BRUSSELS (Reuters) – When it takes six hours to draft a single sentence in a 100-page document, you know things are moving slowly.
In meeting rooms of embassies across Brussels, diplomats are haggling over the finer details of dozens of reforms more than four years after the financial crisis that devastated European banks and triggered the euro zone’s struggle with debt.
While the United States agreed in 2010 an initial framework to prevent financiers taking the kind of risks that sparked the deepest global recession since the 1930s, the European Union‘s response is often tangled in backroom diplomacy.
“Bailout is a naughty word these days but we haven’t created a system to deal with failing banks without one,” said a diplomat from a northern European country who is working on around 15 different EU dossiers to regulate finance. “We are still spending hours arguing over the wording of a sentence.”
The crisis revealed how regulators and even top bank executives on both sides of the Atlantic failed to grasp the risks in the complex financial architecture they helped build.
But agreeing new laws among the bloc’s 27 member countries and the European Parliament is becoming so burdensome that diplomats worry Europe‘s defenses will not be in place should a new crisis hit.
German lender IKB was the first casualty of the financial crash in mid-2007, imploding after pursuing what one banker described as an “all you can eat” strategy, snapping up U.S. subprime mortgage debt.
By the time the worst of the crisis was over in Europe, more than 50 lenders had to be rescued by their governments.
The EU responded with rules governing hedge funds and banker pay. But it has yet to outline a framework law for dealing with banks threatened with collapse, a reform many analysts believe is central in ensuring that bank bondholders – and not the taxpayer – pay to rescue banks in future.
The delicate state of Europe’s banks, which have been faced with the possibility of a chaotic Greek debt default, is partly to blame.
Banks still have trillions of euros of risky loans on their books, and it has taken the near-unlimited offer of funds from the European Central Bank to prevent another credit freeze.
LEEWAY OR LIMIT?
Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister given the task of leading an overhaul of EU financial regulation two years ago, is due to present his bank salvage plan sometime this year.
But even when he does, the proposed legislation could take three years to become law.
“We can’t afford any more delays,” Olle Schmidt, a liberal who is leading financial reform efforts in the European parliament. “If Europe is to be able to react swiftly to another crisis, these defenses must be in place.”
Diplomats have also clashed over proposed rules governing the amount of capital banks must keep in reserve to cover the risks of lending. This is crucial in preventing another credit boom of the kind that led to the financial crash.
Britain wants more leeway to impose stricter standards on capital than the EU, while France wants the limit capped, reflecting the different way the crisis affected the two neighboring countries.
“The French banking system did OK, albeit with public support, whereas British banks took some serious hits,” said Sony Kapoor, founder of think tank Re-Define.
Overhauling banking is just one of the dossiers keeping diplomats up late at night in the glass and steel buildings of Brussels’s European quarter – working in tandem with colleagues in their home capitals.
While EU leaders have held 17 summits over the past two years to resolve the sovereign debt debacle, diplomats are sifting their way through proposals for regulating derivatives, trading, insider dealing, credit rating agencies and banker pay.
And with most working groups held in English, non-native speakers often struggle to grasp the highly technical issues.
One official recalled an embarrassing misunderstanding, when an ambassador appeared to describe a discussion on hedge funds as being “like a short shit in a long bath.” Participants later concluded he meant “a short sheet on a long bed.”
“Sometimes you understand the words but you don’t understand the meaning,” said one eastern European diplomat.
The final legal text is often as mystifying as the process that created it. “They are unreadable,” said Eddy Wymeersch, a former regulator, commenting on hedge fund rules. “It is just page after page of legalese.”
Bruce Stokes, an analyst with think tank the German Marshall Fund, believes Washington works faster because directly elected members of Congress and not bureaucrats draft legislation. “Brussels is not that accountable,” he said.
Washington drew up the Dodd-Frank act in 2010, a framework for financial reform that includes sweeping changes including bans on banks trading on their own account.
Fleshing out the full detail of these rules will, however, require further work and the European Commission points to its success in moving earlier on banker pay and bank capital.
In Europe, much of the responsibility for rewriting the rulebook for finance falls to the Commission, proposing and writing the first draft of laws that are then sent to European countries and the bloc’s parliament for approval.
“The European legislative system is designed far more for incremental adjustment than for major reform,” said Nicolas Veron, an expert in financial policy who works in both Washington and Brussels. “It’s more bureaucratically driven, but that doesn’t mean that the outcome is not political.”
With things moving so slowly, those working on the dossiers say the new regulations are in danger of being overtaken by events.
“I’ll be retired by the time all of this is done,” said one banker, whose job it is to predict the direction of legislation. “It’s not the kind of work I’d recommend.”
(Writing by Robin Emmott; additional reporting by Claire Davenport, editing by Mike Peacock)
http://tourism9.com http://vkins.com
2012年2月7日星期二
Capital Access Network Raises $30M From Accel To Loan Small Businesses Working Capital
In this economic climate, many small businesses do not qualify for loans based on the standards imposed by banks and financial institutions. For fledgling businesses, the establishment doesn’t have enough cash flow, revenue or credit to qualify for a loan. Many times, entrepreneurs have to put up personal assets as collateral for loans, which can be problematic and risky. The fact is working capital is difficult to get from banks unless a business has perfect credit.
Capital Access Network (CAN), a company that gives small businesses access to credit and working capital and helps solve the problem outlines above, is announcing this morning that it has raised $30 million from Accel Partners. As part of the transaction, Accel partner, Kevin Efrusy will join Credit Access’s board of directors, and Accel vice president, John Locke, will join as an observer.
CAN constitutes the largest, non-bank alternative capital provider to small businesses in the US. The company uses its own real-time platform and risk scoring models to provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses in the US and Latin America and has funded over $2 billion in capital to SMB’s under the brands NewLogic Business Loans and AdvanceMe. This represents roughly 100,000 distinct small business finance transactions. This year alone, CAN will fund over $600 million in loans to small businesses.
CAN uses a variety of data points to deem a business worthy of credit or capital apart from the traditional criteria. CAN’s proprietary underwriting algorithms will churn through its vast data stacks of historical merchant demographic, firmographic, psychographic and social and behavioral profiles seeking and seasoning new behavioral and synthetic risk indicators and recombining those indicators into new risk scorecards.
For example, CAN will look at frequency of sales (not just how much), inventory access, eBay seller rating, tax returns and other information. In terms of interest, the company uses a more unorthodox, merchant-friendly way of collecting money on top of a loan. If an online violin store needs $30,000 in working capital to purchase inventory, CAN will loan the money, but the borrower will need to pay back $35,000 to CAN over 12 months.
