DBS Bank To Acquire Société Générale’s Private Banking Business in Asia or 1.75% of $12.6 billion in assets under management

DBS Bank To Acquire Société Générale’s Private Banking Business in Asia

Singaporean Bank Seeks to Build on the Lucrative Wealth Management Business in the Region

P.R. VENKAT

March 16, 2014 7:36 p.m. ET

SINGAPORE—DBS Bank Ltd. Monday said that it has agreed to buy the Asian private banking business of French bank Société Générale SA GLE.FR -2.19% for $220 million, as the Singaporean bank seeks to build on the lucrative wealth management business in the region. Read more of this post

China’s Credit Nightmare Explained In One Chart

China’s Credit Nightmare Explained In One Chart

Tyler Durden on 03/14/2014 14:22 -0400

Everyone knows that after years of kicking the can and resolutely sticking its head in the sand, China is finally on the verge, if hasn’t already crossed it, of a major credit event, confirmed by the first ever corporate bond default which took place a week ago. Few, however, know just why China is in this untenable position. If we had to select one data point with which to explain it all, it would be the following: just in the fourth quarter of 2013, Chinese bank assets rose from CNY147 trillion to CNY151.4 trillion, or, in dollar terms, an increase of almost exactly $1 trillion! Read more of this post

Germany’s Mittelstand Companies: Can Asia Share Their Success?

10/02/2014

GERMANY’S MITTELSTAND COMPANIES: CAN ASIA SHARE THEIR SUCCESS?

DR. HOLLY CLAUDIA OTT

The term Mittelstand loosely translates to “middle class” in German, and the Mittelstand companies in Germany are typically family-run, export-oriented businesses which achieve high efficiencies through a focused business model. This approach has been very successful: some 1,300 Mittelstand enterprises have carved out world-leading positions in their chosen niches. Read more of this post

Politics in India’s states: Elections in India are merry-go-rounds, not two-horse races

Politics in India’s states: Elections in India are merry-go-rounds, not two-horse races

Mar 15th 2014 | DELHI AND KOLKATA | From the print edition

A FICKLE lot, revolutionaries. Three years ago Anna Hazare, an ageing Gandhian populist, drew immense crowds to Ramlila Maidan, a big park in Old Delhi. Such was the righteous fervour of the public for his fasts and anti-graft campaign that many talked excitedly of upending national politics and even of changing the constitution. “Anna is India, India is Anna” throngs of white-capped supporters chanted. On March 12th Mr Hazare was due back at his old stamping-ground in Delhi. He cried off at the last moment, after the crowds failed to show up. What began as agitation is ending as farce. Read more of this post

IFRS could be stripped of accountancy watchdog role

IFRS could be stripped of accountancy watchdog role

There are concerns about transparency and governance at the accounting authority

Sharon Bowles, chairwoman of the European Parliament Economic Affairs Committee, has raised “serious concerns” about the governance of the IFRS Foundation

By Louise Armitstead, Chief Business Correspondent

9:44PM GMT 15 Mar 2014

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation’s role in governing global accounting rules is under threat after European politicians said they were questioning whether the authority was “best suited” to the position. Read more of this post

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 hijacked for 9/11-type terror attack in India?

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 hijacked for 9/11-type terror attack in India?

by Neha Attre

Last Updated: Sunday, March 16, 2014, 11:06

Zee Media Bureau/ Neha Attre
10:45 am: Uighur separatist movement behind disappearance of jet?
The Malaysian authorities are now looking at an email sent by a 35-year-old man from Uighur, China’s troubled autonomous Muslim province, who was also flying on the Malaysia airlines flight, ANI reported.  Read more of this post

Walmart China loses customer confidence

Walmart China loses customer confidence

Staff Reporter

2014-03-16

After 40 years in China, Walmart, the world’s retailing giant, is facing a crisis of trust in the market, due to its failure to keep up consistent quality of service and its perfunctory responses to customer complaints. Read more of this post

Fallen Tiger, Shaken Dragon; Caging a tiger will not destroy a vampire: the Middle Kingdom remains deeply corrupt

MINXIN PEI

Minxin Pei is Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College and a non-resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

MAR 14, 2014

Fallen Tiger, Shaken Dragon

CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – Less than 18 months after becoming General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping is poised to cage the biggest political “tiger” – a corrupt top official – in the history of the People’s Republic. Although rumors of the imminent fall of former internal security chief Zhou Yongkang have been swirling for months, many observers remained unsure whether Xi would prosecute Zhou and thus break the party’s long-established unwritten rule of immunity for sitting or retired members of the Politburo Standing Committee. Read more of this post

Plans for auto hub in Malaysia

Updated: Saturday March 15, 2014 MYT 7:07:48 AM

Plans for auto hub in Malaysia

BY EUGENE MAHALINGAM

THE National Automotive Policy (NAP 2014) which was finally unveiled in January, has since set tongues wagging over some of the policies that were announced. Read more of this post

How Hong Kong Lost the Alibaba IPO

How Hong Kong Lost the Alibaba IPO

Exchange, Chinese E-Commerce Giant Fell Out Over a Rule

ENDA CURRAN

Updated March 15, 2014 11:40 a.m. ET

HONG KONG—Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s planned listing in New York is a blow to Hong Kong’s stock exchange, which failed in an effort to change its rules so as to accommodate what could be one of the world’s biggest initial public offerings. Read more of this post

How to Become a (Public Pension) Millionaire

How to Become a (Public Pension) Millionaire

In five states, an average full-career retiree receives a retirement income higher than his final salary.

