BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
International real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW – News) today announced the sale of NoHo-14, a 180-unit, 14-story luxury apartment building located in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. The signature asset was sold for $74 million, representing a 4.1% cap rate on in place income. The seller assumed the $40 million Cigna fixed rate financing.
“We are very pleased to have sold this iconic property at a very opportune time in the market,” said Robert Hart, president of KW Multifamily Management Group. “NoHo-14 is just one of Kennedy Wilson’s ventures with Guardian Life and is an excellent example of our commitment to investing and creating value in multifamily real estate projects together.”
Kennedy Wilson originally acquired the building along with partners Guardian Life Insurance Company and RECP/Urban Partners as an REO asset in June 2010. The company converted the condominiums into apartments, implementing a new leasing program and enhancing property management to concierge level service, effectively upgrading the resident profile and growing the annual net operating income of the property from $2.3 million to $3.1 million. The company also renovated the building’s amenities, including the leasing office, recreation room, health club quality fitness center and high-tech business center as well as other aesthetics. Additionally, the 11,000 sq. ft. ground floor retail space at NoHo-14 was leased by Kennedy Wilson’s brokerage group to Roger Dunn Golf in a $3.8 million deal that relocated the golf superstore from its original location of over 30 years.
“NoHo-14 is the only Class A luxury tower of its kind in the North Hollywood area and is the only high-rise multifamily rental community in the entire San Fernando Valley,” commented Hart.
Kennedy Wilson’s multifamily portfolio now consists of 13,005 units in the U.S. and Japan.
About Kennedy Wilson
Founded in 1977, Kennedy Wilson is an international real estate investment and services company headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA with 23 offices in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The company offers a comprehensive array of real estate services including auction, conventional sales, property services and investment management. Through its fund management and separate account businesses, Kennedy Wilson is a strategic investor of real estate investments in the U.S., Europe and Japan. For further information on Kennedy Wilson, please visit www.kennedywilson.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50188357&lang=en
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50188357&lang=en
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年3月1日星期四
2012年2月29日星期三
Loans flow from Europe’s central bank, but analysts debate if they’re a cure or a crutch
Throughout his waning months in office, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet boasted that he had avoided the excesses of his counterparts at the U.S. Federal Reserve and kept the ECB’s response to his continent’s financial crisis relatively modest.
It has taken his successor, Italian central banker Mario Draghi, less than three months to upend that approach, triggering a debate about whether the ECB has quietly solved the euro-zone debt crisis or simply postponed a reckoning by shuffling hundreds of billions of dollars among banks, governments and the central bank’s own coffers.
It has taken his successor, Italian central banker Mario Draghi, less than three months to upend that approach, triggering a debate about whether the ECB has quietly solved the euro-zone debt crisis or simply postponed a reckoning by shuffling hundreds of billions of dollars among banks, governments and the central bank’s own coffers.
As it did in December, the ECB this week is again offering inexpensive three-year loans to euro-region banks. Market analysts expect the central bank to provide new loans worth a trillion dollars or more, putting the ECB on a fast track to catch the Fed.
The policy has stabilized European finances in recent weeks, contributing in a roundabout way to a decline in the exorbitant interest rates that some heavily indebted governments had to pay. After the first round of ECB loans, banks spent some of the money on government bonds, and Italy and Spain as a result saw a drop in the cost they had to pay to attract bond investors.
The banks also began to retire their own bonds, reducing the competition for money on private markets. And bank lending to households and businesses ticked up.
These were all reassuring developments after an autumn consumed by fears that the region’s debt crisis would lead to a breakup of the euro zone.
“There are tentative signs of stabilization,” Draghi said at a recent news conference on ECB policy.
But some analysts and bankers are warning that the policies under Draghi could leave the European financial industry addicted to cheap ECB loans that will be difficult to replace if the region’s economy remains stagnant.
For a variety of reasons, the euro zone remains in trouble. The region is heading into recession, and governments are scrambling to restructure economies ill-suited to compete globally or support the costs of aging populations.
Greece, the region’s hardest-hit country, is in the midst of a bond restructuring that will shape its future. If all goes smoothly, the exchange of new, less-expensive bonds for older ones will greatly reduce the country’s outstanding debts and pave the way for a large package of new international loans. But the debt restructuring has left the country in technical default on its bonds, possibly triggering the insurance payments to bond holders — a development that some analysts worry could stigmatize the euro region for years.
If nothing else, the ECB loans have bought time and helped the currency union through a bulge of borrowing required by governments and financial companies in the first months of the year.
The ECB lending program was launched at a critical moment, when borrowing costs for Spain and Italy were at such a high level that they might have needed a bailout that the rest of Europe and the International Monetary Fund could ill afford. As those rates have dropped, Spain has actually accelerated its borrowing for the year to take advantage.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The policy has stabilized European finances in recent weeks, contributing in a roundabout way to a decline in the exorbitant interest rates that some heavily indebted governments had to pay. After the first round of ECB loans, banks spent some of the money on government bonds, and Italy and Spain as a result saw a drop in the cost they had to pay to attract bond investors.
The banks also began to retire their own bonds, reducing the competition for money on private markets. And bank lending to households and businesses ticked up.
These were all reassuring developments after an autumn consumed by fears that the region’s debt crisis would lead to a breakup of the euro zone.
“There are tentative signs of stabilization,” Draghi said at a recent news conference on ECB policy.
But some analysts and bankers are warning that the policies under Draghi could leave the European financial industry addicted to cheap ECB loans that will be difficult to replace if the region’s economy remains stagnant.
For a variety of reasons, the euro zone remains in trouble. The region is heading into recession, and governments are scrambling to restructure economies ill-suited to compete globally or support the costs of aging populations.
Greece, the region’s hardest-hit country, is in the midst of a bond restructuring that will shape its future. If all goes smoothly, the exchange of new, less-expensive bonds for older ones will greatly reduce the country’s outstanding debts and pave the way for a large package of new international loans. But the debt restructuring has left the country in technical default on its bonds, possibly triggering the insurance payments to bond holders — a development that some analysts worry could stigmatize the euro region for years.
If nothing else, the ECB loans have bought time and helped the currency union through a bulge of borrowing required by governments and financial companies in the first months of the year.
The ECB lending program was launched at a critical moment, when borrowing costs for Spain and Italy were at such a high level that they might have needed a bailout that the rest of Europe and the International Monetary Fund could ill afford. As those rates have dropped, Spain has actually accelerated its borrowing for the year to take advantage.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Banks Vie for $2 Billion in Secretive Europe Equity Derivatives
February 29, 2012, 2:56 AM EST
By Elisa Martinuzzi and Zijing Wu
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) — Investment banks including Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are vying for as much as $2 billion in annual fees in Europe arranging customized equity derivatives — a secretive market that has defied the downturn.
The business, about as large as underwriting initial public offerings before the 2008 financial crisis, is now three times bigger and held steady last year, according to estimates from six bankers who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The contracts accounted for almost 10 percent of total investment-banking fees last year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as revenue from dealmaking and trading sank, data compiled by research firm Freeman & Co. show.
Because the deals, whose value is tied to stocks, are customized and not traded on exchanges, banks are able to charge higher fees than for contracts in which customers seek competing bids. They’re also attractive to lenders because new rules demanding capital buffers against potential losses aren’t as punitive as for other derivatives.
“Regulatory change may drive banks back to the business, not away from it,” said Rachel Lord, Citigroup Inc.’s London- based global head of corporate equity derivatives. “This is one part of the investment-banking industry where, despite compressed margins, the business remains a high priority because it’s so important to the client base.”
Tailor-Made
Investors such as Aabar Investments PJSC, the Abu Dhabi- based sovereign-wealth fund, and Italy’s Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, owner of the world’s oldest bank, sought derivatives to protect the value of their holdings or to borrow against equity stakes.
Banks including Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are competing in a region that’s the biggest in the world by fees, surpassing the U.S. and Asia. The annual notional value of tailor-made equity derivatives is typically more than $50 billion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to estimates from two of the bankers.
The market is so big and lucrative that even lenders shrinking their investment-banking arms want to keep the business going. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which is selling or closing brokerage, merger-advisory and IPO- underwriting units, will continue arranging “profitable” equity derivatives, the London-based firm said last month. Credit Agricole SA, France’s second-largest bank by assets, will do the same for corporate clients, said Bertrand Hugonet, a Paris-based spokesman.
“There’s a lot of competition because there’s been a history of profitable transactions in this space,” said Samuel Losada, London-based head of European corporate equity derivatives at Bank of America Corp. “You can achieve over the long run, if risks are managed properly, above-market returns.”
Daimler Derivative
Because the deals are private, there aren’t any publicly available rankings. Based on bankers’ own assessments and the sharing of information among them, the business is dominated by the region’s top equity brokers and better-capitalized firms. Industry leaders include Frankfurt based Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, all in New York, and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG, the bankers said.
Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America arranged a derivative in May that allows Abu Dhabi’s Aabar to keep its share of the potential near-term gains of Daimler AG, even as the fund sold a 1.25 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) bond exchangeable for the German automaker’s shares. The sale could cut Aabar’s Daimler holding to 7.2 percent from 9.1 percent when the bond matures in 2016.
The deal was the region’s largest ever derivative overlay, a strategy to hold multiple contracts against the same assets, linked to an exchangeable bond, according to Losada.
Emerging Markets
“There’s a clear trend that the emerging-market business is becoming more important,” said Losada. “We saw continuous activity in this space over the last 12 months.”
Increasing demand from emerging-market clients, such as Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds, has helped buck a slowdown in Western European deal flows.
“The business can be divided into two parts: the growth markets, where it’s harder for some to obtain liquidity and hence is driven by financing, and developed markets, where clients seek to manage their equity positions,” said Simon Watson, a managing director at Goldman Sachs in London who heads corporate equity derivatives for the region.
While financial firms are cutting employees in other investment-banking areas, many are looking to add to their equity-derivatives businesses in the region.
‘Beefing Up’
Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, may hire two bankers this year to join the eight it has in London today, said Losada. Citigroup this month named Sophie Lecoq to the new position of head of corporate equity derivatives for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Morgan Stanley also may increase its team’s headcount, according to Daniel Palmer, the firm’s London-based global head of corporate equity derivatives.
“We expanded our business significantly over the past three years,” said Palmer. “Our team is now almost complete, but we might add one or two heads later in the year.”
Nomura Holdings Inc., which took over Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European business in 2008, may add one senior banker to its 12-person team in London, said Kenneth Brown, global head of equity capital markets. Lenders are “beefing up their European teams” of corporate equity derivatives because Europe is a now a bigger market than the U.S., he said.
It’s also a more resilient market, and the teams, which typically employ about a dozen people, are small compared with those that manage IPOs, said Christopher Wheeler, a banking analyst at Mediobanca SpA in London.
“It’s a business driven by the sweat of the brow,” Wheeler said.
Margin Loans
While banks can earn more arranging tailor-made equity derivatives than underwriting stock sales, increasing competition has driven down fees for financing some deals, including margin loans, or loans from securities firms backed by clients’ equity holdings used as collateral, the bankers said.
Margin loans are a way for investors who have limited access to bank funding or capital markets to raise money. At least 10 firms competed to win a margin loan from an Italian client this year, compared with three or four that would have bid for the business a couple of years ago, said one banker, who declined to be identified citing client confidentiality.
Monte dei Paschi
Fondazione Monte dei Paschi, the biggest investor in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, last year raised about 600 million euros through loans backed by collateral on its stake in the lender.
Eleven banks participated in the deal, which helped raise funds to pay for shares sold by the bank in June, said Gianni Tiberi, a spokesman for the foundation. The firms, which included Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase & Co., participated equally, Tiberi said, declining to elaborate. The loan was reduced to about 525 million euros as Monte dei Paschi shares fell, he said.