Typically, CAN will give merchants and businesses anywhere from $2,500 to $250,000 in working capital. Customers range from medical practices, to shoe stores to auto repair shops to clothing, accessory and home product online retailers.
CAN CEO, Glenn Goldman, tells me that the extra amount the borrower has to pay to CAN depends on risk of the loan, how long it will take for the loan to be paid back, the amount of capital lent and other factors. But he says many times, the amount CAN charges is less than any interest rate from a bank. And 75 percent of customers renew their funding. In some cases, repayment can be fairly simple. Goldman points to the example of one online merchant who chose to automatically forward a small percentage of sales from its payment processor directly to CAN to repay the loan every month. If sales were lower than usual that month, CAN would lower the amount needed to pay.
And Goldman explains that behavioral risk scoring, rather than just examining a small business owner’s FICO score, allows the company to ‘yes’ to a higher percentage of SMBs than traditional sources while mitigating losses.
For Accel, the investment marks the continuation of a thesis of investing aggressively behind companies that are enabling small businesses to grow faster, says Efrusy. He cites investments in Groupon, Etsy, 99 Designs, Braintee, DropBox as just a few of the Accel-backed companies that are helping are “giving small businesses tools to thrive.”
“From our work with small businesses, it’s clear that one of the most pressing issues for merchants is access to credit and working capital,” Efrusy said. “Especially today, banks are unable to play effectively in this market. Large institutions cannot reach, evaluate, or serve small businesses efficiently. Many newcomers to the finance space are constrained by limited access to and very high-cost capital combined with high portfolio losses given unseasoned risk scoring models. Capital Access Network has by far the strongest team, scale, and data-driven approach to this market.”
Goldman says the new funding will be partly used for boosting and redesigning the online merchant experience on CAN. By April, the lender will feature new user interfaces, merchant portals and online approvals.
As Efrusy explains, there’s a huge amount of disruption taking place in the online lending space, and CAN is in a great position to help small businesses grow with working capital. Kabbage is another startup that is also looking to provide capital to online merchants, and ZestCash is doing something similar on the consumer end of the spectrum.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Capital Access Network (CAN), a company that gives small businesses access to credit and working capital and helps solve the problem outlines above, is announcing this morning that it has raised $30 million from Accel Partners. As part of the transaction, Accel partner, Kevin Efrusy will join Credit Access’s board of directors, and Accel vice president, John Locke, will join as an observer.
CAN constitutes the largest, non-bank alternative capital provider to small businesses in the US. The company uses its own real-time platform and risk scoring models to provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses in the US and Latin America and has funded over $2 billion in capital to SMB’s under the brands NewLogic Business Loans and AdvanceMe. This represents roughly 100,000 distinct small business finance transactions. This year alone, CAN will fund over $600 million in loans to small businesses.
CAN uses a variety of data points to deem a business worthy of credit or capital apart from the traditional criteria. CAN’s proprietary underwriting algorithms will churn through its vast data stacks of historical merchant demographic, firmographic, psychographic and social and behavioral profiles seeking and seasoning new behavioral and synthetic risk indicators and recombining those indicators into new risk scorecards.
For example, CAN will look at frequency of sales (not just how much), inventory access, eBay seller rating, tax returns and other information. In terms of interest, the company uses a more unorthodox, merchant-friendly way of collecting money on top of a loan. If an online violin store needs $30,000 in working capital to purchase inventory, CAN will loan the money, but the borrower will need to pay back $35,000 to CAN over 12 months.
Typically, CAN will give merchants and businesses anywhere from $2,500 to $250,000 in working capital. Customers range from medical practices, to shoe stores to auto repair shops to clothing, accessory and home product online retailers.
CAN CEO, Glenn Goldman, tells me that the extra amount the borrower has to pay to CAN depends on risk of the loan, how long it will take for the loan to be paid back, the amount of capital lent and other factors. But he says many times, the amount CAN charges is less than any interest rate from a bank. And 75 percent of customers renew their funding. In some cases, repayment can be fairly simple. Goldman points to the example of one online merchant who chose to automatically forward a small percentage of sales from its payment processor directly to CAN to repay the loan every month. If sales were lower than usual that month, CAN would lower the amount needed to pay.
And Goldman explains that behavioral risk scoring, rather than just examining a small business owner’s FICO score, allows the company to ‘yes’ to a higher percentage of SMBs than traditional sources while mitigating losses.
For Accel, the investment marks the continuation of a thesis of investing aggressively behind companies that are enabling small businesses to grow faster, says Efrusy. He cites investments in Groupon, Etsy, 99 Designs, Braintee, DropBox as just a few of the Accel-backed companies that are helping are “giving small businesses tools to thrive.”
“From our work with small businesses, it’s clear that one of the most pressing issues for merchants is access to credit and working capital,” Efrusy said. “Especially today, banks are unable to play effectively in this market. Large institutions cannot reach, evaluate, or serve small businesses efficiently. Many newcomers to the finance space are constrained by limited access to and very high-cost capital combined with high portfolio losses given unseasoned risk scoring models. Capital Access Network has by far the strongest team, scale, and data-driven approach to this market.”
Goldman says the new funding will be partly used for boosting and redesigning the online merchant experience on CAN. By April, the lender will feature new user interfaces, merchant portals and online approvals.
As Efrusy explains, there’s a huge amount of disruption taking place in the online lending space, and CAN is in a great position to help small businesses grow with working capital. Kabbage is another startup that is also looking to provide capital to online merchants, and ZestCash is doing something similar on the consumer end of the spectrum.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月1日星期三
AHEB Investment Group Reflects on a Successful Year for 2011
MANCHESTER, England, February 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –
AHEB Investment Group, the Belize-registered financial services consulting firm, has achieved another great year in 2011, despite the economic turmoil. The company announces 50% increase in its profits for 2011, whilst having laid the foundations for what promises to be an equally successful 2012 with the agreement of 20 client projects. The commitment, professionalism and high levels of expertise displayed by AHEB in the complex area of financing for large ventures and complex banking structures, is evident by the praise received from their clients.
The momentum gathered by AHEB Investment Group and their successful year continued right up to last weeks of December and is no doubt set to keep going into the start of 2012. During the last weeks of the year, meetings carried out with several major European banks and new investors set the pace for stage two of these exciting new developments, expected to take place in early 2012, with the next round of key negotiations. The success and achievements of these negotiations are by no small part down to AHEB’s expertise and professionalism in the field of large venture financing and complex banking structures, but also the clients themselves and the relationships and trust earned.
