tagged w/ Business News
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ICICI Bank, an Indian private sector bank Vodafone Essar, a mobile network operator in India, have entered into a joint initiative to drive financial inclusion in the country.
Under this partnership, both entities will offer a range of financial products such as savings accounts, pre-paid instruments and credit products through a mobile phone based platform.
The ICICI bank said that the partnership is expected to bring the un-banked and under-banked population into the organized financial services framework and assist in furthering the electronic payments market in India.
The partnership between ICICI Bank and Vodafone is a step in the direction of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to facilitate banks to achieve the financial inclusion agenda.
ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said the partnership with Vodafone will help the bank in deepening its base within the country.
Vodafone Essar managing director & CEO Marten Pieters said the RBI move to allow for-profit companies to be business correspondents is a welcome move that will enable the population better access to financial services.ICICI Bank, an Indian private sector bank Vodafone Essar, a mobile network operator in... more
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Patni Computer Systems today said that the US based IT firm iGate has made an open offer for the 20.6% stake in the company, in accordance with the requirements of the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
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http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ht/80121/Business/4Patni Computer Systems today said that the US based IT firm iGate has made an open... more
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Asian shares advanced in early trading Wednesday, pushed higher by an overnight rise Wall Street.
But gains were limited amid caution ahead of a series of crucial European debt sales this week.
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http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/Business/80612Asian shares advanced in early trading Wednesday, pushed higher by an overnight rise... more
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Airbus on Tuesday unveiled what it called the biggest jet order in commercial aviation history with a $15.6 billion deal to sell 180 planes to Indian budget carrier IndiGo, including the first orders for a revamped model.
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http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/Business/80623Airbus on Tuesday unveiled what it called the biggest jet order in commercial aviation... more
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Oil and gas explorer Providence Resources has completed the first phase of the AMEC conceptual development study for the ULYSSES salt cavern gas storage project in the Kish Bank Basin, offshore eastern Ireland.
Initial phase of this new study, carried out by engineering and project management firm AMEC, has confirmed that the construction of an offshore natural gas salt cavern storage facility at the ULYSSES location is both economically and technically feasible.
According to Providence, a number of scenarios have been developed which have an associated range in capacity, off-take export rates and capital expenditure.
Technical data relating to the subsurface geology, which will be acquired through the drilling of the Dalkey Island exploration prospect, will also assist with the advancement of this project.
Providence technical director John O'Sullivan said that the initial results from the AMEC ULYSSES study are very encouraging as they provide a range of potential project sizes and development concepts which could be built to meet market requirements.Oil and gas explorer Providence Resources has completed the first phase of the AMEC... more
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Bank of Ireland has completed the sale of Bank of Ireland Asset Management to State Street Global Advisors.
In October 2010, Bank of Ireland entered into an agreement to sell Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) to State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) for a cash consideration of €57m subject to certain conditions.
Bank of Ireland said that all conditions have now been satisfied and the sale has been completed, including the transfer of key personnel.
The sale has generated equity tier 1 capital of €40m for the Bank of Ireland.
The sale represents a significant milestone for the Bank of Ireland in relation to the execution of its EU Restructuring Plan.
Bank of Ireland said that following completion of the sale, the new operation State Street Global Advisors Ireland will continue to be an important provider of investment products to the Bank of Ireland Group.Bank of Ireland has completed the sale of Bank of Ireland Asset Management to State... more
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UBS Global Asset Management has launched its new UBS Fixed Income Opportunities Fund, an opportunistic fixed income strategy that seeks returns with low correlation to traditional equity and fixed income markets.
According to UBS, the fund seeks to outperform 3-month LIBOR by 3%, net of fund ordinary operating expenses, over rolling five-year time horizons.
UBS said that the fund offers less reliance on favorable markets for positive client outcomes, the flexibility to invest opportunistically across regions, markets and sectors, and the ability to take both long and short positions to manage risk exposures.
The fund employs a framed an investment process combining a top-down global strategy, along with fundamental bottom-up analysis that seeks to generate returns.
Risk management systems and tools will be applied at every point in the process to ensure risks are understood and duly compensated, UBS said.
UBS head of Fixed Income Derivative Strategy Brian Fehrenbach said that the key advantage of the fund is that it is unconstrained by a benchmark, unlike traditional bond funds, and it can adjust its duration to be either positive or negative, based on the investment team's outlook for the direction of interest rates.UBS Global Asset Management has launched its new UBS Fixed Income Opportunities Fund,... more
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Capstone Mining has reported the assay results for forty-two, 2010 holes from the Wildfire/Copper Keel deposit at the Minto mine, Canada.
The work on a first resource estimate for Wildfire/Copper Keel is has begun that is expected to be completed sometime in February.