In one type of equity derivative, known as an equity swap, one party agrees to receive gains in a stock or basket of stocks and in return makes interest payments to the other party on the value of the securities it bet on. Investment banks typically act as intermediaries between the two parties in the swap.
Under the so-called Basel III rules, approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and scheduled to be phased in through 2019, banks will face a capital charge for potential mark-to-market losses on over-the-counter derivatives.
Data Gaps
“Because credit markets tend to be less liquid and transparent than equities, banks often need proxies to measure the counterparty risk in credit derivatives, creating data gaps and higher capital charges,” said Anastasios Zavitsanakis, a financial-risk consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. “The actual exposure in equities is more measurable in the short term, and there might be more collateral, reducing further the capital charges.”
Still, banks’ waning risk appetite is spreading the business around more evenly, said Citigroup’s Lord.
“In the past 10 years, two to three banks would typically lead the industry, while over the last year it has been much more broad-based,” Lord said. “Before 2008, banks would have been happy to be sole books on very large deals. It’s not feasible to do that now, so there’s a lot more deal-sharing.”
Morgan Stanley has expanded its business by building up a book of margin loans, said Palmer.
“Some competitors are looking to sell their loans,” he said. “As banks de-lever, we’ve come across clients coming to us seeking to raise money on a shareholding, for example.”
‘Bespoke Solutions’
Even with the increased competition, Deutsche Bank sees demand from clients “as high as ever,” said Ian Holt, the bank’s London-based global head of equity structuring.
“It’s a good business because you are providing bespoke solutions and providing clients with what they need in and around complex situations, which makes higher margins naturally achievable,” said Holt.
Success for most firms this year depends on whether there’s a pick-up in mergers, bankers said. When companies combine, a seller left with a minority stake may seek to raise funds against the holding by buying put options on the shares and using the options to raise cash. Banks can also use derivatives to help investors who receive stock protect the value of their holdings.
“In M&A, you’re the exclusive adviser, and that’s where you can have prime access to interesting situations before they become public knowledge,” said Bank of America’s Losada. “That’s where the real alpha is.”
–With assistance from Ben Moshinsky in Brussels. Editors: Robert Friedman, Edward Evans
To contact the reporters on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net; Zijing Wu in London at zwu17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net; Jacqueline Simmons at jackiem@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
By Elisa Martinuzzi and Zijing Wu
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) — Investment banks including Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are vying for as much as $2 billion in annual fees in Europe arranging customized equity derivatives — a secretive market that has defied the downturn.
The business, about as large as underwriting initial public offerings before the 2008 financial crisis, is now three times bigger and held steady last year, according to estimates from six bankers who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The contracts accounted for almost 10 percent of total investment-banking fees last year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as revenue from dealmaking and trading sank, data compiled by research firm Freeman & Co. show.
Because the deals, whose value is tied to stocks, are customized and not traded on exchanges, banks are able to charge higher fees than for contracts in which customers seek competing bids. They’re also attractive to lenders because new rules demanding capital buffers against potential losses aren’t as punitive as for other derivatives.
“Regulatory change may drive banks back to the business, not away from it,” said Rachel Lord, Citigroup Inc.’s London- based global head of corporate equity derivatives. “This is one part of the investment-banking industry where, despite compressed margins, the business remains a high priority because it’s so important to the client base.”
Tailor-Made
Investors such as Aabar Investments PJSC, the Abu Dhabi- based sovereign-wealth fund, and Italy’s Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, owner of the world’s oldest bank, sought derivatives to protect the value of their holdings or to borrow against equity stakes.
Banks including Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are competing in a region that’s the biggest in the world by fees, surpassing the U.S. and Asia. The annual notional value of tailor-made equity derivatives is typically more than $50 billion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to estimates from two of the bankers.
The market is so big and lucrative that even lenders shrinking their investment-banking arms want to keep the business going. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which is selling or closing brokerage, merger-advisory and IPO- underwriting units, will continue arranging “profitable” equity derivatives, the London-based firm said last month. Credit Agricole SA, France’s second-largest bank by assets, will do the same for corporate clients, said Bertrand Hugonet, a Paris-based spokesman.
“There’s a lot of competition because there’s been a history of profitable transactions in this space,” said Samuel Losada, London-based head of European corporate equity derivatives at Bank of America Corp. “You can achieve over the long run, if risks are managed properly, above-market returns.”
Daimler Derivative
Because the deals are private, there aren’t any publicly available rankings. Based on bankers’ own assessments and the sharing of information among them, the business is dominated by the region’s top equity brokers and better-capitalized firms. Industry leaders include Frankfurt based Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, all in New York, and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG, the bankers said.
Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America arranged a derivative in May that allows Abu Dhabi’s Aabar to keep its share of the potential near-term gains of Daimler AG, even as the fund sold a 1.25 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) bond exchangeable for the German automaker’s shares. The sale could cut Aabar’s Daimler holding to 7.2 percent from 9.1 percent when the bond matures in 2016.
The deal was the region’s largest ever derivative overlay, a strategy to hold multiple contracts against the same assets, linked to an exchangeable bond, according to Losada.
Emerging Markets
“There’s a clear trend that the emerging-market business is becoming more important,” said Losada. “We saw continuous activity in this space over the last 12 months.”
Increasing demand from emerging-market clients, such as Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds, has helped buck a slowdown in Western European deal flows.
“The business can be divided into two parts: the growth markets, where it’s harder for some to obtain liquidity and hence is driven by financing, and developed markets, where clients seek to manage their equity positions,” said Simon Watson, a managing director at Goldman Sachs in London who heads corporate equity derivatives for the region.
While financial firms are cutting employees in other investment-banking areas, many are looking to add to their equity-derivatives businesses in the region.
‘Beefing Up’
Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, may hire two bankers this year to join the eight it has in London today, said Losada. Citigroup this month named Sophie Lecoq to the new position of head of corporate equity derivatives for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Morgan Stanley also may increase its team’s headcount, according to Daniel Palmer, the firm’s London-based global head of corporate equity derivatives.
“We expanded our business significantly over the past three years,” said Palmer. “Our team is now almost complete, but we might add one or two heads later in the year.”
Nomura Holdings Inc., which took over Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European business in 2008, may add one senior banker to its 12-person team in London, said Kenneth Brown, global head of equity capital markets. Lenders are “beefing up their European teams” of corporate equity derivatives because Europe is a now a bigger market than the U.S., he said.
It’s also a more resilient market, and the teams, which typically employ about a dozen people, are small compared with those that manage IPOs, said Christopher Wheeler, a banking analyst at Mediobanca SpA in London.
“It’s a business driven by the sweat of the brow,” Wheeler said.
Margin Loans
While banks can earn more arranging tailor-made equity derivatives than underwriting stock sales, increasing competition has driven down fees for financing some deals, including margin loans, or loans from securities firms backed by clients’ equity holdings used as collateral, the bankers said.
Margin loans are a way for investors who have limited access to bank funding or capital markets to raise money. At least 10 firms competed to win a margin loan from an Italian client this year, compared with three or four that would have bid for the business a couple of years ago, said one banker, who declined to be identified citing client confidentiality.
Monte dei Paschi
Fondazione Monte dei Paschi, the biggest investor in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, last year raised about 600 million euros through loans backed by collateral on its stake in the lender.
Eleven banks participated in the deal, which helped raise funds to pay for shares sold by the bank in June, said Gianni Tiberi, a spokesman for the foundation. The firms, which included Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase & Co., participated equally, Tiberi said, declining to elaborate. The loan was reduced to about 525 million euros as Monte dei Paschi shares fell, he said.
In one type of equity derivative, known as an equity swap, one party agrees to receive gains in a stock or basket of stocks and in return makes interest payments to the other party on the value of the securities it bet on. Investment banks typically act as intermediaries between the two parties in the swap.
Under the so-called Basel III rules, approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and scheduled to be phased in through 2019, banks will face a capital charge for potential mark-to-market losses on over-the-counter derivatives.
Data Gaps
“Because credit markets tend to be less liquid and transparent than equities, banks often need proxies to measure the counterparty risk in credit derivatives, creating data gaps and higher capital charges,” said Anastasios Zavitsanakis, a financial-risk consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. “The actual exposure in equities is more measurable in the short term, and there might be more collateral, reducing further the capital charges.”
Still, banks’ waning risk appetite is spreading the business around more evenly, said Citigroup’s Lord.
“In the past 10 years, two to three banks would typically lead the industry, while over the last year it has been much more broad-based,” Lord said. “Before 2008, banks would have been happy to be sole books on very large deals. It’s not feasible to do that now, so there’s a lot more deal-sharing.”
Morgan Stanley has expanded its business by building up a book of margin loans, said Palmer.
“Some competitors are looking to sell their loans,” he said. “As banks de-lever, we’ve come across clients coming to us seeking to raise money on a shareholding, for example.”
‘Bespoke Solutions’
Even with the increased competition, Deutsche Bank sees demand from clients “as high as ever,” said Ian Holt, the bank’s London-based global head of equity structuring.
“It’s a good business because you are providing bespoke solutions and providing clients with what they need in and around complex situations, which makes higher margins naturally achievable,” said Holt.
Success for most firms this year depends on whether there’s a pick-up in mergers, bankers said. When companies combine, a seller left with a minority stake may seek to raise funds against the holding by buying put options on the shares and using the options to raise cash. Banks can also use derivatives to help investors who receive stock protect the value of their holdings.
“In M&A, you’re the exclusive adviser, and that’s where you can have prime access to interesting situations before they become public knowledge,” said Bank of America’s Losada. “That’s where the real alpha is.”
–With assistance from Ben Moshinsky in Brussels. Editors: Robert Friedman, Edward Evans
To contact the reporters on this story: Elisa Martinuzzi in Milan at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net; Zijing Wu in London at zwu17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net; Jacqueline Simmons at jackiem@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月28日星期二
Saxo Bank Scoops 4 Awards at the Social Forex Awards 2011
SINGAPORE–(Marketwire -02/27/12)- Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has won no less than four Awards at the inaugural Social Forex Awards 2011.
Saxo Bank ranked number one in the following categories:
The awards recognise the outstanding players in the industry and were presented by LetstalkFX and Social-Markets.net, in conjunction with e-Forex magazine and were sponsored by The Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The votes were cast by members of the letstalkFX.com community and marketing was undertaken by the Bank using LinkedIn and Facebook.
Disclaimer:Saxo Capital Markets Pte. Ltd. (“Saxo Capital Markets”) is licensed as a Capital Market Services provider and an Exempt Financial Advisor, and is supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
You should carefully consider whether trading in leveraged products is appropriate for you in the light of your financial circumstances. You should be aware that dealing in products that are highly leveraged carry significantly greater risk than non-geared investments such as share trading. As such, you could both gain and lose large amounts of money. You may sustain losses in excess of the moneys you initially deposit and also in excess of the margin required to establish and maintain any positions in leveraged products.
For further information, please see:
http://sg.saxomarkets.com/about-us/general-disclaimer
About Saxo Capital Markets
Saxo Capital Markets Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S, the Copenhagen-headquartered online trading and investment specialist. It serves as the Asia Pacific headquarters and holds a Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Saxo Capital Markets also holds a Commodity Broker licence from The International Enterprise Singapore.
Clients can trade Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via SaxoWebTrader and SaxoTrader, its leading multi-asset online trading platforms.
SaxoTrader is available directly through Saxo Capital Markets or through one of its institutional clients. White labelling is a significant business area for Saxo Capital Markets, and involves customising and branding of its online trading platform for other financial institutions and brokers.
