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

Firms Tripling Junk Returns Lure Most Since ’07: Credit Markets

Firms Tripling Junk Returns Lure Most Since ’07: Credit Markets

Firms that use borrowed money to lend to the smallest and riskiest companies are attracting cash at the fastest pace since before the crisis, wooing buyers with returns that are triple those of the broader junk-debt market. Read more of this post

Four Mistakes to Avoid When Predicting Competitors’ Moves

Four Mistakes to Avoid When Predicting Competitors’ Moves

by Leonard Fuld  |   10:00 AM January 13, 2014

Since 1986, Byron Wein, Vice Chairman Blackstone Advisory Partners (part of the Blackstone Group), has been offering 10 predictions for the coming year.  Most years he is about 50 percent correct. But for 2013 he was only about 15 percent on target. Gold did not reach $1,900 an ounce. Iran did not build the Bomb. The S&P did not plunge to under 1800 – in fact, it hit an all-time high. Read more of this post

Francine McKenna on the moral bankruptcy of the audit profession; Canceled: Why I Won’t Be Speaking At Ethics And Compliance Officers Association Annual Conference

Francine McKenna on the moral bankruptcy of the audit profession

Canceled: Why I Won’t Be Speaking At Ethics And Compliance Officers Association Annual Conference

By Francine • Sep 17th, 2013 • Category: The Big 4 And Consulting

I was really looking forward to it. But an “ethics” organization buckled under pressure from sponsors, some of whom are also board members, to rescind their offer to me to speak because I might “insult” or “disparage” one of them from the podium. Read more of this post

Giorgio Armani is studying the possibility of creating a foundation to protect the future of his fashion empire; “I don’t want to leave problems for the people who come after me”

Giorgio Armani is studying the possibility of creating a foundation to protect the future of his fashion empire; “I don’t want to leave problems for the people who come

Giorgio Armani looking at creating foundation

Mon, Jan 13 2014

By Isla Binnie

MILAN (Reuters) – Giorgio Armani is studying the possibility of creating a foundation to protect the future of his fashion empire, the Italian designer and businessman said on Monday. Read more of this post

Are You Your Employees’ Worst Enemy? Many leaders inadvertently stand in the way of superior performance. Here’s how to avoid the hindrance trap

November 12, 2013 / Winter 2013 / Issue 73

Are You Your Employees’ Worst Enemy?

Many leaders inadvertently stand in the way of superior performance. Here’s how to avoid the hindrance trap. And to check your own performance, take ourinteractive survey.

by Kannan Ramaswamy and William Youngdahl

Do you help bring out the best in your people or do you inadvertently hold them back from superior performance? Complete this assessment to find out. Read more of this post

Why We Buy in a Marked-Up Market; Investors need to overcome the instincts that lead them to buy and sell stocks at precisely the wrong times

Why We Buy in a Marked-Up Market

By CARL RICHARDSJAN. 13, 2014

When dividends are included, 2013 was the fifth consecutive year of positive performance in the stock market (as measured by the annualized Standard & Poor’s 500 return). The stock market is now up more than 200 percent from the bottom of the financial crisis in March 2009. Returns since those dark days have been unbelievable, including the market’s most recent performance in 2013 of around 30 percent. Read more of this post

Winning at investing made simple

Winning at investing made simple

By Pat Regnier   @Money January 10, 2014: 4:25 PM ET

Here are just a few of the ways Wall Street pros try to eke out an edge in the market. You can’t do any of them:

With a subscription to the Bloomberg online news service (price: about $20,000 a year), traders can instantly see anything from the location of oil tankers around the globe to supply-chain maps of a company’s vendors and customers. Read more of this post

Yuan Longping, China’s ‘father of hybrid rice’

Yuan Longping, China’s ‘father of hybrid rice’

Staff Reporter

2014-01-14

Yuan Longping and his award-winning team at Changshanan Railway Station on Jan. 11, 2014. (Photo/CNS)

A team led by Yuan Longping, China’s “father of hybrid rice,” has won a national award for progress in science and technology for his work on two-line hybrid rice technology, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The special prize was handed out in Beijing by the National Office for Science and Technology Awards on Jan. 10. The 83-year-old scientist, whose “brand” has been estimated by industry analysts to be worth more than 100 billion yuan (US$16.5 billion), says his wish is to be able to generate 1,000 kilograms of hybrid rice per mu — a Chinese unit of measurement equal to about 666 square meters — by 2015. Read more of this post

Harvard Square Draws Deal-Seeking Drugmakers From Europe; “Here in Cambridge, everything is so condensed. It’s a very open community of innovative science.”

Harvard Square Draws Deal-Seeking Drugmakers From Europe

Martin Heidecker has traded the broad Rhine River for the banks of the Charles.

Heidecker is a venture-capital fund manager for Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, the latest major European pharmaceutical company to set up shop across the river from Boston in Cambridge, home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like its competitors, Boehringer wanted to get a piece of the local biotechnology boom that by last July had generated more than 11 percent of the U.S. drug-development pipeline. Read more of this post

Fonterra Reassures Consumers Amid Second Contamination Scare

Fonterra Reassures Consumers After N.Z. Fresh Cream Recall

Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. (FCG), the world’s biggest dairy exporter, says its food safety standards are being maintained after a recall of a batch of fresh cream distributed within New Zealand. Read more of this post