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ASIAN BUSINESS
THE landmark collaboration between two
rivals – the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) – marks the
beginning of a new era of strengthening of ties among Asian exchanges.
Coming together in the face of competition,
the partnership will enhance the strength of Hong Kong as a yuan hub, and
Singapore as a foreign exchange hub as well as a gateway for the futures market
in Asia, said the Singapore Business Times (BT).
The two exchanges have agreed to cooperate
in various areas, including developing yuan-denominated products jointly and
working on technology development and regulatory issues, said the BT.
Earlier, China had allowed Singapore to
become one of the two yuan deposit investment hubs besides London.
That was the first time China had opened its
yuan deposit investment business ouside of Hong Kong.
This collaboration between SGX and HKEx would pave the way for the deepening of
the yuan business which Hong Kong is already famous for.
In another landmark action, a group of
European institutional investors have sued Royal Bank
of Scotland (RBS) and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) for damages of up
to US$250mil related to complex financial products purchased prior to the 2008
financial crisis.
ASIAN MANAGEMENT
Standard
Chartered has been selected to provide a comprehensive cash management and
trade guarantee solution for the Asian business of Schlumberger, the world’s
largest oilfield services company. Under the mandate, the bank has become the
primary cash management partner for Schlumberger in 13 markets (12 countries in
Asia and Ghana).
With its
expansion in a growing number of markets in Asia, Schlumberger was seeking ways
to optimize its working capital management processes across Asia. Standard
Chartered has developed a tailored centralized payments and regional liquidity
management solution for Schlumberger by simplifying its banking structure,
improving and standardizing cash management practices across the region and
optimizing returns on trapped cash in restricted local markets.
Centralization
and automation are key features of the solution which uses SWIFT Fileact as
delivery mechanism for industry standard ISO XML file for payments. Credit
facilities supporting the cash management and trade guarantees are consolidated
under the regional umbrella agreements, and cash management processes are
integrated to support Schlumberger’s Shared Service Centre in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Firas
Fattal, Schlumberger Asia and Middle East treasurer said: “We have been very
pleased overall with the Standard Chartered Bank implementation process for
Asia, particularly around account opening and other technical aspects of the
implementation. Standard Chartered Bank team furthermore demonstrated a
proactive approach to future servicing as the implementation process nears
completion. We consider Standard Chartered Bank as a core member of our
banking group.”
BANKING
State-owned Dena Bank
plans to open its first overseas office in London by the end of this month.
"We have got approval from RBI and government for
opening a representative office in London. The UK
regulatory authority has also given informal permission," Dena Bank
executive director Ashok Dutt
told PTI. It will be inaugurated by end of this month, he said, adding the bank
intends to make it a full service branch in another one year.
The bank also intends to open branches in Hong Kong, Nairobi and Johannesburg.
Slowdown in economy has compelled the bank to lower
its loan growth target to 15-16 per cent from the earlier estimate of 18 per
cent.
The demand from corporates has been low, he said,
adding that the bank is expecting pick-up in demand from retail, agriculture
and export segments.
In 2012-13, it had witnessed 16.27 per cent growth
in credit to Rs 66,456.88 crore, as against Rs 57,159.20 crore outstanding at
the end of March 2012.
For the second quarter ended September, 2013-14, the
bank reported 55.19 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 107.38 crore, on
account of higher provisions.
The bank's provisions increased to Rs 266 crore
during Q2, 2013-14.
State-run banks may find it easier to tap capital
markets following a move in the works to increase the limit of Rs 3,000
crore authorised capital. The finance
ministry is holding discussions with the Reserve Bank of
India to enhance the limit that is seen to constrict banks' ability to
raise funds. "This will allow banks to raise more money and plan their
public offers as per their requirements," said a finance ministry
official, requesting anonymity. State-run banks will need about Rs 4.15 lakh
crore to meet Basel III global banking norms and the government wants to keep
the groundwork ready. According to the Reserve Bank of India, Rs 1.5 lakh crore
of the required additional funds will be equity capital while Rs 2.75 lakh
crore will be nonequity capital. The finance ministry has already given an
in-principal approval to state-run banks for raising fresh capital through
qualified institutional placement (QIP) and follow-on public offer (FPO). The
banks in which the government holds more than 75% stake will be pushed to approach
the markets for meeting their capital requirements. SBI announced its Rs
9,576-crore QIP last Saturday and eight other banks have similar plans. Experts
say an increase in the limit of authorised capital will improve liquidity of
banks. "This will also enhance confidence in both banks and the financial
sector. Given the current economic situation, when bad loans are on the rise,
banks need adequate capitalisation," said Amit Jain, partner at BMR Advisors.