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms: the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net-worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Saxo Bank ranked number one in the following categories:
- Most Social Bank (through the use of Social Media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
- Best Social Campaign
- Best Social Initiative/Innovation
- Best Social Research
The awards recognise the outstanding players in the industry and were presented by LetstalkFX and Social-Markets.net, in conjunction with e-Forex magazine and were sponsored by The Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The votes were cast by members of the letstalkFX.com community and marketing was undertaken by the Bank using LinkedIn and Facebook.
Disclaimer:Saxo Capital Markets Pte. Ltd. (“Saxo Capital Markets”) is licensed as a Capital Market Services provider and an Exempt Financial Advisor, and is supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
You should carefully consider whether trading in leveraged products is appropriate for you in the light of your financial circumstances. You should be aware that dealing in products that are highly leveraged carry significantly greater risk than non-geared investments such as share trading. As such, you could both gain and lose large amounts of money. You may sustain losses in excess of the moneys you initially deposit and also in excess of the margin required to establish and maintain any positions in leveraged products.
For further information, please see:
http://sg.saxomarkets.com/about-us/general-disclaimer
About Saxo Capital Markets
Saxo Capital Markets Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S, the Copenhagen-headquartered online trading and investment specialist. It serves as the Asia Pacific headquarters and holds a Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Saxo Capital Markets also holds a Commodity Broker licence from The International Enterprise Singapore.
Clients can trade Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via SaxoWebTrader and SaxoTrader, its leading multi-asset online trading platforms.
SaxoTrader is available directly through Saxo Capital Markets or through one of its institutional clients. White labelling is a significant business area for Saxo Capital Markets, and involves customising and branding of its online trading platform for other financial institutions and brokers.
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms: the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net-worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月26日星期日
Banks to grab share of ECB’s €500bn loans
The European Central Bank is set to flood banking markets with €500bn (£424bn) of cheap loans this week, taking its financial support of the European Union to €1trn in just three months.
On Wednesday, the ECB will hold its second allotment of three-year loans to private banks and other institutions, known as the longer-term refinancing operations (LTRO). Analysts are expecting banks to apply for between €200bn and €750bn in total, with most forecasts around the €500bn mark.
In December, 523 banks borrowed €489bn from the first LTRO. The loans carried an interest rate of around 1 per cent a year. The new loans will be just as cheap, but the collateral requirements have been loosened. Banks will be able to pledge corporate and consumer loans, rather than just government bonds, in return for the borrowing.
The new LTRO will be conducted through national central banks, not the ECB, so governments will take the losses should their banks be unable to repay the loans.
The first unprecedented provision of liquidity has been credited by the ECB president, Mario Draghi, with helping Europe to avoid a banking crisis this year. Some banks had found it increasingly difficult to borrow in the second half of last year. These institutions used the ECB’s cheap funds to meet their liabilities.
The liquidity injection also seems to have helped bring down the borrowing costs of some distressed eurozone states, as banks, particularly in Spain and Italy, have used the money to invest in bonds issued by their governments. Italian 10-year yields have come down from above 7 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Spanish 10-year yields have fallen from 5.7 to 5 per cent.
Sony Kapoor of the Re-Define think tank said: “The bigger the LTRO next week, the more the short-term relief for the banking sector, but at the cost of making a sustainable exit from life-support even harder.”
Jens Larsen of RBC Capital Markets, argued that the LTRO would be beneficial as long as banks restructure. “If the euro banks spend the time wisely by reducing their balance sheets and raising the necessary capital that’s not so bad,” he said. “But if they’re not doing that, it’s dangerous.”
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
In December, 523 banks borrowed €489bn from the first LTRO. The loans carried an interest rate of around 1 per cent a year. The new loans will be just as cheap, but the collateral requirements have been loosened. Banks will be able to pledge corporate and consumer loans, rather than just government bonds, in return for the borrowing.
The new LTRO will be conducted through national central banks, not the ECB, so governments will take the losses should their banks be unable to repay the loans.
The first unprecedented provision of liquidity has been credited by the ECB president, Mario Draghi, with helping Europe to avoid a banking crisis this year. Some banks had found it increasingly difficult to borrow in the second half of last year. These institutions used the ECB’s cheap funds to meet their liabilities.
The liquidity injection also seems to have helped bring down the borrowing costs of some distressed eurozone states, as banks, particularly in Spain and Italy, have used the money to invest in bonds issued by their governments. Italian 10-year yields have come down from above 7 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Spanish 10-year yields have fallen from 5.7 to 5 per cent.
Sony Kapoor of the Re-Define think tank said: “The bigger the LTRO next week, the more the short-term relief for the banking sector, but at the cost of making a sustainable exit from life-support even harder.”
Jens Larsen of RBC Capital Markets, argued that the LTRO would be beneficial as long as banks restructure. “If the euro banks spend the time wisely by reducing their balance sheets and raising the necessary capital that’s not so bad,” he said. “But if they’re not doing that, it’s dangerous.”
2012年2月22日星期三
Tangled in diplomacy, EU struggles to frame new financial rules
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
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
BioAmber Closes $30 Million Financing with LANXESS and Existing Investors
MINNEAPOLIS , MN, Feb. 22, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ – BioAmber Inc. has completed its Series C round of financing with net proceeds of $30 million . The financing was closed in two tranches; a first tranche of $20 million on November 4 th, 2011 with existing investors Naxos Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and the Cliffton Group, and a second tranche of $10 million on February 6 th, 2012 with specialty chemicals company LANXESS. All of BioAmber’s Series B investors participated in the Series C financing.
The investment by LANXESS is the culmination of a strategic collaboration in the field of renewable, phthalate-free plasticizers. BioAmber and LANXESS are jointly developing phthalate-free plasticizers and expect to begin sampling succinic-based plasticizers in 2012. The companies are also collaborating in Sarnia, Ontario, on the establishment of BioAmber’s first world-scale bio-succinic acid manufacturing facility. LANXESS is owner of the site and will provide BioAmber with utilities and services needed to operate the facility.
Concurrent with the investment, LANXESS will be joining the BioAmber board of directors and has named Jorge Noguiera as its board representative. Jorge Nogueira is the Head of LANXESS’ Functional Chemicals business unit. Mr. Nogueira has over 30 years of chemical industry experience, working for leading multinationals in the United States , Europe , Asia and Latin America. “Our investment in BioAmber shows our commitment to launching a new generation of plasticizers that satisfy regulatory requirements and can also score in terms of sustainability,” said Mr. Nogueira .
“We are pleased to have LANXESS as a strategic investor alongside Naxos, Sofinnova, Mitsui & Co. and Cliffton,” said Jean-Francois Huc, BioAmber’s CEO. “BioAmber is fortunate to have a strong, committed group of investors and we welcome Jorge Nogueira , a dynamic and experienced chemical industry executive to our board”.
“LANXESS is actively engaged in leveraging its Sarnia site to establish the largest bio-industrial park in Canada , offering land, energy and infrastructure for the development of new bio-industrial chemicals,” said Sandy Marshall , President of LANXESS Canada . “We are excited to be working closely with BioAmber to anchor the Bio-industrial Park, and this investment is a natural extension of our collaboration,” added Mr. Marshall .
About BioAmber Inc.
BioAmber is a next generation chemicals company. Its proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology, an innovative purification process and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday products including plastics, food additives and personal care products. BioAmber produces bio-succinic acid in what it believes to be one of the world’s largest bio-based chemical manufacturing facilities. For more information visit the company’s web site at www.bio-amber.com.
About LANXESS
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 billion in 2010 and currently around 16,100 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 47 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good
http://tourism9.com http://vkins.com
The investment by LANXESS is the culmination of a strategic collaboration in the field of renewable, phthalate-free plasticizers. BioAmber and LANXESS are jointly developing phthalate-free plasticizers and expect to begin sampling succinic-based plasticizers in 2012. The companies are also collaborating in Sarnia, Ontario, on the establishment of BioAmber’s first world-scale bio-succinic acid manufacturing facility. LANXESS is owner of the site and will provide BioAmber with utilities and services needed to operate the facility.
Concurrent with the investment, LANXESS will be joining the BioAmber board of directors and has named Jorge Noguiera as its board representative. Jorge Nogueira is the Head of LANXESS’ Functional Chemicals business unit. Mr. Nogueira has over 30 years of chemical industry experience, working for leading multinationals in the United States , Europe , Asia and Latin America. “Our investment in BioAmber shows our commitment to launching a new generation of plasticizers that satisfy regulatory requirements and can also score in terms of sustainability,” said Mr. Nogueira .
“We are pleased to have LANXESS as a strategic investor alongside Naxos, Sofinnova, Mitsui & Co. and Cliffton,” said Jean-Francois Huc, BioAmber’s CEO. “BioAmber is fortunate to have a strong, committed group of investors and we welcome Jorge Nogueira , a dynamic and experienced chemical industry executive to our board”.
“LANXESS is actively engaged in leveraging its Sarnia site to establish the largest bio-industrial park in Canada , offering land, energy and infrastructure for the development of new bio-industrial chemicals,” said Sandy Marshall , President of LANXESS Canada . “We are excited to be working closely with BioAmber to anchor the Bio-industrial Park, and this investment is a natural extension of our collaboration,” added Mr. Marshall .
About BioAmber Inc.
BioAmber is a next generation chemicals company. Its proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology, an innovative purification process and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday products including plastics, food additives and personal care products. BioAmber produces bio-succinic acid in what it believes to be one of the world’s largest bio-based chemical manufacturing facilities. For more information visit the company’s web site at www.bio-amber.com.
About LANXESS
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 billion in 2010 and currently around 16,100 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 47 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good
http://tourism9.com http://vkins.com
2012年2月20日星期一
Saxo Bank Executes World's First Base Jumping FX Trade
HELLERUP, Denmark, February 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –
Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has successfully executed, what is believed to be the first FX trade ever during a base jump at terminal velocity.
The spectacular trade was placed and confirmed during a free fall using the new SaxoTrader for iPhone® & Android app.
Swedish wing suit jumper and stuntman Martin Rosén used the app whilst performing the jump in Hutchinson Peak in the Hottentot Hollands Mountain Range outside of Cape Town, South Africa. The stunt base jumper bought 1,000,000 EURUSD Spot at a price of 1.26969 and the trade was confirmed when he was still in mid-air.
Footage from the jump has formed a high-energy television advertisement for Saxo Bank’s platform and trading applications. The campaign will be launched on 20 February and aired on Bloomberg, CNBC and other networks.
A 10 minute behind-the-scenes film will be available shortly. However, the crew also filmed a four minute documentary of the event available here: http://www.saxobank.com/mobile/saxotrader-anytime-anywhere
Torben Rene Larsen, Head of Commercial Marketing, Saxo Bank, commented: “We like breaking new ground and to set new industry standards but we also think there is a strong similarity between the mentality of base jumpers and traders. Both need to be in complete control, and both share the absolute confidence in their ability and demand the same from their equipment. The base jump trade has proved that our applications allow the user to trade in virtually all situations, anytime and anywhere, and provide the technology required to execute a trade in full confidence.”
“Much of Saxo Bank’s development has been driven by the need to differentiate ourselves as a bank specialising in trading and investments with a clear customer focus. The fact that Saxo Bank cornered the online market early on was a big advantage and helped spur the Bank’s growth. We still like to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and this first FX trade at terminal velocity proves that we are still breaking new ground.”
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has successfully executed, what is believed to be the first FX trade ever during a base jump at terminal velocity.
The spectacular trade was placed and confirmed during a free fall using the new SaxoTrader for iPhone® & Android app.
