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    Axel Weber nominated as next UBS chairman

    Swiss Bank UBS said on Friday it has nominated the former president of Deutsche Bundesbank, Axel Weber, for election to join its board in 2012 and to chair the board from 2013 onwards. Weber’s nomination to the board of directors will take place during its May 3 shareholders meeting according to the bank. Weber is the first non Swiss to be elected to the post and succeeds former Swiss finance minister Kaspar Villiger, who has been credited with guiding the bank out of its worst crisis in the past. “With Axel Weber’s nomination, I am pleased that I can present a board member and future chairman who is an internationally renowned personal...
    On July 1, 2011 / By
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    Greece set for final vote on austerity bill

    The Greek government is set to hold a second vote on Thursday on an austerity bill that forms part of the bailout deal with the IMF and ECB. Amid public protests Greece is expected to pass the bill which needs to be implemented to guarantee the next tranche of financial support. Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday won a vote on the outline of the austerity programmes, which includes tax cuts and privations of public assets, by 155 votes to 138. The measures to be passed through the final bill are said to total €28bn in savings by 2015, which are to help offset Greece’s deficit crisis....
    On June 30, 2011 / By
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    New IMF chief Lagarde calls for Greece unity

    Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, was late on Tuesday elected as the first woman to head the IMF. Her victory was sealed after a late endorsement from the US which saw her beat Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens to the post. Lagarde, who succeeds Dominique Strauss Kahn following his resignation in May to deal with sexual assault allegations, is said to be facing tough challenges in the wake of the debt crisis surrounding several European nations. Immediately after her appointment Lagarde urged Greek ministers, who are due to vote on austerity measures worth €28.4bn on Wednesday, to unite so as to avoid default. The...
    On June 29, 2011 / By
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    TomTom shares crash after profit warning

    TomTom, the Dutch navigation system maker, on Tuesday lost an estimated €325.7m in market value as investors responded to the company’s profit warning published on Monday. The company said in a statement that it expects profits to decrease by almost half in 2011 compared to the year before. The drop was attributed to a decline in personal navigation devices, particularly in the US. “Consumer electronics markets have been weak over recent weeks and this trend is ongoing. The size of the European PND market is broadly as anticipated and for the year as a whole is expected to decline by around 10 percent. The North American PND market is e...
    On June 28, 2011 / By
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    New chief of IMF announcement imminent

    The IMF board’s 24 members are due to make a decision on who will be the next IMF managing director after the two key candidates had an opportunity to present all relevant information concerning their candidacy to the executive board.? French finance minister Christine Lagarde remains a clear favourite for the top job as head of the IMF according to a Reuter’s poll despite a last minute endorsement on Friday by Canada and Australia for Mexico’s central bank head Agustin Carstens.? In a published statement, representatives for the two countries, said: “It is important that the new IMF managing director is selected in an open, transpare...
    On June 27, 2011 / By
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    “You only feel liquidity when it’s not there”

    Liquidity is a key factor in all markets. And it is often more elusive and fragile than it appears, as recent events in the commodity markets have emphasised. “Obviously liquidity is a very relevant subject,” says Peter Billington, Head of FX Trading at Commerzbank. “We’ve had a timely reminder of the importance of liquidity in the markets, when you look at what happened to silver on the CME [Chicago Mercantile Exchange] after they changed the margin calls, and how quickly positions can be forced to be liquidated or squeezed. And certainly with some of that spill-over, we have seen the dollar impacted in the FX markets.” The decisio...
    On June 24, 2011 / By
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    EU leaders agree to Greek bailout?

    Europe’s leaders agreed late on Thursday to release a fresh €12bn bailout for Greece provided it passes an austerity package before its parliament.? Greece is expected to introduce strict measures of €28bn in tax rises and spending cuts and in addition will have to commence a €50bn programme in privatisations of state assets.? “Greece must finalise the package as a matter of urgency in the coming days to qualify for the new bailout,” a statement read.?The bailout contributions will come from 17 eurozone countries and the IMF but will not include direct aid from the UK....
    On June 24, 2011 / By
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    Does Dodd Frank meet the test of our times?

    With financial reform legislation barely a year old, Republican policymakers, urged on by Wall Street’s influential figureheads, have been vehemently spinning the yarn of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA) into new regulatory fabric, trying to ignore the distraction of initiatives to tear up certain aspects of the existing law. They condemn DFA because a vast amount of the rules that put it into effect are yet to be written. Simultaneously they are trying to restrain the control, influence and power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau so as to diminish DFA’s authorities by restraining funding a...
    On June 24, 2011 / By
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    Inbursa: Growth with profitability

    The bank has a very strong balance with a 20.5 percent tier one capital ratio, and its loan loss reserves cover 5.4 times the non performing loans. The strength is reflected in the BBB rating that Standard & Poor’s has given Inbursa – the highest rating in Mexico. Low operating costs is a key principle for Inbursa with an efficiency ratio of 40 percent – comparing positively to a market average of 74 percent – which translates into higher profitability, flexibility and more competitive products to its more than eight million clients. Inbursa’s management structure is very lean in order to be as close as possible to its clients,...
    On June 23, 2011 / By
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    Ideas-based trading

    Forex gained the confidence of active people investigating avenues of generating additional income long ago. Distance methods of earning are the most popular ones and attract the attention of the majority. Their unquestionable advantage is that they do not require any initial expenditure and time for transfers – trading on forex meets these requirements. At present hundreds of brokers offer their services on the foreign exchange markets, including both small- and large-scale international brokerage companies offering a whole range of services. One such company offering a comprehensive service is InstaForex, a broker actively acquiring cutti...
    On June 23, 2011 / By