Proper investment policy, disclosure, governance and accountability should be mandated under the law for EPF’s near half a trillion ringgit funds
THE recent brouhaha over the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) financing a government-sponsored RM1.5bil housing scheme highlights several issues facing the nation’s premier retirement fund.
Considering that it is a major heavyweight, which manages almost RM470bil belonging to some 12 million members, it is important to ensure that the EPF does its job, and does it as well as it should.
Questions swirl around three main issues: The kind of projects that the EPF should finance and the risk they bear; the amount of government influence over what the EPF should do; and the level of transparency and accountability that the fund shows to its members.
Sadly, on all three counts, it shows serious deficiencies. Although it has improved in recent years, in terms of the quality of investments, it has in the past made some dubious investments which have never been fully explained.
In part this is due to substantial government influence over its operations, specifically, the Finance Minister, who not only appoints board members but also has substantial influence over them, the law requiring directors in most cases to be subservient to the Finance Minister.
Meantime, the way the EPF reports its results, and its investments and losses and gains, leaves much to be desired. It is impossible for a fund member or anyone else to independently verify the soundness of its investment decisions. There is no or little statutory requirement for appropriate standards of disclosure, governance and accountability.
Because of its huge size, approaching half a trillion ringgit (it should exceed that mark easily this year), a multitude of sins can be easily hidden in its massive books. That’s all the more reason for an eagle eye to be kept on it at all times.
The way to ensure that the EPF keeps on the straight and narrow is to mandate that unambiguously through an amendment to the EPF Act. That should start with clear definitions of directors’ qualifications, requiring them to be those who have impeccable integrity and have an unblemished and distinguished record of service in the finance, accounting and investment fields.
The current Act gives the power to the Government, through the Finance Minister, to nominate the board members, but this should be preferably done through a committee rather than a single individual.
The Act should then specify clearly the role of the directors, which would be to oversee the implementation of measures which will follow a highly specified investment policy and return objectives.
The investment policy should specify a low risk approach that would preserve members’ contributions, while at the same time providing a moderate rate of return.
It should also specify very broad allocation strategy between various classes of assets, for example Malaysian Government Securities, other investment-grade bonds, equities, property and real estate and other investments.
Changes to the EPF Act should clearly specify that directors and the fund should at all times act solely in the interest of members who own the funds in the first place. While the Government can borrow money from the EPF, it has no business inducing it to invest in businesses that have high risk.
That will stop the board from making a decision to invest in a project just because the Finance Minister or someone else told it so. Those with long memories will remember that the EPF has made strange investments before, like Time dotCom.
The changes to the Act should also specify in fairly specific terms the kind of disclosure that it makes. It should itemise all the investments it makes, and state when they were made and at what price, and how much it is losing or making on each one.
Averages have a way of disguising major outliers. On average, gains may be respectable but that does not mean major losses may not have been made on some investments. The only way to ensure that does not get buried under the mountain of funds is to disclose it.
These are not unrealistic changes. Many retirement funds act this way. Take CalPERS or California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the United States’ largest public pension fund with assets totalling some US$220bil (about RM660bil).
It publicly discloses its investment policy and asset allocation decisions. Those interested can view its investment track record. Journalists can ask for and receive its investment details for specific companies, areas and regions.
Here’s what it says in its own words: “Our goal is to efficiently and effectively manage investments to achieve the highest possible return at an acceptable level of risk. In doing so, CalPERS has generated strong long-term returns.”
We want EPF, whose size is not very far away from CalPERS, to do the same for all its members. The EPF does not belong to the Government and therefore the Government must not have full powers over the way it acts.
Until these changes to the Act are made and the EPF board acts professionally and above board in every decision it makes, taking all the required professional advice, we can’t ever be sure that EPF is always acting purely in the interests of its constituents – the Malaysian working public.
Independent consultant P Gunasegaram (t.p.guna@gmail.com) is happy that the EPF declared 6% dividends. He hopes it can continue to do so.
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2012年2月25日星期六
2012年2月24日星期五
3 Things That Could Move Financial Stocks Today
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Here’s the news and headlines that could drive action in the big financial stocks today.
Bank of America(BAC) said in its annual 10K filing with the SEC that it will stop selling new home loans to Fannie Mae(FNMA), citing an ongoing dispute with the housing giant over mortgage repurchase claims. According to press reports, the bank has said its move will not affect customers seeking home loans as it will continue to sell new mortgages to Freddie Mac(FMCC) or retain them in their own books. It will continue to offer loans refinanced and modified through government programs to Fannie Mae. Bank of America has been scaling back its presence in the mortgage origination business. Last year it exited the correspondent mortgages business. The bank also disclosed that it still faces “reasonably possible losses” of $3.6 billion in addition to what it has accrued. http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Citigroup(C) is in the process of winding down its nearly 10% stake in India’s HDFC (Housing Development and Finance Corporation). The bank will sell 145.26 million shares in the leading housing finance company as part of a block trade, with an offer range of 630 and 730 rupees, according to Financial Times. At the upper range, the bank will raise $2.1 billion from the sale. The final price will be announced Friday morning. Citigroup had already pared its stake in HDFC from 11.4% to under 10% last June. At that time, the bank had said it was a mere response to the anticipated changes to its capital structure under Basel III and was not a reflection of its outlook on HDFC or the Indian market. Analysts believe the sale may be linked to an anticipated writedown the bank may have to take if Morgan Stanley(MS) exercises its option to buy an additional 14% stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture.
Friday also brings economic data in the form of new homes sales data at 10:00 a.m. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard will be speaking in New York about housing and monetary policy. His comments may get attention in light of the Fed’s recent calls for policy action to boost housing.
Bank of America(BAC) said in its annual 10K filing with the SEC that it will stop selling new home loans to Fannie Mae(FNMA), citing an ongoing dispute with the housing giant over mortgage repurchase claims. According to press reports, the bank has said its move will not affect customers seeking home loans as it will continue to sell new mortgages to Freddie Mac(FMCC) or retain them in their own books. It will continue to offer loans refinanced and modified through government programs to Fannie Mae. Bank of America has been scaling back its presence in the mortgage origination business. Last year it exited the correspondent mortgages business. The bank also disclosed that it still faces “reasonably possible losses” of $3.6 billion in addition to what it has accrued. http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Citigroup(C) is in the process of winding down its nearly 10% stake in India’s HDFC (Housing Development and Finance Corporation). The bank will sell 145.26 million shares in the leading housing finance company as part of a block trade, with an offer range of 630 and 730 rupees, according to Financial Times. At the upper range, the bank will raise $2.1 billion from the sale. The final price will be announced Friday morning. Citigroup had already pared its stake in HDFC from 11.4% to under 10% last June. At that time, the bank had said it was a mere response to the anticipated changes to its capital structure under Basel III and was not a reflection of its outlook on HDFC or the Indian market. Analysts believe the sale may be linked to an anticipated writedown the bank may have to take if Morgan Stanley(MS) exercises its option to buy an additional 14% stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture.
Friday also brings economic data in the form of new homes sales data at 10:00 a.m. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard will be speaking in New York about housing and monetary policy. His comments may get attention in light of the Fed’s recent calls for policy action to boost housing.
Anxiety to repay biz loans may weaken DOLE program
by Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, OFW Journalism Consortium
PASAY CITY – A months-old program handing out business loans to returning migrant workers does not require collateral from borrowers, and a finance expert thinks borrowers might encounter uneasiness to repay these loans.
The P2 billion Reintegration Fund for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hands out loans ranging from P200,000 to P2 million to existing migrant entrepreneurs. But microfinance specialist Jun Perez is worried that required documents returning OFWs must present and frequently show might give borrowers hesitation to repay.
The context here, said the managing director of the microfinance network Seed Finance Corp., is the size of the enterprises vis-à-vis returning OFWs’ abilities to repay.
The loan range implies that borrowers run small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Meanwhile, lenders Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will require OFW borrowers to show documents related to their enterprises, such as purchase orders and titles to equipment purchased. There’s no collateral required for this loan program.
And this is where Perez’s view comes in about borrowers’ “compunction,” or a person’s strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt.
Borrowers running SMEs have to title their properties just to secure their loans, though the situation might not be applicable to those running sari-sari (small retail) stores or buy-and-sell ventures. Titling these properties entails costs, in the hope that with the titling the enterprise grows. With such growth the enterprise will now institutionalize having purchase orders (like sari-sari stores) like what usual businesses have.
Then the uneasiness comes in since running the business, producing the titles and business-related documents, and repaying the loans all come into play for the OFW borrower. In such a situation, the scheme of not requiring collateral for these SME loans “might be disadvantageous to the banks (DBP and LBP),” Perez said.
The Reintegration Fund represents the new scheme of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) to hand out livelihood loans to overseas workers. No less than President Aquino III ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to roll out this program.
But years of previous livelihood programs handled by OWWA, whether handled alone or in collaboration with financial institutions such as the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), have histories of high non-repayment rates by OFW borrowers.
Risks
The fund has P0.5 billion each from Land Bank and DBP, as well as a guarantee amount of P1 billion from OWWA (the world’s largest migrant welfare fund whose resources come from US$25 membership fees that departing overseas workers pay on a per-contract basis).
Officials of Land Bank and DBP explained during the fund’s launch months ago that both banks will offer an interest rate of only 7.5 percent to each of the loans, payable from two to seven years.
The loans, said Land Bank’s Cressida Mendoza and DBP’s Brillo Reynes during the congress, will make up 80 percent of the total capital needed by the enterprise. There’s also a catch: The businesses to be financed by these loans “must be earning”.
That way, said Mendoza, the situation “will be mutually beneficial to the OFW and to the bank”.
NRCO director Vivian Tornea said in a DOLE release that while there’s no collateral, loan applicants must “guarantee the business enterprise… is viable and profitable —or earning, say, like P10,000 a month”.
Actually, Perez and another development finance expert, Hector de Pedro of the nonprofit Mandato Inc., think both LBP and DBP have proven track records in handing out these reintegration loans.
It’s just that the image of these banks as part of the “government” that worries both Perez and de Pedro. Government-run lending programs “fail,” de Pedro thinks, because “the (word) government is literally synonymous to the word dole out —and the approaches of some agencies do not breed entrepreneurs”.
Thus, Perez said the Reintegration Fund’s implementation “must maintain the discipline and conviction that it must be sustainable, thus must support clearly-viable or potentially viable (enterprises) with community impact”.
Not surprisingly, the Reintegration Fund leaves those OFWs planning to launch start-up enterprises by the wayside—similar to how banks offer loans to existing ventures (but not to start-ups).
The upside of this regulation by DBP and LBP is that government invests its loan resources on proven practices, and that means all figures are (easily) given. Still, new business models coming from OFW enterprise start-ups may not be developed “because there is no support,” said de Pedro.
Repayment
The issue of repayment has haunted previous livelihood programs of OWWA, the most recent of which was the loans OWWA and the NRCO issued to OFWs displaced by the global economic crisis in 2009.
