Investment Finance and Business: social

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2012年2月28日星期二

Saxo Bank Scoops 4 Awards at the Social Forex Awards 2011

SINGAPORE–(Marketwire -02/27/12)- Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has won no less than four Awards at the inaugural Social Forex Awards 2011.
Saxo Bank ranked number one in the following categories:

Most Social Bank (through the use of Social Media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
Best Social Campaign
Best Social Initiative/Innovation
Best Social Research

The Bank ranked second in a further three categories: Best iPhone/iPad app, Best Online Content and Most Social Website. Of 8 categories Saxo Bank was ranked in all but one.
The awards recognise the outstanding players in the industry and were presented by LetstalkFX and Social-Markets.net, in conjunction with e-Forex magazine and were sponsored by The Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The votes were cast by members of the letstalkFX.com community and marketing was undertaken by the Bank using LinkedIn and Facebook.
Disclaimer:Saxo Capital Markets Pte. Ltd. (“Saxo Capital Markets”) is licensed as a Capital Market Services provider and an Exempt Financial Advisor, and is supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
You should carefully consider whether trading in leveraged products is appropriate for you in the light of your financial circumstances. You should be aware that dealing in products that are highly leveraged carry significantly greater risk than non-geared investments such as share trading. As such, you could both gain and lose large amounts of money. You may sustain losses in excess of the moneys you initially deposit and also in excess of the margin required to establish and maintain any positions in leveraged products.
For further information, please see:
http://sg.saxomarkets.com/about-us/general-disclaimer
About Saxo Capital Markets
Saxo Capital Markets Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank A/S, the Copenhagen-headquartered online trading and investment specialist. It serves as the Asia Pacific headquarters and holds a Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Saxo Capital Markets also holds a Commodity Broker licence from The International Enterprise Singapore.
Clients can trade Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via SaxoWebTrader and SaxoTrader, its leading multi-asset online trading platforms.
SaxoTrader is available directly through Saxo Capital Markets or through one of its institutional clients. White labelling is a significant business area for Saxo Capital Markets, and involves customising and branding of its online trading platform for other financial institutions and brokers.
About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables private investors and institutional clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated trading platforms: the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoMobileTrader application available in over 20 languages. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management through Saxo Asset Management who accommodates high-net-worth private clients and institutional investors and provides banking services and advice to retail clients through Saxo Privatbank. The Saxo Bank Group is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
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2012年2月25日星期六

15. Investing in the right causes

Tandem Fund assists social enterprises in getting financing
TANDEM Fund calls itself a “patient investor” to social enterprises.
“For all their benefits, social enterprises find it difficult to obtain financing,” its website reads.
“On one hand, they generate returns that are too low for banks of traditional investors. On the other, they are often ineligible for foundation money as for-profit enterprises.
“Our role is to fill that gap. We act as a patient investor, providing capital to social enterprises that wouldn’t otherwise be able to gain investment.”
The venture fund, says its chief operating officer Kal Joffres, is the only one in Malaysia that invests exclusively in social enterprises.
As a not-for-profit fund, it differs from a conventional investment firm in that the returns from its investees are recycled into other social enterprises, rather than paid back as a dividend to shareholders.
A native Canadian, Joffres was a strategy consultant to non-profits and United Nations agencies prior to joining Tandem Fund.
The business and philosophy graduate from McGill University moved to Malaysia after helping a client here to start a social venture fund, which became Tandem Fund.
The fund has two sources of capital: the income from its subsidiary Tandemic, a social media consultancy, and a major banking group in Malaysia, who was the client that hired Joffres.
Tandemic – which has worked with consumer brands and government agencies – helps build social movements by organising communities around causes using social media and on-ground events.
“We started Tandemic because we thought some of our skills would be useful for companies and brands. The way we see it is a lot of organisations that are interested in social media aren’t doing it very well.
“They tell people, Here’s our latest deal, follow us on Twitter’, which is not effective. We try to engage people around causes they care about, we build communities around causes,” Joffres quips.
A portion of the Tandemic’s profit is used to finance Tandem Fund’s more experimental social enterprises.
On the second source, Joffres points out that the fund does not receive any cash for investment but rather acts as a conduit to identify social enterprises that meet several criteria, including financial sustainability and social impact. It is the bank that invests directly in the social enterprises, he says.
The social enterprises that are at a mature stage and can turn in a profit are put under Tandem Fund’s management, while the ones that more closely resemble a non-profit are directed to the bank’s philanthropic arm.
Tandem Fund has four projects under its belt: Design Change, Do Something Good, Sols24/7, and a yet unnamed mobile healthcare unit that aims to deliver medical care via waterways, especially in Sarawak.
Besides funding social enterprises, it helps streamline their operations, for example by customising a set of performance measures for each company.
On the challenges faced by fledgeling social enterprises, Joffres says this includes profitability, management skills, market access, and talent.
“A lot of social enterprises in Malaysia haven’t figured out how to make money yet. There’s still work to be done on the business model.
“They also tend to have very thin middle management. There are very passionate people running them, but it’s also important to have operational people in place to make sure things run smoothly,” he elaborates.
The country’s geography, he adds, can also be a hindrance as the people who need assistance are often deep in remote areas.
Disorganisation is another thing. “It’s easier to work with communities that are internally organised, but these are limited,” Joffres says.
“When you have one player that tries to do too many things along the value chain, instead of having a few to help you along the line, your risk increases. This is especially so if you are a start-up.”
In addition, he notes that there are talent acquisition issues in the sector, but insists that “just because you work for a social enterprise doesn’t mean you don’t get paid as well (as other companies)”. Some social enterprises do pay competitively, he says.
Nonetheless, he adds that “people love the fact they are working for social missions” in social enterprises.
“For the most part, it isn’t easy to get talent in any sector. We have a really passionate team and they get to pursue causes they’re interested in,” he says.
Joffres thinks that interest in the sector is growing among the youth and urbanites.
“If you have a strong social dimension you have an edge over companies that don’t,” he says.
“For instance, people don’t buy Body Shop products only because they’re good products, but also because of the social impact (they have). People who have spending power care about this stuff.”
Related Stories:
The rise of social enterprises
Creating an impact
SEA says some local enterprises are ready for investors