BUSINESS
Wipro is acquiring US-based mortgage due diligence
and risk
management service provider Opus CMC (Opus Capital
Markets Consultants) for $75 million (Rs 465 crore). The amount includes a
deferred earn-out component, a contractual provision where the compensation is
tied to achieving certain financial goals.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Opus CMC provides comprehensive risk management solutions to the mortgage industry in the US. It offers loan level due diligence, valuation support, forensic analysis, and advisory services on all classes of mortgage products, residential and commercial.
Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-09, caused by the housing slump, the US imposed stringent new regulations. This is compelling those in the mortgage business to outsource services.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Opus CMC provides comprehensive risk management solutions to the mortgage industry in the US. It offers loan level due diligence, valuation support, forensic analysis, and advisory services on all classes of mortgage products, residential and commercial.
Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-09, caused by the housing slump, the US imposed stringent new regulations. This is compelling those in the mortgage business to outsource services.
FINANCE
Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based
startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in
emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the
Internet.
U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc, will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, chief executive and co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters.
Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter, he said.
More than 11 million people use U2opia's Fonetwish service, which helps access Facebook and Google Talk on mobile without a data connection.
Twitter, which boasts of about 230 million users, held a successful initial public offering last month that valued the company at around $25 billion.
U2opia uses a telecom protocol named USSD, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, which does not allow viewing of pictures, videos or other graphics.
"USSD as a vehicle for Twitter is almost hand in glove because Twitter has by design a character limit, it's a very text-driven social network," Menon said.
Eight out of 10 people in emerging markets are still not accessing data on their phone, he said.
U2opia, which is present in 30 countries in seven international languages, will localize the Twitter feed according to the location of the user.
"So somebody in Paraguay would definitely get content that would be very very localized to that market vis a vis somebody sitting in Mumbai or Bangalore," he said.
U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc, will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, chief executive and co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters.
Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter, he said.
More than 11 million people use U2opia's Fonetwish service, which helps access Facebook and Google Talk on mobile without a data connection.
Twitter, which boasts of about 230 million users, held a successful initial public offering last month that valued the company at around $25 billion.
U2opia uses a telecom protocol named USSD, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, which does not allow viewing of pictures, videos or other graphics.
"USSD as a vehicle for Twitter is almost hand in glove because Twitter has by design a character limit, it's a very text-driven social network," Menon said.
Eight out of 10 people in emerging markets are still not accessing data on their phone, he said.
U2opia, which is present in 30 countries in seven international languages, will localize the Twitter feed according to the location of the user.
"So somebody in Paraguay would definitely get content that would be very very localized to that market vis a vis somebody sitting in Mumbai or Bangalore," he said.
Apple Inc has paid its leading outside law firm
approximately $60 million to wage patent litigation against Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd in a California federal court, according to Apple legal documents filed
late on Thursday.
Apple and Samsung are engaged in global litigation over each other's intellectual property. The two mobile technology rivals have gone to trial twice in the last two years in a San Jose, California federal court, and juries have awarded Apple a total of roughly $930 million.
In court filings, Apple asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to order Samsung to pay $15.7 million of the total amount Apple has spent in legal fees.
"Awarding fees to Apple 'flows quite naturally' from the jury's willfulness verdict as well as Samsung's extensive record of willful, deliberate, and calculated decisions to copy the iPhone, in blatant disregard for Apple's IP," Apple's attorneys said in its filing.
Apple could not immediately be reached for comment, and Samsung declined to comment.
In its fee motion, Apple said it has paid the Morrison & Foerster law firm approximately $60 million through last month, not counting lawyers who had billed less than $100,000 on the case.
Apple received "a significant discount" on Morrison & Foerster's standard rates, it said, because of its longtime client relationship with the firm. In addition, Apple expected to pay its other main outside firm, WilmerHale, approximately $2 million in fees for a week-long damages retrial that took place last month.
Apple and Samsung are engaged in global litigation over each other's intellectual property. The two mobile technology rivals have gone to trial twice in the last two years in a San Jose, California federal court, and juries have awarded Apple a total of roughly $930 million.
In court filings, Apple asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to order Samsung to pay $15.7 million of the total amount Apple has spent in legal fees.
"Awarding fees to Apple 'flows quite naturally' from the jury's willfulness verdict as well as Samsung's extensive record of willful, deliberate, and calculated decisions to copy the iPhone, in blatant disregard for Apple's IP," Apple's attorneys said in its filing.
Apple could not immediately be reached for comment, and Samsung declined to comment.
In its fee motion, Apple said it has paid the Morrison & Foerster law firm approximately $60 million through last month, not counting lawyers who had billed less than $100,000 on the case.
Apple received "a significant discount" on Morrison & Foerster's standard rates, it said, because of its longtime client relationship with the firm. In addition, Apple expected to pay its other main outside firm, WilmerHale, approximately $2 million in fees for a week-long damages retrial that took place last month.