Swedish wing suit jumper and stuntman Martin Rosén used the app whilst performing the jump in Hutchinson Peak in the Hottentot Hollands Mountain Range outside of Cape Town, South Africa. The stunt base jumper bought 1,000,000 EURUSD Spot at a price of 1.26969 and the trade was confirmed when he was still in mid-air.
Footage from the jump has formed a high-energy television advertisement for Saxo Bank’s platform and trading applications. The campaign will be launched on 20 February and aired on Bloomberg, CNBC and other networks.
A 10 minute behind-the-scenes film will be available shortly. However, the crew also filmed a four minute documentary of the event available here: http://www.saxobank.com/mobile/saxotrader-anytime-anywhere
Torben Rene Larsen, Head of Commercial Marketing, Saxo Bank, commented: “We like breaking new ground and to set new industry standards but we also think there is a strong similarity between the mentality of base jumpers and traders. Both need to be in complete control, and both share the absolute confidence in their ability and demand the same from their equipment. The base jump trade has proved that our applications allow the user to trade in virtually all situations, anytime and anywhere, and provide the technology required to execute a trade in full confidence.”
“Much of Saxo Bank’s development has been driven by the need to differentiate ourselves as a bank specialising in trading and investments with a clear customer focus. The fact that Saxo Bank cornered the online market early on was a big advantage and helped spur the Bank’s growth. We still like to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and this first FX trade at terminal velocity proves that we are still breaking new ground.”
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Decision day for second Greek bailout despite financing gaps
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although there is work to be done to make the figures add up.
Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest austerity measures again on Sunday.
The ministers need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they say an agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 17-country single currency zone.
Senior officials from euro zone finance ministries and the European Central Bank held a conference call on Sunday to go over the final details of the 130-billion-euro ($171-billion)program, including a debt sustainability analysis critical to the International Monetary Fund.
While there is skepticism in Germany and other countries that Greece will be able to live up to its commitments – including implementing 3.3 billion euros of spending cuts and tax increases – officials said momentum was building for approval of the deal.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said all the elements were in place to reach an agreement.
“It cannot wait any longer … Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy, something which France has been trying to avoid for the last 18 months,” he told Europe 1 radio on Monday.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said Greece had done all that had been asked of it.
“There are many open details … A big issue is that we have to get Greece’s debt on a level that is sustainable and enables Greece to survive,” she told reporters in Helsinki.
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said the financing gaps were not so large that they risked derailing the whole process.
“I don’t see anybody wanting to be responsible for pulling the plug on the deal at this late stage,” he said.
“The gut feeling is that this is going to go through – everyone feels the pressure this time to deliver,” he said, indicating that the Netherlands, Finland and Germany, which have been the most critical of Athens’ ability to commit, looked likely to come on board if the financing gaps could be closed.
GREEK ANGER UNABATED
Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against the austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, although the numbers were much lower than earlier protests.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos flew to Brussels for last-minute preparations as about 3,000 demonstrators massed on the capital’s central Syntagma square.
Riot police shielded the national assembly to prevent a repeat of riots a week ago when masked youths torched buildings and looted shops across Athens.
Under one crucial element of the deal, Greece will have around 100 billion euros of debt written off via a restructuring involving private-sector holders of Greek government bonds.
Banks and insurers will swap bonds they hold for longer-dated securities that pay a lower coupon, resulting in a real 70 percent reduction in the value of the assets.
The bond exchange is expected to launch on March 8 and complete three days later, Athens said on Saturday. That means a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20 would be restructured, allowing Greece to avoid default.
The vast majority of the funds in the 130-billion-euro program will be used to finance the bond swap and to ensure that Greece’s banking system remains stable: 30 billion euros will go to “sweeteners” to get the private sector to sign up to the swap, 23 billion will go to recapitalize Greek banks.
A further 35 billion will allow Greece to finance the buying back of the bonds, and 5.7 billion will go to paying off the interest accrued on the bonds being traded in.
The overall objective is to reduce Greece’s debts from 160 percent of GDP to around 120 percent by 2020 – the figure and timeframe that the IMF, ECB and the European Commission, together known as the troika, have established as sustainable.
MEETING THE TARGET
The focus of Monday’s finance ministers’ meeting will be what “around 120 percent” means in practice.
A debt sustainability report delivered to euro zone finance ministers last week showed that under the main scenario, Greek debt will only fall to 129 percent by 2020.
The IMF has said if the ratio cannot be cut to around 120 percent, it may not be able to help finance the Greek program.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged the International Monetary Fund to support the program.
“This is a very strong and very difficult package of reforms, deserving of support of the international community and the IMF,” Geithner said in a statement on Sunday.
As well as working to get the number down, there are moves to convince members of the troika that a debt level of 123-125 percent in 2020 would be sustainable.
“If we can get it down to 123 or 124 percent, I think everyone’s going to be okay with that,” the euro zone official said after the Sunday conference call. “Everyone will find a way to tweak the numbers.”
A number of measures, including restructuring the accrued interest portion or reducing the “sweeteners,” are being considered to move the figure closer to 120, a euro zone official familiar with the negotiations said.
There are also discussions about marginally lowering the interest rate on 110 billion euros of bilateral loans already made to Greece in May 2010 – the first package of support – to lighten the financing burden on Athens.
Central banks could help too.
The ECB is weighing up whether to allow Greek bonds held in euro zone central banks’ investment portfolios to be subject to the same writedowns private investors are set to take, central bank sources told Reuters on Friday.
The central banks hold around 20 billion euros of Greek bonds in their traditional investment portfolios and the ECB holds about double that amount from its emergency bond-buying program. It has also signaled it could forego the profits made on the latter at some point.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement, it will provide immediate relief to Athens and financial markets, which have been kept guessing since the bailout package was announced last October.
But no one is pretending it will end Greece’s problems. Figures last week showed its economy shrank 7 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2011, much more than expected, with further cuts likely to make matters worse.
The troika, responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground.
Already there is concern that at any one of those reviews of the new program – if it is approved on Monday – Greece will be found to be behind, especially if GDP continues to slump.
That will again raise the threat the country will have to default if it cannot meet its obligations, and invite questions about its ability to remain in the euro zone.
($1 = 0.7597 euros)
(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Paris, Terri Kinnunen in Helsinki and George Georgiopoulos in Athens; writing by Mike Peacock; editing by Elizabeth Piper)http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest austerity measures again on Sunday.
The ministers need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they say an agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 17-country single currency zone.
Senior officials from euro zone finance ministries and the European Central Bank held a conference call on Sunday to go over the final details of the 130-billion-euro ($171-billion)program, including a debt sustainability analysis critical to the International Monetary Fund.
While there is skepticism in Germany and other countries that Greece will be able to live up to its commitments – including implementing 3.3 billion euros of spending cuts and tax increases – officials said momentum was building for approval of the deal.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said all the elements were in place to reach an agreement.
“It cannot wait any longer … Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy, something which France has been trying to avoid for the last 18 months,” he told Europe 1 radio on Monday.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said Greece had done all that had been asked of it.
“There are many open details … A big issue is that we have to get Greece’s debt on a level that is sustainable and enables Greece to survive,” she told reporters in Helsinki.
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said the financing gaps were not so large that they risked derailing the whole process.
“I don’t see anybody wanting to be responsible for pulling the plug on the deal at this late stage,” he said.
“The gut feeling is that this is going to go through – everyone feels the pressure this time to deliver,” he said, indicating that the Netherlands, Finland and Germany, which have been the most critical of Athens’ ability to commit, looked likely to come on board if the financing gaps could be closed.
GREEK ANGER UNABATED
Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against the austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, although the numbers were much lower than earlier protests.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos flew to Brussels for last-minute preparations as about 3,000 demonstrators massed on the capital’s central Syntagma square.
Riot police shielded the national assembly to prevent a repeat of riots a week ago when masked youths torched buildings and looted shops across Athens.
Under one crucial element of the deal, Greece will have around 100 billion euros of debt written off via a restructuring involving private-sector holders of Greek government bonds.
Banks and insurers will swap bonds they hold for longer-dated securities that pay a lower coupon, resulting in a real 70 percent reduction in the value of the assets.
The bond exchange is expected to launch on March 8 and complete three days later, Athens said on Saturday. That means a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20 would be restructured, allowing Greece to avoid default.
The vast majority of the funds in the 130-billion-euro program will be used to finance the bond swap and to ensure that Greece’s banking system remains stable: 30 billion euros will go to “sweeteners” to get the private sector to sign up to the swap, 23 billion will go to recapitalize Greek banks.
A further 35 billion will allow Greece to finance the buying back of the bonds, and 5.7 billion will go to paying off the interest accrued on the bonds being traded in.
The overall objective is to reduce Greece’s debts from 160 percent of GDP to around 120 percent by 2020 – the figure and timeframe that the IMF, ECB and the European Commission, together known as the troika, have established as sustainable.
MEETING THE TARGET
The focus of Monday’s finance ministers’ meeting will be what “around 120 percent” means in practice.
A debt sustainability report delivered to euro zone finance ministers last week showed that under the main scenario, Greek debt will only fall to 129 percent by 2020.
The IMF has said if the ratio cannot be cut to around 120 percent, it may not be able to help finance the Greek program.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged the International Monetary Fund to support the program.
“This is a very strong and very difficult package of reforms, deserving of support of the international community and the IMF,” Geithner said in a statement on Sunday.
As well as working to get the number down, there are moves to convince members of the troika that a debt level of 123-125 percent in 2020 would be sustainable.
“If we can get it down to 123 or 124 percent, I think everyone’s going to be okay with that,” the euro zone official said after the Sunday conference call. “Everyone will find a way to tweak the numbers.”
A number of measures, including restructuring the accrued interest portion or reducing the “sweeteners,” are being considered to move the figure closer to 120, a euro zone official familiar with the negotiations said.
There are also discussions about marginally lowering the interest rate on 110 billion euros of bilateral loans already made to Greece in May 2010 – the first package of support – to lighten the financing burden on Athens.
Central banks could help too.
The ECB is weighing up whether to allow Greek bonds held in euro zone central banks’ investment portfolios to be subject to the same writedowns private investors are set to take, central bank sources told Reuters on Friday.
The central banks hold around 20 billion euros of Greek bonds in their traditional investment portfolios and the ECB holds about double that amount from its emergency bond-buying program. It has also signaled it could forego the profits made on the latter at some point.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement, it will provide immediate relief to Athens and financial markets, which have been kept guessing since the bailout package was announced last October.
But no one is pretending it will end Greece’s problems. Figures last week showed its economy shrank 7 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2011, much more than expected, with further cuts likely to make matters worse.
The troika, responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground.
Already there is concern that at any one of those reviews of the new program – if it is approved on Monday – Greece will be found to be behind, especially if GDP continues to slump.
That will again raise the threat the country will have to default if it cannot meet its obligations, and invite questions about its ability to remain in the euro zone.
($1 = 0.7597 euros)
(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Paris, Terri Kinnunen in Helsinki and George Georgiopoulos in Athens; writing by Mike Peacock; editing by Elizabeth Piper)http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Decision day for 2nd Greek bailout despite financing gaps
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although there is work to be done to make the figures add up.
Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest austerity measures again on Sunday.
The ministers need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they say an agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 17-country single currency zone.
Senior officials from euro zone finance ministries and the European Central Bank held a conference call on Sunday to go over the final details of the 130-billion-euro programme, including a debt sustainability analysis critical to the International Monetary Fund.
While there is scepticism in Germany and other countries that Greece will be able to live up to its commitments – including implementing 3.3 billion euros of spending cuts and tax increases – officials said momentum was building for approval of the deal.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said all the elements were in place to reach an agreement.
