Global Economy

Benchmarking, Financial Institutions, Loans, Mortgages, Benchmark Lending, Keyword Information, How People Make Money

2010-12-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

Benchmark Lending is the interest rate the banks pay when they borrow money. That's right; your bank borrows money, too. They must have a certain amount of money on reserve, and when they don't they borrow money over a very short term (such as one night).

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So the floor isn't the lowest you can go. There's something under the "floor". The rate known as "prime" has been the popular benchmark for lending in Canada.

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Taking a cue from the series of moves by RBI, banks pared rates. Public sector banks cut their benchmark prime lending rates up to 200 basis points, and private banks 50 basis points. The decline in deposit rates has been steeper with some banks lowering rates over 200 basis points for certain maturities.

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ICICI Bank, India?s second-largest lender, did not indicate whether it will cut rates. However, Joint MD & CFO Chanda Kochhar said: ?These measures will accelerate the move to a lower interest rate regime across the system.?

Last night in America, the American people chose socialism. They chose to have the government be the answer to everything. They chose to have the government take money from one group of people and give it to another.

The banking system is headed towards a cheaper rate regime. We will cut benchmark lending rates in two tranches. We may cut our rates at least 50 basis points in the first tranche in eight to ten days and further cuts will be made in the next tranche with a 15-day lag

The problem is not of availability of credit but demand. Credit is available for viable proposals,?

Process benchmarking: an application to lending products
Benchmarking techniques evolved from Xerox’s pioneering visit to Japan in the late 1970s. However, the application of the benchmarking concept to the banking industry did not take place until the late 1990s. Process benchmarking, in particular, is a tool that helps FIs to cut costs, improve productivity and integrate business processes. Although process benchmarking involves divulging what may be considered as sensitive or confidential information, forming de facto benchmarking partnerships with competitors allows participating institutions to compare cost and output advantages and disadvantages, when performing key processes involved in lending operations. This paper presents an application of process benchmarking to lending operations across Australia to highlight differences in costs involved in seemingly identical value chains.

Greece's economy

2010-05-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Greece adopted the euro as its currency in January 2002. The adoption of the euro provided Greece (formerly a high inflation risk country under the drachma) with access to competitive loan rates and also to low rates of the Eurobond market. This led to a dramatic increase in consumer spending, which gave a significant boost to economic growth.

Between 1997-2007, Greece averaged 4% GDP growth, almost twice the European Union (EU) average. As with other European countries, the financial crisis and resulting slowdown of the real economy have taken their toll on Greece’s rate of growth, which slowed to 2.0% in 2008. The economy went into recession in 2009 and contracted by 2.0% as a result of the world financial crisis and its impact on access to credit, world trade, and domestic consumption--the engine of growth in Greece. Key economic challenges with which the government is currently contending include a burgeoning government deficit (13.6% of GDP in 2009), escalating public debt (115.1% of GDP in 2009), and a decline in competitiveness. The EU placed Greece under its Excessive Deficit Procedure in 2009 and has asked Greece to bring its deficit back to the 3% EU ceiling by 2012. In late 2009, eroding public finances, misreported statistics, and inadequate follow-through on reforms prompted major credit rating agencies to downgrade Greece’s international debt rating, which has led to increased financial instability and a debt crisis. Under intense pressure by the EU and international lenders, the Greek Government has adopted a three-year reform program that includes cutting government spending, reducing the size of the public sector, tackling tax evasion, reforming the health care and pension systems, and improving competitiveness through structural reforms to the labor and product markets. The Greek Government projects that its reform program will achieve a reduction of Greece’s deficit by 4% of GDP in 2010 and allow Greece to decrease the deficit to below 3% by 2012. In April 2010, Greece requested activation of a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund support mechanism designed to assist Greece in financing its public debt.

The financial crisis and the consecutive recession caused an increase in unemployment to 9% in 2009 (from 7.5% in 2008). Unfortunately, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Greece have dropped, and efforts to revive them have been only partially successful as a result of declining competitiveness and a high level of red tape and bureaucracy. At the same time, Greek investment in Southeast Europe has increased, leading to a net FDI outflow in some years.

How to Profit on the Internet

2010-04-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

Over 50 million people have access to the Internet - and yet it is still in its infancy.

Every month sees millions of newcomers and thousands of businesses setting up online.

Combine this huge, expanding audience with the fact that marketing and advertising can be done on the Internet at a fraction of the costs of traditional methods . . . and you have a situation where the potential for online success is unlimited.