As AHEB Investment Group confirms its successful negotiation for 20 key projects at the end of 2011, it also announces that company profits have also increased by 50%. Andreas Charalambous, Managing Director of AHEB Investment Group, comments: “It has been an excellent year for AHEB Investment Group and we are pleased to be involved in some very major projects, which have allowed us to demonstrate our level of expertise and professionalism. We are very pleased to have a selection of extremely professional clients to work with and this allows us to bring great results also.”
AHEB Investment Group’s clients and associates are also very pleased with their cooperation and have expressed their gratitude in the testimonials received by the company. William Sickert, Principal and Director of International Zip Line Corporation comments: “Our experience with AHEB Investment group has been of the utmost in integrity and communication with respect to opportunities and programs. Our confidence and partnership led to progressive meetings and program introductions in Europe in the month of November. AHEB investment Group has the tenacity and relationships necessary to provide excellent and realistic programs to assist in the growth of your company. They are now our exclusive partners in our business and I endorse their staff as professional and integral in our future business worldwide.”
Randall Hickman of NCARE comments not only on the work ethic but also the personal touch offered by AHEB: “AHEB Investment Group has led our Funding Group to success by showing strong competence, integrity, and a shared common goal in success. Their dedication to our project (National Center for Autism Research and Education) has been nothing short of stellar. In working with them in Europe to finalize our project they have been nothing short of amazing. Further, AHEB displayed a warmth and personal touch unmatched compared with most financial groups. AHEB Investment Group has been nothing short of the height of professionalism, courtesy, and competence in all of their actions. We would highly recommend them to any project group seeking to arrange financing. They have made our project a reality.”
With these collaborations growing from strength to strength, the results in gaining finance for clients, and the project management and consulting agreements made over the past year, AHEB Investment Group is primed for a consecutively promising 2012. Andreas Charalambous, Managing Director of AHEB Investment Group, reciprocates: “We would once again like to thank our partners, investors, clients and friends for their kind words and reaffirm our commitment towards them. It is due to these partnerships, where all parties work together for mutual benefit, that we have been able to enjoy such a successful year with record profits. We look forward to continuing existing ventures whilst exploring new ones with our partners and clients in the near future.”
About AHEB Investment Group
AHEB Investment Group was founded in 2008 aiming to provide professional support and consulting regarding financing to businesses of large and medium size but also start up enterprises. AHEB specializes in assisting the development of large commercial and industrial projects by offering financing solutions and advisory support. Successful projects include real estate developments, construction including large hotels, energy based projects covering power plants and oil rigs with other major purchases of ships and aircraft. AHEB’s relationships with principal global and regional banking institutions assist businesses in arrangement of collateral via its network of investment partners. For further information about AHEB Investment Group, visit http://www.ahebgroup.com , email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
To read further customer testimonials from AHEB Investment Group clients visit: http://www.ahebgroup.com/dotnetnuke/CustomerTestimonials/tabid/201/Default.aspx
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
AHEB Investment Group, the Belize-registered financial services consulting firm, has achieved another great year in 2011, despite the economic turmoil. The company announces 50% increase in its profits for 2011, whilst having laid the foundations for what promises to be an equally successful 2012 with the agreement of 20 client projects. The commitment, professionalism and high levels of expertise displayed by AHEB in the complex area of financing for large ventures and complex banking structures, is evident by the praise received from their clients.
The momentum gathered by AHEB Investment Group and their successful year continued right up to last weeks of December and is no doubt set to keep going into the start of 2012. During the last weeks of the year, meetings carried out with several major European banks and new investors set the pace for stage two of these exciting new developments, expected to take place in early 2012, with the next round of key negotiations. The success and achievements of these negotiations are by no small part down to AHEB’s expertise and professionalism in the field of large venture financing and complex banking structures, but also the clients themselves and the relationships and trust earned.
As AHEB Investment Group confirms its successful negotiation for 20 key projects at the end of 2011, it also announces that company profits have also increased by 50%. Andreas Charalambous, Managing Director of AHEB Investment Group, comments: “It has been an excellent year for AHEB Investment Group and we are pleased to be involved in some very major projects, which have allowed us to demonstrate our level of expertise and professionalism. We are very pleased to have a selection of extremely professional clients to work with and this allows us to bring great results also.”
AHEB Investment Group’s clients and associates are also very pleased with their cooperation and have expressed their gratitude in the testimonials received by the company. William Sickert, Principal and Director of International Zip Line Corporation comments: “Our experience with AHEB Investment group has been of the utmost in integrity and communication with respect to opportunities and programs. Our confidence and partnership led to progressive meetings and program introductions in Europe in the month of November. AHEB investment Group has the tenacity and relationships necessary to provide excellent and realistic programs to assist in the growth of your company. They are now our exclusive partners in our business and I endorse their staff as professional and integral in our future business worldwide.”
Randall Hickman of NCARE comments not only on the work ethic but also the personal touch offered by AHEB: “AHEB Investment Group has led our Funding Group to success by showing strong competence, integrity, and a shared common goal in success. Their dedication to our project (National Center for Autism Research and Education) has been nothing short of stellar. In working with them in Europe to finalize our project they have been nothing short of amazing. Further, AHEB displayed a warmth and personal touch unmatched compared with most financial groups. AHEB Investment Group has been nothing short of the height of professionalism, courtesy, and competence in all of their actions. We would highly recommend them to any project group seeking to arrange financing. They have made our project a reality.”
With these collaborations growing from strength to strength, the results in gaining finance for clients, and the project management and consulting agreements made over the past year, AHEB Investment Group is primed for a consecutively promising 2012. Andreas Charalambous, Managing Director of AHEB Investment Group, reciprocates: “We would once again like to thank our partners, investors, clients and friends for their kind words and reaffirm our commitment towards them. It is due to these partnerships, where all parties work together for mutual benefit, that we have been able to enjoy such a successful year with record profits. We look forward to continuing existing ventures whilst exploring new ones with our partners and clients in the near future.”
About AHEB Investment Group
AHEB Investment Group was founded in 2008 aiming to provide professional support and consulting regarding financing to businesses of large and medium size but also start up enterprises. AHEB specializes in assisting the development of large commercial and industrial projects by offering financing solutions and advisory support. Successful projects include real estate developments, construction including large hotels, energy based projects covering power plants and oil rigs with other major purchases of ships and aircraft. AHEB’s relationships with principal global and regional banking institutions assist businesses in arrangement of collateral via its network of investment partners. For further information about AHEB Investment Group, visit http://www.ahebgroup.com , email info@ahebgroup.com or call +1-347-4166069.