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2012年2月24日星期五

Social Entertainment Leader Milyoni Secures $11 Million in Funding

PLEASANTON, CA–(Marketwire -02/24/12)- Milyoni, the leader in social entertainment, today announced that it has secured $11 million in Series B financing led by Oak Investment Partners. Previous investors ATA Ventures and Thomvest Ventures also participated in the round. Milyoni will use the funding to further extend its product portfolio in bringing social entertainment experiences to fans on Facebook. The company will also expand its U.S. presence, with offices opening in Los Angeles and New York City.
“With more than 800 million users and growing, Facebook has established itself as a go-to platform for the discovery and consumption of content today,” said John Corpus, founder and CEO. “In 2012, we anticipate an even greater shift in behavior, with more entertainment companies putting the marketing muscle behind their Facebook presence to further expand their selections of movies, music and other content on the platform. The way we see it, we’re only in the first of a nine inning game.”
Milyoni provides a new way for entertainment companies to take their Facebook presence to the next level by providing a fun, unique, shared and social experience to users. Using Social Cinema and Social Live, fans can easily view, like and comment during particular points within a movie, TV show, sporting event or concert and chat with friends while watching. Over the last year, Milyoni has powered some of the biggest social entertainment campaigns on Facebook and has stamped a number of innovative firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie and the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook.
“Oak Investment Partners is excited to join the Milyoni team to further extend their stronghold in the social entertainment arena,” said Fred Harman, Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners. “The company has shown tremendous traction and growth over the last year, hosting more than 100 titles on Facebook today. The audience for Milyoni’s technology continues to expand along with Facebook’s growth. We’re confident that the Milyoni team has both the passion and experience to propel the company forward.”
“We’ve believed in Milyoni from the beginning and have seen the company’s growth mirror that of the entertainment industry’s needs,” said Hatch Graham, Managing Director, ATA Ventures. “Milyoni’s technology has evolved into the powerhouse social entertainment platform it is today, and the company is poised to continue its leadership in the space. ATA Ventures is thrilled to be a supporting partner.”
Milyoni is primed for an impressive 2012 with 15 current studio partnerships and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has more than 3,000 Social Cinema titles and over 50 Social Live events slated by year’s end. Milyoni will continue to enrich studio interaction, administration and analytics functionality bringing unprecedented insight and engagement to the entertainment experience.
For more information, visit http://www.milyoni.com.
About MilyoniBased in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in social entertainment. The company’s technology provides entertainment companies with a way to connect and engage with Facebook fans, and turn them into customers. Whether it’s watching a live concert, movie or sporting event or shopping your favorite brands, Milyoni enables companies to monetize fans pages through a unique level of engagement and a shared, social experience. Milyoni’s services reach over 150 million fans from industry leading customers, including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Austin City Limits Live, Turner Broadcasting, University of Oklahoma and The NBA to bring a variety of digital content and physical goods to fans on Facebook. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Bleacher Report, Demand Media, Federated Media, Good Technology, KAYAK Software, MobiTV, Rearden Commerce, and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes, AthenaHealth, Gmarket, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi, Netspend, Polycom, Seagate, and TeleAtlas.
About ATA VenturesATA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seeking out early stage private companies that appear to offer above average prospects for capital growth. With over $450 Million of capital under management, ATA Ventures focuses on Information Technology (IT) and provides seed capital and early stages of financing to these companies. For more information, visit http://ataventures.com.
About Thomvest VenturesThomvest Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. We primarily focus on investments in areas where we have deep expertise and experience, including software, technology-enabled services, and hardware businesses. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than many venture investors. More than two-thirds of the companies we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. For more information, visit www.thomvest.com.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
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Social Entertainment Leader Milyoni Secures $11 Million in Funding