Here is a 7-step guide to ensure that you will cash in on this growing boom.

Decide What You Are Going to Sell

The online business opportunities that you will come across can be neatly divided into two areas: (1) Products (2) Services.

Selling Products

When you sell a product you can either carry out the whole operation of handling orders, stocking and shipping the goods, processing the payments

simply market for a company that will handle all the administration for you. Your job is merely to get the orders to the company and then receive commission.

== What product sells well on the Internet ? ==

The item that has been hailed as the number one business product of the future is . . . INFORMATION.

Examples of highly successful information products are the 'how-to' and self-improvement books. If you are knowledgeable about a particular subject you could consider writing and developing your own product and delivering it via E-mail.

Selling Services

One advantage of selling a service is that you can often generate a 'residual' commission - a monthly income all the while that the customer continues to use the service.

== What service is suitable for online selling ? ==

As the Internet boom continues the most obvious candidate is any service which assists companies in using the Internet. A prime example is a web hosting service: a web host will provide the space to put up a web site, the tools to manage it and technical advice.

How to Advertise

The 2-STEP Approach

The usual method of advertising is to have short Classified Ads which leave the reader in a state of enticement, so that he then asks for the full detailed information in your sales letter, ideally sent by autoresponder. The purpose of the ad is not to try to sell the product - it is simply to get interested people to respond.

As your ad may be competing with dozens of others in the same publication you must aim for a winning headline to make it stand out. Use key words which attract readers such as . . . Free, How, You , Money, Secret.

Using a Signature File

A Signature File is a section of text that you place at the end of your articles or E-mail messages. It should contain contact details and a brief summary of what your company offers.

Where to Advertise

Where to place Classified Ads

Online Services Classifieds: The major online services such as AOL, Compuserve, Delphi, Genie, Prodigy, MSN have sections for placing classified ads.

Ezines (newsletters): Ezines are E-mail magazines which you can subscribe to - usually for free. Most Ezines offer low cost advertising and are also an excellent source of marketing tips.

WWW (World wide web): You can set up your ads at web sites for free or at low cost.

Using Signatures in Discussion Groups

A discussion group is a group of people with a common interest in a specific topic. If you participate in discussion groups with useful contributions or helpful articles you can add your signature files at the end of your posting. Here are examples of discussion group areas.

Mailing Lists: There are thousands of mailing lists available on every conceivable topic.

You become a member of a mailing list by sending a simple 'subscribe' E-mail message to the list. You can post a message to the list and it will be distributed automatically to all the subscribers.

Newsgroups: Newsgroups (also known as Usenet) are similar to mailing lists except that you need to access the newsgroup with a newsreader online (whereas mailing list posts are sent to your E-mail box).

Online Services Forums: Similar to newsgroups, usually better controlled and organized.

Other places for free ads

Newsgroups: Some newsgroups allow ads. Examples are misc.entrepreneur, alt.internet.commerce, alt.make.money.fast.

Online services Forums: There are forums where ads are acceptable: try looking for forums which have sections with titles such as 'Opportunities', 'Marketing', 'Business'.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is the sending by E-mail of your advert or sales letter to a list of people who are looking for the product or service that you are offering. Such a list can be purchased from a mailing list broker.

Put Your Work on Auto-Pilot

Here are some software tools which can automate your work and reduce time and money spent online.

Autoresponders

An autoresponder spends 24 hours a day responding to inquires with information such as sales letters, price lists, catalogs, order forms.

If you have ever had to reply manually to 100 responses to an ad you will realize the importance of an autoresponder to any business setting up on the Internet.

Free Agent (for Newsgroups)

Free Agent is a powerful and easy-to-use newsgroup reader. It allows you to browse newsgroups both online and offline.

Navigator (for Compuserve Users)

CompuServe Navigator (CSNAV) allows you to set up in advance a script to navigate the Compuserve Forums, sending and retrieving messages, downloading from or uploading to the libraries.

Waytogo (for AOL users)

If you want to post ads on AOL classifieds then, instead of manually navigating the various menus and options, you can automate the task with a program called "Way To Go".

Set Up Your Own Web Site

Once you have developed a portfolio of (ideally) related items you will want to bring all the information about them together on your own web site. The website will provide you with a 24 hour international presence and a means for people anywhere in the world to obtain free reports about your products or services instantly, especially when complemented with autoresponders.

Design considerations

Make your site easy to navigate

Don't clutter up your pages with information
Ensure that there are no long delays in loading web pages (the chief cause of this is the use of large graphics)

Content

Make a good first impression with your front page, make it interesting and let it show clearly what the rest of the site contains. You may only have ten seconds or so to keep your visitor's attention.