To read further customer testimonials from AHEB Investment Group clients visit: http://www.ahebgroup.com/dotnetnuke/CustomerTestimonials/tabid/201/Default.aspx
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月29日星期日
Economic crisis mustn't eclipse battle against poverty, says Bill Gates
Les Roopanarine
Bill Gates: ‘economic crisis mustn’t overshadow poverty battle’ Link to this video
Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, has urged national governments not to allow fiscal concerns to overshadow the need for continued investment in the developing world.
“There are many things going on in terms of the eurozone crisis and budget cutbacks that would make it easy to turn inward and reduce financing,” Gates told an audience of international development experts and students at the London School of Economics on Tuesday.
“The answer is to remind people not only about the needs of the very poorest but also that we are making incredible progress in … the daily battle that is poverty.”
Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, outlined his vision for tackling global poverty in an address that echoed the central themes of his fourth annual letter, published this week.
Gates highlighted the negative impact of food price rises and enlarged on his belief that innovative strategies on agriculture and health – areas he believes are closely interrelated – hold the key to development’s future.
“Agriculture really affects the poorest,” said Gates. “Most of the poor are people with very small farms who barely grow enough to feed their families. In tough years, they are extremely malnourished.
“So health ties very closely to agriculture. The reason why kids die of diarrhoea and pneumonia is because their bodies aren’t very strong. If they had proper nutrition, the death rate would be dramatically lower.”
Gates’ emphasis on the need for greater investment in agricultural research reflected the contents of his annual letter, where the possibility that scientific advances in the understanding of plant genes might lead to new methods of tackling human diseases is among a range of ideas touched upon.
In his speech at the LSE, the Microsoft billionaire also argued for a nexus between food shortages and poor performance on other development indicators, such as education.
He said: “[For many people] the central fact of existence is ‘Can I get enough food?’ That takes away from ‘Can I send my kids to school?’ or ‘Can I pay school fees?’ as well as many other things.
“We’re holding back poor countries, not just by the death rate but by the sickness and lack of development that those children suffer.”
Gates was speaking at an event organised by the Global Poverty Project, a campaign group that has just launched a new initiative aimed at heightening awareness of poverty at community level.
More than 100 ambassadors from across the UK have been selected for the project, which is supported by the Gates Foundation.
They will undertake a two-day training course, either at the London School of Economics or in Edinburgh, which will teach them how to deliver a presentation locally about the complexities of poverty entitled 1.4 Billion Reasons.
For Gates, the attraction of the project lies in its accent on youth and the common ground it shares with the work of his foundation.
“The message of my fourth annual letter is identical to what the Global Poverty Project is all about – that is, that it’s very easy to lose sight of the conditions of the very poorest,” said Gates.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum summit in the Swiss resort of Davos on Wednesday morning, Gates reiterated his call for continued aid investment in the developing world despite the unfavourable global econcomic climate.
He underlined his rallying cry by revealing that the Gates Foundation has pledged $750m to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“We’re making a new commitment in a somewhat special form that we’ve worked out with the Global Fund, in the form of a promissory note,” said Gates. “It’s a commitment of an additional $750m.
“It frees up funds for the Global Fund so that they can immediately use the money and continue to save lives.”
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月3日星期二
Caixin Online: Key China finance meet to avoid some topics
By Zhang Yuzhe, Wen Xiu and Lu Yuan
BEIJING (
Caixin Online
) — In a meeting this week that will set the tone for major financial reforms in the coming year, analysts expect policy makers to remain muted on top leadership changes which could impact the course of policies.
Scheduled for Jan. 6, the two-day conference will consider proposed policy amendments to improve the country’s financial regulatory environment. Sources close to the conference, who declined to be named, told Caixin that opposition remains strong to establishing a consolidated regulatory body for supervising and managing state-owned assets of financial institutions.
/conga/story/misc/caixin.html
61611The topic is not included on the meeting’s discussion agenda, according to people familiar with the situation.
In the midst of the rapid expansion of state-owned assets, the Ministry of Finance said as of the end of 2007, the amount of state-owned assets in centrally administered financial institutions alone reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($190 billion), with more than 40 trillion yuan worth of assets under their management.
Figures for financial assets under local-government control are not made available, but are estimated to be enormous as well.
In most circumstances, these financial institutions are owned and controlled by the same government agency and respond to different regulatory authorities, depending on the type of their businesses, which gives rise to conflicts of interest as well as regulatory redundancy and confusion.
Li Shuguang, deputy dean of the China University of Political Science and Law’s graduate school, is among the most vocal proponents for creating a single regulatory agency to unify oversight. He said the government should establish a new commission to represent the ownership of all state-owned financial assets.
The agency would be the counterpart, Li continued, of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which manages state-owned assets in centrally administered enterprises, excluding those in the financial industry.
Li’s idea is strongly opposed by Yin Jianfeng, deputy director of the financial research institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yin argued that a consolidated regulatory body would amplify the monopolistic power of state-owned companies, adding that the trend of financial reform should be ownership diversification and more competition.
Opposition voices are also emanating from the halls of the central bank and regulatory authorities in the banking, securities and insurance industries. An official from the central bank, for example, said the proposed agency would overlap the work of Central Huijin Investment Ltd., which already exercises rights and obligations as an investor in major state-owned financial enterprises.
Since policy makers are not expected to broach the contentious topic, analysts say areas of reform perceived as more viable could see change. Some said the meeting is likely to push forward with the creation of a deposit insurance system, which will require financial institutions, mainly banks, to insure against bankruptcy so that even the largest ones have a door to wind down and go bankrupt.
The meeting agenda looks set to focus on the establishment of a consolidated regulatory body for domestic bond markets, where the participants face multiple and often inconsistent administrative requirements from different regulatory authorities.
Inspiring as these topics seem, analysts say they don’t expect the meeting to roll out major, potentially disturbing reform measures, at a time when political leadership is about to change.
Held every five years, the national financial work conference shapes the landscape of China’s financial industry.
The first conference, held in 1997, created authorities to manage the securities industry and social-insurance funds separately. Previously, both responsibilities had been charged with the central bank.
Five years later, the second conference decided to create the banking regulatory commission and carry out share-ownership reform of state-owned banks; China Investment Corp., on the other hand, was established after the third meeting in 2007 to improve returns on China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves.
See this report at Caixin Online
http://tourism9.com/
BEIJING (
Caixin Online
) — In a meeting this week that will set the tone for major financial reforms in the coming year, analysts expect policy makers to remain muted on top leadership changes which could impact the course of policies.