2012年2月20日星期一

Pakistan's major targets to be lowered

The Pakistan government is working on a plan to lower major economic targets for next financial year because of economic difficulties and transfer the responsibility of financing social sector projects to the provincial governments from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
According to sources, a major restructuring of the planning process is under way. “Not only the composition of the PSDP will change in the next budget but the Planning Commission will see induction of provincial members to represent their provinces in major policy formulation and development planning in accordance with the 18th Amendment,” they said.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq’s ‘New Growth Framework (NGF)’ will, for the first time, become part of next year’s development budget and the 10th five-year plan. Haq had shelved the 10th five-year plan two years ago to focus on changing the investment model.
“Starting with the next budget, the federal government will largely move out of the social sector and it will become the responsibility of the provinces. However, the centre will complete the ongoing schemes,” an official said. The NGF would become redundant if not made part of the five-year plan and the budget this year, he said.
He said that despite political compulsions, the size of next year’s federal PSDP would be around 350 billion rupees (US$3.8 billion), instead of 470 billion rupees ($5.1 billion) envisaged under the medium-term budgetary framework (MTBF) and budget strategy paper (BSP) introduced last year.
He did not rule out that owing to political pressures the size of the PSDP might be increased, but hastened to add that the economic managers would resist any unreasonable spending that might push up budget deficit now being targeted at 4.5 per cent of the GDP for next year.
Likewise, the provincial PSDPs will be of around 495 billion rupees ($5.4 billion) instead of 680 billion rupees ($7.4 billion) estimated earlier.
The overall size of the PSDP will hover around 850 billion rupees ($9.3 billion) instead of 1,150 billion rupees ($12.6 million) earlier estimated for the next financial year and the development expenditure will be about 3.6 per cent of the GDP instead of five per cent estimated in the MTBF.
Officials said major macroeconomic targets for the next year envisaged in the MTBF had already become unrealistic and would be scaled down.
The economic (GDP) growth rate for the year is being estimated at five per cent, instead of 5.5 per cent, and the inflation target will be set at 10 per cent.
The target for tax revenue is being lowered to 10.7 per cent from 11.7 per cent and non-tax revenues by 0.2 percentage points to four per cent. The total revenue is estimated at 14.7 per cent instead of the earlier estimate of 15.9 per cent of GDP.
Officials said the existing composition of PSDP, including infrastructure, social sector, would be replaced by productive activities, infrastructure development, social development, special areas and special programmes. The NGF will focus on productivity enhancement, investment in software instead of hardware, competitiveness, domestic markets, new role for cities and entrepreneurship.
The Planning Commission argues that the government and quasi-public sector entities such as the armed forces, railways, Steel Mills and Karachi Port Trust own a disproportionately large portion of real estate in major urban centres. In Karachi, up to 94 per cent of available land is under the administrative and legal control of these entities, sparing very little land for commercial use and resulting in hiking its price to a point where development becomes commercially unfeasible.
Measures will be introduced to make large tracts of prime urban land available for commercial use through long-term lease and outright sale without recourse to the budget for investment in real estate development and commercial activities.
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2012年2月1日星期三

Social Networks: Not a Good Place for Financial Tips – Finance News

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Bangalore: Advice from your financial experts or an online free investment message in your social network – which one would like to go for? Well the answer is obviously ‘No’, as you pay your financial expert for advising you, which is more dependable.

But there’s two recent studies done on whether these online tips and services about your financial decisions are beneficial for you or they are risky to opt. Both the study reached to a single conclusion that these online financial informations as risky as well as hard to pick up. Investors and traders should be very careful about the source while receiving the tips.

Now a day there are many websites like tradeking.com, didyouinvest.com and firsttrade.com which sells investing ideas, share stock tips and provides buying selling strategies. There are increasing numbers of consumers searching for financial advice in online communities but there is very little fact known about how participation in such sites effects their decision making process of their financial wealth. Bad investment always takes place but going through these online tips completely leads you to a critical risk of economic thrashing.

In the study conducted by Rice University of Houston, University of British Columbia, and University of Zurich, which was called “Does Online Community Participation Foster Risky Financial Behavior?”, one result revealed that participation in an online community leads consumers to seek out support from other members that is they believe they will be helped by other community members. This perception guides them to make unwise, foolish and reckless financial decisions than non-participants which ultimately deceives them and leads them to a critical situation. They observed the financial decisions of eBay and prosper.com users and concluded that this online community participation for seeking financial decisions leads to a greater threat. It is seen that non-participants remained safe while the participants lent their own money to riskier borrowers to a greater extent.

Yaniv Altshuler, who has been keenly studying the social networking trading site, eToro.com for the past one year, says, “There is good information and there is junk information (in the internet). The key is figuring out how to predict what kinds of networks allow the junk information to be filtered out”. Altshuler is a post-doctoral associate at MIT’s Human Dynamics Group and he shows the flip side of the fact by saying that “risky online behavior isn’t necessarily bad for a trader’s bottom line.

