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Mining CEO Pay Attacked by South African Fund Managers; “Costs are going up double digit, money is not coming in, yet we are seeing a big, big rise in executive pay.”

Mining CEO Pay Attacked by South African Fund Managers

South African fund managers overseeing almost $180 billion in assets said they are stepping up pressure on mining companies to curb executive pay as returns to shareholders dwindle. The industry “is going through a very, very hard period,” Fidelis Madavo, who helps manage about 1.4 trillion rand ($140 billion) at Public Investment Corp., South Africa’s state pension fund, said at a conference in Johannesburg yesterday. “Costs are going up double digit, money is not coming in, yet we are seeing a big, big rise in executive pay. We have been talking to CEOs individually on this.” Read more of this post

Thai Protest Against Amnesty Law May Attract 10,000 in Bangkok

Thai Protest Against Amnesty Law May Attract 10,000 in Bangkok

Thailand’s biggest opposition party said as many as 10,000 people will join a protest tomorrow against efforts to pass a law that it claims will benefit former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Stocks fell to a three-week low. Parliament’s lower house will begin the second of three debates tomorrow on a bill that would give amnesty to people convicted of crimes linked to political clashes since the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin. Protesters will gather at 6 p.m. local time in Bangkok, said Suthep Thaugsuban, a member of parliament for the opposition Democrat party. Read more of this post

Biggest Danish Pension Fund Girds for End to Crisis Stimulus

Biggest Danish Pension Fund Girds for End to Crisis Stimulus

Denmark’s biggest pension fund said investors need to brace themselves for potential disruptions once central banks start withdrawing the measures that have been propping up the global economy. “When the time for normalization of the monetary policy stance comes, investors may be faced with huge challenges,” ATP, based north of Copenhagen, said today in a statement on its website. “It is important to maintain a patient and flexible investment strategy in order to achieve positive returns.” Read more of this post

Emerging markets necessitate a rethink of business ducation

October 29, 2013 3:15 pm

Emerging markets necessitate a rethink of business education

By Mike Bastin

A collaboration between academics and regional specialists will better prepare students

With the global economy still sluggish in the west much of the talk about business success is focused on emerging markets.But are business schools in the west really preparing students for business success in China and elsewhere in Asia? Are they allocating sufficient time and resources to the teaching and understanding of such culturally different and changing business environments? And are business school academics suitably knowledgeable and experienced in emerging markets such as China? Read more of this post

China’s accounting industry matures with challenges

China’s accounting industry matures with challenges

(Xinhua)    20:51, October 29, 2013

China’s certified public accounting industry has grown to be worth over 50 billion yuansince the sector was re-established in the 1980s. Significant regulatory developments have accompanied its rapid progress. One regulatorystep China has taken ahead of Europe and the United States is mandatory rotation ofauditing irms.
The idea of forcing companies to change bookkeepers gained momentum after the 2008global financial crisis. Taxpayers were furious that some banks were given a clean bill ofhealth but later rescued using public cash. Read more of this post

Tom Friedman Is Too Optimistic About China’s Schools

Tom Friedman Is Too Optimistic About China’s Schools

By Adam Minter – Oct 29, 2013

The New York Times recently published “The Shanghai Secret,” a column by Thomas Friedman that explained how Shanghai’s students received the world’s top scores on the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment exams. Administered every three years (the 2012 results will be released Dec. 3), PISA is designed to assess how well 15-year-olds worldwide are prepared to apply their educations to real-world situations. Read more of this post

South Korea’s financial authorities will take disciplinary actions against banks for their negligence to be on the lookout for the default of conglomerates.