Capstone vice-president of exploration Brad Mercer said that the stacked nature of multiple copper bearing horizons makes Wildfire/Copper Keel an efficient target to explore.
Capstone has set the 2011 exploration budget at $12.9m and has planned for 72,000m of exploration drilling.
Exploration drilling is now ramping up again for 2011 and by mid-January will resume at Cozamin using five rigs, which will be followed with three rigs starting at Minto in February and a single rig at Kutcho in July or August.
Capstones exploration priority in 2011 is to expand the Wildfire/Copper Keel deposit at Minto and the Mala Noche Footwall Zone at Cozamin.
Both deposits have mineral resource estimates in progress and both remain open to expansion so additional resource estimates are anticipated for later this year.
The aim is to have both new deposits drilled to a standard to support a minimum of Indicated Class Mineral Resource that could support mine planning for feasibility considerations.
In addition to these near term resource additions, other exploration targets such at Inferno at Minto and the Mala Noche Vein West at Cozamin will be aggressively tested as well.Capstone Mining has reported the assay results for forty-two, 2010 holes from the... more
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UK oil explorer Tullow Oil said has found gas condensate in the Tweneboa-3 appraisal well in the Deepwater Tano license offshore Ghana.
Tullow said that the results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluids, along with with the well's down-dip position confirms the greater Tweneboa area resource base potential.
Tweneboa-3, which is located over 6km south-east of the Tweneboa-2 well, was drilled by the Deepwater Millennium drillship to a total depth of 3,906m in a water depth of 1,601m.
The well tested separate areas of the Tweneboa field, hitting a 9m column of pay and a 34m column of pay.
The well was sidetracked 550m west, targeting the significant Ntomme anomaly, an area of strong seismic response.
The well will be suspended for future use in the field development Once the operations are completed.
The rig will remain in the Deepwater Tano block to drill the top-hole section of the Tweneboa-4 appraisal well, which will then be suspended before moving to drill the Enyenra-2A well.
Tullow operates the Deepwater Tano license with a 49.95% stake in the prospect.UK oil explorer Tullow Oil said has found gas condensate in the Tweneboa-3 appraisal... more
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NorthWestern Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a 24MW wind power project near Belt in north central Montana to be developed and constructed by Invenergy Wind.
The project will be built on a portion of Invenergy's proposed 200MW Big Otter Wind Energy Project site.
Execution of a definitive agreement is expected in the first quarter of this year and the wind project is expected to begin commercial operation by the end of 2012.
The project will be placed into NorthWestern's rate base, with both the energy and associated renewable energy credits used to meet future renewable portfolio standard obligations.
NorthWestern provides electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest US, serving approximately 661,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.NorthWestern Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a 24MW wind power... more
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Investors head into next week on the defensive as the potential for U.S. equity gains could be limited even if earnings begin on a strong note.
The early fourth-quarter results will set the tone. Any weakness will give traders a reason to pull back from the rally of recent weeks, which stalled on Friday on bank stock losses and lackluster jobs data.
Still, the major indexes finished with a sixth straight week of gains: the Dow was up 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 up 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq composite index ahead 1.9 percent.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/Business/78315Investors head into next week on the defensive as the potential for U.S. equity gains... more
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Energy Fuels Inc, an uranium and vanadium development company, and its Australian partner Royal Resources said that their Colorado Plateau Partners joint venture (CPP) has acquired 94 contiguous mining claims (1,942 acres) in the Sage Plain area of Utah and Colorado at the south end of the Uravan Mineral Belt.
The company has also acquired a Utah State mineral lease on two nearby properties (733 acres).
All of these properties, which are located in close proximity to two other Utah State leases already owned by CPP and are about 70 highway miles from Energy Fuels' proposed Pinon Ridge Mill, were acquired from Uranium One.
Historic reports by Umetco Minerals (successor to Union Carbide) prepared in 1991 indicate resources of some 345,000lbs U3O8 and 2.7 million lbs V2O5 (not presently 43-101 compliant) on the State lease.
The properties acquired include the historically producing Sage Mine.Energy Fuels Inc, an uranium and vanadium development company, and its Australian... more
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A UK parliamentary committee has raised doubts over the country's ability to tackle any major oil spill in the UK waters following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster suffered by BP last year.
The Energy and Climate Change Committee in a report said that any ban on deep water drilling in the UK waters would jeopardise energy supplies in the country.
The committee has opposed any drilling moratorium and urged the government to consider several safety precautions to combat oil spills.
It has also warned that the British taxpayers could end up paying the clean-up costs if any major oil spill occurs.