Scheduled for Jan. 6, the two-day conference will consider proposed policy amendments to improve the country’s financial regulatory environment. Sources close to the conference, who declined to be named, told Caixin that opposition remains strong to establishing a consolidated regulatory body for supervising and managing state-owned assets of financial institutions.
About Caixin
Caixin is a Beijing-based media group dedicated to providing high-quality
and authoritative financial and business news and information through
periodicals, online and TV/video programs.
• Get the Caixin
e-newsletter
Caixin is a Beijing-based media group dedicated to providing high-quality
and authoritative financial and business news and information through
periodicals, online and TV/video programs.
• Get the Caixin
e-newsletter
61611
In the midst of the rapid expansion of state-owned assets, the Ministry of Finance said as of the end of 2007, the amount of state-owned assets in centrally administered financial institutions alone reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($190 billion), with more than 40 trillion yuan worth of assets under their management.
Figures for financial assets under local-government control are not made available, but are estimated to be enormous as well.
In most circumstances, these financial institutions are owned and controlled by the same government agency and respond to different regulatory authorities, depending on the type of their businesses, which gives rise to conflicts of interest as well as regulatory redundancy and confusion.
Li Shuguang, deputy dean of the China University of Political Science and Law’s graduate school, is among the most vocal proponents for creating a single regulatory agency to unify oversight. He said the government should establish a new commission to represent the ownership of all state-owned financial assets.
The agency would be the counterpart, Li continued, of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which manages state-owned assets in centrally administered enterprises, excluding those in the financial industry.
Li’s idea is strongly opposed by Yin Jianfeng, deputy director of the financial research institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yin argued that a consolidated regulatory body would amplify the monopolistic power of state-owned companies, adding that the trend of financial reform should be ownership diversification and more competition.
Opposition voices are also emanating from the halls of the central bank and regulatory authorities in the banking, securities and insurance industries. An official from the central bank, for example, said the proposed agency would overlap the work of Central Huijin Investment Ltd., which already exercises rights and obligations as an investor in major state-owned financial enterprises.
Since policy makers are not expected to broach the contentious topic, analysts say areas of reform perceived as more viable could see change. Some said the meeting is likely to push forward with the creation of a deposit insurance system, which will require financial institutions, mainly banks, to insure against bankruptcy so that even the largest ones have a door to wind down and go bankrupt.
The meeting agenda looks set to focus on the establishment of a consolidated regulatory body for domestic bond markets, where the participants face multiple and often inconsistent administrative requirements from different regulatory authorities.
Inspiring as these topics seem, analysts say they don’t expect the meeting to roll out major, potentially disturbing reform measures, at a time when political leadership is about to change.
Held every five years, the national financial work conference shapes the landscape of China’s financial industry.
The first conference, held in 1997, created authorities to manage the securities industry and social-insurance funds separately. Previously, both responsibilities had been charged with the central bank.
Five years later, the second conference decided to create the banking regulatory commission and carry out share-ownership reform of state-owned banks; China Investment Corp., on the other hand, was established after the third meeting in 2007 to improve returns on China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves.
See this report at Caixin Online
http://tourism9.com/
Travel smarter this year
Electronic communication, such as disposable mobile phones, cheap and easy Wi-Fi, and social networking, is revolutionizing the way we communicate when we travel. But the digital development I am most enthused about is the smartphone. My iPhone has quickly become my favourite travel companion, whether it’s keeping me on top of my work, keeping me in touch with my kids, or simply keeping me entertained.
I’m not alone. It was predicted that by the end of 2011, 40% of all Canadian mobile phone users will have a smartphone –iPhone, Android, Windows or BlackBerry — compared to just 10% in 2008. And as smartphones get more capable, they are becoming essential tools for travellers.
For instance, if I’m in a cafe in Paris that has free Wi-Fi, I can pop onto the Internet and check sports scores back home. If an impromptu soccer game breaks out on a piazza in Naples, I can record a video of it, then use the Dropbox application to send it to my assistant, who can post it to my Facebook page. Using Skype on my phone, I can connect to Wi-Fi and call my daughter in the U.S. for free.
About the only thing I don’t do with my smartphone when travelling is use it as an actual cellphone. When roaming in Europe with a North American phone, calls are expensive (often $1.50 per minute or higher). To save money, I use a phone I bought years ago in Europe and buy a new SIM card in each country I visit (a SIM card is a removable chip that stores your information).
A phone must be “unlocked” to swap out SIM cards (but be aware smartphones can be complicated to unlock). I make a lot of calls when I’m in Europe, but if you don’t, you might find it easier to roam with your own phone.
With smartphones, it’s important to watch dataroaming charges. A three-minute video from YouTube can cost about $40. While casual browsing and e-mailing costs less (around 20¢ to send or receive a basic message), charges can pile up quickly.
To avoid these costs, it’s easiest to cut off this feature by calling your carrier to disable it and turning off data roaming using your phone’s menu (before you get on your transatlantic flight). You can still use the Internet, but you’ll have to wait until you reach a Wi-Fi hotspot. Otherwise, for better rates, talk to your carrier about international dataroaming plans.
Even if you don’t use your smartphone for calls or data roaming, it can still come in handy thanks to the many travel-oriented applications that are available. Although I still prefer flipping through a paper guidebook, many publishers also offer travel guides in e-book format.
Apps for TripAdvisor and Yelp give you access to millions of user reviews of restaurants, hotels, and sights. And my Rick Steves Audio Europe app has radio interviews and audio walking tours of Europe’s top sights, such as the Acropolis and Versailles.
If you need to search for flights, hotels or rental cars, try Orbitz, Priceline, Booking.com,Expedia’s TripAssist and Travelocity. Skyscanner searches a variety of European budget airlines to find the cheapest connection.
TripIt is a clever app that stores all of your trip details in one place. Note that many apps (such as e-books) work on their own once you download them, but others (such as flight-search apps) need to access content online. You’ll either have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot or spring for data roaming to make them work.
To figure out train schedules, DB Navigator, German Rail’s comprehensive train timetables, includes connections for all of continental Europe. For the U.K., try thetrainline. Big cities, such as London and Paris, offer subway apps that save you from having to unfold an unwieldy map on a crowded platform.
If you don’t parlez-vous the local language, download Google Translate, which lets you type or speak foreign words for a translation. You can also say or type a sentence in English to hear a translation or see it written out. With Lonely Planet’s audio phrase-books, simply press a button to hear the phrase you’re struggling to pronounce.
Other useful travel apps include Measures, which converts various European units (such as clothing sizes and currency) to North American ones; the Weather Channel and AccuWeather, which help you figure out how to dress for the day; and mPassport, city-specific apps that direct you to English-speaking doctors and hospitals, as well as local names for prescription medications.
