the payouts are smaller and the actors have another role, which involves dodging the bullets from regulators and politicians. It is an intriguing drama with three distinct subplots: how EU bonus rules affect the City’s competitiveness; the unique case ofRoyal Bank of Scotland, taken into state control during the crisis; and, most importantly, identifying and addressing the underlying cause of the bonus rumpus. Read more of this post

Recession-weary Italians catch nostalgia for lira

Recession-weary Italians catch nostalgia for lira

9:18am EST

By Naomi O‘Leary

ROME (Reuters) – Twelve years since Italy introduced the euro, the national mint is still stamping Italian lire – and recession fatigue means nostalgia for the retired national currency is going strong. Read more of this post

How Big Government Drives Inequality

How Big Government Drives Inequality

DAVID MALPASS

Updated Jan. 15, 2014 10:53 p.m. ET

Inequality is the wedge issue that Democrats hope will carry them through the 2014 and 2016 elections, neutralizing the ObamaCare fiasco. The issue has popular appeal because median incomes (after inflation) have been falling throughout the recovery, while high-end incomes are increasing rapidly. Read more of this post

Skewed: Income Inequality in America

Skewed: Income Inequality in America

Read more of this post

‘Fragile Five’ falls short as tapering leaves more exposed

Last updated: January 15, 2014 8:39 pm

‘Fragile Five’ falls short as tapering leaves more exposed

By James Kynge

Fallout from loss of easy money leaves more emerging markets exposed

Forget the “Fragile Five”, the newly minted alliterative grouping of emerging markets at risk. The list of countries exposed as central banks tighten monetary policy is longer than the moniker suggests. Read more of this post

BlackBerry Woes Underscore Canada’s Currency Challenges

BlackBerry Woes Underscore Canada’s Currency Challenges

Smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd.’s slide from innovator to also-ran epitomizes the challenges facing the Canadian dollar as the North American country looks to exports to fuel growth. Read more of this post

An alarming map of the 17 countries with possible housing bubbles

An alarming map of the 17 countries with possible housing bubbles

By Max Fisher, Updated: December 3, 2013 at 7:30 am

Economist Nouriel Roubini is warning that 11 countries are showing indications of potential housing bubbles – an alarming prospect for the global economy, which is still recovering from the aftereffects of burst housing bubbles in the United States and elsewhere. He identifies another six countries in which major urban areas may have housing bubbles. Read more of this post

Compliance officers are increasingly getting a direct line to their company’s boss, even though the chief executive might not be eager to hear about any problems

More Compliance Chiefs Get Direct Line to Boss

Companies Elevate Status of Head Watchdog, but Role Is Often Ambiguous

GREGORY J. MILLMAN and BEN DIPIETRO

Compliance officers are increasingly getting a direct line to their company’s boss, even though the chief executive might not be eager to hear about any problems. Many companies have responded to more aggressive government enforcement efforts by touting their compliance programs and even raising the rank of their chief in-house watchdog. Read more of this post

Fed Student-Loan Focus Recognizes Threat to U.S. Economy

Fed Student-Loan Focus Recognizes Threat to U.S. Economy

Tiffany Roberson works for the state of Texas as a parole officer, teaches part time and is living with her parents after finishing a master’s degree. She’s held off marrying her boyfriend of four years and starting a family because she owes more than $170,000 in federal and private student loans. Read more of this post