“It cannot wait any longer … Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy, something which France has been trying to avoid for the last 18 months,” he told Europe 1 radio on Monday.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said Greece had done all that had been asked of it.
“There are many open details … A big issue is that we have to get Greece’s debt on a level that is sustainable and enables Greece to survive,” she told reporters in Helsinki.
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said the financing gaps were not so large that they risked derailing the whole process.
“I don’t see anybody wanting to be responsible for pulling the plug on the deal at this late stage,” he said.
“The gut feeling is that this is going to go through – everyone feels the pressure this time to deliver,” he said, indicating that the Netherlands, Finland and Germany, which have been the most critical of Athens‘ ability to commit, looked likely to come on board if the financing gaps could be closed.
GREEK ANGER UNABATED
Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against the austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, although the numbers were much lower than earlier protests.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos flew to Brussels for last-minute preparations as about 3,000 demonstrators massed on the capital’s central Syntagma square.
Riot police shielded the national assembly to prevent a repeat of riots a week ago when masked youths torched buildings and looted shops across Athens.
Under one crucial element of the deal, Greece will have around 100 billion euros of debt written off via a restructuring involving private-sector holders of Greek government bonds.
Banks and insurers will swap bonds they hold for longer-dated securities that pay a lower coupon, resulting in a real 70 percent reduction in the value of the assets.
The bond exchange is expected to launch on March 8 and complete three days later, Athens said on Saturday. That means a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20 would be restructured, allowing Greece to avoid default.
The vast majority of the funds in the 130-billion-euro programme will be used to finance the bond swap and to ensure that Greece’s banking system remains stable: 30 billion euros will go to “sweeteners” to get the private sector to sign up to the swap, 23 billion will go to recapitalise Greek banks.
A further 35 billion will allow Greece to finance the buying back of the bonds, and 5.7 billion will go to paying off the interest accrued on the bonds being traded in.
The overall objective is to reduce Greece’s debts from 160 percent of GDP to around 120 percent by 2020 – the figure and timeframe that the IMF, ECB and the European Commission, together known as the troika, have established as sustainable.
MEETING THE TARGET
The focus of Monday’s finance ministers‘ meeting will be what “around 120 percent” means in practice.
A debt sustainability report delivered to euro zone finance ministers last week showed that under the main scenario, Greek debt will only fall to 129 percent by 2020.
The IMF has said if the ratio cannot be cut to around 120 percent, it may not be able to help finance the Greek programme.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged the International Monetary Fund to support the programme.
“This is a very strong and very difficult package of reforms, deserving of support of the international community and the IMF,” Geithner said in a statement on Sunday.
As well as working to get the number down, there are moves to convince members of the troika that a debt level of 123-125 percent in 2020 would be sustainable.
“If we can get it down to 123 or 124 percent, I think everyone’s going to be okay with that,” the euro zone official said after the Sunday conference call. “Everyone will find a way to tweak the numbers.”
A number of measures, including restructuring the accrued interest portion or reducing the “sweeteners,” are being considered to move the figure closer to 120, a euro zone official familiar with the negotiations said.
There are also discussions about marginally lowering the interest rate on 110 billion euros of bilateral loans already made to Greece in May 2010 – the first package of support – to lighten the financing burden on Athens.
Central banks could help too.
The ECB is weighing up whether to allow Greek bonds held in euro zone central banks’ investment portfolios to be subject to the same writedowns private investors are set to take, central bank sources told Reuters on Friday.
The central banks hold around 20 billion euros of Greek bonds in their traditional investment portfolios and the ECB holds about double that amount from its emergency bond-buying programme. It has also signalled it could forego the profits made on the latter at some point.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement, it will provide immediate relief to Athens and financial markets, which have been kept guessing since the bailout package was announced last October.
But no one is pretending it will end Greece’s problems. Figures last week showed its economy shrank 7 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2011, much more than expected, with further cuts likely to make matters worse.
The troika, responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground.
Already there is concern that at any one of those reviews of the new programme – if it is approved on Monday – Greece will be found to be behind, especially if GDP continues to slump.
That will again raise the threat the country will have to default if it cannot meet its obligations, and invite questions about its ability to remain in the euro zone.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Paris, Terri Kinnunen in Helsinki and George Georgiopoulos in Athens; writing by Mike Peacock; editing by Elizabeth Piper)http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest austerity measures again on Sunday.
The ministers need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they say an agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 17-country single currency zone.
Senior officials from euro zone finance ministries and the European Central Bank held a conference call on Sunday to go over the final details of the 130-billion-euro programme, including a debt sustainability analysis critical to the International Monetary Fund.
While there is scepticism in Germany and other countries that Greece will be able to live up to its commitments – including implementing 3.3 billion euros of spending cuts and tax increases – officials said momentum was building for approval of the deal.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said all the elements were in place to reach an agreement.
“It cannot wait any longer … Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy, something which France has been trying to avoid for the last 18 months,” he told Europe 1 radio on Monday.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said Greece had done all that had been asked of it.
“There are many open details … A big issue is that we have to get Greece’s debt on a level that is sustainable and enables Greece to survive,” she told reporters in Helsinki.
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said the financing gaps were not so large that they risked derailing the whole process.
“I don’t see anybody wanting to be responsible for pulling the plug on the deal at this late stage,” he said.
“The gut feeling is that this is going to go through – everyone feels the pressure this time to deliver,” he said, indicating that the Netherlands, Finland and Germany, which have been the most critical of Athens‘ ability to commit, looked likely to come on board if the financing gaps could be closed.
GREEK ANGER UNABATED
Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against the austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, although the numbers were much lower than earlier protests.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos flew to Brussels for last-minute preparations as about 3,000 demonstrators massed on the capital’s central Syntagma square.
Riot police shielded the national assembly to prevent a repeat of riots a week ago when masked youths torched buildings and looted shops across Athens.
Under one crucial element of the deal, Greece will have around 100 billion euros of debt written off via a restructuring involving private-sector holders of Greek government bonds.
Banks and insurers will swap bonds they hold for longer-dated securities that pay a lower coupon, resulting in a real 70 percent reduction in the value of the assets.
The bond exchange is expected to launch on March 8 and complete three days later, Athens said on Saturday. That means a 14.5-billion-euro bond repayment due on March 20 would be restructured, allowing Greece to avoid default.
The vast majority of the funds in the 130-billion-euro programme will be used to finance the bond swap and to ensure that Greece’s banking system remains stable: 30 billion euros will go to “sweeteners” to get the private sector to sign up to the swap, 23 billion will go to recapitalise Greek banks.
A further 35 billion will allow Greece to finance the buying back of the bonds, and 5.7 billion will go to paying off the interest accrued on the bonds being traded in.
The overall objective is to reduce Greece’s debts from 160 percent of GDP to around 120 percent by 2020 – the figure and timeframe that the IMF, ECB and the European Commission, together known as the troika, have established as sustainable.
MEETING THE TARGET
The focus of Monday’s finance ministers‘ meeting will be what “around 120 percent” means in practice.
A debt sustainability report delivered to euro zone finance ministers last week showed that under the main scenario, Greek debt will only fall to 129 percent by 2020.
The IMF has said if the ratio cannot be cut to around 120 percent, it may not be able to help finance the Greek programme.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner urged the International Monetary Fund to support the programme.
“This is a very strong and very difficult package of reforms, deserving of support of the international community and the IMF,” Geithner said in a statement on Sunday.
As well as working to get the number down, there are moves to convince members of the troika that a debt level of 123-125 percent in 2020 would be sustainable.
“If we can get it down to 123 or 124 percent, I think everyone’s going to be okay with that,” the euro zone official said after the Sunday conference call. “Everyone will find a way to tweak the numbers.”
A number of measures, including restructuring the accrued interest portion or reducing the “sweeteners,” are being considered to move the figure closer to 120, a euro zone official familiar with the negotiations said.
There are also discussions about marginally lowering the interest rate on 110 billion euros of bilateral loans already made to Greece in May 2010 – the first package of support – to lighten the financing burden on Athens.
Central banks could help too.
The ECB is weighing up whether to allow Greek bonds held in euro zone central banks’ investment portfolios to be subject to the same writedowns private investors are set to take, central bank sources told Reuters on Friday.
The central banks hold around 20 billion euros of Greek bonds in their traditional investment portfolios and the ECB holds about double that amount from its emergency bond-buying programme. It has also signalled it could forego the profits made on the latter at some point.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement, it will provide immediate relief to Athens and financial markets, which have been kept guessing since the bailout package was announced last October.
But no one is pretending it will end Greece’s problems. Figures last week showed its economy shrank 7 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2011, much more than expected, with further cuts likely to make matters worse.
The troika, responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground.
Already there is concern that at any one of those reviews of the new programme – if it is approved on Monday – Greece will be found to be behind, especially if GDP continues to slump.
That will again raise the threat the country will have to default if it cannot meet its obligations, and invite questions about its ability to remain in the euro zone.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Paris, Terri Kinnunen in Helsinki and George Georgiopoulos in Athens; writing by Mike Peacock; editing by Elizabeth Piper)http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月13日星期一
Online ads startup snags $30 million from Temasek, SAP
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Marin Software, a startup that publishes applications used to manage online advertising campaigns, has raised $30 million in a new investment round led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.
Temasek was joined by SAP Ventures, the investment arm of SAP AG, Europe’s largest enterprise software firm, as well as previous investors including Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures.
The San Francisco-based company also announced on Monday that it has added Frank van Veenendaal, a top global sales executive at Salesforce.com, to its board.
The latest moves are meant to help Marin acquire new customers, especially in Asia, where the company looks to focus its expansion, Chris Lien, Marin’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.
Temasek will help Marin “with potential customer introductions and local market knowledge,” Lien said.
“They’ve been operating in these emerging markets for years and years.”
Marin’s products have been adopted by clients like Hotels.com, Macy’s and the University of Phoenix. The company is still focused on managing ads across search engines like Google and Yahoo, but Lien said his company is beginning to incorporate into its platform tools to manage campaigns on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Richard Pullin)
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Temasek was joined by SAP Ventures, the investment arm of SAP AG, Europe’s largest enterprise software firm, as well as previous investors including Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures.
The San Francisco-based company also announced on Monday that it has added Frank van Veenendaal, a top global sales executive at Salesforce.com, to its board.
The latest moves are meant to help Marin acquire new customers, especially in Asia, where the company looks to focus its expansion, Chris Lien, Marin’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.
Temasek will help Marin “with potential customer introductions and local market knowledge,” Lien said.
“They’ve been operating in these emerging markets for years and years.”
Marin’s products have been adopted by clients like Hotels.com, Macy’s and the University of Phoenix. The company is still focused on managing ads across search engines like Google and Yahoo, but Lien said his company is beginning to incorporate into its platform tools to manage campaigns on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Richard Pullin)
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Saxo Bank Launches Contract Options
HELLERUP, Denmark, February 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –
Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, expands its derivatives offeringby introducing Contract Options.
Contract Options is a trading product that includes listed options on stock indices, commodities, interest rates, currencies and bonds. The products are available on the Bank’s trading platforms; SaxoTrader, SaxoWebTrader and MobileTrader.
New features available through the platforms when trading Contract Options include:
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
“Saxo Bank’s analysts believe that precious metals like gold will continue to benefit from continued risk aversion in 2012.They also see good potential for higher prices, especially among commodities with constrained supply. Allowing investors to access the global optionsmarkets including gold, oil and other commodities, currencies, interest rates, bonds and major stock indicesis of high importance to investors in the current climate, and this new addition to our platforms will deliver significant value to investors.”
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to do Forex Trading and trade, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and theSaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank.The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, expands its derivatives offeringby introducing Contract Options.
