Australian Banks’ Risky Loans Fueling House Price Gains

Australian Banks’ Risky Loans Fueling House Price Gains

Australia’s biggest banks, whose lending standards helped the nation avoid a property crash during the global credit crisis, are raising concern with home loans helping to fuel record house prices. The proportion of mortgages that represented more than 80 percent of a home’s value — the loan-to-value ratio — rose in the third quarter to the highest since the second quarter of 2009, data from the banking regulator show. Mortgages in which borrowers pay only interest also increased to the highest in at least five years, according to the figures. Read more of this post

Misunderstanding the ‘Asean Way’; The strength of Asean, or the effectiveness of its Secretariat, is only what its least willing member would allow it to be

Updated: Sunday December 1, 2013 MYT 8:55:40 AM

Misunderstanding the ‘Asean Way’

BY BUNN NAGARA

The strength of Asean, or the effectiveness of its Secretariat, is only what its least willing member would allow it to be.

TOO often are standard arguments repeated at international conferences, particularly those of a regional strategic nature, regardless of whether those arguments are true or correct. There is, for example, the one about Asean’s supposedly flaccid process of consensual decision-making. But even if a demonstrably better alternative exists, which critics typically fail to identify, what assurance is there that it will work better for South-East Asia? Read more of this post

Worst Raw-Material Slump Since ’08 Seen Deepening: Commodities

Worst Raw-Material Slump Since ’08 Seen Deepening: Commodities

The commodity slump that spurred bear markets in everything from gold to corn to sugar this year will deepen by the end of December as prices head for their first annual loss since 2008, if history is any guide. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials fell in December 83 percent of the time since 1971 when the benchmark gauge was posting losses for the year through November, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The average December loss was 3.9 percent, which if it happened this time would mean a 7.8 percent drop for the year. Read more of this post

What’s this AEC (Asean Economic Community) all about? If it’s that important, why do we know so little about it? Can you help explain?

Updated: Saturday November 30, 2013 MYT 1:34:36 PM

AEC is on the way

BY TAN SRI LIN SEE-YAN

READERS ask: What’s this AEC (Asean Economic Community) all about? If it’s that important, why do we know so little about it? Can you help explain? Here goes. Asean kicked off as a political entity some 52 years ago. It has since evolved over time, standing today on 3 pillars: (i) political-security (ii) economic and (iii) social-cultural. Experience from the 1997/98 financial crisis highlighted the necessity for closer economic collaboration to protect mutual national interests. Read more of this post

20% holding in Versace fashion group estimated to be worth about €850m

December 1, 2013 5:26 pm

Italian state fund is frontrunner to buy 20% stake in Versace

By Rachel Sanderson in Milan and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in London

Italy’s state private equity fund, which last year struck a deal with Qatar to invest in Italian fashion, has emerged as frontrunner to buy a minority stake in family-owned Versace estimated to be worth as much as €850m. Fondo Strategico Italiano, led by former Merrill Lynch banker Maurizio Tamagnini, forged a deal with Qatar last year on a “IQ Made in Italy Venture” aimed at investing up to €2bn in Italian fashion, food, furniture and tourism. Read more of this post

Nestlé falters on path towards a healthier future

December 1, 2013 12:50 pm

Nestlé falters on path towards a healthier future

By Scheherazade Daneshkhu and James Shotter in Vevey

Like the Swiss mountains overlooking its headquarters in Vevey, a small town on the shores of Lake Geneva, Nestlé’s reputation is for solidity and consistency. It is the archetypal consumer staple, churning out infant cereal for the past 146 years, Nescafé coffee for 75 years and Maggi stock cubes for more than 65 years; even the KitKat chocolate wafer it has owned since 1988 has a heritage of more than 70 years. Read more of this post

Start-up rivals Nestlé with coffee capsules; Ex-City duo make CaféPod a player in the market

Start-up rivals Nestlé with coffee capsules

Ex-City duo make CaféPod a player in the market

When Nestle’s coffee capsule patents expired in 2011, South African-born Peter Grainger and Brent Hadfield were ready to enter the market.