ANDREW G. BIGGS

March 14, 2014 7:18 p.m. ET

Detroit and San Bernardino and Stockton, Calif. are in bankruptcy, and across the country the costs of maintaining pensions for city and state employees more than doubled to nearly $84 billion in 2011 from 2002. Yet the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Afscme) declares that public pensions are “modest,” noting that its average member “receives a pension of approximately $19,000 per year after a career of public service.” Read more of this post

China Broadcaster Targets Companies on Consumer-Rights Day; Nikon, Alibaba Accused of Service and Quality Issues During Prime-Time Show

China Broadcaster Targets Companies on Consumer-Rights Day

Nikon, Alibaba Accused of Service and Quality Issues During Prime-Time Show

LAURIE BURKITT

Updated March 15, 2014 9:06 p.m. ET

BEIJING—China’s powerful government-controlled television broadcaster took aim at Japanese camera company Nikon Corp. 7731.TO -4.09% on Saturday in its annual campaign to stamp out service and quality problems that stifle the country’s domestic consumption. Read more of this post

China’s official figures both understate and overstate inflation

China’s official figures both understate and overstate inflation

Mar 15th 2014 | HONG KONG | From the print edition

IS CHINA’S economy underheating? Not long ago, many people would have scoffed at the suggestion. The country is known for searing property prices, hot-money inflows and the steam escaping from its financial furnaces. The stock of outstanding credit, broadly defined, climbed to over 180% of GDP at the end of 2013, according to the central bank, and over 215%, according to an even broader measure by Fitch, a ratings agency. Read more of this post

Japan’s pension giant: Risk on; The world’s largest pension fund is changing the way it invests, with big consequences for the market

Japan’s pension giant: Risk on; The world’s largest pension fund is changing the way it invests, with big consequences for the market

Mar 15th 2014 | TOKYO | From the print edition

WHEN George Soros, a billionaire investor, met Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, at Davos in January, he hectored him about asset management. Japan’s massive public pension fund needed to take more risk, he reportedly told Mr Abe. With ¥128.6 trillion ($1.25 trillion) of assets, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is the world’s biggest public-sector investor, outgunning both foreign rivals and Arab sovereign-wealth funds. Yet its mountain of money is run by risk-averse bureaucrats using an investment strategy not much more adventurous than stuffing bundles of yen under a futon. It keeps around two-thirds of assets in bonds, mostly of the local variety. Like an investing novice, it mostly follows indices passively, and hardly ventures abroad. Read more of this post

Are credit markets getting frothy again?

Are credit markets getting frothy again?

Mar 15th 2014 | From the print edition

SETH KLARMAN, who runs Baupost Group, a big hedge fund, is worried. In his latest letter to investors, he writes that “a sceptic would have to be blind not to see bubbles inflating in junk-bond issuance, credit quality and yields.” Recalling the credit boom, he adds that “here we are again, mired in a euphoric environment in which some securities have risen in price beyond all reason…and where caution seems radical and risk-taking the prudent course.” Read more of this post

Brazil’s presidential election: Winning hearts and likes; Social media will play a big part in this year’s campaign

Brazil’s presidential election: Winning hearts and likes; Social media will play a big part in this year’s campaign

Mar 15th 2014 | SÃO PAULO | From the print edition

IN JUNE Brazil’s elites received a rude introduction to the power of social media. Protests, many convened via Facebook, saw millions take to the streets to air disaffection with politicians. Those same politicians now want to harness social networks for their election campaigns. Read more of this post

Dallying with a monster: In failing to snuff out vigilantism, Mexico is running big risks

Dallying with a monster: In failing to snuff out vigilantism, Mexico is running big risks

Mar 15th 2014 | From the print edition

THE rule of law has long been a stranger to the sweltering lowlands known as the Tierra Caliente in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The site of battles over land in the 1940s and 1950s, the area suffered an exodus of migrant workers to California. In the 1970s the drug trade took root there, attracted by the proximity of the port of Lázaro Cárdenas and the remoteness of the federal government in Mexico City. Not content with trafficking methamphetamines, the latest mafia to lord it over the Tierra Caliente, the whimsically named “Knights Templar”, established a tight grip over its invertebrate society, co-opting local authorities, extorting protection money and raping women. Read more of this post