Banks to face penalties over negligent lookout for default of conglomerates

2013.10.30 11:28:58

South Korea’s financial authorities will take disciplinary actions against banks for their negligence to be on the lookout for the default of conglomerates. The authorities will also increase the number of conglomerates who commit to improving financial structure to prevent another collapse of conglomerate as Tong Yang Group did. After Tong Yang Group’s subsidiaries filed for court receivership, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) decided to conduct a thorough evaluation of main creditor banks during its bank assessment to strengthen accountability of financial firms, said sources in the financial sector Wednesday.  Read more of this post

Moody’s Discussed Stripping New Zealand of Last AAA Rating

Moody’s Discussed Stripping New Zealand of Last AAA Rating

Moody’s Investors Service considered stripping New Zealand of its sole remaining top credit rating amid concern the nation’s current-account deficit is exacerbating its vulnerability to external shocks. New Zealand’s reliance on overseas investors means it can face difficulties when crises such as the Christchurch earthquakes and Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd.’s contaminated milk scare occur, Steven Hess, Senior Vice President at Moody’s in New York, said in an interview in Wellington today. The kiwi fell today to a four-week low. Read more of this post

Madoff Money to Japan Mob Ties Breed Banks’ Global Pains

Madoff Money to Japan Mob Ties Breed Banks’ Global Pains

Japanese regulators said they’re looking for loans to gangsters by the nation’s three biggest banks. The 115-year-old Dutch lender Rabobank Groep was fined more than $1 billion for rigging interest rates. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and UBS AG (UBSN), Germany and Switzerland’s biggest lenders, both said they’re facing investigations into currency manipulation. It was another day in global banking. Read more of this post

India equities enjoy stunning rebound

October 29, 2013 1:52 pm

India equities enjoy stunning rebound

By James Crabtree

“Crisis? What crisis?” This seems to be the new motto for Indian markets. Stocks have built on a startling recovery, shrugging off a period of currency freefall and capital flight that had threatened to turn into a full-fledged crisis. The buoyant mood seemed confirmed on Tuesday, as Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision to raise interest rates sent equities nearly 2 per cent higher. The benchmark Sensex index closed at 20,929, just a fraction below its all-time closing high, set last week. Read more of this post

‘We buy the best companies – and many of them happen to be Australian’

‘We buy the best companies – and many of them happen to be Australian’

Fund manager Jason Pidcock of Newton explains why he is optimistic about prospects down under

By Jason Pidcock

12:47PM GMT 29 Oct 2013

We maintain a constructive view on the Australian economy, market and currency. While we are more positive than most of our peers, who have been swayed by some excessive pessimism; it is worth pointing out that we do not have an aggressively large holding of Australian shares in our funds. As always, our aim is to look for the best companies, wherever they may be listed, and Australia happens to provide us with a lot of candidates, especially for the Income fund. The weighting of the portfolio to Australia is purely a function of that. Read more of this post

For Once-Mighty Sears, Pictures of Decay; “Every store has something fundamentally wrong with it.”

OCTOBER 29, 2013, 8:41 AM

For Once-Mighty Sears, Pictures of Decay

By DAVID GELLES

Updated, 8:46 p.m. | When Brian Sozzi, the chief executive of Belus Capital Advisors, visited Sears locations in New York and New Jersey this month, he said, he found barren shelves, haphazard displays and badly stained carpets. Also missing: customers. “It’s just badness throughout,” Mr. Sozzi said in an interview. “Every store has something fundamentally wrong with it.” Read more of this post

World is entering devastating chocolate crisis

2013-10-29 17:03

World is entering devastating chocolate crisis

By Doug Bandow
Attention in Washington remains focused on the government shutdown. But a far more important issue confronts America while the president and congressional leaders dither: rising chocolate prices. When will the government address this terrifying global crisis? Cocoa trees have been cultivated for thousands of years. The early Mesoamericans, including the Aztecs and Mayans, turned the beans into cocoa solids, liquid, and butter. These peoples were serious about their chocolate, offering cocoa beans as gifts for the gods and using cocoa drinks in sacred ceremonies. Read more of this post

‘Allergy-free’ milk firm reaches £1m sales, disrupting the traditional dairy market

‘Allergy-free’ milk firm reaches £1m sales

Milk producer a2 has chalked up £1m of sales in Britain and Ireland since its launch a year ago, despite a fire that razed its Droitwich dairy earlier this month.

By Anna White, Enterprise Correspondent

6:00AM GMT 29 Oct 2013

The Anglo-New Zealand business – a collaboration between the British company Müller Wiseman Dairies and Auckland – has disrupted the traditional dairy market, claiming to produce a type of milk that does not create lactose intolerances. The milk manufacturer, which now sells into 1,000 stores across the UK, markets milk containing the A2 protein. Read more of this post