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2012年1月30日星期一

Venture Capital Investment in Europe Fell 14% in 2011

LONDON, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Venture capitalists put euro 4.4 billion into 1,012 deals for European companies in 2011, a 14% decline in investment and 19% decline in deal flow from 2010, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. This marks the lowest annual deal count for Europe since VentureSource began tracking the region in 2000.
The fourth quarter was the weakest of the year in terms of deal activity as 194 deals collected euro 1.1 billion, a 43% drop in deals and 38% decline in investment over the same period in 2010. Weakness in the fourth quarter is notable as it is traditionally one of the most active quarters for deals.
“Venture capitalists are having difficulty raising funds as the Euro crisis weighs on limited partners’ minds and fewer companies are finding exits. This has naturally led to a slowdown in investment. With less capital flowing into venture firms, there’s less to invest in start-ups,” said Anthony Sheldon, research manager, Dow Jones VentureSource. The median size of a European venture capital deal was euro 2 million in 2011, on par with 2010.
Exits Mirror Fourth-Quarter Drop in Investment
The fourth quarter’s weakness in investments mirrored the exit environment. The fourth quarter of 2011 was the year’s weakest for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and initial public offerings (IPOs) as 30 European venture-backed companies were acquired and two companies went public.
In all of 2011, 148 companies exited via an M&A, raising euro 7 billion, a 12% decline in deals and 7% increase in capital raised. Companies that got acquired, however, recorded the highest median raised on record. The median paid for an acquisition in 2011 was euro 5.1 million.
In all of 2011, 14 venture-backed companies went public, raising euro 695 million, a drop in IPOs but an increase in capital raised from 2010 when 18 IPOs raised euro 438 million.
As VCs Focus on Web, Consumer Services Investment Passes IT for First Time Since 2001
For the first time since 2001, the Web-heavy Consumer Services industry raised more capital than the Information Technology (IT) industry. Consumer Services companies raised euro 1.1 billion for 223 deals in 2011, a 63% increase in investment despite a 6% drop in deals from 2010. It was the industry’s strongest year for investment since 2001. IT companies raised $812 million for 270 deals in 2011, a 50% decline in investment and 25% decline in deals.
More than half of the capital collected by the Consumer Services industry went to the social media, entertainment and shopping companies in the Consumer Information Services sector. Those companies raised euro 691 million for 192 deals, a 79% increase in investment despite an 8% decline in deals.
Within the IT industry, Software remained the most popular investment area, driven by interest in business applications software and communications software. The Software sector raised euro 467 million through 194 deals in 2011, a 14% decline in investment and 13% decline in deal activity.
Medical Devices Offers Some Stability in Healthcare
As deal activity and investment fell in all areas of Healthcare, the Medical Devices sector offered moderate stability, seeing a drop of just 7% in both deal activity and investment. Medical Devices companies raised euro 323 million for 91 deals in 2011, a mild decline from the euro 348 million raised for 98 deals in 2010.
As usual, Biopharmaceuticals took the lion’s share of the industry’s investment as 121 deals raised euro 856 million, a 29% decline in deals and 20% decline in investment.
Uptick in Deals for Advertising, Data Companies
The Business Support Services sector, which includes companies developing technologies and services for data management, advertising and marketing, was the only sector to see an uptick in both deals and investment in 2011. The sector raised euro 479 million for 90 deals, a 62% increase in investment and 5% increase in deals.
The broader Business and Financial Services industry, which includes the Business Support Services sector as well as financial services and engineering companies, raised euro 614 million for 132 deals, a 15% increase in capital invested despite a 12% decline in investment.
Companies Focused on Renewables Capture Most Energy Investment
In 2011, 56 deals in the Energy & Utilities industry raised euro 253 million, a 26% decline in deals and 25% decline in investment. Renewable Energy companies accounted for most of the industry’s investment, raising euro 238 million for 49 deals.
Country Perspectives
Europe’s four major countries for venture investment – the U.K., France, Germany and Sweden – witnessed record-low deal activity in 2011.

The U.K. remained the favorite destination for venture capital investment in Europe in 2011. Companies in the U.K. raised euro 1.2 billion for 274 deals, a 36% decline in investment and 17% decline in deals.
France came in second place as companies raised euro 728 million for 217 deals, a 15% decline in investment and 18% decline in deals.
Germany came in third as companies raised euro 475 million for 120 deals, a 23% decline in investment and 26% decline in deals.
Sweden came in fourth as companies raised euro 299 million for 67 deals, a 7% increase in investment despite a 36% decline in deals.

For information on Dow Jones VentureSource’s research methodology, visit http://bit.ly/VSFAQs. For general information about Dow Jones VentureSource, visit http://www.dowjones.com/privatemarkets?from=pr-privatemarkets.
About Dow JonesDow Jones & Company is a global provider of news and business information and a developer of technology to deliver content to consumers and organizations across multiple platforms. Dow Jones produces newspapers, newswires, Web sites, apps, newsletters, magazines, proprietary databases, conferences, radio and video. Its premier brands include The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Barron’s, MarketWatch, SmartMoney and All Things D. Its information services combine technology with news and data to support business decision making. The company pioneered the first successful paid online news site and its industry leading innovation enables it to serve customers wherever they may be, via the Web, mobile devices and tablets. The Dow Jones Local Media Group publishes community newspapers, Web sites and other products in six U.S. states. Dow Jones & Company (www.dowjones.com) is a News Corporation company (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV; http://www.newscorp.com/).
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2012年1月16日星期一

Caixin Online: China pension funds closer to stock investing

By Lan Fang
BEIJING (
Caixin Online
) — China’s struggling securities market is getting a psychological shot in the arm on rising expectations that pension funds may soon provide hundreds of billions of yuan in new investment cash.
Since his appointment in late October, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chairman Guo Shuqing has mentioned several times that he wants to widen securities market access for pension and housing provident funds.
Chen Liang, director of fund oversight at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS), said a consensus could be reached soon among key parties involved in pension fund investment talks.