Previous OWWA and NRCO programs on reintegration saw OWWA directly providing these services, especially loans (even if OWWA is not a quasi-financial institution). OWWA also has a running Livelihood Development Program for OFWs (LDPO), in coordination with the National Livelihood Development Corporation —though information is not available on the nationally-run loan program’s repayment performance.
During a press conference after the fund’s launch, Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz told the OFW Journalism Consortium that OWWA “will exert extra efforts” to monitor borrowers’ repayment of their loans. Handling loans “is not OWWA’s forte,” Cruz adds, justifying DOLE’s partnership with LandBank and DBP. The partnership sees OWWA’s share to the Reintegration Fund as a guarantee fund in case of non-repayment, Cruz told reporters during a press conference.
LDPO has its own repayment woes. For example, officials of a cooperative in central Philippines that is a conduit of LDPO loans said there is a “high” non-repayment rate among their OFW borrowers. The conduit, the Philippine Cooperative Central Fund Federation, then conducted a financial education and business assessment seminar to some of its borrowers so that the latter are told how to handle the capital they have.
For migrant civil society advocates like Carmelita Nuqui of the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), the reintegration fund’s regulations are “different from what the government says in public”. Loans for returning migrants, Nuqui says, are available “but why can’t overseas Filipino workers get them right away if these are really for them?” OFW Journalism Consortium
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
The P2 billion Reintegration Fund for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hands out loans ranging from P200,000 to P2 million to existing migrant entrepreneurs. But microfinance specialist Jun Perez is worried that required documents returning OFWs must present and frequently show might give borrowers hesitation to repay.
The context here, said the managing director of the microfinance network Seed Finance Corp., is the size of the enterprises vis-à-vis returning OFWs’ abilities to repay.
The loan range implies that borrowers run small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Meanwhile, lenders Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will require OFW borrowers to show documents related to their enterprises, such as purchase orders and titles to equipment purchased. There’s no collateral required for this loan program.
And this is where Perez’s view comes in about borrowers’ “compunction,” or a person’s strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt.
Borrowers running SMEs have to title their properties just to secure their loans, though the situation might not be applicable to those running sari-sari (small retail) stores or buy-and-sell ventures. Titling these properties entails costs, in the hope that with the titling the enterprise grows. With such growth the enterprise will now institutionalize having purchase orders (like sari-sari stores) like what usual businesses have.
Then the uneasiness comes in since running the business, producing the titles and business-related documents, and repaying the loans all come into play for the OFW borrower. In such a situation, the scheme of not requiring collateral for these SME loans “might be disadvantageous to the banks (DBP and LBP),” Perez said.
The Reintegration Fund represents the new scheme of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) to hand out livelihood loans to overseas workers. No less than President Aquino III ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to roll out this program.
But years of previous livelihood programs handled by OWWA, whether handled alone or in collaboration with financial institutions such as the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), have histories of high non-repayment rates by OFW borrowers.
Risks
The fund has P0.5 billion each from Land Bank and DBP, as well as a guarantee amount of P1 billion from OWWA (the world’s largest migrant welfare fund whose resources come from US$25 membership fees that departing overseas workers pay on a per-contract basis).
Officials of Land Bank and DBP explained during the fund’s launch months ago that both banks will offer an interest rate of only 7.5 percent to each of the loans, payable from two to seven years.
The loans, said Land Bank’s Cressida Mendoza and DBP’s Brillo Reynes during the congress, will make up 80 percent of the total capital needed by the enterprise. There’s also a catch: The businesses to be financed by these loans “must be earning”.
That way, said Mendoza, the situation “will be mutually beneficial to the OFW and to the bank”.
NRCO director Vivian Tornea said in a DOLE release that while there’s no collateral, loan applicants must “guarantee the business enterprise… is viable and profitable —or earning, say, like P10,000 a month”.
Actually, Perez and another development finance expert, Hector de Pedro of the nonprofit Mandato Inc., think both LBP and DBP have proven track records in handing out these reintegration loans.
It’s just that the image of these banks as part of the “government” that worries both Perez and de Pedro. Government-run lending programs “fail,” de Pedro thinks, because “the (word) government is literally synonymous to the word dole out —and the approaches of some agencies do not breed entrepreneurs”.
Thus, Perez said the Reintegration Fund’s implementation “must maintain the discipline and conviction that it must be sustainable, thus must support clearly-viable or potentially viable (enterprises) with community impact”.
Not surprisingly, the Reintegration Fund leaves those OFWs planning to launch start-up enterprises by the wayside—similar to how banks offer loans to existing ventures (but not to start-ups).
The upside of this regulation by DBP and LBP is that government invests its loan resources on proven practices, and that means all figures are (easily) given. Still, new business models coming from OFW enterprise start-ups may not be developed “because there is no support,” said de Pedro.
Repayment
The issue of repayment has haunted previous livelihood programs of OWWA, the most recent of which was the loans OWWA and the NRCO issued to OFWs displaced by the global economic crisis in 2009.
Previous OWWA and NRCO programs on reintegration saw OWWA directly providing these services, especially loans (even if OWWA is not a quasi-financial institution). OWWA also has a running Livelihood Development Program for OFWs (LDPO), in coordination with the National Livelihood Development Corporation —though information is not available on the nationally-run loan program’s repayment performance.
During a press conference after the fund’s launch, Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz told the OFW Journalism Consortium that OWWA “will exert extra efforts” to monitor borrowers’ repayment of their loans. Handling loans “is not OWWA’s forte,” Cruz adds, justifying DOLE’s partnership with LandBank and DBP. The partnership sees OWWA’s share to the Reintegration Fund as a guarantee fund in case of non-repayment, Cruz told reporters during a press conference.
LDPO has its own repayment woes. For example, officials of a cooperative in central Philippines that is a conduit of LDPO loans said there is a “high” non-repayment rate among their OFW borrowers. The conduit, the Philippine Cooperative Central Fund Federation, then conducted a financial education and business assessment seminar to some of its borrowers so that the latter are told how to handle the capital they have.
For migrant civil society advocates like Carmelita Nuqui of the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), the reintegration fund’s regulations are “different from what the government says in public”. Loans for returning migrants, Nuqui says, are available “but why can’t overseas Filipino workers get them right away if these are really for them?” OFW Journalism Consortium
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2012年2月22日星期三
Constitution Court OKs two executive decrees
Home » politics » Constitution Court OKs two executive decrees
February 22, 2012 2:59 pmThe Court spent about 50 minutes reading the verdict.
Opposition Democrat party list MP and former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij and Senator Kamnoon Sitthisamarn submitted the petition to the Court for the interpretation of the two decrees.
The first of the two executive decrees involves permission for the government to seek a Bt350 billion loan to finance water management and flood rehabilitation projects while the second is in regard to the transfer of the FIDF’s debt from the Finance Ministry to the Bank of Thailand.
The government has reiterated that the decrees were needed to restore confidence in Thailand after the flood crisis last year.
The opposition questioned the urgency of the decrees, saying the government had enough budget and time to propose the loan decree through the legislative process to the House of Representatives.
The transfer of FIDF’s debt was criticised as government interference with the Bank of Thailand.
The ruling left the government with several bullets to finance its post-flood investment. Economic stability and unavoidable urgency were cited as the reasons for the ruling.
The borrowing executive decree will allow the government to finance 32 long-term flood-protection plans, which require a total investment of about Bt360 billion. The decree empowers the Finance Ministry to borrow Bt350 billion in Baht or other currencies by June 30, 2013.
The second decree will give even more room for investment as the government need not to set aside a budget for principal and interest payment for the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), starting from the 2013 fiscal year.
In the 2012 fiscal year, Bt68.43 billion was set aside for the purpose. The amount accounted for 2.9 per cent of public expenditures in the year and 16.2 per cent of total investment budget.
Kenya's Housing Finance 2011 pretax profit, loans up
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s second-largest mortgage lender Housing Finance posted a 74 percent jump in 2011 profit, as its loan book grew by a third despite high interest rates, it said on Wednesday, adding it planned to raise long-term financing abroad.
Housing Finance said its pretax profit rose to 975.8 million shillings, while its loan book grew by 31 percent to 24.2 billion shillings and earnings per share climbed 26 percent to 2.70 shillings.
“We are optimistic that we can maintain the growth curve in the current financial year on the back of long term financing which will shield the company from current market fluctuation in the money market,” Frank Ireri, the managing director of the lender, told an investor briefing.
He said the firm’s net interest income rose to 1.9 billion shillings from 1.4 billion shillings.
Concerned with the huge fluctuations in short-term funding instruments, Housing Finance said in October it was considering floating a 25-year housing bond targeting pension funds and real estate investment trusts.
Ireri said the company was now seeking to raise funds abroad as opposed to the bond, because of the high domestic rates.
“We cannot come in with a bond right now because guys will ask for very high interest rates. We are borrowing an offshore debt,” Ireri said.
The mortgage lender raised 7 billion shillings through a seven-year bond issue in October 2010. The bond had a fixed rate set at 8.5 percent and a variable rate pegged at 3 percent above the 182-day Treasury bill rate.
High interest rates and double digit inflation in Kenya are hurting the real estate industry, as developers and buyers struggle to meet financing requirements, property pricing index firm HassConsult said in January.
Shilling depreciation for most of 2011 also slowed the flow of real estate developments and hurt the industry as construction material costs rose.
“There is a lot of imported content in construction and with the exchange rate going crazy and interest rates raising last year some developers slowed down,” said Ireri.
“The impact may still be there this year, but in 2013 we may find that there is a housing shortage … and there will be high demand again.”
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Housing Finance said its pretax profit rose to 975.8 million shillings, while its loan book grew by 31 percent to 24.2 billion shillings and earnings per share climbed 26 percent to 2.70 shillings.
“We are optimistic that we can maintain the growth curve in the current financial year on the back of long term financing which will shield the company from current market fluctuation in the money market,” Frank Ireri, the managing director of the lender, told an investor briefing.
He said the firm’s net interest income rose to 1.9 billion shillings from 1.4 billion shillings.
Concerned with the huge fluctuations in short-term funding instruments, Housing Finance said in October it was considering floating a 25-year housing bond targeting pension funds and real estate investment trusts.
Ireri said the company was now seeking to raise funds abroad as opposed to the bond, because of the high domestic rates.
“We cannot come in with a bond right now because guys will ask for very high interest rates. We are borrowing an offshore debt,” Ireri said.
The mortgage lender raised 7 billion shillings through a seven-year bond issue in October 2010. The bond had a fixed rate set at 8.5 percent and a variable rate pegged at 3 percent above the 182-day Treasury bill rate.
High interest rates and double digit inflation in Kenya are hurting the real estate industry, as developers and buyers struggle to meet financing requirements, property pricing index firm HassConsult said in January.
Shilling depreciation for most of 2011 also slowed the flow of real estate developments and hurt the industry as construction material costs rose.
“There is a lot of imported content in construction and with the exchange rate going crazy and interest rates raising last year some developers slowed down,” said Ireri.