Egypt’s tourism firms: It’s murder on the Nile

Egypt’s tourism firms: It’s murder on the Nile

Mar 14th 2014, 11:08 by A. F. | CAIRO

KARIM EL SHARKAWY, the boss of Tarot Tours Garranah, one of Egypt’s biggest tourism operators, clocks in every morning at the firm’s offices in Cairo, and expects his staff to do the same. Strict timekeeping is a new experience for his employees. But the company, like its rivals, is having to do all it can to contain costs as it suffers a fierce downturn with no end in sight. Read more of this post

Fighting corruption in India: A bad boom; Graft in India is damaging the economy. The country needs to get serious about dealing with it

Fighting corruption in India: A bad boom; Graft in India is damaging the economy. The country needs to get serious about dealing with it

Mar 15th 2014 | From the print edition

IN THE early hours of February 20th 2010 Uday Vir Singh, an Indian forestry officer, bluffed his way past a private militia guarding a dusty port called Belekeri. For months suspicious-looking convoys of trucks had been thundering across India to the port’s quays on the country’s west coast, just south of the Goan beach where the super-spy mayhem which opened “The Bourne Supremacy” was filmed. Read more of this post

WARREN BUFFETT: ‘Stay Away From Bitcoin. It’s A Mirage’

WARREN BUFFETT: ‘Stay Away From Bitcoin. It’s A Mirage’

ROB WILE MARKETS  MAR. 14, 2014, 8:33 PM

On CNBC just now, Warren Buffett said the following when asked of Bitcoin’s potential.

The FTC has opened an investigation into Herbalife [Update]

The FTC has opened an investigation into Herbalife [Update]

Dan McCrum

| Mar 12 17:31 | Comment | Share

Part of the LIVING THE HERBALIFE SERIES

After we got in touch with the company to tell them we were writing this story, they halted trading and put out a statement confirming the investigation.

The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal investigation into Herbalife, the multi-level marketing company that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has called a pyramid scheme, according to people familiar with the situation. Read more of this post

Is the value premium a liquidity premium?

Friday, March 7, 2014

Is the value premium a liquidity premium?

JP Koning

Is the value premium a liquidity premium?

The “High minus low” strategy: Source

If you haven’t read Clifford Asness and John Liew’s recent article on market efficiency, you should. There’s plenty of meat in the article, but the one sinew I want to chew on is this above chart.  It shows the cumulative returns to a strategy called HML, or “high-minus-low.”  Read more of this post

Regulators Size Up Wall Street, With Worry; “It is not going to work if we approach it from a lawyerly standpoint. It is more like a priest-penitent relationship.”

MARCH 12, 2014, 8:51 PM  56 Comments

Regulators Size Up Wall Street, With Worry

By PETER EAVIS

Money laundering, market rigging, tax dodging, selling faulty financial products, trampling homeowner rights and rampant risk-taking — these are some of the sins that big banks have committed in recent years. Read more of this post

Sudden collapse of iron ore price casts shadow on Australian economic prospect

Sudden collapse of iron ore price casts shadow on Australian economic prospect

by Jeremy Zhao

CANBERRA, March 15 (Xinhua) — The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday posted the biggest monthly full-time payroll surge since 1991. Although the jobless rate held still at 6 percent, the number of full-time jobs increased by 80,500 across the country in February. This is surprisingly good data, showing that the economy is recovering and the central bank’s low interest policy has worked. Read more of this post

Is being in Asia a disadvantage for startups?

Is being in Asia a disadvantage for startups?

By J. Angelo Racoma

In some cases, it could be, although OnlinePianist CEO Nimrod Cohen advises entrepreneurs to find their strengths

Is being in Asia a disadvantage for startups? This particular argument has been raised time and again. While there are opportunities specific to the region (or any other region for that matter) that would be ripe for the picking for entrepreneurs, there are simply some industries that can prove difficult to crack. Read more of this post

How Tesla Motors Inc’s electric car batteries are adding to China’s pollution woes

How Tesla Motors Inc’s electric car batteries are adding to China’s pollution woes

Elisabeth Behrmann, Bloomberg News | March 14, 2014 | Last Updated: Mar 14 1:54 PM ET
As more environmentally conscious Americans do their bit to help clear the air by paying up for an eco-friendly Prius or a sporty Tesla, a damaging form of polluted rain is falling in China. Read more of this post

Questions remain about the enforcement and strength of Australia’s insider trading laws. Insider trading laws in spotlight again after rise in Leighton shares before Hochtief takeover bid

Insider trading laws in spotlight again after rise in Leighton shares before Hochtief takeover bid

March 15, 2014

Georgia Wilkins

The startling ramp-up in Leighton Holdings’ share price last week – ahead of Hochtief’s takeover move on Monday – is just the latest in a series of events that have sparked questions about the enforcement and strength of Australia’s insider trading laws. Read more of this post