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Various government authorities including the CSRC, MHRSS and the National Development and Reform Commission have been discussing since late last year broad issues such as investment target qualifications, government policies, fund operations, market oversight and legal responsibilities, Chen said. They’ve also discussed opening the stock market to housing provident funds, which companies manage for employees’ future housing purchases.
A “breakthrough development” that would let urban pension funds — government-run social security funds for most workers in China’s cities — buy and sell stock was recently reached, said Ji Ning, deputy head of the Employment and Income Distribution Department at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Discussions are likewise continuing over whether private insurance schemes for rural workers, few of whom are eligible for social security, will be allowed to follow suit.
Neither securities regulators nor fund managers have set a possible timetable for unleashing the full power of pension funds on the nation’s stock exchanges. For now, the government limits market access to certain social security and annuity funds, which can invest up to 40% of their assets in securities.
As of the end of 2010, the nation’s urban pension funds controlled a cumulative 1.5 trillion yuan ($238 billion), including 857 billion yuan managed by the National Social Security Fund Council. The rural insurance plan, an option for farm workers and other self-employed launched in 2009, held 42.3 billion yuan.

Two sides

Supporters and skeptics of pension fund stock investing are among those participating in the ongoing negotiations. The former include government officials, who say funds would help stabilize the nation’s securities markets, which weakened in 2011. Doubters include State Council members, who call stock investing too risky for public funds earmarked for retirees.

A hard landing for the Chinese economy

Mark Faber, Editor and Publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report in Hong Kong, talks to Barron’s Michael Santoli at the 2012 Barron’s Roundtable conference about the consequences of a coming economic slowdown in China.

These and related disagreements have brewed for years while, according to reports, some pension-linked insurance funds have gone ahead and invested in stocks.
The State Council’s official position is that any change in pension investment policy should put safety first. The cabinet wants strict supervision of stock trading by pension funds, for example, and has called for tighter laws and regulations before regulators broaden investment channels.
For officials at MHRSS and NDRC, however, a main sticking point has been a disagreement over which government agency would actually invest pensioners’ money.
Caixin has learned MHRSS, NDRC and other agencies have reached a basic consensus on most pension-securities issues. For example, they’ve agreed individual accounts and a trust model should be used for all stock investing.
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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.

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2012年1月9日星期一

Eastday-Financial regulators to minimize systemic risks

BEIJING – China’s major financial regulators highlighted the necessity to curb systemic risks and maintain financial stability by all means in 2012 on Sunday, one day after the National Financial Work Conference concluded.
“We will strengthen the monitor over financial institutions while tracking domestic and international economic situation, to effectively counter economic and financial risks,” said People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, in a statement after its annual work meeting ended.
It said it would research specific measures to reduce systemic risks among financial institutions and gear up to set up a deposit insurance system to serve the purpose.
“We must firmly hold on to the bottom line of no systemic and regional risks,” said Shang Fulin, head of China Banking Regulatory Commission on Sunday in a statement.
He said banking environment will become more complicated and increasingly competitive in 2012, along with stricter requirements of banking services from society. “The regulatory task will be more difficult.”
The government will focus on potential credit and liquidity risks this year, and prevent the off-balance sheet risk from spreading, said Shang.
In November 2011, the International Monetary Fund warned that China faces near-term domestic risks to the financial system, including the impact of the recent sharp credit expansion on banks’ asset quality, the rise of off-balance-sheet exposures and lending outside of the formal banking sector.
It said the financial system could be severely impacted if credit, property, currency and yield curve shocks occurred together.
Premier Wen Jiabao called for the banking institutions to set up a more complete and prudent risk-monitoring regime on Saturday to prevent systemic risk.
Although the local government debts made via financing vehicles are “generally safe and controllable”, the revenues and spendings through the vehicles should be included in the government’s budget management, and a mechanism will be established to control the gross local government debts, he said at the end of the two-day National Financial Work Conference in Beijing.
Prior to the conference, analysts expected a new financial State-owned assets regulator to be set up soon for better control on risks, as the European sovereign debt crisis worsens and the global economy faces rising uncertainty.
“Although such an institution hasn’t come into being as the market predicted, the government will probably establish a financial systemic risk regulatory commission directly led by a vice premier,” said Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at the Industrial Bank Co Ltd.
Li Yang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a major government think tank, said earlier that systemic risks could be well curbed as long as the country maintains comparatively high economic growth.
China could probably achieve an economic growth rate of 8.8 percent in 2012, as macroeconomic adjustments start to show effects since the second quarter, said Cao Yuanzheng, chief economist at the Bank of China Ltd.
The country will continue to implement prudent monetary policy this year to promote stable and relatively fast economic development, and will enhance monitoring and fend off risk of cross-border capital flows, said PBC.
After the central bank cut reserve requirement for lenders for the first time since 2008 at the beginning of December, new yuan loans in December registered a higher-than-expected 640.5 billion yuan ($101 billion), and M2, a broad measure of money supply, rose by 13.6 percent, according to data released by PBC on Sunday.
In 2011, the new yuan lending totaled 7.47 trillion yuan. Cao expected the figure for 2012 to stand at about 8 trillion yuan