By Anna White

9:00PM GMT 30 Nov 2013

Two hedge fund executives-turned-baristas behind CaféPod have stirred up the UK coffee market and shown how a battle against a larger incumbent – even a corporate giant – can be won if you follow the right strategy. Read more of this post

Food groups look to make products leaner

December 1, 2013 12:58 pm

Food groups look to make products leaner

By James Shotter and Scheherazade Daneshkhu in Vevey

As waistlines in the west expand ever outwards, food companies are under growing pressure to make their products healthier. That might sound like something that could be achieved in a kitchen, rather than a laboratory. But Nestlé needs the lab to devise ways of reducing fat and sugar in the ice cream, chocolate, frozen pizzas and ready meals on which it relies for much of its sales. Read more of this post

Delhi proves a crowded battleground for India’s new politics

December 1, 2013 5:41 am

Delhi proves a crowded battleground for India’s new politics

By Victor Mallet in New Delhi

Shazia Ilmi is no ordinary woman – the glamorous former television anchor is both wealthy and famous in India – but she is at the forefront of a struggle by the upstart Aam Aadmi (Ordinary People) party to challenge the duopoly that has dominated the politics of Delhi and the nation for decades. Read more of this post

A higher minimum wage is the tonic America needs

December 1, 2013 6:02 pm

A higher minimum wage is the tonic America needs

By Edward Luce

The argument for broad-based income growth is as compelling as it is watertight

Imagine receiving the following note from your boss: try to eat two small meals instead of one big one, sell your unopened holiday gifts on eBay for cash and please stop complaining – it is bad for your stress levels. That was what burger chainMcDonald’s suggested in an amazingly thick-skinned memo to employees last week. All that was missing was a side order of fries. Welcome to life for a large chunk of the US workforce where a 40-hour week pays too little to take you above the poverty level. Read more of this post

The Long Short Run

J. BRADFORD DELONG

NOV 30, 2013

The Long Short Run

BERKELEY – Before 2008, I taught my students that the United States was a flexible economy. It had employers who were willing to gamble and hire when they saw unemployed workers who would be productive; and it had workers who were willing to move to opportunity, or to try something new in order to get a job. As bosses and entrepreneurial workers took a chance, supply would create its own demand. Read more of this post

Turning Good Economic Luck into Bad; Argentina and Venezuela are countries that have benefited from high prices for their exports but have managed to miss the highway to prosperity by turning onto a dead-end street

RICARDO HAUSMANN

NOV 30, 2013

Turning Good Economic Luck into Bad

CAMBRIDGE, MA – It is often difficult to understand how countries that are dealt a pretty good economic hand can end up making a major mess of things. It is as if they were trying to commit suicide by jumping from the basement. Read more of this post

Banks cutting off first-time buyers from property loans in China

Banks cutting off first-time buyers from property loans in China

Staff Reporter

2013-12-02 Read more of this post

An opportunity to take the guesswork out of investing in China; Nobody is sure whether they believe numbers supplied by China

December 1, 2013 2:40 pm

An opportunity to take the guesswork out of investing in China

By John Authers

Nobody is sure whether they believe numbers supplied by China

For the legions of China-watchers within the world’s investment community, there have always been two difficult questions. One, which applies everywhere, is to look at the figures and to ask whether growth can continue, or if a bubble is forming. A second question, much more specific to China, is whether the figures themselves are genuine, and whether words can be taken at face value. Read more of this post

China faces worsening overcapacity

China faces worsening overcapacity

Updated: 2013-12-02 11:20 Read more of this post

Testing time for China’s tea growers

Testing time for China’s tea growers

By Todd Balazovic and Li Aaoxue (China Daily)    09:06, December 02, 2013 Read more of this post

Investors shouldn’t bet on China concept stock

Investors shouldn’t bet on concept stock

Updated: 2013-12-02 07:26

By Hong Liang ( China Daily) Read more of this post

Shinsegae Group’s flagship affiliate E-Mart will be run under two chief operating officers who will be charged with overseeing the discount shop’s sales and management, respectively

E-Mart to have two-track structure

Seo Jin-woo and Kim Tae-sung

2013.11.29 17:07:25

Shinsegae Group’s flagship affiliate E-Mart will be run under two chief operating officers who will be charged with overseeing the discount shop’s sales and management, respectively. In a regular reshuffle carried out Friday, the group appointed incumbent E-Mart head Heo In-cheol, 53, as CEO of E-Mart’s sales and Kim Hae-sung, 55, as CEO of E-Mart’s overall management. Kim will also continue to serve as the CEO of the group’s corporate strategy office.  Read more of this post

A very agile McDonald’s in Korea

2013-12-01 12:44

A very agile McDonald’s

By Kim Da-ye
Rarely in any Korean industry does only one foreign company introduce service innovations that competitors simply copy. McDonald’s in the fast food industry is one such company. McDonald’s, the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants, has been launching a gamut of new services since the mid-2000s, helping revive the local fast food industry that had been heading downhill. Read more of this post

From Drugs to Insider Trading, Yakuza Gangsters Branch Out

From Drugs to Insider Trading, Yakuza Gangsters Branch Out

By Hiroshi Hiyama on 5:44 pm December 1, 2013.