“The impact may still be there this year, but in 2013 we may find that there is a housing shortage … and there will be high demand again.”
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2012年2月21日星期二
Ceptaris Secures $15M in Venture Debt Financing
MALVERN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, today secured $15 million in venture debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Oxford Finance.
The New Drug Application (NDA) for Ceptaris’ drug candidate, mechlorethamine gel, is currently undergoing review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of early stage (stages I-IIA) mycosis fungoides, a type of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).
Ceptaris received $7.5 million at closing and has access to the remaining $7.5 million if the NDA is approved by the FDA. The funding will be used for ongoing operational expenses and preparation for commercialization of its investigational drug, mechlorethamine gel. Ceptaris’ primary venture capital investors include Vivo Ventures, Palo Alto Investors, Burrill & Company, Osage Ventures, Aperture Venture Partners, and BioAdvance.
“We are very pleased with our venture debt relationships with both SVB and Oxford and the additional capital it provides Ceptaris for pre- and post-launch activities,” said Stephen Tullman, President and CEO at Ceptaris. “Management has worked with both lending institutions in prior companies, including Ception Therapeutics and Vicept Therapeutics, and we look forward to continuing these relationships.”
About Ceptaris Therapeutics
Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company that is developing a proprietary gel formulation of mechlorethamine hydrochloride for the treatment of early stage (stages I-IIA) mycosis fungoides, a type of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL). If approved, Ceptaris’ investigational drug would be the first topical mechlorethamine product available to treat the signs and symptoms of this rare cancer. Please visit www.ceptaris.com for more information.
About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for companies in the technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine industries. SVB provides a comprehensive suite of financing solutions, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients’ success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 26 U.S. offices and international operations in China, India, Israel and the United Kingdom. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB – News), with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital and SVB Private Bank. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.
About Oxford Finance
Oxford Finance is a specialty finance firm providing senior secured loans to public and private life sciences and healthcare services companies worldwide. For over 20 years, Oxford has delivered flexible financing solutions to its clients, enabling these companies to maximize their equity by leveraging their assets. In recent years, Oxford has originated over $1.5 billion in loans, with lines of credit ranging from $500 thousand to $50 million. Oxford is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with additional offices in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and North Carolina. For more information visit http://www.oxfordfinance.com/.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, today secured $15 million in venture debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Oxford Finance.
The New Drug Application (NDA) for Ceptaris’ drug candidate, mechlorethamine gel, is currently undergoing review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of early stage (stages I-IIA) mycosis fungoides, a type of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).
Ceptaris received $7.5 million at closing and has access to the remaining $7.5 million if the NDA is approved by the FDA. The funding will be used for ongoing operational expenses and preparation for commercialization of its investigational drug, mechlorethamine gel. Ceptaris’ primary venture capital investors include Vivo Ventures, Palo Alto Investors, Burrill & Company, Osage Ventures, Aperture Venture Partners, and BioAdvance.
“We are very pleased with our venture debt relationships with both SVB and Oxford and the additional capital it provides Ceptaris for pre- and post-launch activities,” said Stephen Tullman, President and CEO at Ceptaris. “Management has worked with both lending institutions in prior companies, including Ception Therapeutics and Vicept Therapeutics, and we look forward to continuing these relationships.”
About Ceptaris Therapeutics
Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company that is developing a proprietary gel formulation of mechlorethamine hydrochloride for the treatment of early stage (stages I-IIA) mycosis fungoides, a type of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL). If approved, Ceptaris’ investigational drug would be the first topical mechlorethamine product available to treat the signs and symptoms of this rare cancer. Please visit www.ceptaris.com for more information.
About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for companies in the technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine industries. SVB provides a comprehensive suite of financing solutions, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients’ success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 26 U.S. offices and international operations in China, India, Israel and the United Kingdom. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB – News), with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital and SVB Private Bank. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.
About Oxford Finance
Oxford Finance is a specialty finance firm providing senior secured loans to public and private life sciences and healthcare services companies worldwide. For over 20 years, Oxford has delivered flexible financing solutions to its clients, enabling these companies to maximize their equity by leveraging their assets. In recent years, Oxford has originated over $1.5 billion in loans, with lines of credit ranging from $500 thousand to $50 million. Oxford is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with additional offices in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and North Carolina. For more information visit http://www.oxfordfinance.com/.
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Thai-ASEAN News Network – Bank Admits Impact of Thailand Blacklisting
The Islamic Bank of Thailand’s managing director admitted bank clients could experience more inconveniences in making international financial transactions after Thailand has been put on the watch list for money-laundering and terrorism financing. The bank also plans to adjust its business strategy this year after it has been slapped with the 0.47 percent premium contribution to the national development fund.
Managing Director of Islamic Bank of Thailand Teerasak Suwanyos played down the impact on overseas investments of the bank’s clients after Thailand’s name appeared on the money laundering and terrorism financing watch list.
Hot on the heels of the triple bomb blasts in Bangkok last week, Thailand was identified by intergovernmental organization, Financial Action Task Force, as uncooperative in the global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
Islamic Bank MD said the bank has ten clients who invest heavily overseas with a combined investment value of hundreds of millions of baht. Teerasak noted that the bank will be more rigorous in checking documents and transactions to prevent any possibility of being linked with any money laundering or terrorism activities.
Teerasak also commented on the new 0.47 percent premium that was slapped on all banks by the Finance Ministry and the central bank. The banker said the premium, slated to go towards the National Development Fund, will cost the bank 500 million baht in operating revenue. That’s almost 50 percent of the net profit calculated from its current deposit base of 117 billion baht.
He said the bank may have to revise its strategic business plan for this year to take into consideration the new premium.
The Islamic Bank has set a loan target of 20 billion baht for this year, including six billion baht for SMEs, ten billion baht for retail borrowers and four billion baht for major clients.
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Managing Director of Islamic Bank of Thailand Teerasak Suwanyos played down the impact on overseas investments of the bank’s clients after Thailand’s name appeared on the money laundering and terrorism financing watch list.
Hot on the heels of the triple bomb blasts in Bangkok last week, Thailand was identified by intergovernmental organization, Financial Action Task Force, as uncooperative in the global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
Islamic Bank MD said the bank has ten clients who invest heavily overseas with a combined investment value of hundreds of millions of baht. Teerasak noted that the bank will be more rigorous in checking documents and transactions to prevent any possibility of being linked with any money laundering or terrorism activities.
Teerasak also commented on the new 0.47 percent premium that was slapped on all banks by the Finance Ministry and the central bank. The banker said the premium, slated to go towards the National Development Fund, will cost the bank 500 million baht in operating revenue. That’s almost 50 percent of the net profit calculated from its current deposit base of 117 billion baht.
He said the bank may have to revise its strategic business plan for this year to take into consideration the new premium.
The Islamic Bank has set a loan target of 20 billion baht for this year, including six billion baht for SMEs, ten billion baht for retail borrowers and four billion baht for major clients.
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2012年2月20日星期一
Decision day for 2nd Greek bailout, financing gaps remain
By Luke Baker
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday, a move they hope will draw a line under months of turmoil that has shaken the currency bloc, although there is work to be done to make the figures add up.
Diplomats and economists do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems: that could take up to a decade or more – a bleak picture increasingly apparent to several thousand Greeks who demonstrated on Sunday against seemingly endless austerity measures.
The ministers still need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they hope agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 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 IMF.
While there is still 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.
“At the moment it appears it will go exactly this way,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said on Sunday when asked in a TV interview if the package would be approved. “I don’t think there is a majority to go a different way because a different way is enormously arduous and costs lots and lots of money.”
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said that, while there were still gaps to be filled, they 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 punishing austerity measures to reduce their country’s debt, on the eve of the make-or-break talks.
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, braced against a repeat of riots a week ago that saw buildings torched and looted across downtown Athens after a much larger rally involving tens of thousands.
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 discussion in Sunday’s conference call – and the issue expected to dominate the finance ministers‘ meeting on Monday – was 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 still 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 129 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.
“All the discussions I will have … until Sunday night will try to move the figure nearer to the target,” Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who will chair Monday’s finance ministers’ meeting, said on Friday, referring to the 120 figure.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement on Monday, 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, which is responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground in Athens as part of the second package.
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 George Georgiopoulos, writing by Luke Baker and Mike Peacock, editing by Tim Pearce)
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday, a move they hope will draw a line under months of turmoil that has shaken the currency bloc, although there is work to be done to make the figures add up.
Diplomats and economists do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems: that could take up to a decade or more – a bleak picture increasingly apparent to several thousand Greeks who demonstrated on Sunday against seemingly endless austerity measures.
The ministers still need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they hope agreement on Monday will help restructure the country’s vast debts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 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 IMF.
While there is still 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.
“At the moment it appears it will go exactly this way,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said on Sunday when asked in a TV interview if the package would be approved. “I don’t think there is a majority to go a different way because a different way is enormously arduous and costs lots and lots of money.”
A euro zone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said that, while there were still gaps to be filled, they 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 punishing austerity measures to reduce their country’s debt, on the eve of the make-or-break talks.
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, braced against a repeat of riots a week ago that saw buildings torched and looted across downtown Athens after a much larger rally involving tens of thousands.
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 discussion in Sunday’s conference call – and the issue expected to dominate the finance ministers‘ meeting on Monday – was 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 still 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 129 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.
“All the discussions I will have … until Sunday night will try to move the figure nearer to the target,” Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who will chair Monday’s finance ministers’ meeting, said on Friday, referring to the 120 figure.
If the finance ministers do succeed in reaching an agreement on Monday, 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, which is responsible for monitoring Greece’s reform progress, carries out quarterly reviews, while the European Commission will soon have dozens more monitors on the ground in Athens as part of the second package.
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 George Georgiopoulos, writing by Luke Baker and Mike Peacock, editing by Tim Pearce)
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2012年2月19日星期日
World body blacklists Thailand for money laundering, terrorism financing
Thailand was yesterday identified by an intergovernmental organisation as uncooperative in the global efforts to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The move came only days after bomb blasts in Bangkok and discovery of explosive devices linked to terrorism.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in its statement on Thursday (yesterday Bangkok time), said Thailand was one of 15 countries that have begun taking steps to combat terrorist financing and money-laundering but have yet to make sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies in their regulations.
Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday expressed concern that the move could adversely affect Thailand’s image and its economy.
He said the government would ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to explain the situation.
“As far as I know, Thailand has been requested by the FATF to issue an anti-money-laundering law that complies with international standards but we have failed to do so, which led to the country being blacklisted,” Kittiratt said.
Songtham Pinto, director of the Bank of Thailand’s macro-economy division, said he expected short-term negative impact on tourism as a result of the FATF move and the earlier bomb scare in Bangkok, which was linked to international terrorism.
Siam Commercial Bank president Kannika Chalit-aphon urged the government to expedite the legislation.
She expected the impact on investor confidence to be short-term.
“There could be some worries and impacts on investments in certain industries. It is not a big problem,” she said.
Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT, said the company was evaluating the expected impact on the company’s financial transactions after Thailand was listed among watch-list countries that are not active in enforcing legislation to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In general, the transactions may take a longer time for financial scrutiny.
However, PTT is confident that the downgrade will not affect its financial-transaction costs.
“At PTT, we believe that our existing customers understand this matter, and this will not affect the financial transactions between us and existing clients. But we may have to explain more to new clients,” he said.
Paiboon Nalintharangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FeTCO), said the government would have to pay attention to this and proceed with an amendment to its money-laundering law.
Being on such a blacklist could affect the competitiveness of the private sector, he said, while investing overseas may require more complicated procedures.
Foreign investors may not be concerned about this and foreign capital will continue to flow in, seeking higher returns as the country’s economic fundamentals are sound, he explained.
On the contrary, there may be a problem for capital outflow, he said.
For example, wealth management and private funds or funds with overseas investment policies may find difficulties investing overseas due to likely more complicated procedures for checking sources of investment.
Opposition Democrat politician Korbsak Sabhavasu, formerly a deputy prime minister, said this latest development was not good for Thailand’s reputation, as most of the countries identified by the FATF as uncooperative had a negative image regarding money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday cancelled its news conference on the matter.
In its statement, the FATF said: “Despite Thailand’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic deficiencies, Thailand has not made sufficient progress in implementing its action plan, and certain strategic deficiencies remain.”
It recommended that Thailand should adequately criminalise terrorist financing, establish and implement adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and further strengthen supervision of money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In addition to Thailand, the other countries on the latest FATF list of non-cooperative countries are Bolivia, Burma, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, and Turkey.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
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The move came only days after bomb blasts in Bangkok and discovery of explosive devices linked to terrorism.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in its statement on Thursday (yesterday Bangkok time), said Thailand was one of 15 countries that have begun taking steps to combat terrorist financing and money-laundering but have yet to make sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies in their regulations.
Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday expressed concern that the move could adversely affect Thailand’s image and its economy.
He said the government would ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to explain the situation.
“As far as I know, Thailand has been requested by the FATF to issue an anti-money-laundering law that complies with international standards but we have failed to do so, which led to the country being blacklisted,” Kittiratt said.
Songtham Pinto, director of the Bank of Thailand’s macro-economy division, said he expected short-term negative impact on tourism as a result of the FATF move and the earlier bomb scare in Bangkok, which was linked to international terrorism.
Siam Commercial Bank president Kannika Chalit-aphon urged the government to expedite the legislation.
She expected the impact on investor confidence to be short-term.
“There could be some worries and impacts on investments in certain industries. It is not a big problem,” she said.
Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT, said the company was evaluating the expected impact on the company’s financial transactions after Thailand was listed among watch-list countries that are not active in enforcing legislation to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In general, the transactions may take a longer time for financial scrutiny.
However, PTT is confident that the downgrade will not affect its financial-transaction costs.
“At PTT, we believe that our existing customers understand this matter, and this will not affect the financial transactions between us and existing clients. But we may have to explain more to new clients,” he said.
Paiboon Nalintharangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FeTCO), said the government would have to pay attention to this and proceed with an amendment to its money-laundering law.
Being on such a blacklist could affect the competitiveness of the private sector, he said, while investing overseas may require more complicated procedures.
Foreign investors may not be concerned about this and foreign capital will continue to flow in, seeking higher returns as the country’s economic fundamentals are sound, he explained.
On the contrary, there may be a problem for capital outflow, he said.
For example, wealth management and private funds or funds with overseas investment policies may find difficulties investing overseas due to likely more complicated procedures for checking sources of investment.
Opposition Democrat politician Korbsak Sabhavasu, formerly a deputy prime minister, said this latest development was not good for Thailand’s reputation, as most of the countries identified by the FATF as uncooperative had a negative image regarding money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday cancelled its news conference on the matter.
In its statement, the FATF said: “Despite Thailand’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic deficiencies, Thailand has not made sufficient progress in implementing its action plan, and certain strategic deficiencies remain.”
It recommended that Thailand should adequately criminalise terrorist financing, establish and implement adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and further strengthen supervision of money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In addition to Thailand, the other countries on the latest FATF list of non-cooperative countries are Bolivia, Burma, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, and Turkey.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
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2012年2月17日星期五
i-ASEAN News Network – Loans Out for Flood-hit Businesses Next Month
The central bank is set to roll out 300 billion baht in soft loans as financial assistance for SMEs and individual business operators hit by the recent flooding in early March.
Commercial banks will be slapped with a higher interest rate if their loan issuances are not in compliance with the regulations.
The Bank of Thailand is set to issue 300 billion baht in soft loans to provide financial assistance for victims of the recent floods in accordance with an executive loan decree. The period of the loan program is five years.
Of the total amount, 210 billion baht is being funded by the central bank, while the rest will come from financial institutions’ contributions.
Bank of Thailand Assistant Governor for the Financial Markets Operations Group, Pongpen Ruengvirayudh expects the list of provinces designated as flood disaster zones to be announced by the Finance Ministry today. Financial institutions have been advised to notify the central bank of the loan amount they will require within two weeks of the announcement.
She said the funds will be transferred to the banks within three days of the central bank’s receiving of their requests and that they can begin offering the loans to individual clients in early March.
Eligible borrowers must be SME companies or individual business operators that were affected by the recent flooding. An SME borrower will be entitled to a maximum 30 million baht loan, while loans for individuals are limited to one million baht.
The Bank of Thailand will charge an annual interest rate of 0.01 percent from financial institutions, while the financial institutions are allowed to charge borrowers an interest rate of no more than three percent.
Commercial banks will be liable to paying an interest rate of ten percent as a penalty should they be found to be issuing loans that are not in compliance with the central bank’s regulations. They will also be solely responsible for any risks or liabilities involved in issuing such loans.
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Commercial banks will be slapped with a higher interest rate if their loan issuances are not in compliance with the regulations.
The Bank of Thailand is set to issue 300 billion baht in soft loans to provide financial assistance for victims of the recent floods in accordance with an executive loan decree. The period of the loan program is five years.
Of the total amount, 210 billion baht is being funded by the central bank, while the rest will come from financial institutions’ contributions.
Bank of Thailand Assistant Governor for the Financial Markets Operations Group, Pongpen Ruengvirayudh expects the list of provinces designated as flood disaster zones to be announced by the Finance Ministry today. Financial institutions have been advised to notify the central bank of the loan amount they will require within two weeks of the announcement.
She said the funds will be transferred to the banks within three days of the central bank’s receiving of their requests and that they can begin offering the loans to individual clients in early March.
Eligible borrowers must be SME companies or individual business operators that were affected by the recent flooding. An SME borrower will be entitled to a maximum 30 million baht loan, while loans for individuals are limited to one million baht.
The Bank of Thailand will charge an annual interest rate of 0.01 percent from financial institutions, while the financial institutions are allowed to charge borrowers an interest rate of no more than three percent.
Commercial banks will be liable to paying an interest rate of ten percent as a penalty should they be found to be issuing loans that are not in compliance with the central bank’s regulations. They will also be solely responsible for any risks or liabilities involved in issuing such loans.
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Microfinance Operations Office; Associate Operations Officer/Operations Officer
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
IFC Advisory Services in Vietnam helps Vietnamese firms make their operations more efficient and client-friendly, and raise their international competitiveness by improving social, environmental, and corporate governance practices. We support Vietnam’s sustainable development by helping to attract international investment to vital sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy, and microfinance. Our Advisory Services are structured into four business lines: Access to Finance, Investment Climate, Sustainable Business Advisory, and Public-Private Partnerships. In the Mekong region covering Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam, our advisory services are delivered in partnership with the European Union, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Their operations in Vietnam will be expanding in 2012, and we are looking for qualified applicants for the following three positions. All positions will be expected to lead existing and potential assistance projects in their Business Line and the IFC portfolio, including developing excellent client relations, designing and implementing projects for meaningful development impact, and ensuring IFC procedures are respected. In addition, all positions are expected to contribute to the development of IFC’s Vietnam Program by actively identifying new opportunities for IFC, providing input to IFC’s strategy for their Business Lines and building relationships with industry stakeholders.
1. Microfinance Operations Officer, Access to Finance – A2F (position no.120038)
IFC intends to support the development of Vietnam’s nascent commercial microfinance sector and increase access to microfinance services to urban and rural poor by creating an enabling environment and a financial sector that can create and manage sustainable private sector institutions to serve a large number of low-income households.
The Microfinance Operations Officer is a local 2 year term appointment based in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. S/he will work closely with and under the supervision of the A2F Vietnam Program Manager. S/he will be primarily responsible for the implementation of A2F Microfinance (MF) projects in Vietnam. S/he must be an experienced professional whose knowledge and skills enable him/her to undertake project design, project implementation, and knowledge management initiatives with limited direct supervision.
Specific duties and accountabilities:
- Lead the MF project development by addressing all key aspects (scope of work, terms, deliverables, etc.), monitoring results, benchmarking against best practice, and consulting with the relevant stakeholders.
- Prepare project work plans, budgets and project operational documents, consistent with overall IFC objectives, plans and budgets. Ensure project(s) compliance with IFC’s overall financial market strategy and IFC procedures.
- Prepare terms-of-reference and help identify, select, and schedule consultant assignments; guide consultants in the effective delivery of their services, including monitoring their work to ensure that agreed deliverables are met and that they are captured in appropriate reports.
- Analyze developmental impact of the project(s). Document progress, resolve issues, and initiate improvements when needed.
- Pro-actively and effectively develop and nurture working relationship with government partners and private sector partners including, but not limited to, banks and MFIs.
- Communicate the progress of the project(s) and overall program to IFC and related partners, and proactively engage with IFC communications to ensure external and internal communications issues are well addressed.
- Liaise and work closely with the IFC investment in joint appraisal teams working on existing or new advisory and investment projects.
- Identify key lessons learned to be shared with the wider IFC A2F team, and develop IFC Smart Lessons and other internal knowledge management documents in Microfinance.
- Contribute to raising external funding and donor relations.
- Contribute to A2F strategy for Vietnam to maximize IFC’s financial and social returns in both investment and advisory services.
- Travel as necessary to support project design and development, and implementation.
Selection criteria:
- Master’s degree in Finance/Economics/Business Administration/Law or equivalent degree from a recognized institution.
- At least 5 years of relevant working experience in financial sector, preferably with hands on experience in Microfinance.
- Proven experience in managing a project, preferably donor-funded, including project design, implementation and completion.
- Ability to work independently, multi-task, deal with conflicting priorities and deliver high quality work on schedule.
- Excellent analytical skills, including ability to evaluate projects and business operations on technical, commercial, managerial, and financial grounds.
- Proven Relationship Management experience: ability to establish strong credibility among senior clients including government and private sector clients.
- Strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to build cooperative networks.
·- Ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently, articulate issues and recommend practical solutions.