Specifically, the committee expressed doubts over the ability of clean-up equipment to function in the harsh conditions prevailing off the coast of Shetland, where oil wells are being drilled more than 1,000m deep.A UK parliamentary committee has raised doubts over the country's ability to... more
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The government is expected to report Friday that businesses stepped up hiring in December, a trend likely to gain momentum in 2011.
Economists are predicting that employers added a net total of 145,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 percent.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/Business/77570The government is expected to report Friday that businesses stepped up hiring in... more
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Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft came to the tech industry's premier gadget show with a collection of exposed computer guts.
Microsoft's biggest news was that the next version of Windows would run on the style of cell phone chips that power the iPad and other tablets today. It proved it with a series of demonstrations on half-built computers; on the monitors hooked up to those machines, the software was indistinguishable from the current Windows 7.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/Business/77576Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft came to the tech... more
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Goldman Sachs is sued for $120m by ACA Financial Guaranty (ACA), a bond insurance company, over an investment that later went bad.
In its lawsuit ACA alleged that Goldman designed the investment, named Abacus, to fail so that a hedge-fund client, Paulson & Co, could take big profits by shorting the portfolio and so that Goldman could take in fat investment banking fees.
Bond insurer bought millions of dollars in Abacus notes and insured the super-senior parts of the underlying portfolio for $909m.
ACA said Goldman Sachs fraudulently induced it to take a long position in and provide guaranty insurance for Abacus. Goldman Sachs did so by deceiving ACA into believing that Paulson also was to be a long investor in Abacus.
In July, Goldman agreed to pay $550m to settle the SEC's civil charges that it misled its clients in the sale of the mortgage securities.
Goldman also acknowledged that its marketing materials were incomplete, and it agreed in the settlement to reform its business practices.Goldman Sachs is sued for $120m by ACA Financial Guaranty (ACA), a bond insurance... more
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ICICI Bank Ltd has informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank will be held on January 24, 2011, inter alia, to consider the approval of audited accounts for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 (Q3).
The Bank has submitted to BSE a copy of News Release in this regard.
Source: BSE India
http://www.bseindia.com/ICICI Bank Ltd has informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank... more
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Citigroup is seeking buyers for its consumer finance company, CitiFinancial, which was one of the building blocks in its plan to become an all-purpose financial supermarket, the Financial Times reported.
Citing people close to the situation, Financial Times reported that after months of restructuring, Citi had begun contacting potential buyers for CitiFinancial.
Likely bidders could include private equity groups and other finance companies.
According to the paper, talks are at an early stage and no deal is imminent.
According to Financial Times report, CitiFinancial could fetch up to $1bn, but warned that the final price would depend on the financing package Citi offers to potential buyers to help fund the business.
CitiFinancial, which was badly hit during the crisis, has 1,500-plus branches and some two million customers.Citigroup is seeking buyers for its consumer finance company, CitiFinancial, which was... more
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Citigroup Inc is hoping that one of the country's most famous customer service gurus can help it rebuild its reputation -- one Tweet at a time.
Frank Eliason, who gained national media attention for his unorthodox customer service methods at cable television provider Comcast Corp, joined Citigroup in August to direct social media strategy.
In the past five months, he has overseen the launch of a Facebook page, YouTube videos and new blogs for the bank. But most of all, he is helping Citigroup learn to use Twitter, the website that made him famous at Comcast.
Most banks still use Twitter largely for marketing, but Eliason is hoping to use the service more to respond to aggrieved customers, the way he did at Comcast.
Twitter is part of a broader effort by Citigroup to reach out to the younger, wealthy urban Americans that it wants as banking customers -- and to improve the bank's tarnished image. Eliason hopes his methods can help do both.
"It's really about building trust and building rapport ... The benefits are not about selling. Hopefully, long-term, you create the right customer experience, you will sell," he said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
Since the financial crisis, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has slimmed down the company and abandoned the bank's onetime ambitions to have branches across the United States.
Citigroup has only about 1,000 branches in the United States, compared with several thousand each at rivals Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.Citigroup Inc is hoping that one of the country's most famous customer service... more
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Former co-heads of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's Capital Markets division, Kevin Morano and Tom O'Brien, have established SumRidge Partners, a new fixed income brokerage firm.
According SumRidge, the core business of the firm will be market making in investment-grade corporate and municipal bonds, US treasury and government agency securities. SumRidge specializes in trades $1m and under.
SumRidge said its vision is to provide investment advisors, broker-dealers, and all retail debt capital market participants with the proper tools to navigate the fixed income markets.
Morano and O'Brien were both members of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's management committee. In addition, Morano is a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's (SIFMA) Retail Fixed Income Committee and spent over 20 years at Morgan Stanley.
Tom spent 18 years at Morgan Stanley and has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. He also served as a member of the Firm's Risk Committee.Former co-heads of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's Capital Markets division, Kevin... more
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