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Revenue part of the State budget of Turkmenistan from 2011 onwards was 137.2 per cent

Minister of Finance of Turkmenistan Dovletgeldi Sadykov at the Government meeting, reported on the State budget of Turkmenistan in the year 2011, correspondent BakuToday. “The revenue part of the budget year 2011 was 137.2 per cent expenditure of 93.7%,” said Sadykov. According to him, 75.3 per cent of the budget was released on the financing of the social sphere and communicated in the form of investment for the construction of social facilities. “On the basis of the reporting period, the revenue part of the local budget has been implemented at the level of 121%, shipment-96.9%,” said the head of the Ministry of Finance of Turkmenistan.
As already reported BakuToday, for January-September 2011, the revenues of the State budget of Turkmenistan were executed at 123.1% and 93% of the costs compared with the plan. From all budget 75.8 per cent was directed towards financing of the social sphere.
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2012年1月3日星期二

Putting a Value on Your Startup

In 2011, we saw a variety of young companies join the billion-dollar valuation club. These included Airbnb, Dropbox, Square, Spotify and Gilt Groupe. In fact, the rounds of financing have looked like IPOs, with amounts exceeding $100 million.
We also saw a group of hot companies hit the IPO market, such as LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Pandora (NYSE:P), Zynga (NYSE:ZNGA), Groupon (Nasdaq:GRPN) and Zillow (Nasdaq:Z). They currently have a combined market value of more than $32 billion (for a closer look at Social IPOs in 2011, check out my recent post.)
Keep in mind that these companies are generating revenues — and in some cases, even profits! As a result, it is easier to use traditional approaches to come up with valuations.
But what should be done with a pre-revenue startup? In this situation, there are some ways to get a sense of the valuation:
Amounts: For a Series A round, a typical amount is $3 million to $5 million. So given that a venture capitalist often will take a minority position, the valuation of a company usually will be in excess of $10 million.
The Lingo: VCs have a certain vocabulary, and it can have a big impact on your valuation. First of all, you need to understand the concepts of “premoney” and “postmoney.” Premoney is the valuation before the investment is made, and postmoney is the sum of the premoney valuation and the investment.
Example: Let’s say a VC is willing to invest $4 million in your company at a valuation of $10 million. In most cases, he or she means that valuation is on a postmoney basis, giving the firm an equity stake of 40%. However, if the $10 million valuation is considered premoney, then the stake would be 28% ($4 million divided by $14 million).
You also should account for the option pool. This is the percentage of the outstanding shares available for option grants to employees. For early-stage companies, the option pool can range from 10% to 20%. When the VC negotiates the valuation, he or she will apply the option pool on the premoney valuation. Ultimately, this lessens the value of your equity position.
Timing: If your space is red-hot and you have multiple VCs interested in your deal, you should raise as much money as possible — and negotiate as hard as possible. Bidding wars are a common theme in the startup game, but they can fizzle out quickly (just look at prior trends like podcasting and RSS).
Proof Points: Measure key metrics continuously and set goals, say on a weekly and monthly basis. If you can show that your startup is making consistent progress, you’ll likely get VCs’ attention.
You also should try to highlight your progress against competitors. Are you becoming the dominant player in the space? If so, the valuation should spike. Consider that tech often is a winner-take-all kind of business.
Team Value: If you have rock star executives and engineers, they actually might have independent value. In some cases, a brilliant engineer can fetch more than $1 million. Companies like Facebook and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) often acquire companies for their talent, not their products or customers.
Valuation Time Bombs: Even if you get a sky-high valuation, it might be worthless. How? VCs usually will require liquidation preferences. This means a firm will get back all — or even more — of its initial investment if the company is sold or liquidated. In other words, if the valuation of the “exit” is less than the investment amount, your take will be zilch.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of “The Complete M&A Handbook,” “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli
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Caixin Online: Key China finance meet to avoid some topics

By Zhang Yuzhe, Wen Xiu and Lu Yuan
BEIJING (
Caixin Online
) — In a meeting this week that will set the tone for major financial reforms in the coming year, analysts expect policy makers to remain muted on top leadership changes which could impact the course of policies.
Scheduled for Jan. 6, the two-day conference will consider proposed policy amendments to improve the country’s financial regulatory environment. Sources close to the conference, who declined to be named, told Caixin that opposition remains strong to establishing a consolidated regulatory body for supervising and managing state-owned assets of financial institutions.