- Strong oral and written English skills, including ability to write and edit project/program documents.
- Ability and willingness to travel in Vietnam.
2. Associate Operations Officer/Operations Officer, Investment Climate (position no.120040)
IFC’s Investment Climate (IC) work focuses on improving the policies, laws, and regulations that affect domestic and foreign investors and influence their decisions to invest. Our East Asia and the Pacific portfolio consists of more than 20 projects with a total volume of more than $20 million, and more than 30 staff working in 9 offices throughout the region.
The Associate Operations Officer/Operations Officer position is a local 2 year term appointment based in Hanoi, with possible renewable extension subject to business need and satisfactory performance. S/he will support the Regional Business Line Leader in building and managing IFC’s regional portfolio of the business line’s respective advisory initiatives in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Region and the program in Vietnam. S/he will work in close collaboration with regional colleagues and global experts, and regional departments. S/he is expected to participate in and contribute to IFC strategy discussions, new project development, and donor relations.
Specific duties and accountabilities:
- Maintain IC pipeline activities in line with regional and business line strategies
- Prepare portfolio or topical reviews or analyses and financial projections and present results.
- Manage project reporting cycles, ensuring high quality and on-time (i) Project Supervision Reports (PSRs), (ii) Donor Reports and Presentations, and (iii) Project Completion Reports (PCRs).
- Maintain deadlines for submission and completion of initial review of all reports and ensure project compliance with all IFC and donor requirements.
- Oversee updates to project/pipeline activities in line with management/business line network/portfolio review discussions.
- Serve as proxy to the Regional Business Line Leader in project processing activities.
- Support PMs as necessary with program and administrative needs.
- Prepare documents such as donor/partner concept papers and proposals; monitor program/project funding gaps/needs.
- Coordinate recruitment of business line staff; assist and coordinate selection and monitoring of consultants including the preparation of Terms of Reference, negotiation of fees, processing of contracts; work alongside consultants in technical assistance assignments.
- Coordinate and deliver on (ad-hoc) IFC regional management or head office requests for data or information on IC projects in the region.
- Lead coordination and preparation of business line specific meetings, conferences, study tours and other events.
- Proactively seek out international best practice, national/corporate compliance requirements and internal advice, share information, and work in teams with other colleagues.
- Travel as necessary in the region.
Selection criteria:
- Masters in Business Administration, Law, Economics, Finance or Development or equivalent professional qualification.
- Minimum 5 years of relevant experience, preferably including overseas study/work.
- Experience with international and/or bilateral/multilateral development institutions, as well as prior work in advisory/consulting in private sector development.
- Knowledge of the institutional, legal, regulatory framework and business practices in Vietnam.
- Strong administrative and organizational skills.
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office software, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
Interested candidates please review the complete job description and apply on-line at http://www.ifc.org/careers and choose the relevant vacancy number. Please note that you need to register before submitting your application. The closing date is 20th February 2012. Only applicants selected for interview will be contacted.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
IFC Advisory Services in Vietnam helps Vietnamese firms make their operations more efficient and client-friendly, and raise their international competitiveness by improving social, environmental, and corporate governance practices. We support Vietnam’s sustainable development by helping to attract international investment to vital sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy, and microfinance. Our Advisory Services are structured into four business lines: Access to Finance, Investment Climate, Sustainable Business Advisory, and Public-Private Partnerships. In the Mekong region covering Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam, our advisory services are delivered in partnership with the European Union, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Their operations in Vietnam will be expanding in 2012, and we are looking for qualified applicants for the following three positions. All positions will be expected to lead existing and potential assistance projects in their Business Line and the IFC portfolio, including developing excellent client relations, designing and implementing projects for meaningful development impact, and ensuring IFC procedures are respected. In addition, all positions are expected to contribute to the development of IFC’s Vietnam Program by actively identifying new opportunities for IFC, providing input to IFC’s strategy for their Business Lines and building relationships with industry stakeholders.
1. Microfinance Operations Officer, Access to Finance – A2F (position no.120038)
IFC intends to support the development of Vietnam’s nascent commercial microfinance sector and increase access to microfinance services to urban and rural poor by creating an enabling environment and a financial sector that can create and manage sustainable private sector institutions to serve a large number of low-income households.
The Microfinance Operations Officer is a local 2 year term appointment based in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. S/he will work closely with and under the supervision of the A2F Vietnam Program Manager. S/he will be primarily responsible for the implementation of A2F Microfinance (MF) projects in Vietnam. S/he must be an experienced professional whose knowledge and skills enable him/her to undertake project design, project implementation, and knowledge management initiatives with limited direct supervision.
Specific duties and accountabilities:
- Lead the MF project development by addressing all key aspects (scope of work, terms, deliverables, etc.), monitoring results, benchmarking against best practice, and consulting with the relevant stakeholders.
- Prepare project work plans, budgets and project operational documents, consistent with overall IFC objectives, plans and budgets. Ensure project(s) compliance with IFC’s overall financial market strategy and IFC procedures.
- Prepare terms-of-reference and help identify, select, and schedule consultant assignments; guide consultants in the effective delivery of their services, including monitoring their work to ensure that agreed deliverables are met and that they are captured in appropriate reports.
- Analyze developmental impact of the project(s). Document progress, resolve issues, and initiate improvements when needed.
- Pro-actively and effectively develop and nurture working relationship with government partners and private sector partners including, but not limited to, banks and MFIs.
- Communicate the progress of the project(s) and overall program to IFC and related partners, and proactively engage with IFC communications to ensure external and internal communications issues are well addressed.
- Liaise and work closely with the IFC investment in joint appraisal teams working on existing or new advisory and investment projects.
- Identify key lessons learned to be shared with the wider IFC A2F team, and develop IFC Smart Lessons and other internal knowledge management documents in Microfinance.
- Contribute to raising external funding and donor relations.
- Contribute to A2F strategy for Vietnam to maximize IFC’s financial and social returns in both investment and advisory services.
- Travel as necessary to support project design and development, and implementation.
Selection criteria:
- Master’s degree in Finance/Economics/Business Administration/Law or equivalent degree from a recognized institution.
- At least 5 years of relevant working experience in financial sector, preferably with hands on experience in Microfinance.
- Proven experience in managing a project, preferably donor-funded, including project design, implementation and completion.
- Ability to work independently, multi-task, deal with conflicting priorities and deliver high quality work on schedule.
- Excellent analytical skills, including ability to evaluate projects and business operations on technical, commercial, managerial, and financial grounds.
- Proven Relationship Management experience: ability to establish strong credibility among senior clients including government and private sector clients.
- Strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to build cooperative networks.
·- Ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently, articulate issues and recommend practical solutions.
- Strong oral and written English skills, including ability to write and edit project/program documents.
- Ability and willingness to travel in Vietnam.
2. Associate Operations Officer/Operations Officer, Investment Climate (position no.120040)
IFC’s Investment Climate (IC) work focuses on improving the policies, laws, and regulations that affect domestic and foreign investors and influence their decisions to invest. Our East Asia and the Pacific portfolio consists of more than 20 projects with a total volume of more than $20 million, and more than 30 staff working in 9 offices throughout the region.
The Associate Operations Officer/Operations Officer position is a local 2 year term appointment based in Hanoi, with possible renewable extension subject to business need and satisfactory performance. S/he will support the Regional Business Line Leader in building and managing IFC’s regional portfolio of the business line’s respective advisory initiatives in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Region and the program in Vietnam. S/he will work in close collaboration with regional colleagues and global experts, and regional departments. S/he is expected to participate in and contribute to IFC strategy discussions, new project development, and donor relations.
Specific duties and accountabilities:
- Maintain IC pipeline activities in line with regional and business line strategies
- Prepare portfolio or topical reviews or analyses and financial projections and present results.
- Manage project reporting cycles, ensuring high quality and on-time (i) Project Supervision Reports (PSRs), (ii) Donor Reports and Presentations, and (iii) Project Completion Reports (PCRs).
- Maintain deadlines for submission and completion of initial review of all reports and ensure project compliance with all IFC and donor requirements.
- Oversee updates to project/pipeline activities in line with management/business line network/portfolio review discussions.
- Serve as proxy to the Regional Business Line Leader in project processing activities.
- Support PMs as necessary with program and administrative needs.
- Prepare documents such as donor/partner concept papers and proposals; monitor program/project funding gaps/needs.
- Coordinate recruitment of business line staff; assist and coordinate selection and monitoring of consultants including the preparation of Terms of Reference, negotiation of fees, processing of contracts; work alongside consultants in technical assistance assignments.
- Coordinate and deliver on (ad-hoc) IFC regional management or head office requests for data or information on IC projects in the region.
- Lead coordination and preparation of business line specific meetings, conferences, study tours and other events.
- Proactively seek out international best practice, national/corporate compliance requirements and internal advice, share information, and work in teams with other colleagues.
- Travel as necessary in the region.
Selection criteria:
- Masters in Business Administration, Law, Economics, Finance or Development or equivalent professional qualification.
- Minimum 5 years of relevant experience, preferably including overseas study/work.
- Experience with international and/or bilateral/multilateral development institutions, as well as prior work in advisory/consulting in private sector development.
- Knowledge of the institutional, legal, regulatory framework and business practices in Vietnam.
- Strong administrative and organizational skills.
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office software, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
Interested candidates please review the complete job description and apply on-line at http://www.ifc.org/careers and choose the relevant vacancy number. Please note that you need to register before submitting your application. The closing date is 20th February 2012. Only applicants selected for interview will be contacted.
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2012年2月7日星期二
Capital Access Network Raises $30M From Accel To Loan Small Businesses Working Capital
In this economic climate, many small businesses do not qualify for loans based on the standards imposed by banks and financial institutions. For fledgling businesses, the establishment doesn’t have enough cash flow, revenue or credit to qualify for a loan. Many times, entrepreneurs have to put up personal assets as collateral for loans, which can be problematic and risky. The fact is working capital is difficult to get from banks unless a business has perfect credit.
Capital Access Network (CAN), a company that gives small businesses access to credit and working capital and helps solve the problem outlines above, is announcing this morning that it has raised $30 million from Accel Partners. As part of the transaction, Accel partner, Kevin Efrusy will join Credit Access’s board of directors, and Accel vice president, John Locke, will join as an observer.
CAN constitutes the largest, non-bank alternative capital provider to small businesses in the US. The company uses its own real-time platform and risk scoring models to provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses in the US and Latin America and has funded over $2 billion in capital to SMB’s under the brands NewLogic Business Loans and AdvanceMe. This represents roughly 100,000 distinct small business finance transactions. This year alone, CAN will fund over $600 million in loans to small businesses.
CAN uses a variety of data points to deem a business worthy of credit or capital apart from the traditional criteria. CAN’s proprietary underwriting algorithms will churn through its vast data stacks of historical merchant demographic, firmographic, psychographic and social and behavioral profiles seeking and seasoning new behavioral and synthetic risk indicators and recombining those indicators into new risk scorecards.