Contract Options is a trading product that includes listed options on stock indices, commodities, interest rates, currencies and bonds. The products are available on the Bank’s trading platforms; SaxoTrader, SaxoWebTrader and MobileTrader.
New features available through the platforms when trading Contract Options include:
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
- A new Options Chain which offers an overview of option prices across strikes and maturities, giving easy access to trading
- Online exercise of Options through the position list
- Margin-netting across option legs which improve the margin required when trading option strategies on an instrument
- Cross-product margin utilisation which allows the use ofcash stocks as margin collateral for Contract Option trading
- Support for Limit, Stop and Market orders
“Saxo Bank’s analysts believe that precious metals like gold will continue to benefit from continued risk aversion in 2012.They also see good potential for higher prices, especially among commodities with constrained supply. Allowing investors to access the global optionsmarkets including gold, oil and other commodities, currencies, interest rates, bonds and major stock indicesis of high importance to investors in the current climate, and this new addition to our platforms will deliver significant value to investors.”
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to do Forex Trading and trade, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and theSaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank.The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
Money-Market Fund Flight From French Banks Reverses in January
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
February 13, 2012, 7:29 AM EST
By Radi Khasawneh and Alberto Fuertes
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. money-market funds more than doubled their short-term loans to French banks in January, ending six months during which they reduced funding.
The funds owned $8.6 billion of French bank certificates of deposit, time deposits, commercial paper and repurchase agreements on Jan. 31, up from $3.2 billion in December, according to reports from the eight largest prime U.S. funds compiled and published in today’s Bloomberg Risk newsletter. At the end of 2010, the equivalent figure was $78 billion.
French banks have had to increase their deposit base to secure funding after the sovereign-debt crisis spread last year, spurring concern about the solvency of European financial institutions. The revival of U.S. money fund investing followed the European Central Bank’s decision to provide three-year funding for banks in December, allaying some of those concerns.
“There definitely was a shift in sentiment around the second week in January,” said Deborah Cunningham, head of money market funds for Pittsburgh-based Federated Investors Inc. The ECB’s loans and a reversal of “year-end window dressing” in December played the biggest role, she said.
Federated manages $245 billion in U.S.-registered money funds, according to research firm Crane Data LLC.
Societe Generale
The largest beneficiary among the French banks was Societe Generale SA, which increased funding more than 10-fold to $3.4 billion in January. BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA attracted 50 percent and 43 percent more funding from the U.S. money markets, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Officials for all three banks declined to comment.
The funds cut investments in Swedish and Japanese banks, each of which suffered a $9.7 billion reduction over the month. Swiss banks had 5 percent less funding, though banks from all three countries have retained their haven appeal, with money- market funding surpassing 2010 levels.
The ECB provided 489 billion euros ($651 billion) to European banks through a three-year refinancing operation in December and plans to offer a further series of loans at the end of February.
The survey included the eight largest prime money-market funds: Fidelity Cash Reserves, JPMorgan Prime Money Market Fund, Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund, Fidelity Institutional Prime Money Market Portfolio, BlackRock TempFund, Wells Fargo Advantage Heritage Money Markets Fund and Federated Prime Obligations Fund. Together, they manage $597 billion.
‘More Confidence’
“There are thousands of banks across Europe and we only invest in a small number that we believe to be among the strongest institutions representing minimal risk,” Adam Banker, a spokesman for Fidelity Investments, said in an e-mail.
John Woerth, a spokesman for Vanguard Group Inc., said the firm’s money funds don’t own any French bank debt. Officials for JPMorgan and BlackRock declined to comment. A spokesmen for Wells Fargo didn’t respond to a request for comment.
ECB lending “gave market participants a lot more confidence that liquidity was in that marketplace,” said Cunningham at Federated.
Cunningham said higher short-term interest rates and slightly better economic data also helped encourage money funds to lend more to banks in France and other European countries where they had previously pulled back. Annualized rates for overnight lending to European banks were about 0.18 percent to 0.23 percent in mid-January after dropping to as low as 0.01 just before the end of 2011, Cunningham said.
The lending figures include repurchase agreements, which are backed by collateral such as government debt. Collateral- based repo investments make up a larger part of European overall funding, showing that counterparty risk remains a concern for the funds.
European repo deals amounted to $42.8 billion in January, making up 28 percent of European bank securities held at the funds, up from 21 percent in 2010. French bank repo funding was also 28 percent of the total in January, compared with 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
–With assistance from Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris and Christian Baumgaertel in Boston. Editors: Keith Campbell, Christian Baumgaertel
To contact the reporters on this story: Radi Khasawneh in London at rkhasawneh1@bloomberg.net; Alberto Fuertes in London at afuertes@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net; Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Dunbar at ndunbar1@bloomberg.net
February 13, 2012, 7:29 AM EST
By Radi Khasawneh and Alberto Fuertes
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. money-market funds more than doubled their short-term loans to French banks in January, ending six months during which they reduced funding.
The funds owned $8.6 billion of French bank certificates of deposit, time deposits, commercial paper and repurchase agreements on Jan. 31, up from $3.2 billion in December, according to reports from the eight largest prime U.S. funds compiled and published in today’s Bloomberg Risk newsletter. At the end of 2010, the equivalent figure was $78 billion.
French banks have had to increase their deposit base to secure funding after the sovereign-debt crisis spread last year, spurring concern about the solvency of European financial institutions. The revival of U.S. money fund investing followed the European Central Bank’s decision to provide three-year funding for banks in December, allaying some of those concerns.
“There definitely was a shift in sentiment around the second week in January,” said Deborah Cunningham, head of money market funds for Pittsburgh-based Federated Investors Inc. The ECB’s loans and a reversal of “year-end window dressing” in December played the biggest role, she said.
Federated manages $245 billion in U.S.-registered money funds, according to research firm Crane Data LLC.
Societe Generale
The largest beneficiary among the French banks was Societe Generale SA, which increased funding more than 10-fold to $3.4 billion in January. BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA attracted 50 percent and 43 percent more funding from the U.S. money markets, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Officials for all three banks declined to comment.
The funds cut investments in Swedish and Japanese banks, each of which suffered a $9.7 billion reduction over the month. Swiss banks had 5 percent less funding, though banks from all three countries have retained their haven appeal, with money- market funding surpassing 2010 levels.
The ECB provided 489 billion euros ($651 billion) to European banks through a three-year refinancing operation in December and plans to offer a further series of loans at the end of February.
The survey included the eight largest prime money-market funds: Fidelity Cash Reserves, JPMorgan Prime Money Market Fund, Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund, Fidelity Institutional Prime Money Market Portfolio, BlackRock TempFund, Wells Fargo Advantage Heritage Money Markets Fund and Federated Prime Obligations Fund. Together, they manage $597 billion.
‘More Confidence’
“There are thousands of banks across Europe and we only invest in a small number that we believe to be among the strongest institutions representing minimal risk,” Adam Banker, a spokesman for Fidelity Investments, said in an e-mail.
John Woerth, a spokesman for Vanguard Group Inc., said the firm’s money funds don’t own any French bank debt. Officials for JPMorgan and BlackRock declined to comment. A spokesmen for Wells Fargo didn’t respond to a request for comment.
ECB lending “gave market participants a lot more confidence that liquidity was in that marketplace,” said Cunningham at Federated.
Cunningham said higher short-term interest rates and slightly better economic data also helped encourage money funds to lend more to banks in France and other European countries where they had previously pulled back. Annualized rates for overnight lending to European banks were about 0.18 percent to 0.23 percent in mid-January after dropping to as low as 0.01 just before the end of 2011, Cunningham said.
The lending figures include repurchase agreements, which are backed by collateral such as government debt. Collateral- based repo investments make up a larger part of European overall funding, showing that counterparty risk remains a concern for the funds.
European repo deals amounted to $42.8 billion in January, making up 28 percent of European bank securities held at the funds, up from 21 percent in 2010. French bank repo funding was also 28 percent of the total in January, compared with 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
–With assistance from Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris and Christian Baumgaertel in Boston. Editors: Keith Campbell, Christian Baumgaertel
To contact the reporters on this story: Radi Khasawneh in London at rkhasawneh1@bloomberg.net; Alberto Fuertes in London at afuertes@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net; Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Dunbar at ndunbar1@bloomberg.net
Marin Software Raises $30 Million Funding
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire -02/13/12)- According to eMarketer, by 2015 advertisers will spend $132.1 billion annually for online advertising. Advertisers are increasing their investment in online advertising across multiple channels to drive greater lead generation, customer acquisition, and revenue. This activity is fueling the expanding adoption of Marin Software’s ad management and optimization platform. During the last year, Marin nearly doubled its customer base to 1,500 as well as the amount of annual spend managed on its platform to $3.5 billion. In the wake of Marin’s success, Asia investment company Temasek led a $30 million round of funding along with SAP Ventures. Joining the new investors in this oversubscribed round were existing Marin venture investors Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital, DAG Ventures, and Triangle Peak Partners.
Following Marin Software’s year of rapid international expansion, customer growth, and product innovation, and the closing of the recent financing, Frank van Veenendaal, President of Worldwide Sales and Services at salesforce.com, has joined Marin Software’s Board of Directors.
Marin Software’s Dramatic Growth:
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
About Temasek
About SAP Ventures
About Frank van Veenendaal
Follow Marin Software on Twitter
About Temasek:
Incorporated in 1974, Temasek is an Asia investment company headquartered in Singapore. Supported by 12 affiliates and offices in Asia and Latin America, Temasek owns a diversified S$193 billion portfolio as at 31 March 2011, concentrated principally in Singapore, Asia and growth markets. Temasek’s investment themes centre on Transforming Economies, Growing Middle Income Populations, Deepening Comparative Advantages and Emerging Champions. Its portfolio covers a broad spectrum of industries: financial services; transportation & industrials; telecommunications, media & technology; life sciences, consumer & real estate; energy & resources. Total shareholder return for Temasek since its inception in 1974 has been a healthy 17% compounded annually. It has a corporate credit rating of AAA/Aaa from rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s respectively. For further information on Temasek, please visit www.temasek.com.sg.
About SAP Ventures:SAP Ventures is an independent investment firm affiliated with SAP AG (NYSE: SAP – News), the global market leader in enterprise application software, and we leverage our relationships with SAP and its global ecosystem for the benefit of portfolio companies. We make growth equity and later-stage investments in market-leading technology companies across North America, Europe, and key emerging markets. Over the last 15 years, SAP Ventures has supported more than 100 companies across five continents. Past investments include Commerce One, Endeca, Greenplum, MySQL, Red Hat, and WebEx. Current portfolio companies include Alfresco, Alteryx, Control4, LinkedIn, Lithium, OnDeck, OpenX, SAVO, Spring Wireless, Tealeaf, Tremor Media, and Zend. For more information on SAP Ventures, please visit www.sapventures.com.
About Marin Software:Marin Software is a leading provider of online advertising management solutions, offering an integrated platform for managing search, social, display, and mobile marketing. The company provides solutions for advertisers and agencies, enabling them to improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions. Marin Enterprise, the company’s flagship product, addresses the needs of online marketers spending at least $100,000 per month on biddable media. Marin Professional delivers the same power and ease of use as Marin Enterprise, through an application designed for marketers spending less than $100,000 per month. Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices worldwide, Marin’s technology powers marketing campaigns for over 1,500 customers managing more than $3.5 billion of annualized ad spend in more than 160 countries. For more information, please visit: http://www.marinsoftware.com.
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1884165
Following Marin Software’s year of rapid international expansion, customer growth, and product innovation, and the closing of the recent financing, Frank van Veenendaal, President of Worldwide Sales and Services at salesforce.com, has joined Marin Software’s Board of Directors.