Offer free information and useful articles. Ensure that the content of the site continually changes, consider a weekly column of hints and tips.

How to Promote Your Site

Register with search engines

When people are scanning the Internet for a specific product or service they use 'Search Engines' to feed in a 'keyword' to specify what they are looking for. You can submit your site to these search engines specifying the key words that make up the site, so that your site can then appear in such searches. There are over 20 major search engines, some popular ones being: Alta Vista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Yahoo

Publicity

Now that you have a web site you can include it in your signature and therefore publicize it
whenever you send an E-mail
when you contribute to discussion groups
when you contribute a posting to an Ezine

You can advertise off-line by including your web address on your company stationery, business cards, letterheads, envelopes etc.

Become an Expert

Learn how to find information: Master the use of search engines.

Learn from the work of others: Study other ads, other web sites, other signature files.

Study online marketing methods: Visit newsgroups and forums, and subscribe to mailing lists. You will find excellent marketing tips from Ezines - just see the footnote below.

Determinants of Comparative Advantage in the International Trade of Services: An Empirical Study of the Hecksher-Ohlin Approach

2010-04-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

This study demonstrates that the HO model proves useful for assessing the competitive factors in the delivery of services. However, further analysis that draws on the modeling framework of microeconomics and industrial organization is required.

The Obama Administration and the U.S. Financial Crisis

2010-04-15T16:47:00.001-07:00

There has been tremendous pressure on the Obama Administration to justify the actions taken with regards to the U.S. financial crisis which has managed to eliminate, overnight, over a quarter of the middle class wealth and leave one in six adults without a job or underemployed, while generating a bailout debt that was unimaginable in scale and scope only five years ago. In response to this public pressure, in mid-June 2009, the Obama Administration issued a white paper titled “Financial Regulatory Reform - A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation" (published by the U.S. Department of Treasury) covering a wide range of areas of financial regulation that proposed a new architecture for financial supervision. Although the White Paper touches upon many of the Administration's promised responses to the crisis with regards to new financial regulations and supervisory changes, it has been criticized as being too narrow in the scope and breath needed to manage the sheer size and scale of the impact of the U.S. financial crisis. This paper focuses on ten concerns and issues of note with the Obama Administration's actions and responses to date with regards to the U.S. financial/banking crisis and its 2009 White Paper on “Financial Regulatory Reform." They are as follows: (1) No Discussion and Minimal Attempt by the Administration to Relay Their Understanding of and Global Transmission of This Financial Crisis, (2) Proposed Financial Oversight Council, (3) Increased Powers for the Federal Reserve, (4) Most Recommendations Do Not Follow the Trend Toward Supervision Consolidation, (5) Macroeconomic vs. Microeconomic Supervision, (6) Government in the Financial Markets and Industry, (7) No Significant International Standard Setting or Coordination to Date, (8) Issue of Too Big to Fail Still at Large, (9) Obama Administration's PR Debacle, and (10) Something to Show after Spending $1.4 Trillion Plus.

Recession, R&D Spending, and the Current Account: Bad News, Bad News, and a Little Encouragement

2010-04-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Coming out of the global recession, it has been suggested that certain United States' trading partners that have relied on exchange rates policy should switch to the industrial policy, particularly, government subsidies for private sector research and development. The present paper argues that the recession itself is sufficient bad news. The prospect of our trading partners instigating an R&D subsidy game in the interests of an export-led growth strategy is even more sobering--especially if the U.S. fails to respond with its own R&D subsidy program. Whatever your view of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, one could make the case that the U.S. economy would have been better served investing in new technologies leading to new factories producing innovative products rather than simply paving a road to, at best, business as usual.

Global Economy

2010-04-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

Global economy has shown a conscious shift in economic activity from agriculture to service in both the developed and the developing world. There has also been a growth in total as well as per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) mainly in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) or the advanced countries, Eastern Europe and Asia. However, measuring poverty remains one of the most contentious issues and although numbers of people in poverty have declined in East and South Asia, freeing the world totally of poverty still poses the most challenging question.

The global economy has equipped the economy with the power to market goods and services across different countries in the globe. Before the global economy came into existence, the entire economy was ruled bu the United states. But with the stings of global economy the power of the United States has shrunk to about 25%. The monopoly of United State would continue to lose its vigor as more and more industrialized states come to the fore.