For example, CAN will look at frequency of sales (not just how much), inventory access, eBay seller rating, tax returns and other information. In terms of interest, the company uses a more unorthodox, merchant-friendly way of collecting money on top of a loan. If an online violin store needs $30,000 in working capital to purchase inventory, CAN will loan the money, but the borrower will need to pay back $35,000 to CAN over 12 months.
Typically, CAN will give merchants and businesses anywhere from $2,500 to $250,000 in working capital. Customers range from medical practices, to shoe stores to auto repair shops to clothing, accessory and home product online retailers.
CAN CEO, Glenn Goldman, tells me that the extra amount the borrower has to pay to CAN depends on risk of the loan, how long it will take for the loan to be paid back, the amount of capital lent and other factors. But he says many times, the amount CAN charges is less than any interest rate from a bank. And 75 percent of customers renew their funding. In some cases, repayment can be fairly simple. Goldman points to the example of one online merchant who chose to automatically forward a small percentage of sales from its payment processor directly to CAN to repay the loan every month. If sales were lower than usual that month, CAN would lower the amount needed to pay.
And Goldman explains that behavioral risk scoring, rather than just examining a small business owner’s FICO score, allows the company to ‘yes’ to a higher percentage of SMBs than traditional sources while mitigating losses.
For Accel, the investment marks the continuation of a thesis of investing aggressively behind companies that are enabling small businesses to grow faster, says Efrusy. He cites investments in Groupon, Etsy, 99 Designs, Braintee, DropBox as just a few of the Accel-backed companies that are helping are “giving small businesses tools to thrive.”
“From our work with small businesses, it’s clear that one of the most pressing issues for merchants is access to credit and working capital,” Efrusy said. “Especially today, banks are unable to play effectively in this market. Large institutions cannot reach, evaluate, or serve small businesses efficiently. Many newcomers to the finance space are constrained by limited access to and very high-cost capital combined with high portfolio losses given unseasoned risk scoring models. Capital Access Network has by far the strongest team, scale, and data-driven approach to this market.”
Goldman says the new funding will be partly used for boosting and redesigning the online merchant experience on CAN. By April, the lender will feature new user interfaces, merchant portals and online approvals.
As Efrusy explains, there’s a huge amount of disruption taking place in the online lending space, and CAN is in a great position to help small businesses grow with working capital. Kabbage is another startup that is also looking to provide capital to online merchants, and ZestCash is doing something similar on the consumer end of the spectrum.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Capital Access Network (CAN), a company that gives small businesses access to credit and working capital and helps solve the problem outlines above, is announcing this morning that it has raised $30 million from Accel Partners. As part of the transaction, Accel partner, Kevin Efrusy will join Credit Access’s board of directors, and Accel vice president, John Locke, will join as an observer.
CAN constitutes the largest, non-bank alternative capital provider to small businesses in the US. The company uses its own real-time platform and risk scoring models to provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses in the US and Latin America and has funded over $2 billion in capital to SMB’s under the brands NewLogic Business Loans and AdvanceMe. This represents roughly 100,000 distinct small business finance transactions. This year alone, CAN will fund over $600 million in loans to small businesses.
CAN uses a variety of data points to deem a business worthy of credit or capital apart from the traditional criteria. CAN’s proprietary underwriting algorithms will churn through its vast data stacks of historical merchant demographic, firmographic, psychographic and social and behavioral profiles seeking and seasoning new behavioral and synthetic risk indicators and recombining those indicators into new risk scorecards.
For example, CAN will look at frequency of sales (not just how much), inventory access, eBay seller rating, tax returns and other information. In terms of interest, the company uses a more unorthodox, merchant-friendly way of collecting money on top of a loan. If an online violin store needs $30,000 in working capital to purchase inventory, CAN will loan the money, but the borrower will need to pay back $35,000 to CAN over 12 months.
Typically, CAN will give merchants and businesses anywhere from $2,500 to $250,000 in working capital. Customers range from medical practices, to shoe stores to auto repair shops to clothing, accessory and home product online retailers.
CAN CEO, Glenn Goldman, tells me that the extra amount the borrower has to pay to CAN depends on risk of the loan, how long it will take for the loan to be paid back, the amount of capital lent and other factors. But he says many times, the amount CAN charges is less than any interest rate from a bank. And 75 percent of customers renew their funding. In some cases, repayment can be fairly simple. Goldman points to the example of one online merchant who chose to automatically forward a small percentage of sales from its payment processor directly to CAN to repay the loan every month. If sales were lower than usual that month, CAN would lower the amount needed to pay.
And Goldman explains that behavioral risk scoring, rather than just examining a small business owner’s FICO score, allows the company to ‘yes’ to a higher percentage of SMBs than traditional sources while mitigating losses.
For Accel, the investment marks the continuation of a thesis of investing aggressively behind companies that are enabling small businesses to grow faster, says Efrusy. He cites investments in Groupon, Etsy, 99 Designs, Braintee, DropBox as just a few of the Accel-backed companies that are helping are “giving small businesses tools to thrive.”
“From our work with small businesses, it’s clear that one of the most pressing issues for merchants is access to credit and working capital,” Efrusy said. “Especially today, banks are unable to play effectively in this market. Large institutions cannot reach, evaluate, or serve small businesses efficiently. Many newcomers to the finance space are constrained by limited access to and very high-cost capital combined with high portfolio losses given unseasoned risk scoring models. Capital Access Network has by far the strongest team, scale, and data-driven approach to this market.”
Goldman says the new funding will be partly used for boosting and redesigning the online merchant experience on CAN. By April, the lender will feature new user interfaces, merchant portals and online approvals.
As Efrusy explains, there’s a huge amount of disruption taking place in the online lending space, and CAN is in a great position to help small businesses grow with working capital. Kabbage is another startup that is also looking to provide capital to online merchants, and ZestCash is doing something similar on the consumer end of the spectrum.http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月30日星期一
Founder family seeks 3 bln rupees in Milestone sale – report
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The family of late Ved Prakash Arya, founder of Indian private equity fund Milestone Capital, has sought 3 billion rupees from prospective buyers of the company, the Financial Express newspaper reported citing an unnamed source with direct knowledge.
Edelweiss Financial Services (EDEL.NS), Ashmore Investment Management, Arth Veda Capital, a unit of Dewan Housing Finance (DWNH.NS) and L&T Finance (LTFH.NS) are interested in the assets, the report said.
Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) is advising Milestone on the sale.
The family put Milestone on the block after its founder and chief executive Ved Prakash Arya died last year.
The fund currently manages about 36 billion rupees, the report said.
(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Rajesh Pandathil)
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Edelweiss Financial Services (EDEL.NS), Ashmore Investment Management, Arth Veda Capital, a unit of Dewan Housing Finance (DWNH.NS) and L&T Finance (LTFH.NS) are interested in the assets, the report said.
Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) is advising Milestone on the sale.
The family put Milestone on the block after its founder and chief executive Ved Prakash Arya died last year.
The fund currently manages about 36 billion rupees, the report said.
(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Rajesh Pandathil)
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2012年1月17日星期二
Thai-ASEAN News Network – Financial Market Unaffected by Ratings Cut in EU and News on Terrorist Attacks
The central bank governor is confident that the credit rating downgrades of nine European nations and the news of possible terrorist attacks in Thailand will not have a significant impact on the country’s financial market.
Bank of Thailand, or BOT, Governor Prasarn Trairatworakul said that the credit rating downgrades of nine European nations by the leading credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s was in line with the global financial market’s expectation.
Prasarn further said that the ratings downgrade will have not much impact on Thailand’s financial markets since Thai financial institutions have invested a small amount of money in the bonds of the nine European countries.
As for the news of possible terrorist attacks in Bangkok, he said the situation would likely ease up soon and that investor confidence has not been affected.
Prasarn admitted that the rising energy cost resulting from the government’s planned energy structure adjustment will lead to an increase in food prices and that will push the inflation rate upward.
He noted that it is normal for people to come out and oppose against the energy price hike as they have used cheap energy, which is among the cost-saving measures, for a long time.
The central bank governor also gave an update on the BOT’s plan to repay the Financial Institutions Development Fund’s debt, saying the central bank plans to request state-run banks to contribute to the Deposit Protection Fund like private commercial banks do.
However, Prasarn stated that Finance Minister Thirachai Bhuvanartnaranubala disagreed with the plan, fearing its impact on the competition of financial institutions.
The BOT governor added that the finance minister has planned to control the scope of doing business and the expansion of state banks’ assets such as the issuance of loans to prevent inequality in financial institutions.
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Bank of Thailand, or BOT, Governor Prasarn Trairatworakul said that the credit rating downgrades of nine European nations by the leading credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s was in line with the global financial market’s expectation.
Prasarn further said that the ratings downgrade will have not much impact on Thailand’s financial markets since Thai financial institutions have invested a small amount of money in the bonds of the nine European countries.
As for the news of possible terrorist attacks in Bangkok, he said the situation would likely ease up soon and that investor confidence has not been affected.
Prasarn admitted that the rising energy cost resulting from the government’s planned energy structure adjustment will lead to an increase in food prices and that will push the inflation rate upward.
He noted that it is normal for people to come out and oppose against the energy price hike as they have used cheap energy, which is among the cost-saving measures, for a long time.
The central bank governor also gave an update on the BOT’s plan to repay the Financial Institutions Development Fund’s debt, saying the central bank plans to request state-run banks to contribute to the Deposit Protection Fund like private commercial banks do.
However, Prasarn stated that Finance Minister Thirachai Bhuvanartnaranubala disagreed with the plan, fearing its impact on the competition of financial institutions.
The BOT governor added that the finance minister has planned to control the scope of doing business and the expansion of state banks’ assets such as the issuance of loans to prevent inequality in financial institutions.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月10日星期二
Cabinet approves financial decrees
The cabinet meeting has approved issuing of four financial decrees relating to acquiring loans for rebuilding the country and flood prevention, Atchaporn Charuchinda, secretary general of the Council of State, said on Tuesday.
The four proposals were put forward by the strategic committees for rehabilitation and future development and for setting up a water resource management system.
They are needed to help restore the confidence of Thai and foreign investors and to ensure the prevention of a recurrence of the floods in the long term, Mr Atchaporn said.
The Council of State must give advice to the cabinet on whether the issuance of bills and decrees is constitutional. It was not clear why the announcement was made by the Council of State and not the cabinet spokesman.
They decrees relate to the management debt owed by the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), empower the Bank of Thailand to provide 300 billion baht for low interest soft loans for flood affected manufacturers, allow the Ministry of Finance to seek 350 billion baht in loans for financing projects to rebuild the country, and establishment of a 50 billion baht insurance fund.
“The restoration of investors’ confidence, the rehabilitation and rebuilding the nation and preventing flooding of future projects must be rapidly started and therefore the issuance of these four decrees is necessary,” said Mr Atchaporn.
The secretary general of the cabinet would submit these financial decrees to His Majesty the King for royal endorsement, he added.