Marin Software’s Dramatic Growth:
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
- Since its inception in 2006, Marin Software has grown into the premier provider of advertising management solutions worldwide. Marin currently serves clients in 160 countries with 25 currencies, increasing its international footprint in the last year with the opening of offices in Singapore, France, Australia, and Germany.
- More than 1,500 of the world’s leading advertisers and agencies manage $3.5 billion in annualized online ad spend through Marin Software. Within the last few months, Hotels.com, Brookstone, Coupons Inc., Rosetta, and Reprise Media have selected Marin’s platform to manage their search, display and social advertising campaigns. Longstanding Marin customers include iProspect, Neo@Ogilvy, Razorfish, Macy’s, Experian, and University of Phoenix.
- Spurred by increasing demand for its products worldwide, Marin Software hired more than 100 new employees during 2011.
- To date, Marin Software has raised more than $80 million in venture funding. Marin plans to invest this new capital to bolster product development, customer support, and service delivery worldwide.
- Temasek is an Asia investment company headquartered in Singapore, with a diversified S$193 billion portfolio as of March 31, 2011, concentrated principally in Singapore, Asia and growth markets. Through its partnership with Temasek, Marin Software will be able to accelerate its growth across Asia and other emerging markets.
- With the investment from SAP Ventures, which is affiliated with SAP AG, the market leader in enterprise application software, Marin Software will have the opportunity to leverage the experience and resources of SAP and its extensive ecosystem to help further Marin’s business momentum.
- Attracted by Marin Software’s exceptional growth and industry leadership, Frank van Veenendaal, President of Worldwide Sales and Services at salesforce.com, has joined the Marin Software Board of Directors. Van Veenendaal joined salesforce.com when it had less than $20 million in annual revenue and has since led salesforce.com to its current annual sales run rate of more than $2.3 billion.
- van Veenendaal’s extensive experience will prove invaluable as Marin expands its global sales and services programs.
- Marin Software’s Board of Directors includes Chris Lien, Founder and CEO of Marin Software; Paul Auvil, CFO at Proofpoint, Inc.; Bruce Dunlevie, General Partner at Benchmark Capital; and Donald Hutchison, advisor and investor.
- “I am pleased to welcome Temasek and SAP Ventures as investors in Marin Software,” said Christopher Lien, Founder and CEO of Marin Software. “Temasek brings unrivalled experience and capabilities in Asian and emerging markets, which will benefit Marin’s international development. Support from SAP Ventures and relationships with the SAP global ecosystem will further accelerate Marin’s growth around the world.”
- “We are honored to have Frank van Veenendaal join Marin’s Board of Directors, as he has written the global playbook on world-class SaaS sales and services execution during his tenure at salesforce.com,” said Lien. “The entire Marin team looks forward to benefiting from his expertise and counsel as we further develop Marin’s position as the global leader in online advertising management.”
- “Marin Software has built incredible momentum in a short amount of time to become a leading provider of ad management solutions, helping advertisers and agencies wring more ROI out of every ad buy,” said Frank van Veenendaal, President of Worldwide Sales and Services at salesforce.com. “The traction Marin has gained in the global marketplace reminds me of the early days of salesforce.com, and I look forward to working hand-in-hand with the executive team as the company cements its leadership worldwide.”
About Temasek
About SAP Ventures
About Frank van Veenendaal
Follow Marin Software on Twitter
About Temasek:
Incorporated in 1974, Temasek is an Asia investment company headquartered in Singapore. Supported by 12 affiliates and offices in Asia and Latin America, Temasek owns a diversified S$193 billion portfolio as at 31 March 2011, concentrated principally in Singapore, Asia and growth markets. Temasek’s investment themes centre on Transforming Economies, Growing Middle Income Populations, Deepening Comparative Advantages and Emerging Champions. Its portfolio covers a broad spectrum of industries: financial services; transportation & industrials; telecommunications, media & technology; life sciences, consumer & real estate; energy & resources. Total shareholder return for Temasek since its inception in 1974 has been a healthy 17% compounded annually. It has a corporate credit rating of AAA/Aaa from rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s respectively. For further information on Temasek, please visit www.temasek.com.sg.
About SAP Ventures:SAP Ventures is an independent investment firm affiliated with SAP AG (NYSE: SAP – News), the global market leader in enterprise application software, and we leverage our relationships with SAP and its global ecosystem for the benefit of portfolio companies. We make growth equity and later-stage investments in market-leading technology companies across North America, Europe, and key emerging markets. Over the last 15 years, SAP Ventures has supported more than 100 companies across five continents. Past investments include Commerce One, Endeca, Greenplum, MySQL, Red Hat, and WebEx. Current portfolio companies include Alfresco, Alteryx, Control4, LinkedIn, Lithium, OnDeck, OpenX, SAVO, Spring Wireless, Tealeaf, Tremor Media, and Zend. For more information on SAP Ventures, please visit www.sapventures.com.
About Marin Software:Marin Software is a leading provider of online advertising management solutions, offering an integrated platform for managing search, social, display, and mobile marketing. The company provides solutions for advertisers and agencies, enabling them to improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions. Marin Enterprise, the company’s flagship product, addresses the needs of online marketers spending at least $100,000 per month on biddable media. Marin Professional delivers the same power and ease of use as Marin Enterprise, through an application designed for marketers spending less than $100,000 per month. Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices worldwide, Marin’s technology powers marketing campaigns for over 1,500 customers managing more than $3.5 billion of annualized ad spend in more than 160 countries. For more information, please visit: http://www.marinsoftware.com.
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1884165
2012年2月11日星期六
Halt Medical, Inc. Closes on First $20 Million of a $50 Million Financing
LIVERMORE, Calif., Feb. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Halt Medical, Inc. announced today that it has closed on the first $20 million of a planned $50 million debt and equity financing.
“Leading the financing with the first $20 million is our long term investment partner American Capital Strategies (ACAS). American Capital’s financial resources, global perspective and life science expertise has made them the perfect financing partner for Halt Medical. Following the lead of American Capital, other investors are climbing on board. We will be closing on another $10 million this quarter with the option for an additional $20 million,” said Jeff Cohen, Halt Medical CEO.
Cohen added, “With fibroid approvals in Canada and Europe and expected soon in the U.S., it’s time to focus our attention on building out our commercial organization. $50 million in fresh capital will enable us to launch the Halt Global Fibroid Ablation (GFA) System in major markets around the world.”
Russ DeLonzor, President & COO added, “While many competitive products targeting uterine fibroids have been rejected by the medical community and regulators, we are seeing an overwhelming interest in Halt Medical’s GFA product. This round of fundraising will be put to immediate use in building up the infrastructure required for us to meet one of the biggest unmet needs in women’s health worldwide.”
About Halt Medical, Inc.
Founded in 2004, Halt Medical is a medical device company focused on women’s health. The company has developed a procedure and related equipment for treating uterine fibroids that is less expensive, more effective and less invasive than other alternatives – the Halt GFA System. In June 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the Halt 2000GI™ Electrosurgical System for soft tissue ablation using radiofrequency energy. The results of Halt Medical’s international studies have led to recent approvals for treating uterine fibroids in Canada and the European Union. The Halt System may be used for general surgical use in the U.S. The company recently completed a 137 patient IDE clinical trial at 11 sites in 3 countries to demonstrate clinical safety and efficacy in the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids. FDA clearance is expected this year. The Company is located in Livermore, CA.
Information about the Halt Fibroid Study and a list of clinical sites in the U.S. may be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov, study number NCT00874029.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
“Leading the financing with the first $20 million is our long term investment partner American Capital Strategies (ACAS). American Capital’s financial resources, global perspective and life science expertise has made them the perfect financing partner for Halt Medical. Following the lead of American Capital, other investors are climbing on board. We will be closing on another $10 million this quarter with the option for an additional $20 million,” said Jeff Cohen, Halt Medical CEO.
Cohen added, “With fibroid approvals in Canada and Europe and expected soon in the U.S., it’s time to focus our attention on building out our commercial organization. $50 million in fresh capital will enable us to launch the Halt Global Fibroid Ablation (GFA) System in major markets around the world.”
Russ DeLonzor, President & COO added, “While many competitive products targeting uterine fibroids have been rejected by the medical community and regulators, we are seeing an overwhelming interest in Halt Medical’s GFA product. This round of fundraising will be put to immediate use in building up the infrastructure required for us to meet one of the biggest unmet needs in women’s health worldwide.”
About Halt Medical, Inc.
Founded in 2004, Halt Medical is a medical device company focused on women’s health. The company has developed a procedure and related equipment for treating uterine fibroids that is less expensive, more effective and less invasive than other alternatives – the Halt GFA System. In June 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the Halt 2000GI™ Electrosurgical System for soft tissue ablation using radiofrequency energy. The results of Halt Medical’s international studies have led to recent approvals for treating uterine fibroids in Canada and the European Union. The Halt System may be used for general surgical use in the U.S. The company recently completed a 137 patient IDE clinical trial at 11 sites in 3 countries to demonstrate clinical safety and efficacy in the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids. FDA clearance is expected this year. The Company is located in Livermore, CA.
Information about the Halt Fibroid Study and a list of clinical sites in the U.S. may be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov, study number NCT00874029.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月10日星期五
Draghi Slams Bankers’ Shunning ECB Three-Year Loans
February 10, 2012, 4:47 AM EST
By Aaron Kirchfeld and Liam Vaughan
(Corrects statement on internal discussions on loans to show it was made by ING CEO, not UBS, in fourth paragraph.)
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi lashed out at bankers who said tapping the ECB’s three-year-loan program carries a stigma, after executives including Deutsche Bank AG’s Josef Ackermann said they shunned the loans.
“There is no stigma whatsoever on these facilities,” Draghi said at a press conference in Frankfurt yesterday. “Some have made some sort of statements that I would call statements of virility, namely it would be undignified for a bank, a serious bank, to access these facilities. Now let me say that the very same banks that made these statements access facilities of different kinds — but still government facilities.”
The statements by Draghi, who didn’t identify any banks by name, came a week after Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Ackermann said Germany’s biggest lender didn’t tap the ECB in December because it could damage its reputation with customers. The ECB awarded 489 billion euros ($650 billion) in loans to 523 banks on Dec. 21 to keep credit flowing to the economy as Europe’s debt crisis drove up banks’ borrowing costs. The ECB will offer a second batch of the loans this month.
ING Groep NV CEO Jan Hommen told reporters on a conference call yesterday that the biggest Dutch financial-services company didn’t take the loans in December, partly because of reputational risk. It’s discussing internally whether to take loans in the second program, he said.
Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, didn’t access the ECB’s lending program in December and won’t in the future, CEO Brady Dougan said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview.
‘Careless at Best’
Sergio Ermotti, the CEO of UBS AG, told analysts and journalists on Feb. 7 that the largest Swiss bank didn’t borrow from the ECB because its funding and financial position didn’t make it necessary.
Some analysts said avoiding the loans is self-defeating.
The last offering “has removed any stigma, making managements who do not exploit the value on offer arguably careless at best,” Credit Suisse analysts led by William Porter wrote in a Jan. 16 report to clients.
Banks in peripheral European countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy have been harder hit by the sovereign-debt crisis, driving up their funding costs in lockstep with the countries’, while lenders in Germany and Switzerland have been less affected.
‘Virtuous’ Governments
The banking and funding crisis “originates from a sovereign crisis, and so the banks that happen to be located in governments that have no fiscal crisis, that have always done the right reforms, should give more credit to their governments really for having been virtuous all along,” Draghi said.