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The topic is not included on the meeting’s discussion agenda, according to people familiar with the situation.
In the midst of the rapid expansion of state-owned assets, the Ministry of Finance said as of the end of 2007, the amount of state-owned assets in centrally administered financial institutions alone reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($190 billion), with more than 40 trillion yuan worth of assets under their management.
Figures for financial assets under local-government control are not made available, but are estimated to be enormous as well.
In most circumstances, these financial institutions are owned and controlled by the same government agency and respond to different regulatory authorities, depending on the type of their businesses, which gives rise to conflicts of interest as well as regulatory redundancy and confusion.
Li Shuguang, deputy dean of the China University of Political Science and Law’s graduate school, is among the most vocal proponents for creating a single regulatory agency to unify oversight. He said the government should establish a new commission to represent the ownership of all state-owned financial assets.
The agency would be the counterpart, Li continued, of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which manages state-owned assets in centrally administered enterprises, excluding those in the financial industry.
Li’s idea is strongly opposed by Yin Jianfeng, deputy director of the financial research institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yin argued that a consolidated regulatory body would amplify the monopolistic power of state-owned companies, adding that the trend of financial reform should be ownership diversification and more competition.
Opposition voices are also emanating from the halls of the central bank and regulatory authorities in the banking, securities and insurance industries. An official from the central bank, for example, said the proposed agency would overlap the work of Central Huijin Investment Ltd., which already exercises rights and obligations as an investor in major state-owned financial enterprises.
Since policy makers are not expected to broach the contentious topic, analysts say areas of reform perceived as more viable could see change. Some said the meeting is likely to push forward with the creation of a deposit insurance system, which will require financial institutions, mainly banks, to insure against bankruptcy so that even the largest ones have a door to wind down and go bankrupt.
The meeting agenda looks set to focus on the establishment of a consolidated regulatory body for domestic bond markets, where the participants face multiple and often inconsistent administrative requirements from different regulatory authorities.
Inspiring as these topics seem, analysts say they don’t expect the meeting to roll out major, potentially disturbing reform measures, at a time when political leadership is about to change.
Held every five years, the national financial work conference shapes the landscape of China’s financial industry.
The first conference, held in 1997, created authorities to manage the securities industry and social-insurance funds separately. Previously, both responsibilities had been charged with the central bank.
Five years later, the second conference decided to create the banking regulatory commission and carry out share-ownership reform of state-owned banks; China Investment Corp., on the other hand, was established after the third meeting in 2007 to improve returns on China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves.
See this report at Caixin Online

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2012年1月2日星期一

Jun Group Secures $2.5 Million From Western Technology Investment (WTI)

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire -12/13/11)- Jun Group (www.jungroup.com), the premier social video platform, today announced that it has secured $2.5 million in financing from Western Technology Investment (WTI) (www.westerntech.com). Jun Group joins WTI’s portfolio of social Internet companies, including Kosmix, myYearbook, Plaxo, StumbleUpon, Ustream, Youku, and, most notably, Facebook.
“Since we founded Jun Group in 2005, we have grown the company into a leader in one of digital advertising’s hottest areas — online video — and pioneered the new category of social video,” said Mitchell Reichgut, founder and CEO of Jun Group. “The opportunity to change online video advertising from the interruptive model of yesterday by putting people in control is significant and partnering with WTI will enable us to drive the category of social video forward.”
The financing from WTI provides Jun Group with the capital to accelerate its strong growth in the social video space. Today, the Jun Group social video platform delivers millions of monthly opt-in video views across social networks, mobile devices, and YouTube. Jun Group has tripled its revenue since 2009 by working with a roster of Fortune 500 brands, major entertainment companies, and media and creative agencies.
“Online video advertising is a significant and rapidly growing opportunity, but, most importantly, it is ripe for innovation,” said Dan Holman, investment partner at WTI. “Jun Group is a clear leader in the space. They’ve set the standard for opt-in, performance-based video, and our partnership delivers the financing to aggressively capitalize on this opportunity.”
Jun Group will put the financing from WTI to work by continuing to build its sales, business development, and client services team, which tripled in 2011. The company will also aggressively advance its industry leading distribution and analytics technology.
About Western Technology Investment (WTI)For more than 30 years, WTI has provided financing facilities to high-growth public and private companies, including 3Par Data, Brocade, Cerent, Facebook, Google, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, IronPort, Juniper Networks, Postini, Transmeta and Youku.
About Jun GroupJun Group is the premier social video platform. The company’s distribution technology delivers millions of monthly opt-in video views across social networks, mobile devices, premium content sites, and YouTube. Jun Group distributes videos from 15 seconds to 3 minutes-long with exceptionally high completion rates and significant post-view activity, such as web site visits, coupon downloads, and store locator usage. The company’s analytics dashboard, Voyeur, provides real time data about views, shares, likes, tweets, ratings, comments, and geographic dispersal down to the state and town. Founded in 2005, Jun Group’s clients include Fortune 500 brands, major entertainment companies, and media and creative agencies. For more information, visit http://www.jungroup.com/.

