China’s banking regulator has told commercial lenders to restrict new credit they provide to local governments’ financing vehicles, to ward off potential risks of default, state media reports. The move is part of broader efforts to check explosive lending growth that has set off concerns about asset price bubbles and the potential creation of a…
Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest consumer electronics group by sales, on Friday reported all-time-high quarterly profits for the October to December period despite the slowing global economy. The South Korean group assessed its operating profit at approximately Won5.2trn or $4.5bn, the company said in a statement. Up 73 percent, profits were mainly boosted…
US prosecutors late on Tuesday charged three Swiss bankers with conspiring to help US citizens evade over $1.2bn in assets from the IRS. The filed indictment, which refers to ‘Swiss Bank A’ only, shows that Roger Keller, Urs Frei and Michael Berlika plotted to open and service several secret accounts for US clients as they…
Land sale revenue across 130 Chinese cities has dropped 13 percent year-on-year in 2011 to ¥1.86trn, said property research group China Index Academy late on Wednesday. In contrast, countrywide land sales revenue in 2010 amounted to ¥2.9trn, said the Ministry of Finance. China’s government had hoped that curbing soaring real estate prices would create more…
There are lots of ways to generate inquiries for a small business. As the online advertising landscape has grown due to the ease of tracking and reporting Web visitors, a lot of small business advertisers have moved their offline budget to online placements. As online direct response advertising and lead generation has grown, traditional…
Miners led Britain’s FTSE 100 higher early on Tuesday, boosted by stronger-than-expected manufacturing data from China, and as the index caught up with sharp gains posted in Europe in the previous session. London’s blue chip index was up 67.67 points or 1.2 percent at 5,639.95 by 0903 GMT on the first trading day since the…
Energy exploration firm Afren said production at its Ebok field, offshore Nigeria, had reached around 40,000 barrels per day (bpd), taking its end-2011 net output to some 55,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), ahead of target. An output rate above the year-end goal of 50,000 boepd has been sustained since December 19, it…
When Premier Wen Jiabao addresses China’s largely ceremonial parliament, investors will prick up their ears for any hint that change is coming to the country’s currency regime. Wen, who swore there would be no more surprises, after Beijing revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent in 2005, will err on the side of caution in choosing…
The US Department of Justice has approved a $9bn merger between the NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse contingent on divestitures. For the deal to be fully permitted by the DOJ, Deutsche Börse will need to divest its 31.5 percent interest in stock exchange operator Direct Edge. It is also still awaiting the approval by the…
The owner of British Airways, International Consolidated Airlines, on Thursday beat competitor Virgin Atlantic in the takeover battle for BMI, Deutsche Lufthansa’s loss-making airline. IAG agreed to buy BMI for €206.8m in cash, but may end up paying less if Lufthansa fails to sell its small regional subsidiaries before the completion date. CEO of IAG,…