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, Italy’s second-biggest bank, took 12 billion euros from the ECB in December and expects to participate in the February auction, CEO Enrico Tommaso Cucchiani told reporters in Milan on Feb. 7. The loans were “essential for some banks” and “useful for other banks, including Intesa,” Cucchiani said. In Spain, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the country’s second-biggest lender, announced it borrowed 11 billion euros from the ECB in December.
In the U.K., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc borrowed 5 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) in the December auction, a person familiar with the matter said, while HSBC Holdings Plc took an undisclosed sum, said a person at the bank. Spokesmen at the companies declined to comment.
Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA, France’s three largest banks, also participated for an undisclosed amount, according to a Morgan Stanley note published Jan. 18 based on conversations with the lenders. Spokesmen at the banks declined to comment.
Lesson Learned
Ackermann told analysts on Feb. 2 that Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank may consider participating in the next round of ECB loans if it is “very attractive from an economic point of view.” The German lender has impressed customers by not requiring direct government aid during the financial crisis, Ackermann said.
“The fact that we have never taken any money from the government has made us from a reputational point of view so attractive to so many clients in the world that we would be very reluctant to give that up,” said Ackermann, 64.
Deutsche Bank’s decision to avoid the loans follows the disclosure of its borrowings from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency-loan program during the credit crunch in 2008.
“We learned our lesson during the Fed activity, where we were encouraged to borrow money from the Fed on a confidential level and later on the list was disclosed, and we heard that we had to accept help from the government,” Ackermann said. “We just don’t want to do that, and that’s why we have not participated.”
–Editor: Frank Connelly, James Hertling
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net; To contact the reporters on this story: Liam Vaughan in London at lvaughan6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net; Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
By Aaron Kirchfeld and Liam Vaughan
(Corrects statement on internal discussions on loans to show it was made by ING CEO, not UBS, in fourth paragraph.)
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi lashed out at bankers who said tapping the ECB’s three-year-loan program carries a stigma, after executives including Deutsche Bank AG’s Josef Ackermann said they shunned the loans.
“There is no stigma whatsoever on these facilities,” Draghi said at a press conference in Frankfurt yesterday. “Some have made some sort of statements that I would call statements of virility, namely it would be undignified for a bank, a serious bank, to access these facilities. Now let me say that the very same banks that made these statements access facilities of different kinds — but still government facilities.”
The statements by Draghi, who didn’t identify any banks by name, came a week after Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Ackermann said Germany’s biggest lender didn’t tap the ECB in December because it could damage its reputation with customers. The ECB awarded 489 billion euros ($650 billion) in loans to 523 banks on Dec. 21 to keep credit flowing to the economy as Europe’s debt crisis drove up banks’ borrowing costs. The ECB will offer a second batch of the loans this month.
ING Groep NV CEO Jan Hommen told reporters on a conference call yesterday that the biggest Dutch financial-services company didn’t take the loans in December, partly because of reputational risk. It’s discussing internally whether to take loans in the second program, he said.
Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, didn’t access the ECB’s lending program in December and won’t in the future, CEO Brady Dougan said yesterday in a Bloomberg Television interview.
‘Careless at Best’
Sergio Ermotti, the CEO of UBS AG, told analysts and journalists on Feb. 7 that the largest Swiss bank didn’t borrow from the ECB because its funding and financial position didn’t make it necessary.
Some analysts said avoiding the loans is self-defeating.
The last offering “has removed any stigma, making managements who do not exploit the value on offer arguably careless at best,” Credit Suisse analysts led by William Porter wrote in a Jan. 16 report to clients.
Banks in peripheral European countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy have been harder hit by the sovereign-debt crisis, driving up their funding costs in lockstep with the countries’, while lenders in Germany and Switzerland have been less affected.
‘Virtuous’ Governments
The banking and funding crisis “originates from a sovereign crisis, and so the banks that happen to be located in governments that have no fiscal crisis, that have always done the right reforms, should give more credit to their governments really for having been virtuous all along,” Draghi said.
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, Italy’s second-biggest bank, took 12 billion euros from the ECB in December and expects to participate in the February auction, CEO Enrico Tommaso Cucchiani told reporters in Milan on Feb. 7. The loans were “essential for some banks” and “useful for other banks, including Intesa,” Cucchiani said. In Spain, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the country’s second-biggest lender, announced it borrowed 11 billion euros from the ECB in December.
In the U.K., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc borrowed 5 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) in the December auction, a person familiar with the matter said, while HSBC Holdings Plc took an undisclosed sum, said a person at the bank. Spokesmen at the companies declined to comment.
Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA, France’s three largest banks, also participated for an undisclosed amount, according to a Morgan Stanley note published Jan. 18 based on conversations with the lenders. Spokesmen at the banks declined to comment.
Lesson Learned
Ackermann told analysts on Feb. 2 that Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank may consider participating in the next round of ECB loans if it is “very attractive from an economic point of view.” The German lender has impressed customers by not requiring direct government aid during the financial crisis, Ackermann said.
“The fact that we have never taken any money from the government has made us from a reputational point of view so attractive to so many clients in the world that we would be very reluctant to give that up,” said Ackermann, 64.
Deutsche Bank’s decision to avoid the loans follows the disclosure of its borrowings from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency-loan program during the credit crunch in 2008.
“We learned our lesson during the Fed activity, where we were encouraged to borrow money from the Fed on a confidential level and later on the list was disclosed, and we heard that we had to accept help from the government,” Ackermann said. “We just don’t want to do that, and that’s why we have not participated.”
–Editor: Frank Connelly, James Hertling
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net; To contact the reporters on this story: Liam Vaughan in London at lvaughan6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net; Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月3日星期五
PRESS DIGEST – Financial Times – Feb 3
Financial Times
GLENCORE AND XSTRATA CLOSE TO MERGER DEAL
Glencore and Xstrata (Dusseldorf: XTR.DU – news) have launched merger talks to create a $88 billion commodities trading and mining giant with the financial muscle to sweep up some of its biggest rivals. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a672e172-4d6c-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
BT SET TO LAUNCH ‘ULTRA-FAST’ INTERNET
“Ultra-fast” broadband using direct fibre-optic connections will become available to most British homes and businesses next year, after a significant technological breakthrough by BT , the UK telecoms group. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f7cad70c-4da6-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
SNB STANDS FIRM ON SWISS FRANC CAP
The independence of the Swiss National Bank risks being compromised due to political pressure following the departure of Philipp Hildebrand as chairman, the central bank’s acting chairman has warned. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4109d3c8-4dbb-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
DEUTSCHE BANK CONCERNED BY ECB LOANS
Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 – news) has risked a clash with the European Central Bank by indicating it sees a stigma attached to the long-term help offered to banks to try to ease the euro zone’s funding crisis. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad4e2782-4cda-11e1-8b08-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
SPANISH BANKS TOLD TO FIND BILLIONS
Spanish banks must find 50 billion euros ($65.86 billion)from profits and capital this year to finance a clean-up of their balance sheets or agree to merge with another bank by May to gain an extra year’s grace, according to Spain’s economy minister Luis de Guindos. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34a3a576-4dc7-11e1-a66e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
RECESSION PREDICTED TO RETURN TO UK
The British economy will suffer a modest contraction this year, according to an influential academic institute that is the first to forecast a return to outright recession for the UK. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a891b292-4dc3-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
CHINA’S STATE GRID TO TAKE 25 PERCENT IN REN
State Grid Corporation of China is to acquire 25 percent of Portugal’s national power grid in the second large-scale Portuguese acquisition by a Chinese energy group in six weeks. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/41a0c572-4dba-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
CHINA CONSIDERING DEEPER INVOLVEMENT IN EFSF
China is considering how to get “more deeply involved” in resolving Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD – news) ‘s debt crisis by co-operating more closely with European rescue funds, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b5870fa-4d63-11e1-b96c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ksWapJt6
($1 = 0.6321 British pounds) (Reporting by Stephen Mangan)
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30日星期一
Chief Economist: MENA Will Stand Stronger by the End of 2012
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK–(Marketwire -01/30/12)- Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist at Saxo Bank A/S, the online trading and investment specialist, will be visiting Dubai to discuss with financial media and professional investors of Saxo Bank (Dubai) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S, the current market status in light of the recent crisis and the Bank’s outlook for the first quarter of 2012.
Saxo Bank’s quarterly outlook takes a deeper look at what 2012 holds for various asset classes including; foreign exchange, commodities and equities and the state of the macro economy and how it will be impacted by policy amendments, monetary policy and the current market turmoil. The bank has forecasted that world growth is to slow further in 2012 to 3 percent. Mr. Jakobsen says: “Our common theme for this quarter is a Perfect Storm. Pressures in the Eurozone, public sector austerity and social tensions will all conspire to create the storm, in which no nation will be left untouched”.
He believes 2012 could be the most pivotal year by far since the global financial crisis of 2008 and notes that a perfect storm in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area is based on good underlying fundamentals combined with almost imperfect visibility on geopolitical risk.
Mr. Jakobsen says: “We feel confident that MENA will stand stronger on both accounts at the end of 2012 but first we may need to go through a period of increased volatility. This leads us to a very defensive investment outlook not from a fear of the future rather from a high probability of seeing better entry levels during the course of the year.”
Steen Jakobsen, a regular guest host and commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg and other networks, has more than 20 years of experience within the fields of proprietary trading and alternative investment. In 1997, he became Global Head of Trading, FX and Options at Christiania (now Nordea) in New York until he joined UBS in New York in 1999 as the Executive Director in the Global Proprietary Trading Group. He joined Saxo Bank in 2000 and after a brief departure to Limus Capital Partners, where he was Chief Investment Officer for two years, he returned to the bank in 2011 as Chief Economist.
About Saxo Bank (Dubai) LtdSaxo Bank (Dubai) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S. Saxo Bank (Dubai) Limited is pleased to offer access to Saxo Bank A/S’s award-winning trading platforms here in the Middle East. Saxo Bank (Dubai) Ltd is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and services Professional Clients only.
About Saxo Bank A/SSaxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Saxo Bank’s quarterly outlook takes a deeper look at what 2012 holds for various asset classes including; foreign exchange, commodities and equities and the state of the macro economy and how it will be impacted by policy amendments, monetary policy and the current market turmoil. The bank has forecasted that world growth is to slow further in 2012 to 3 percent. Mr. Jakobsen says: “Our common theme for this quarter is a Perfect Storm. Pressures in the Eurozone, public sector austerity and social tensions will all conspire to create the storm, in which no nation will be left untouched”.
He believes 2012 could be the most pivotal year by far since the global financial crisis of 2008 and notes that a perfect storm in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area is based on good underlying fundamentals combined with almost imperfect visibility on geopolitical risk.
Mr. Jakobsen says: “We feel confident that MENA will stand stronger on both accounts at the end of 2012 but first we may need to go through a period of increased volatility. This leads us to a very defensive investment outlook not from a fear of the future rather from a high probability of seeing better entry levels during the course of the year.”
Steen Jakobsen, a regular guest host and commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg and other networks, has more than 20 years of experience within the fields of proprietary trading and alternative investment. In 1997, he became Global Head of Trading, FX and Options at Christiania (now Nordea) in New York until he joined UBS in New York in 1999 as the Executive Director in the Global Proprietary Trading Group. He joined Saxo Bank in 2000 and after a brief departure to Limus Capital Partners, where he was Chief Investment Officer for two years, he returned to the bank in 2011 as Chief Economist.
About Saxo Bank (Dubai) LtdSaxo Bank (Dubai) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S. Saxo Bank (Dubai) Limited is pleased to offer access to Saxo Bank A/S’s award-winning trading platforms here in the Middle East. Saxo Bank (Dubai) Ltd is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and services Professional Clients only.
About Saxo Bank A/SSaxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
订阅：
博文 (Atom)