As more people travel with smartphones, I expect that more creative apps will become available. I am something of a tech holdout but if technology can make travel smoother and smarter, I’m all for it.
Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com, or write to him c/o P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020.
http://tourism9.com/
I’m not alone. It was predicted that by the end of 2011, 40% of all Canadian mobile phone users will have a smartphone –iPhone, Android, Windows or BlackBerry — compared to just 10% in 2008. And as smartphones get more capable, they are becoming essential tools for travellers.
For instance, if I’m in a cafe in Paris that has free Wi-Fi, I can pop onto the Internet and check sports scores back home. If an impromptu soccer game breaks out on a piazza in Naples, I can record a video of it, then use the Dropbox application to send it to my assistant, who can post it to my Facebook page. Using Skype on my phone, I can connect to Wi-Fi and call my daughter in the U.S. for free.
About the only thing I don’t do with my smartphone when travelling is use it as an actual cellphone. When roaming in Europe with a North American phone, calls are expensive (often $1.50 per minute or higher). To save money, I use a phone I bought years ago in Europe and buy a new SIM card in each country I visit (a SIM card is a removable chip that stores your information).
A phone must be “unlocked” to swap out SIM cards (but be aware smartphones can be complicated to unlock). I make a lot of calls when I’m in Europe, but if you don’t, you might find it easier to roam with your own phone.
With smartphones, it’s important to watch dataroaming charges. A three-minute video from YouTube can cost about $40. While casual browsing and e-mailing costs less (around 20¢ to send or receive a basic message), charges can pile up quickly.
To avoid these costs, it’s easiest to cut off this feature by calling your carrier to disable it and turning off data roaming using your phone’s menu (before you get on your transatlantic flight). You can still use the Internet, but you’ll have to wait until you reach a Wi-Fi hotspot. Otherwise, for better rates, talk to your carrier about international dataroaming plans.
Even if you don’t use your smartphone for calls or data roaming, it can still come in handy thanks to the many travel-oriented applications that are available. Although I still prefer flipping through a paper guidebook, many publishers also offer travel guides in e-book format.
Apps for TripAdvisor and Yelp give you access to millions of user reviews of restaurants, hotels, and sights. And my Rick Steves Audio Europe app has radio interviews and audio walking tours of Europe’s top sights, such as the Acropolis and Versailles.
If you need to search for flights, hotels or rental cars, try Orbitz, Priceline, Booking.com,Expedia’s TripAssist and Travelocity. Skyscanner searches a variety of European budget airlines to find the cheapest connection.
TripIt is a clever app that stores all of your trip details in one place. Note that many apps (such as e-books) work on their own once you download them, but others (such as flight-search apps) need to access content online. You’ll either have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot or spring for data roaming to make them work.
To figure out train schedules, DB Navigator, German Rail’s comprehensive train timetables, includes connections for all of continental Europe. For the U.K., try thetrainline. Big cities, such as London and Paris, offer subway apps that save you from having to unfold an unwieldy map on a crowded platform.
If you don’t parlez-vous the local language, download Google Translate, which lets you type or speak foreign words for a translation. You can also say or type a sentence in English to hear a translation or see it written out. With Lonely Planet’s audio phrase-books, simply press a button to hear the phrase you’re struggling to pronounce.
Other useful travel apps include Measures, which converts various European units (such as clothing sizes and currency) to North American ones; the Weather Channel and AccuWeather, which help you figure out how to dress for the day; and mPassport, city-specific apps that direct you to English-speaking doctors and hospitals, as well as local names for prescription medications.
As more people travel with smartphones, I expect that more creative apps will become available. I am something of a tech holdout but if technology can make travel smoother and smarter, I’m all for it.
Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com, or write to him c/o P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020.
http://tourism9.com/
2011年12月29日星期四
Air Travel Predictions for 2012
The burning air travel questions of the coming year: Will fees rise? Will our tickets cost more? Will Alec Baldwin disrupt our flight?
And what about finding true love or lust on a plane? See number four. Now, normally, my prognostication skills don’t extend to all areas of modern life – for instance, I did not see the Kardashian divorce coming – but I do know air travel and have examined trends and data over the past several years so I have some answers. Now let’s get started.
For more travel news and insights view Rick’s blog at farecompare.com
Here are the top five air travel predictions of 2012.
And what about finding true love or lust on a plane? See number four. Now, normally, my prognostication skills don’t extend to all areas of modern life – for instance, I did not see the Kardashian divorce coming – but I do know air travel and have examined trends and data over the past several years so I have some answers. Now let’s get started.
For more travel news and insights view Rick’s blog at farecompare.com
Here are the top five air travel predictions of 2012.
Folks holding tickets for American Airlines, not to mention those holding thousands of frequent flyer miles, got a scare back in November when the airline abruptly announced its bankruptcy. A scare is all it was, though.
In fact, bankruptcy is a well-worn path for large U.S. carriers. As Southwest CEO Gary Kelly recently noted, many legacy airlines effectively emerged from bankruptcy in great shape as “giant, lower-cost airlines [that are] much more formidable competition than their predecessors.”
American has 18 months to emerge from Chapter 11 and by all accounts it probably should merge with another airline. Yet most of the musical chairs are already accounted for – think Delta/Northwest, United/Continental – so there are not many choices. US Airways might be a willing partner for AA but culture clash could spell doom. I’m on the fence on this one.
In fact, bankruptcy is a well-worn path for large U.S. carriers. As Southwest CEO Gary Kelly recently noted, many legacy airlines effectively emerged from bankruptcy in great shape as “giant, lower-cost airlines [that are] much more formidable competition than their predecessors.”
American has 18 months to emerge from Chapter 11 and by all accounts it probably should merge with another airline. Yet most of the musical chairs are already accounted for – think Delta/Northwest, United/Continental – so there are not many choices. US Airways might be a willing partner for AA but culture clash could spell doom. I’m on the fence on this one.
A recent online survey by travel website Travel Ticker confirmed what I’ve seen from my vast storehouse of data: An increasing number of people say they’ll do more leisure traveling in the coming year, and even more say they’ll fly if they can find good deals in 2012 (note: we’ve been seeing an awful lot of airfare sales in the past couple of weeks).
Empty middle seats are so last decade. Today the airlines are all about “contract, merge, and survive” as opposed to the old model of “expand at any cost.” Sure, we can dream of the good old days when an arm rest didn’t have a body leaning on it, but that’s all it is, a dream.