The four proposals were put forward by the strategic committees for rehabilitation and future development and for setting up a water resource management system.
They are needed to help restore the confidence of Thai and foreign investors and to ensure the prevention of a recurrence of the floods in the long term, Mr Atchaporn said.
The Council of State must give advice to the cabinet on whether the issuance of bills and decrees is constitutional. It was not clear why the announcement was made by the Council of State and not the cabinet spokesman.
They decrees relate to the management debt owed by the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), empower the Bank of Thailand to provide 300 billion baht for low interest soft loans for flood affected manufacturers, allow the Ministry of Finance to seek 350 billion baht in loans for financing projects to rebuild the country, and establishment of a 50 billion baht insurance fund.
“The restoration of investors’ confidence, the rehabilitation and rebuilding the nation and preventing flooding of future projects must be rapidly started and therefore the issuance of these four decrees is necessary,” said Mr Atchaporn.
The secretary general of the cabinet would submit these financial decrees to His Majesty the King for royal endorsement, he added.
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World Bank loans for development projects only: Ramon
SHAH ALAM, Jan 7 (Bernama) — World Bank loans are given only for capital development projects and not to fund cash-handout programmes such as the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), said Asli Centre of Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam.
He said Malaysia’s relatively good economic performance made it possible to fund the government’s BR1M for households earning below RM3,000 a month.
“Firstly, the World Bank provides loans on certain conditions… and one important consideration is only for capital development projects and programmes.
“BR1M is neither a development project nor a development programme. The cash handout grants (BR1M) are grants met from the revenue of the budget’s current account. The grants are part of the government’s annual allocation,” he told Bernama here today.
Ramon was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement yesterday that the country’s robust growth was sufficient to fund BR1M and there was no need to seek financing from external sources such as the World Bank.
When tabling the 2012 Budget in October, Najib had said that all households earning below RM3,000 a month would receive a one-off RM500 payment under BR1M.
Ramon, who was the alternate executive director of the board of directors of World Bank in the 1970s, said Malaysia had only taken loan from the World Bank for development projects.
“Even if the prime minister wanted to take a loan from the World Bank to fund BR1M, he could not do so because he is bound by the international financial institution’s lending conditions,” said the finance ministry’s former deputy secretary-general.
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He said Malaysia’s relatively good economic performance made it possible to fund the government’s BR1M for households earning below RM3,000 a month.
“Firstly, the World Bank provides loans on certain conditions… and one important consideration is only for capital development projects and programmes.
“BR1M is neither a development project nor a development programme. The cash handout grants (BR1M) are grants met from the revenue of the budget’s current account. The grants are part of the government’s annual allocation,” he told Bernama here today.
Ramon was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement yesterday that the country’s robust growth was sufficient to fund BR1M and there was no need to seek financing from external sources such as the World Bank.
When tabling the 2012 Budget in October, Najib had said that all households earning below RM3,000 a month would receive a one-off RM500 payment under BR1M.
Ramon, who was the alternate executive director of the board of directors of World Bank in the 1970s, said Malaysia had only taken loan from the World Bank for development projects.
“Even if the prime minister wanted to take a loan from the World Bank to fund BR1M, he could not do so because he is bound by the international financial institution’s lending conditions,” said the finance ministry’s former deputy secretary-general.
http://tourism9.com/
2012年1月6日星期五
2012年1月3日星期二
Bailout concerns mounting for federal housing agency
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Concerns are growing that the Federal Housing Administration will need to be bailed out by taxpayers.
The agency’s latest monthly outlook report revealed a spike in serious delinquencies for FHA-insured loans, posing a further threat to the agency’s already depleted cash reserves.
According to the report, the percentage of loans in the FHA’s portfolio with three missed payments or more rose to 9.3% in November, up from 8.4% in August.
“It’s highly likely that the FHA will need a taxpayer bailout over the next three to five years,” said Joseph Gyourko, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of a report entitled “Is FHA the Next Big Housing Bailout?.”
In November, an independent audit of the FHA’s finances found that losses from mortgage defaults had depleted the agency’s reserve fund to 0.24%, or $2.6 billion, during fiscal 2011 — well below the Congressionally-mandated 2% level. (The ratio measures the net worth of the reserve fund compared with the value of the loans FHA has insured.) In 2006, the reserve fund stood at 7%.
At the time, the agency’s auditor warned that if home prices continued to drop, FHA could run through the remainder of its reserves, forcing it to either seek a bailout from the Treasury Department or further increase the premiums it charges borrowers. The FHA doesn’t issue mortgages, but instead insures lenders against defaults.
Such a bailout could cost billions: Guyourko argues that the FHA is so undercapitalized that it would need at least $50 billion, even if the housing markets don’t deteriorate further. But even by more conservative measures, the agency would need at least $20 billion to meet the capital requirements mandated by Congress.
In early December, the House Financial Services Committee grilled Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing Urban Development, over the possibility of a bailout. Donovan blamed FHA’s financial woes on loans made before 2009 and said that loans issued in recent years were experiencing a “dramatic decline in the rate of early payment default.” As a result of these healthier loans, he said the reserve fund would be able to return to the required 2% level in 2014.
Yet, Wharton’s Gyourko argues that the FHA has underestimated the risk of these more recent loans. Many of the new serious delinquencies were from loans issued in 2009 and 2010 and he projects there will be many more defaults to come.
One reason is that many of the borrowers who took out FHA-backed mortgages during this time relied on the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit for down payments. A large percentage of these borrowers didn’t have enough cash for the small 3.5% down payment that FHA requires, let alone the money to make their ongoing mortgage payments, he said.
The FHA said that the vast majority of home buyers who claimed the tax credit used their own cash for down payments or borrowed from relatives and are therefore low risk.
Home prices will also play a key role in whether taxpayers will have to rescue the FHA, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication.
“Given that most FHA loans are made with a 3.5% down payment, most are underwater within a year after price declines,” he said.
Many FHA borrowers are teetering on the edge of foreclosure and further housing price declines will push many of those over, exposing the agency to more losses. “I think there will have to be a bailout over the next couple of years,” said Cecala.
The FHA claims its total liquid assets are $400 million higher than a year ago and home prices would have to fall 4% to 5% before the agency would need a bailout. It said it has also recognized expected losses and planned for them by raising upfront insurance premiums to bolster its assets.
Still, that might be cutting it close. Home prices are projected to fall another 3% to 4% in 2012 before stabilizing, according to forecasting firm Fiserv.
For all the FHA’s problems, however, it has filled a great need over the past few years, said Cecala. Low-income and first-time home buyers have relied on FHA loans to finance their purchases. Without the backing of the FHA, fewer homes would have been sold and prices would be even lower.
“The housing market would be in far worse shape than it is,” he said
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The agency’s latest monthly outlook report revealed a spike in serious delinquencies for FHA-insured loans, posing a further threat to the agency’s already depleted cash reserves.
According to the report, the percentage of loans in the FHA’s portfolio with three missed payments or more rose to 9.3% in November, up from 8.4% in August.
“It’s highly likely that the FHA will need a taxpayer bailout over the next three to five years,” said Joseph Gyourko, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of a report entitled “Is FHA the Next Big Housing Bailout?.”
In November, an independent audit of the FHA’s finances found that losses from mortgage defaults had depleted the agency’s reserve fund to 0.24%, or $2.6 billion, during fiscal 2011 — well below the Congressionally-mandated 2% level. (The ratio measures the net worth of the reserve fund compared with the value of the loans FHA has insured.) In 2006, the reserve fund stood at 7%.
At the time, the agency’s auditor warned that if home prices continued to drop, FHA could run through the remainder of its reserves, forcing it to either seek a bailout from the Treasury Department or further increase the premiums it charges borrowers. The FHA doesn’t issue mortgages, but instead insures lenders against defaults.
Such a bailout could cost billions: Guyourko argues that the FHA is so undercapitalized that it would need at least $50 billion, even if the housing markets don’t deteriorate further. But even by more conservative measures, the agency would need at least $20 billion to meet the capital requirements mandated by Congress.
In early December, the House Financial Services Committee grilled Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing Urban Development, over the possibility of a bailout. Donovan blamed FHA’s financial woes on loans made before 2009 and said that loans issued in recent years were experiencing a “dramatic decline in the rate of early payment default.” As a result of these healthier loans, he said the reserve fund would be able to return to the required 2% level in 2014.
Yet, Wharton’s Gyourko argues that the FHA has underestimated the risk of these more recent loans. Many of the new serious delinquencies were from loans issued in 2009 and 2010 and he projects there will be many more defaults to come.
One reason is that many of the borrowers who took out FHA-backed mortgages during this time relied on the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit for down payments. A large percentage of these borrowers didn’t have enough cash for the small 3.5% down payment that FHA requires, let alone the money to make their ongoing mortgage payments, he said.
The FHA said that the vast majority of home buyers who claimed the tax credit used their own cash for down payments or borrowed from relatives and are therefore low risk.
Home prices will also play a key role in whether taxpayers will have to rescue the FHA, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication.
“Given that most FHA loans are made with a 3.5% down payment, most are underwater within a year after price declines,” he said.
Many FHA borrowers are teetering on the edge of foreclosure and further housing price declines will push many of those over, exposing the agency to more losses. “I think there will have to be a bailout over the next couple of years,” said Cecala.
The FHA claims its total liquid assets are $400 million higher than a year ago and home prices would have to fall 4% to 5% before the agency would need a bailout. It said it has also recognized expected losses and planned for them by raising upfront insurance premiums to bolster its assets.
Still, that might be cutting it close. Home prices are projected to fall another 3% to 4% in 2012 before stabilizing, according to forecasting firm Fiserv.
For all the FHA’s problems, however, it has filled a great need over the past few years, said Cecala. Low-income and first-time home buyers have relied on FHA loans to finance their purchases. Without the backing of the FHA, fewer homes would have been sold and prices would be even lower.
“The housing market would be in far worse shape than it is,” he said
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Report: Equipment Investment To Grow 9 Pct. In 2012
Report: Equipment Investment To Grow 9 Pct. In 2012
Washington, DC —The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) has launched its 2012 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook. The new report, which is focused on the $628 billion equipment finance sector, forecasts equipment investment and capital spending in the United States, and evaluates the effects on various related and exogenous factors in play currently and into the foreseeable future. Overall, the report forecasts investment in equipment and software will grow by 9 percent in 2012.
The Foundation produced the 2012 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook report in partnership with economics and public policy consulting firm Keybridge Research. The annual economic forecast provides a three-to-six-month outlook for industry investment with data, including a summary of investment trends in key equipment markets, credit market conditions, theU.S. macroeconomic outlook, and key economic indicators. The report will be updated quarterly throughout 2012.
“The Foundation is pleased to present a valuable and unique tool that distills economic data from a variety of sources into a brief analysis specific to the equipment finance industry,” said Foundation Chairman Cameron W. Krueger, a Director at Deloitte. “Our industry is a critical component of the American economy and this report forecasts continued growth.”