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2011年12月29日星期四

Olympics, Titanic, Cuba shape travel in 2012

NEW YORK — The Olympics, the centennial of the Titanic sinking, new rules on travel to Cuba, a once-a-decade horticultural festival in the Netherlands and a continued reliance on technology and personalization will all help shape travel in 2012.
Here are some details on these and other destinations and trends.
EVENTS: The Summer Olympic Games take place in London, July 27-Aug. 12. For those without tickets, Hyde Park and other places will host live broadcasts of the games on giant outdoor screens. A three-month arts festival beginning June 21 will add a cultural component, from Shakespeare to music to street performers.
Great Britain will also celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee June 2-5. She is only the second British monarch after Queen Victoria to mark 60 years on the throne.
The Netherlands is planning Floriade, a horticultural expo that takes place once a decade. A 160-acre park with five different floral and nature themes opens April 5-Oct. 7, in Venlo, about 85 miles or two hours by train from Amsterdam; http://www.floriade.com.
The European Capitals of Culture for 2012 are Maribor, Slovenia, known for wines, a historic town center and nearby forests, waterfalls and moors; and Guimaraes, Portugal, known for crafts like goldsmithing, pottery and embroidery, and for its roots as the birthplace of Portugal’s first king, who established the country as an independent kingdom from Spain. Arabella Bowen, executive director of editorial and content strategy at the travel guidebook publisher Fodor’s, says both destinations are great values for food and hotels, with interesting attractions away from the crowds.
In the U.S., the bicentennial of the War of 1812 will be marked with tall ships, educational events and fireworks in several destinations, including June 6-12 in Norfolk, Va., and June 13-19 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay.
TITANIC 100TH: The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York. A variety of events in 2012 — including some cruises — will mark 100 years since the tragedy in which more than 1,500 died. Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic offers an extensive permanent Titanic exhibit but will also be hosting special exhibits and events for the April anniversary and into the summer. Visitors can also tour Halifax’s Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where 121 Titanic victims are buried.
The Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, and an enormous waterfront development called Titanic Quarter is taking shape on the site of the former shipyard, with hotels, eateries, parks, theaters and galleries. Titanic Belfast, an ultra-modern building whose shape and silvery color evokes ship hulls on the water, is set to open in April with Titanic-themed galleries and interactive exhibits. Southampton, England, which lost 549 locals when the ship went down, mostly crew members, is also opening a new interactive museum, Sea City, focusing on various aspects of the Titanic story.
Far from those ports, the Titanic Pigeon Forge attraction in Tennessee is a half-scale, three-deck reproduction of the ship. A centennial tribute “Night to Remember” is planned for April 14.
DESTINATIONS: For “up and coming” destinations for 2012, Croatia, Vietnam and Panama were named in an annual survey of 640 travel agents and owners from Travel Leaders. For top 10 international destinations based on 2012 booking data, the Travel Leaders survey listed Caribbean cruises; Cancún, Mexico; Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Mediterranean cruises; Rome; London; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Paris; Montego Bay and Negril, Jamaica.
Fodor’s Bowen put Cuba on her list of top destinations for 2012. U.S. citizens can now travel to Cuba legally even if they don’t have relatives there under new U.S. State Department regulations permitting certain types of trips. “Everyone wants to get in to see the country before everything changes,” said Bowen.
Interest in Myanmar is also increasing. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently visited, and an organization founded by activist Aung San Suu Kyi said it welcomes responsible tourism. Abercrombie & Kent has filled several tours and just added another departure for fall 2012.
NORTHERN LIGHTS: The aurora borealis or northern lights, those mysterious curtains of color seen in Northern Hemisphere skies, are caused by a cycle of magnetic activity on the sun. The cycle lasts about 11 years, and experts say a period of low activity is ending.
Some folks are predicting this will be a banner year for northern lights. The University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute, which publishes auroral forecasts at http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast, doesn’t necessarily foresee peak viewing in 2012, but agrees that we are entering a period of “increasing solar activity” with “more active, colorful aurora during the normal viewing season,” late August to late April (when there’s less daylight than during summer).
TECHNOLOGY: The smartphone has become the must-have tool for travel, offering GPS navigation, online bookings, scannable check-ins, and QR codes and locaters with information geared to wherever you are.
Ad agency JWT’s travel trend list for 2012 mentions apps like Uber, a cab-dispatching service; Postagram, which turns snapshots into postcards; and Vocre, an app that translates spoken words into other languages.
But never mind crowd-sourcing from websites where phony reviews and picky consumers make it hard to figure out the real deal. Instead, travelers are friend-sourcing, with sites like Trippy.com showing recommendations from your social networks. Another new app, Wenzani, takes content from guidebook publishers Lonely Planet, Frommer’s and DK and integrates it with advice from your friends and social networks.
ELECTION AND ECONOMY: Do presidential elections affect travel? A recent survey found 75 percent of U.S. Tour Operators Association members believe travel decreases in election years. Respondents said uncertainty and negative rhetoric keeps people home.
Still, 75 percent of USTOA members anticipate a growth in sales in 2012 as the economy improves. Eighty percent of agents and owners at Travel Leaders also said bookings for 2012 are so far equal to or higher than 2011.

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