Broken contacts: Finance, not economics, may explain copper’s recent plunge

Broken contacts: Finance, not economics, may explain copper’s recent plunge

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

THE copper price has long been held to signal the state of the global economy as reliably as the metal conducts electrons. But that reputation—never fully deserved—is now in tatters. Copper’s plunging price (see chart) says a lot about China, but little about the rest of the world. Read more of this post

Swissness is not enough: Big and small must adapt to survive

Swissness is not enough: Big and small must adapt to survive

Mar 29th 2014 | ZURICH | From the print edition

LIKE their country’s watchmakers, Swiss banks have enjoyed a reputation for quality, reliability and watertight discretion. But since 2008, spectacular coups by neighbouring countries’ tax authorities and investigations by America’s Department of Justice have torn at their reputation. Now they are trying to rebuild one as squeaky-clean money managers. Read more of this post

Freedom or licence? Annuities are not as bad as they are sometimes painted

Freedom or licence? Annuities are not as bad as they are sometimes painted

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

LET the pensioners free. That was the rallying cry of the recent British budget, which decreed that those who accumulate a pension pot no longer must use the proceeds to buy an annuity on retiring. Read more of this post

Inflation and interest rates: Up, up and away; Higher inflation may be needed to leave extra-low interest rates behind

Inflation and interest rates: Up, up and away; Higher inflation may be needed to leave extra-low interest rates behind

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

AT FIRST glance, rich-world central banks are going their separate ways. Cheered by sturdy growth figures, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve are shuffling toward an exit from easy monetary policy; markets found Janet Yellen’s first Fed statement unexpectedly hawkish. The European Central Bank, in contrast, is tacking looser. On March 25th Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, suggested that the ECB might need to be more forceful in order to keep the euro-area economy out of the grips of deflation. Read more of this post

Cartel-busting: Boring can still be bad; Market-rigging in unsexy industries costs consumers a lot. More can be done to detect and deter it

Cartel-busting: Boring can still be bad; Market-rigging in unsexy industries costs consumers a lot. More can be done to detect and deter it

Mar 29th 2014 | From the print edition

MENTION price cartels and many people will think of big, overt ones like the one OPEC runs for oil and the now-extinct one for diamonds. But at least as damaging are the many secret cartels in such unglamorous areas as ball-bearings and cargo rates, which go on unnoticed for years, quietly bumping up the end cost to consumers of all manner of goods and services. Read more of this post

Korean tycoon’s hidden assets to be seized; Prosecution’s decision follows backlash over court’s light sentence of the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group, as part of a bid to levy the massive fine he owes

Tycoon’s hidden assets to be seized

Prosecution’s decision follows backlash over court’s light sentence

Mar 28,2014

Prosecutors and tax authorities have begun full-fledged efforts to track down hidden assets held by Huh Jae-ho, the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group, as part of a bid to levy the massive fine he owes.  Read more of this post

‘Audit monopoly’ hurts transparency; Samil, Samjong, Anjin, E&Y dominate large firms’ market

Updated : 2014-03-27 18:54

‘Audit monopoly’ hurts transparency

Samil, Samjong, Anjin, E&Y dominate large firms’ market
By Na Jeong-ju
In Korea, it is extremely difficult for small accounting firms to compete against major companies in the same industry.
Most conglomerates only employ the services of big accounting firms to conduct external auditing. Read more of this post

Is the banking system now even more dangerous? Central banks fear so

Is the banking system now even more dangerous? Central banks fear so

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve think the banking system has become more dangerous since the last crisis Read more of this post

What the UK should learn from Jardines

What the UK should learn from Jardines
27th March 2014

Along with its results on 6-Mar-2014, the Jardine group of 5 companies announced proposed downgrades to their UK listing status, which will reduce minority shareholder rights and governance standards. And guess what? The controlling shareholders can vote to approve this, so minorities have very little say in the matter, except in one case. Read more of this post

The unscaling myth

The unscaling myth

Izabella Kaminska | Mar 27 15:05 | Comment | Share

Part of the GROSS DOMESTIC COLLABORATION SERIES

Unscaling is made possible by the number of Internet-based platforms and cloud-based services and tools now available to startups and small businesses in general. New companies can now be launched without a massive investment in personnel and IT infrastructure. They can quickly get to market, and compete effectively with far larger companies. Mobile Internet platforms, in particular, make it easier and cheaper to experiment in the marketplace. While most such experiments will likely fail, some, like Airbnb, will succeed and can then quickly scale up their capabilities as their businesses grow. Read more of this post

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE LAW & ORDER  MAR. 27, 2014, 6:46 PM

More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businessmen in a Chinese city, state media reported. Read more of this post

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

March 27, 2014 12:23 pm

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

By Sophia Grene

Should pension funds act as sleeping partners, whose role is no more than the price-setting of market participants, or do they have a more active part to play in the companies they own, acting as good stewards of their assets? Read more of this post

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

March 27, 2014 9:16 am

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

By Jonathan Soble and Jennifer Thompson in Tokyo

Call it the “beef bowl test” for Abenomics. On Tuesday, when Japan carries out a controversial increase in its national sales tax, the country’s two leading purveyors of gyu-don – cheap and hearty sliced beef on rice – will respond in starkly opposing ways: one by cutting prices, the other by raising them. Read more of this post

A warning that local interest rates may rise more sharply and sooner than expected – posing downward risk in the homes market – was sounded by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

HKMA fans local rate hike concerns
Karen Chiu and Imogene Wong
Thursday, March 27, 2014

A warning that local interest rates may rise more sharply and sooner than expected – posing downward risk in the homes market – was sounded by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority yesterday. Read more of this post

Casinos plan in Vietnam’s proposed SEZs gets mixed reactions

by Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, Zhang Jianhua

QUANG NINH, Vietnam, March 25 (Xinhua) — The plan to allow casinos and other forms of leisure to operate in special economic zones (SEZs) that are proposed to be build in three provinces in Vietnam has been met with mixed reactions. Read more of this post