“The new Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook complements the Foundation’s Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25) in providing a full picture of industry and economic conditions affecting the $628 billion equipment finance industry from the historical, present, and future perspectives,” said William G. Sutton, CAE, President of the Foundation and President and CEO of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.
Key findings include:
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides vision for the equipment leasing and finance industry through future-focused information and research. Primarily funded through donations, the Foundation is the only organization dedicated to future-oriented, in-depth, independent research for the leasing industry. Visit the Foundation online at http://www.leasefoundation.org/.
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The Foundation produced the 2012 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook report in partnership with economics and public policy consulting firm Keybridge Research. The annual economic forecast provides a three-to-six-month outlook for industry investment with data, including a summary of investment trends in key equipment markets, credit market conditions, theU.S. macroeconomic outlook, and key economic indicators. The report will be updated quarterly throughout 2012.
“The Foundation is pleased to present a valuable and unique tool that distills economic data from a variety of sources into a brief analysis specific to the equipment finance industry,” said Foundation Chairman Cameron W. Krueger, a Director at Deloitte. “Our industry is a critical component of the American economy and this report forecasts continued growth.”
“The new Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook complements the Foundation’s Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25) in providing a full picture of industry and economic conditions affecting the $628 billion equipment finance industry from the historical, present, and future perspectives,” said William G. Sutton, CAE, President of the Foundation and President and CEO of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.
Key findings include:
- Overall, investment continues to be a bright spot in the U.S .economy. In particular, investment in equipment and software has grown steadily for eight straight quarters. Expectations for 2012 are that growth will moderate slightly, but remain positive overall.
- Trends in equipment investment include:
- Agriculture equipment investment is likely to decelerate slightly in the next 3-6 months.
- Computers & software equipment investment will remain healthy, but is likely to slow down somewhat.
- Construction equipment investment is likely to slow in the immediate near term, but could be buoyed by the energy and housing sectors later in 2012.
- Industrial equipment investment will likely be hampered by macro-trends, which may cause some deceleration in growth from what appears to be a recent peak in the growth rate.
- Medical equipment is on watch for a leveling-off in investment spending. Investment growth rates, while positive, have softened for six straight quarters and could bottom out in late 2012. Still, near-normal growth is anticipated in the next 3-6 months.
- Transportation equipment investment should remain solidly positive, but is unlikely to maintain the rapid growth rates of 2011.
- Credit market conditions are improving slowly as demand for financing grows and supply constraints gradually ease. However, the growth rate of investment in equipment and software is likely to remain moderate until demand puts more pressure on capacity. Based on an outlook for moderate economic growth in 2012, and the overhang of excess industrial capacity, investment in equipment and software is expected to increase by 8-10 percent in 2012, compared to about 10.5 percent in 2011.
- For the overall economy, recent revisions toU.S.gross domestic product (GDP) show that the 2008-09 recession was deeper and the recovery has been weaker than previously estimated. While investment has buoyed an otherwise weak economy, employment and consumer demand have been tepid. Significant headwinds in the form of persistently high oil prices, household deleveraging, weakened consumer confidence, and the Eurozone financial crisis have all combined to restrain growth prospects for 2012.
- The macro outlook for 2012 is for a slow improvement, as impediments to growth are expected to gradually dissipate, with more positive cyclical trends kicking in later in the year. Compared to the consensus forecast of 2.0 percent growth for 2012, a slightly faster growth rate of 2.4 percent is predicted. This implies that the unemployment rate will remain at 8 percent or higher by the end of 2012.
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides vision for the equipment leasing and finance industry through future-focused information and research. Primarily funded through donations, the Foundation is the only organization dedicated to future-oriented, in-depth, independent research for the leasing industry. Visit the Foundation online at http://www.leasefoundation.org/.
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2012年1月2日星期一
Indonesia Regains Investment Grade as Fitch Raises Its Rating
December 15, 2011, 4:18 PM EST
By Novrida Manurung
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Indonesia regained investment grade rating for its sovereign debt at Fitch Ratings after 14 years, as Southeast Asia’s largest economy withstands faltering global growth and contains borrowings.
The country’s long-term foreign and local currency debt was raised to BBB- from BB+, Fitch said in a statement yesterday. The outlook on both ratings is stable. Indonesia lost the investment grade rating in December 1997, during the Asian financial crisis. The rating puts the nation on the same level as India.
“The upgrades reflect the country’s strong and resilient economic growth, low and declining public-debt ratios, strengthened external liquidity and a prudent overall macro policy framework,” Philip McNicholas, director in Fitch’s Asia- Pacific Sovereign Ratings group, said in the statement.
Indonesia’s standing with rating companies has improved as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono targets growth of as much as 6.6 percent on average through the remainder of his term ending in 2014, pledging to spur investment and reduce the budget deficit. The country’s economy, which avoided the contraction that neighbors Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand suffered during the 2009 global slump, has expanded more than 6 percent this year even as Europe’s debt crisis threatens Asian exports.
“This doesn’t give us immunity,” Helmi Arman, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Jakarta, said after Fitch released the announcement. “But they’re going to have a broader investor base in the market because of this move. It will certainly improve our resilience.”
Rupiah Performance
The rupiah has outperformed every Asian currency except the Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and the Hong Kong dollar this year, and Indonesia’s benchmark stock index is the fourth-best performer in the region. The currency slid 0.04 percent to 9,090 a dollar yesterday, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.
Government bonds gained earlier yesterday. The yield on the 8.25 percent note due July 2021 declined four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 6.25 percent, according to midday prices from the Inter-Dealer Market Association. It reached 6.06 percent on Dec. 6, the lowest since the securities were sold in July last year.
Demand for Indonesian bonds will increase following Fitch’s move, Rahmat Waluyanto, director general at the finance ministry’s debt management office, said in Jakarta yesterday. Capital inflow, especially foreign direct investment, will likely increase, he said in a mobile-phone text message.
‘Waited a Long Time’
“We’ve waited for this upgrade for a long time, in line with our effort to implement consistent and careful economic policies,” Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor at the central bank, said in a mobile-phone text message in Jakarta yesterday. “Indonesia’s economic prospects will be better with lower risk and borrowing costs supporting financing of economic activities.”
Moody’s Investors Service raised the nation’s rating in January to Ba1. In April, Standard & Poor’s increased Indonesia’s long-term foreign-currency rating one level to BB+ from BB, with a positive outlook. The ratings are one level below investment grade.
Indonesia’s performance contrasts with that of European nations, whose borrowing costs have soared as the debt crisis deepened.
European Union
European Union leaders agreed at a Dec. 8-9 summit in Brussels to tighter control of tax and spending by governments that overstep the bloc’s deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. They also pledged a faster start to a 500 billion-euro ($652 billion) rescue fund. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service are reviewing the agreement and its implications for credit ratings on euro countries.
Fitch projects Indonesia’s GDP growth will average more than 6 percent per annum over the period to 2013, it said in yesterday’s statement.
“Indonesia’s domestically-oriented economy and success in delivering relatively strong economic growth without the creation of external imbalances, or a reliance on short-term external financing suggests economic growth prospects should prove resilient to external shocks, as was the case in 2008,” Fitch said. “Low public debt and positive real interest rates give the authorities policy flexibility to respond to any slowdown.”
–With assistance from Berni Moestafa and Hidayat Setiaji in Jakarta. Editors: Stephanie Phang, Greg Ahlstrand.
To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: Novrida Manurung in Jakarta at nmanurung@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/
By Novrida Manurung
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Indonesia regained investment grade rating for its sovereign debt at Fitch Ratings after 14 years, as Southeast Asia’s largest economy withstands faltering global growth and contains borrowings.
The country’s long-term foreign and local currency debt was raised to BBB- from BB+, Fitch said in a statement yesterday. The outlook on both ratings is stable. Indonesia lost the investment grade rating in December 1997, during the Asian financial crisis. The rating puts the nation on the same level as India.
“The upgrades reflect the country’s strong and resilient economic growth, low and declining public-debt ratios, strengthened external liquidity and a prudent overall macro policy framework,” Philip McNicholas, director in Fitch’s Asia- Pacific Sovereign Ratings group, said in the statement.
Indonesia’s standing with rating companies has improved as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono targets growth of as much as 6.6 percent on average through the remainder of his term ending in 2014, pledging to spur investment and reduce the budget deficit. The country’s economy, which avoided the contraction that neighbors Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand suffered during the 2009 global slump, has expanded more than 6 percent this year even as Europe’s debt crisis threatens Asian exports.
“This doesn’t give us immunity,” Helmi Arman, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Jakarta, said after Fitch released the announcement. “But they’re going to have a broader investor base in the market because of this move. It will certainly improve our resilience.”
Rupiah Performance
The rupiah has outperformed every Asian currency except the Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and the Hong Kong dollar this year, and Indonesia’s benchmark stock index is the fourth-best performer in the region. The currency slid 0.04 percent to 9,090 a dollar yesterday, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.
Government bonds gained earlier yesterday. The yield on the 8.25 percent note due July 2021 declined four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 6.25 percent, according to midday prices from the Inter-Dealer Market Association. It reached 6.06 percent on Dec. 6, the lowest since the securities were sold in July last year.
Demand for Indonesian bonds will increase following Fitch’s move, Rahmat Waluyanto, director general at the finance ministry’s debt management office, said in Jakarta yesterday. Capital inflow, especially foreign direct investment, will likely increase, he said in a mobile-phone text message.
‘Waited a Long Time’
“We’ve waited for this upgrade for a long time, in line with our effort to implement consistent and careful economic policies,” Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor at the central bank, said in a mobile-phone text message in Jakarta yesterday. “Indonesia’s economic prospects will be better with lower risk and borrowing costs supporting financing of economic activities.”
Moody’s Investors Service raised the nation’s rating in January to Ba1. In April, Standard & Poor’s increased Indonesia’s long-term foreign-currency rating one level to BB+ from BB, with a positive outlook. The ratings are one level below investment grade.
Indonesia’s performance contrasts with that of European nations, whose borrowing costs have soared as the debt crisis deepened.
European Union
European Union leaders agreed at a Dec. 8-9 summit in Brussels to tighter control of tax and spending by governments that overstep the bloc’s deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. They also pledged a faster start to a 500 billion-euro ($652 billion) rescue fund. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service are reviewing the agreement and its implications for credit ratings on euro countries.
Fitch projects Indonesia’s GDP growth will average more than 6 percent per annum over the period to 2013, it said in yesterday’s statement.
“Indonesia’s domestically-oriented economy and success in delivering relatively strong economic growth without the creation of external imbalances, or a reliance on short-term external financing suggests economic growth prospects should prove resilient to external shocks, as was the case in 2008,” Fitch said. “Low public debt and positive real interest rates give the authorities policy flexibility to respond to any slowdown.”
–With assistance from Berni Moestafa and Hidayat Setiaji in Jakarta. Editors: Stephanie Phang, Greg Ahlstrand.
To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: Novrida Manurung in Jakarta at nmanurung@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net
http://tourism9.com/
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