Empty middle seats are so last decade. Today the airlines are all about “contract, merge, and survive” as opposed to the old model of “expand at any cost.” Sure, we can dream of the good old days when an arm rest didn’t have a body leaning on it, but that’s all it is, a dream.
You may be excused for thinking flying is only for the rich. After all, the airlines attempted to raise prices 22 times in 2011 (and nine of those attempts were successful). However, there is a bronze lining in that the airlines still have to fill those middle seats, so they will keep tossing out occasional discounts though they may be fewer and farther between.
If you shop smart – if you buy your tickets on Tuesday and are willing to flying midweek instead of Friday or Sunday – you can still game the airfare pricing system and come out a winner. At least, most of the time.
If you shop smart – if you buy your tickets on Tuesday and are willing to flying midweek instead of Friday or Sunday – you can still game the airfare pricing system and come out a winner. At least, most of the time.
2012 will be the year of ‘Fees 4.0′ but to review: Fees 1.0 began in 2008 when we began paying for bags in the first place. As one airline exec explained, “You pay $12 for a hot dog at Wrigley, so why not a fee for a bag?” Trouble is, hotdogs at Wrigley weren’t free five years ago. Plus, they taste good. Bag fees, as we all know, are nearly indigestible.
And forget all those reports about proposed legislation to do away with bag fees. Every time a senator is charged a bag fee, they make a ruckus (especially during an election cycle). The legislation won’t go anywhere because those billions of dollars in fee revenue are often the only thing keeping airlines above water what with those sometimes stratospheric fuel prices.
Fees 2.0 saw airlines slapping on a sushi menu-worth of charges for all sorts of frills such as food and early boarding. For consumers, it got harder and harder to compare the total cost of a ticket from one airline to another. Fees 3.0 was the bundling of fees we see now, such as early boarding plus checked-bag plus preferred seat.
Fees 4.0 will mean higher fees (especially if oil takes another precipitous hike), plus more bundling of extras we might not have wanted to purchase separately but may succumb to after seeing them continuously discounted from pay-point to pay-point via email, on our smartphones, at the airport kiosk or even on our airplane seat back screens.
What’s love got to do with it? We may find out once KLM gets its “choose your seatmate via Facebook” plan underway. Perhaps flyers will use it to choose neighbors based on looks or hotness quotient or simply to find a quiet, easygoing seatmate (perhaps the anti-Alec Baldwin). Would you pay for this? I’m betting many will; take another look at that Seinfeld episode where Elaine is stuck in a middle seat whispering, “Help me”).
And forget all those reports about proposed legislation to do away with bag fees. Every time a senator is charged a bag fee, they make a ruckus (especially during an election cycle). The legislation won’t go anywhere because those billions of dollars in fee revenue are often the only thing keeping airlines above water what with those sometimes stratospheric fuel prices.
Fees 2.0 saw airlines slapping on a sushi menu-worth of charges for all sorts of frills such as food and early boarding. For consumers, it got harder and harder to compare the total cost of a ticket from one airline to another. Fees 3.0 was the bundling of fees we see now, such as early boarding plus checked-bag plus preferred seat.
Fees 4.0 will mean higher fees (especially if oil takes another precipitous hike), plus more bundling of extras we might not have wanted to purchase separately but may succumb to after seeing them continuously discounted from pay-point to pay-point via email, on our smartphones, at the airport kiosk or even on our airplane seat back screens.
What’s love got to do with it? We may find out once KLM gets its “choose your seatmate via Facebook” plan underway. Perhaps flyers will use it to choose neighbors based on looks or hotness quotient or simply to find a quiet, easygoing seatmate (perhaps the anti-Alec Baldwin). Would you pay for this? I’m betting many will; take another look at that Seinfeld episode where Elaine is stuck in a middle seat whispering, “Help me”).
With apologies to Greyhound, we are coming to accept that flying today is like traveling by bus with few frills and even fewer fun times. Complaints about airport security are down, and I’m getting fewer angry emails about unfair bag fees. We may not like it but we’re getting used to it, and face it – air travel is still the best way of getting from Point A to Point B.
Hope all your flights in 2012 are smooth and hassle-free.
Related links:
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly Warns Cost Too High
Great, Recent Deals
Poll: Consumers Will Travel More In 2012
22nd Domestic Airfare Hike Attempt of 2011 Fails
When to Buy Airline Tickets and Other Advice
This work is the opinion of the columnist and does not reflect the opinion of ABC News.
Rick Seaney is one of the country’s leading experts on airfare, giving interviews and analysis to news organizations that include ABC News, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg. His website, FareCompare.com, offers consumers free, new-generation software, combined with expert insider tips to find the best airline ticket deals.
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
Hope all your flights in 2012 are smooth and hassle-free.
Related links:
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly Warns Cost Too High
Great, Recent Deals
Poll: Consumers Will Travel More In 2012
22nd Domestic Airfare Hike Attempt of 2011 Fails
When to Buy Airline Tickets and Other Advice
This work is the opinion of the columnist and does not reflect the opinion of ABC News.
Rick Seaney is one of the country’s leading experts on airfare, giving interviews and analysis to news organizations that include ABC News, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg. His website, FareCompare.com, offers consumers free, new-generation software, combined with expert insider tips to find the best airline ticket deals.
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
Air Travel Predictions for 2012
The burning air travel questions of the coming year: Will fees rise? Will our tickets cost more? Will Alec Baldwin disrupt our flight?
And what about finding true love or lust on a plane? See number four. Now, normally, my prognostication skills don’t extend to all areas of modern life – for instance, I did not see the Kardashian divorce coming – but I do know air travel and have examined trends and data over the past several years so I have some answers. Now let’s get started.
For more travel news and insights view Rick’s blog at farecompare.com
Here are the top five air travel predictions of 2012.
And what about finding true love or lust on a plane? See number four. Now, normally, my prognostication skills don’t extend to all areas of modern life – for instance, I did not see the Kardashian divorce coming – but I do know air travel and have examined trends and data over the past several years so I have some answers. Now let’s get started.
For more travel news and insights view Rick’s blog at farecompare.com
Here are the top five air travel predictions of 2012.
Folks holding tickets for American Airlines, not to mention those holding thousands of frequent flyer miles, got a scare back in November when the airline abruptly announced its bankruptcy. A scare is all it was, though.
In fact, bankruptcy is a well-worn path for large U.S. carriers. As Southwest CEO Gary Kelly recently noted, many legacy airlines effectively emerged from bankruptcy in great shape as “giant, lower-cost airlines [that are] much more formidable competition than their predecessors.”
