The drawbacks of defined contribution pensions August 31, 2010 IT HAS been a rocky couple of years for pension funds. Some high profile defined benefit plans, such as those of BT and British Airways, have suffered badly since the on-set of the financial crisis. But the problems that have hit defined contribution (DC) plans have not made the same waves in the media. The [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS August 31, 2010 NORTHERN TRUST OPENS DOOR TO CHINA Asset manager Northern Trust announced that it has been granted permission to open a branch office in Beijing. The new office plans to support institutional clients in China with global custody, accounting, compliance and performance management services. The firm has offered services to clients in China since 2005 through [...]
Buck gets cold-shoulder August 31, 2010 THE dollar is at a cross roads. At the peak of the financial crisis it was firmly in the set of “safe haven” currencies and was bought in favour of the euro, the pound and most emerging market currencies. However, as threats of a double-dip recession grip the markets, the greenback has been given the [...]
JAPAN ISSUES CAN’T STOP YEN STRENGTH August 31, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT ONE of the inviolable rules of speculative markets such as foreign exchange is that traders will push prices beyond all rhyme and reason as long as momentum remains on their side. Witness the price movements in the yen as markets opened for trade at the start of this week. The [...]
Cross-border bids will affect the FX markets August 31, 2010 DRAGONS and tigers are known for their voracious appetites. China and India, it appears, are no exception – these Asian powerhouses’ demand for raw materials has proved unrelenting despite the subdued global backdrop. The outlook for sustained commodities’ demand has spurred the natural resources sector into action. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has stepped up [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS August 31, 2010 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short sterling-dollar from $1.5500 and short sterling-Aussie below A$1.7175 Expertise: Combining fundamental and technical analysis Market conditions are highly volatile and generally lacking in conviction about the future direction of markets. This creates a situation where we need to reduce the time frame and objectives of our trades. I [...]
THE TIPSTER August 31, 2010 MUTTERINGS of further intervention by the Bank of Japan are being put to the test by the market, which is betting on the central bank being unable to stem the tide of yen appreciation. There was a temporary weakening back towards the ¥84.60 level against the US dollar following the better-than-expected consumer confidence numbers. However, [...]
Firms’ sanctions compliance must be tightened up August 31, 2010 FINANCIAL regulation reform is all the rage. Last week, President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled his programme of “action and ambition” for France’s forthcoming presidency of the G20. It puts global reform of financial markets and systems at the very top of the agenda. The US has already passed sweeping reform legislation and the coalition government has [...]
New rules will make reverse takeovers easier August 31, 2010 FIELD FISHER WATERHOUSE IT might have gone under most people’s radar, but new guidance from the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) will have a serious effect on reverse takeovers. Under the Listing Rules, an issuer’s equity shares are generally suspended on the announcement or leak of a reverse takeover unless or until the UKLA is satisfied [...]
Currency intervention is back on the cards for the Bank of Japan August 30, 2010 THE world of foreign exchange tends to get very tricky when central bankers start getting worried about the strength or weakness of their currency. This is the position in which the Bank of Japan (BOJ) now finds itself after the yen surged to multi-year highs of ¥84 to the dollar. It has to decide whether [...]