INSURANCE
Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC) Wednesday announced their tie up
with all five designated insurance repositories to provide life insurance
policies in electronic form across all its products.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) has approved five companies -- Database Management Ltd., Central
Insurance Repository Ltd, SHCIL (Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd)
Projects Ltd, CAMS Repository Services Ltd, and Karvy Insurance Ltd -- as
insurance repositories (IR).
Reliance Life Insurance has tied up with all these
insurance repositories to enable and encourage policy holders to keep their
policies in Demat form.
The company is one of the first few private insurers
to offer this facility to its customers, it said in a statement.
This green initiative will facilitate customers to
buy and monitor multiple life insurance policies in a single Demat account.
MARKETING
Taiwanese smart phone maker HTC is increasing its
marketing budget in an effort to increase smartphone sales in India.
"India is the top market in the South Asian market and a big investment
will be done for marketing purposes," HTC Senior Marketing Director for South Asia Sirpa H
Ikola told ET Telecom. In 2014, the company will adopt a more targeted
marketing approach. "Our marketing approach will be targeted towards
certain segments through more content, helping consumers to learn about the
product. We want to consumerize our key selling points," Sirpa said.
Through this new marketing strategy, the company
will try to establish a stronger presence in the country.
Sipra indicated that HTC may rope in local brand
endorser in 2014. "At the global level, we have a two year contact with
Robert Downey Jr to create brand elements for HTC through different media. In
2014, we are looking at bigger and more local presence in India," she added.
In addition to that, HTC India is
also planning to join hands with other Indian telecom operators. HTC's Country
Head Faisal Siddiqui said that the company is now looking at much deeper
partnerships with the Indian telecom service providers.
For its latest Desire
smartphones, HTC India has tied up with Tata Docomo to provide data
bundling with smartphones for one year.
According to Shirpa, HTC will launch a number of 4G LTE smartphones in
the Indian
market next year. "We have a number of devices lined up for the Indian
4G market. HTC will bring 4G LTE smartphones in mid to high price range in
2014," she explained.
On the mid-range 4G smartphone market opportunity,
Sirpa said, "Globally, we have observed that the 4G LTE market is not just
about high-end smartphones. There is already a big market for mid-range 4G LTE
market, being pushed by telecom operators and device manufacturers."
ODISHA BUSINESS
Asus India, the Indian arm of Taiwanese personal computer
vendor and motherboards maker, plans to open 15 more exclusive stores across the country by the end of this fiscal.
“We plan to take the number of exclusive stores in the country to 100 and will open 15 more outlets by the end of March 2014,” said Unaez Quarishi, sales & distribution director, System Business Group, Asus (India) on the occasion of opening of 85th store of the company here.
New outlets will be opened in Ranchi, Visakhapatnam, and three more in Maharashtra among others, he said.
In Odisha, the company will open three more exclusive stores at Cuttack, Rourkela and Sambalpur by February end. The store inaugurated today at Bhubaneswar is the first brand outlet of the company in the state. The new store will have the company’s entire range of entertainment, classic and elite series of products.
Product range also includes the Eee Pad Transformer, a tablet choice for users looking for both media consumption and mobile productivity with an expandable keyboard docking station. The store also houses touch series of laptops, said Ritesh Kumar, Branch Sales manager in charge of Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar.
“We plan to take the number of exclusive stores in the country to 100 and will open 15 more outlets by the end of March 2014,” said Unaez Quarishi, sales & distribution director, System Business Group, Asus (India) on the occasion of opening of 85th store of the company here.
New outlets will be opened in Ranchi, Visakhapatnam, and three more in Maharashtra among others, he said.
In Odisha, the company will open three more exclusive stores at Cuttack, Rourkela and Sambalpur by February end. The store inaugurated today at Bhubaneswar is the first brand outlet of the company in the state. The new store will have the company’s entire range of entertainment, classic and elite series of products.
Product range also includes the Eee Pad Transformer, a tablet choice for users looking for both media consumption and mobile productivity with an expandable keyboard docking station. The store also houses touch series of laptops, said Ritesh Kumar, Branch Sales manager in charge of Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar.
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Source of
Information for this issue: Google alert accessed on 9th,10th and 13th Dec 2013
We welcome your suggestions in improving this information updating service.
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Compilation
Sabita Sahu
Sabita Sahu
Junior Librarian
Concept, Layout and
Editing
Syamaghana Mohanty
Chief Librarian
Chief Librarian
Information and
Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of
Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road,
Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
Tel:0674-2374832, 2374833
E-mail:library@asbm.ac.in, chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in
Sabita Sahu :Junior Librarian and Syamaghana Mohanty : Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Information Services Unit, Chanakya Central Library, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar. chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in ; www.asbm.ac.in
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