American has 18 months to emerge from Chapter 11 and by all accounts it probably should merge with another airline. Yet most of the musical chairs are already accounted for – think Delta/Northwest, United/Continental – so there are not many choices. US Airways might be a willing partner for AA but culture clash could spell doom. I’m on the fence on this one.
In fact, bankruptcy is a well-worn path for large U.S. carriers. As Southwest CEO Gary Kelly recently noted, many legacy airlines effectively emerged from bankruptcy in great shape as “giant, lower-cost airlines [that are] much more formidable competition than their predecessors.”
American has 18 months to emerge from Chapter 11 and by all accounts it probably should merge with another airline. Yet most of the musical chairs are already accounted for – think Delta/Northwest, United/Continental – so there are not many choices. US Airways might be a willing partner for AA but culture clash could spell doom. I’m on the fence on this one.
A recent online survey by travel website Travel Ticker confirmed what I’ve seen from my vast storehouse of data: An increasing number of people say they’ll do more leisure traveling in the coming year, and even more say they’ll fly if they can find good deals in 2012 (note: we’ve been seeing an awful lot of airfare sales in the past couple of weeks).
Empty middle seats are so last decade. Today the airlines are all about “contract, merge, and survive” as opposed to the old model of “expand at any cost.” Sure, we can dream of the good old days when an arm rest didn’t have a body leaning on it, but that’s all it is, a dream.
Empty middle seats are so last decade. Today the airlines are all about “contract, merge, and survive” as opposed to the old model of “expand at any cost.” Sure, we can dream of the good old days when an arm rest didn’t have a body leaning on it, but that’s all it is, a dream.
You may be excused for thinking flying is only for the rich. After all, the airlines attempted to raise prices 22 times in 2011 (and nine of those attempts were successful). However, there is a bronze lining in that the airlines still have to fill those middle seats, so they will keep tossing out occasional discounts though they may be fewer and farther between.
If you shop smart – if you buy your tickets on Tuesday and are willing to flying midweek instead of Friday or Sunday – you can still game the airfare pricing system and come out a winner. At least, most of the time.
If you shop smart – if you buy your tickets on Tuesday and are willing to flying midweek instead of Friday or Sunday – you can still game the airfare pricing system and come out a winner. At least, most of the time.
2012 will be the year of ‘Fees 4.0′ but to review: Fees 1.0 began in 2008 when we began paying for bags in the first place. As one airline exec explained, “You pay $12 for a hot dog at Wrigley, so why not a fee for a bag?” Trouble is, hotdogs at Wrigley weren’t free five years ago. Plus, they taste good. Bag fees, as we all know, are nearly indigestible.
And forget all those reports about proposed legislation to do away with bag fees. Every time a senator is charged a bag fee, they make a ruckus (especially during an election cycle). The legislation won’t go anywhere because those billions of dollars in fee revenue are often the only thing keeping airlines above water what with those sometimes stratospheric fuel prices.
Fees 2.0 saw airlines slapping on a sushi menu-worth of charges for all sorts of frills such as food and early boarding. For consumers, it got harder and harder to compare the total cost of a ticket from one airline to another. Fees 3.0 was the bundling of fees we see now, such as early boarding plus checked-bag plus preferred seat.
Fees 4.0 will mean higher fees (especially if oil takes another precipitous hike), plus more bundling of extras we might not have wanted to purchase separately but may succumb to after seeing them continuously discounted from pay-point to pay-point via email, on our smartphones, at the airport kiosk or even on our airplane seat back screens.
What’s love got to do with it? We may find out once KLM gets its “choose your seatmate via Facebook” plan underway. Perhaps flyers will use it to choose neighbors based on looks or hotness quotient or simply to find a quiet, easygoing seatmate (perhaps the anti-Alec Baldwin). Would you pay for this? I’m betting many will; take another look at that Seinfeld episode where Elaine is stuck in a middle seat whispering, “Help me”).
And forget all those reports about proposed legislation to do away with bag fees. Every time a senator is charged a bag fee, they make a ruckus (especially during an election cycle). The legislation won’t go anywhere because those billions of dollars in fee revenue are often the only thing keeping airlines above water what with those sometimes stratospheric fuel prices.
Fees 2.0 saw airlines slapping on a sushi menu-worth of charges for all sorts of frills such as food and early boarding. For consumers, it got harder and harder to compare the total cost of a ticket from one airline to another. Fees 3.0 was the bundling of fees we see now, such as early boarding plus checked-bag plus preferred seat.
Fees 4.0 will mean higher fees (especially if oil takes another precipitous hike), plus more bundling of extras we might not have wanted to purchase separately but may succumb to after seeing them continuously discounted from pay-point to pay-point via email, on our smartphones, at the airport kiosk or even on our airplane seat back screens.
What’s love got to do with it? We may find out once KLM gets its “choose your seatmate via Facebook” plan underway. Perhaps flyers will use it to choose neighbors based on looks or hotness quotient or simply to find a quiet, easygoing seatmate (perhaps the anti-Alec Baldwin). Would you pay for this? I’m betting many will; take another look at that Seinfeld episode where Elaine is stuck in a middle seat whispering, “Help me”).
With apologies to Greyhound, we are coming to accept that flying today is like traveling by bus with few frills and even fewer fun times. Complaints about airport security are down, and I’m getting fewer angry emails about unfair bag fees. We may not like it but we’re getting used to it, and face it – air travel is still the best way of getting from Point A to Point B.
Hope all your flights in 2012 are smooth and hassle-free.
Related links:
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly Warns Cost Too High
Great, Recent Deals
Poll: Consumers Will Travel More In 2012
22nd Domestic Airfare Hike Attempt of 2011 Fails
When to Buy Airline Tickets and Other Advice
This work is the opinion of the columnist and does not reflect the opinion of ABC News.
Rick Seaney is one of the country’s leading experts on airfare, giving interviews and analysis to news organizations that include ABC News, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg. His website, FareCompare.com, offers consumers free, new-generation software, combined with expert insider tips to find the best airline ticket deals.
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
Hope all your flights in 2012 are smooth and hassle-free.
Related links:
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly Warns Cost Too High
Great, Recent Deals
Poll: Consumers Will Travel More In 2012
22nd Domestic Airfare Hike Attempt of 2011 Fails
When to Buy Airline Tickets and Other Advice
This work is the opinion of the columnist and does not reflect the opinion of ABC News.
Rick Seaney is one of the country’s leading experts on airfare, giving interviews and analysis to news organizations that include ABC News, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg. His website, FareCompare.com, offers consumers free, new-generation software, combined with expert insider tips to find the best airline ticket deals.
This article is from http://tourism9.com/
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