Tokyo. Japanese mobsters driving flash cars purchased with bank loans. Executives bowing in apology for loaning millions to those underworld figures. And high-level officials vowing to squash the crime syndicates, known as yakuza. Japan Inc. is engulfed in its worst mob scandal in years and it’s shining a rare light on the links between big business and shadowy organized crime groups usually known for lowbrow ventures like extortion and loan sharking. Read more of this post

india has decided not to go ahead with a proposal that sought to prevent foreigners from owning a majority stake in domestic makers of “rare and critical” drugs

India Backs Off on Restricting Foreign Pharmaceutical Investment

Commerce Minister Says Not Going Ahead With Proposal

RAJESH ROY And KENAN MACHADO

Updated Nov. 29, 2013 10:42 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI–India has decided not to go ahead with a proposal that sought to prevent foreigners from owning a majority stake in domestic makers of “rare and critical” drugs, the commerce minister said Friday. A government agency had proposed to ensure the supply of cheap generic drugs locally by limiting the percentage of ownership that a foreign investor could hold. Read more of this post

Bajaj Fin may rejig management to abide by RBI’s banking norms; Currently Bajaj Group is the only NBFC that has shown interest in converting into a bank, which has a sizeable auto business

Bajaj Fin may rejig mgmt to abide by RBI’s banking norms

Just a day after the Tatas opted out of the race for a banking licence, its Pune-based rival business family Bajaj reiterated its commitment and intent on converting from a non-banking financial company into a full-fledged bank. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Rajiv Bajaj, director, Bajaj Auto said its finance arm – Bajaj Finance– may undertake an organisational restructuring to ensure that there is no ‘conflict of interest’. Bajaj said that the firm was in a dilemma since currently the auto division of the finance company finances 30 percent of Bajaj Auto’s total domestic sales. This could get impacted if the NBFC becomes a full-fledged bank raising questions of a possible ‘conflict of interest’ . Read more of this post

Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge; Shale gas and eased sanctions on Iran will test Opec’s ability to curb output and buoy prices

December 1, 2013 4:37 pm

Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge

By Ajay Makan and Neil Hume

Shale gas and eased sanctions on Iran will test Opec’s ability to curb output and buoy prices

At a private dinner early in November a group of executives from one of the world’s largest commodity traders was asked to predict the price of oil in a year’s time. Without exception the forecasts, scribbled on place cards without consultation, were for Brent crude to fall well below the $100 a barrel level it has traded above for most of the past three years. Those predictions reflect a growing consensus in the oil market. From US shale to aneasing of sanctions on Iran, the coming years are expected to provide a huge boost to global output, inverting the structure of the oil market in which supplies have long been rationed by a handful of producers. Read more of this post

That ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Premium; Retailers and manufacturers say consumers’ stated desire for clothing produced in the United States is often outweighed by a preference for the lower prices of foreign-made goods

November 30, 2013

That ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Premium

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

The designer Nanette Lepore is a cheerleader for New York City’s garment district. Most of her contemporary women’s clothing line, which sells at stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, is made locally. Her company occupies six floors in a building on West 35th Street and uses, among other businesses, six nearby sewing factories, a cutting room and even a maker of fabric flowers in the neighborhood. She organizes “Save the Fashion District” rallies, writes about the danger of losing local production and lobbies lawmakers in Washington to support the American fashion industry.  Read more of this post

Testing times for China: Homemakers are turning into ‘scientists’ as companies cash in on the food safety crisis

Updated: Friday November 29, 2013 MYT 9:24:52 AM

Testing times for China

BY THO XIN YI

Homemakers are turning into ‘scientists’ as companies cash in on the food safety crisis.

CHARACTERS in Chinese martial arts fiction use silver needles to test the dishes served to them when they are afraid of being poisoned. It is said that the needles will turn black if the food has been tainted. In real life, there are consumers in China who rely on test kits to ensure that the food products they consume are safe. Their paranoia is fuelled by the food safety problems that have emerged, including fake meat, tainted milk or “gutter oil”, which refers to reproduced waste oil collected from the drains, oil refined from low-quality pork or overused oil. Read more of this post

Pure speculation: Where will China’s ‘mother investor’ trend lead?

Pure speculation: Where will China’s ‘mother investor’ trend lead?

Staff Reporter

2013-12-01

Chinese housewives with disposable incomes have been nicknamed “mother investors” by the investment sector for their boldness and high-stake speculating, such as their frantic buying of gold bullion and jewelry earlier this year amid low gold prices, which scared off Wall Street profiteers. Now, the mothers are having a good look at the virtual currency bitcoin as their next target, the Chinese-language Securities Daily reports. Read more of this post