Advantages of Global Economy

The global economy can reap the benefits of increasing economies of scale. With the opening up of the economy the industrial sector has benefited with the attainment of cheap labor, capital and technology. Small companies also witness rapid growth owing to a wider customer base. Many opine that the global economy has promoted international peace and cooperation.

Disadvantages of Global Economy

The global economy has encouraged transportation on a wider scale for the free flow of goods and services across nations. This has , in turn, led to the emission of greenhouse gases. The global economy has also resulted in the loss of domestic jobs. The labor intensive industries of the developed countries find it profitable to shift to third world countries where wage rates are low. This leads to the displacement of labor in the developed countries. Further, it is difficult to formulate regulations and legislations that are undifferentiated across the globe.

A crisis so severe, the world financial system is affected

2010-04-15T01:27:00.000-07:00

Following a period of economic boom, a financial bubble—global in scope—has now burst.

A collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market and the reversal of the housing boom in other industrialized economies have had a ripple effect around the world. Furthermore, other weaknesses in the global financial system have surfaced. Some financial products and instruments have become so complex and twisted, that as things start to unravel, trust in the whole system started to fail.

While there are many technical explanations of how the sub-prime mortgage crisis came about, the mainstream British comedians, John Bird and John Fortune, describe the mind set of the investment banking community in this satirical interview, explaining it in a way that sometimes only comedians can.

global economic crisis

2010-04-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

The global financial crisis, brewing for a while, really started to show its effects in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. Around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems.

On the one hand many people are concerned that those responsible for the financial problems are the ones being bailed out, while on the other hand, a global financial meltdown will affect the livelihoods of almost everyone in an increasingly inter-connected world. The problem could have been avoided, if ideologues supporting the current economics models weren’t so vocal, influential and inconsiderate of others’ viewpoints and concerns.

A look at global economic developments

2010-04-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Wednesday:

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SHANGHAI — Economic growth and inflation data due out Thursday will show whether China's balancing effort to keep growth fast and prices under control is working — or if more needs to be done to cool a stimulus-fueled boom.

Beijing raised fuel prices Wednesday in a show of confidence about its ability to keep inflation in check. But analysts are watching Thursday's announcement of first-quarter gross domestic product for signs an interest rate hike or more drastic action is needed to prevent overheating.

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LONDON — The industrial recovery in the 16 countries that use the euro appears to be gathering steam. Output from the sector spiked by way more than anticipated during February.

Meanwhile, the German economy, Europe's biggest, is likely to grow by 1.7 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2011, the German Institute for Economic Research said.

European shares rose. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX rose 0.8 percent and the CAC-40 in France was 0.6 percent higher.

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SINGAPORE — Singapore's economy grew at its fastest rate in at least 35 years in the first three months of 2010, bouncing back from a contraction the previous quarter as manufacturing activity more than doubled.

Singapore's main stock index led gainers, advancing 1.6 percent after the government said the economy grew an annualized 32 percent in the first quarter.

South Korea's index jumped 1.5 percent, Australia climbed 0.9 percent, Japan rose 0.4 percent, Malaysia added 0.2, while Indonesia and Hong Kong were little changed.

China's benchmark stock index gained 0.2 percent.

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BRUSSELS — The European Union's budget rules will to be sharpened to try and prevent countries from following Greece's flagrant flouting of debt and deficit limits, the EU's top economy official said.

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VIENNA — OPEC expects less demand for its oil this year, reflecting a world economy that's still struggling.

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BEIJING — Cabinet officials acknowledged foreign companies face problems in China but said the government is improving conditions, in a new effort to defuse tensions over complaints foreigners are being squeezed out of Chinese industries.

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BERLIN — Germany's parliament will be allowed to have the final say over whether funds can be freed up to assist Greece should Athens ask for it — a process that could take weeks or months.

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BRUSSELS — Portugal must be ready to make more cutbacks if it can't achieve its deficit-reduction target, the European Union's executive commission warned as it struggles to curb soaring debt levels across the region.

Portugal's austerity efforts are closely watched by financial markets looking to see whether Greece's borrowing problems could spread to another member of Europe's currency union. Eurozone nations have pledged Greece some euro30 billion in loans if it can't borrow from markets.

Meanwhile, Portugal raised euro2 billion ($2.72 billion) in its biggest bond auction of the year and could have sold twice that amount amid strong demand, the country's debt agency said.

GENEVA _ UBS AG's chairman defended the bank's increased bonuses and a proposal to absolve former executives of responsibility for a U.S. tax evasion fiasco and billions of dollars in losses.