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2012_0615 - Cards Fees + Women tech

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Germany’s nod to the Aussie. O’Neill’s BRICs Risk Hitting Wall Threatening G-20 Growth. Even Jim O’Neill is asking whether the BRICs need reinforcing 11 years after he coined the term to describe the world’s future powerhouse economies. O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, says his thesis that Brazil, Russia, India and China would together increasingly buoy the global economy faces “a more challenging test” as investors dump the countries’ stocks. China pared its growth target to the lowest since 2004, Standard & Poor’s may cut India’s investment-grade credit rating, Brazil is on pace to expand less than 3 percent for a second straight year and falling oil prices may hurt Russia.

A prolonged slowdown in the four countries poses a fresh threat to a world economy suffering its weakest spell since the end of the 2009 recession, which the BRICs helped shorten by contributing about half of the international expansion since 2007. Surprise Index Political Roadblocks Greek Elections Weakness in China alone has the potential to reinforce woes elsewhere. Driving Growth. Signs of Fatigue in the Commodities 'Supercyle' Some credit card costs may fall. CommInsure dumped by Genesys Wealth. APRA’s Basel approach costly for banks: CBA. Foreign banks dawdling on reforms. BIS says the United States, as well as Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey are lagging other countries in implementing the Basel reforms.

Photo: Greg Newington John Kehoe Some foreign banking regulators are dragging their feet on key reforms intended to make the world’s financial system safer, adding weight to the argument that Australia is moving too quickly ahead of the rest of the world. A report to G20 leaders by the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements says the world’s largest banking market, the United States, as well as Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey are lagging other countries in implementing the Basel reforms.

Although the BIS noted that compared to previous status reports significant progress had been observed across member countries, it urged non-compliant jurisdictions to increase their efforts to adopt the agreed changes. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority declined to comment. Foreign banks dawdling on reforms. Tell Big Business They're Dreaming. George Soros Speech Goes Viral. George Soros predicts class war and riots. As Soros Starts A Three Month Countdown To D(oom)-Day, Europe Plans A New Master Plan. What would the weekend be without at least one rumor that Europe is on the verge of fixing everything, or failing that, planning for a master fix, OR failing that, planning for a master plan to fix everything.

Sure enough, we just got the latter, which considering nobody really believes anything out of Europe anymore, especially not something that has not been signed, stamped and approved by Merkel herself, is rather ballsy. Nonetheless, one can't blame them for trying: "The chiefs of four European institutions are in the process of creating a master plan for the euro zone, the daily Die Welt reports Saturday, in an advance release of an article to be published Sunday. Suggestions targeting a fiscal, banking, and political union, as well as structural reforms, are being worked out by E.U. Council President Herman van Rompuy, E.U. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, according to the article. 1 . Remarks at the Festival of Economics, Trento Italy. June 02, 2012 Ever since the Crash of 2008 there has been a widespread recognition, both among economists and the general public, that economic theory has failed.

But there is no consensus on the causes and the extent of that failure. I believe that the failure is more profound than generally recognized. It goes back to the foundations of economic theory. Economics tried to model itself on Newtonian physics. It sought to establish universally and timelessly valid laws governing reality. Scientific method needs an independent criterion, by which the truth or validity of its theories can be judged.

Social events, by contrast, have thinking participants who have a will of their own. Economics, which became the most influential of the social sciences, sought to remove this handicap by taking an axiomatic approach similar to Euclid’s geometry. Instead, I should like to put before you a radically different approach to financial markets. Obviously, I did not discover reflexivity. Europe looks to its Lehman moment. For the euro and these people shopping in Athens this week, there’s a lot at stake in Sunday’s election. Photo: Getty Images Matthew Drummond AFR correspondentAthens Vicki Koursoumi, 36, will vote this Sunday for Syriza, the radical left party threatening to light the fuse on a Greek exit from the euro.

“It’s the only hope we have,” she says of Syriza. The party has polled neck and neck with establishment party New Democracy in the most critical election since Greece emerged from dictatorship in 1974. A Syriza win could be Europe’s equivalent of the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, which triggered the global financial crisis. Syriza’s leader, Alex Tsipras, has pledged to keep Greece in Europe’s single currency while “radically reforming” the country’s bailout agreement – a plan likely to trigger a head-on collision with the European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF. “It’s a dilemma,” says George Tzogopoulos of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. For Germany, it’s the euro at all costs. Europe banks face threat of wipe-out. Germany does a backflip on sharing euro debt. Bailout may tip Spain to junk. High-dividend stocks not as safe as you think. Investors suffer bailout fatigue. Euro fears hit mining jobs, confidence.

Bond market thrills and spills. Technology - Alexis Madrigal - Sorry, Young Man, You're Not the Most Important Demographic in Tech. Despite companies' hamfisted, male-focused marketing efforts, women are the dominant users of a wide variety of new technologies. A young man contemplating his decreasing significance on the world stage (Shutterstock/Tracy Whiteside). If you're a man between the ages of 18 and 35, you used to be tech industry's most coveted prize. You were the one who decided what products failed and what products succeeded. That's why companies like Asus tweet ridiculous, sexist stuff. I hate to tell you/us, but we're not as important as we thought. It turns out women are our new lead adopters. Sit with this for a minute.

Internet usageMobile phone voice usageMobile phone location-based servicesText messagingSkypeEvery social networking site aside from LinkedInAll Internet-enabled devices E-readersHealth-care devicesGPS Furthermore, most consumers don't own devices just by themselves, those devices exist within social networks. But let's be fair here: Apple's done better than most. Bell concludes: Our technology future - Future Tense - ABC Radio National. Antony Funnell: And wherever you are in the world, this is Future Tense, I'm Antony Funnell, you're you, welcome to the show. Only three guests on the program today, but a banquet of ideas and lots to get your head around.

Usman Haque is back to talk about Cosm, a website that aims to get people and their devices exchanging data and ideas in the one space. Don't worry, I'll explain more shortly. Professor Dan Sarewitz is also with us to ponder what it means to be human in a world where humans themselves are increasingly technologically modified. And Intel's Genevieve Bell: middle aged women, she says, are at the forefront of digital change, not the young. Our website is abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense, and on Twitter we're RNFuturetense, all one word. Several weeks ago we ran a program on young people and technology with the message that often the hard facts of that relationship don't match the marketing hype or the spin from the technology companies.

Wind power a jobs generator: PwC. 70pc of companies would recruit from overseas: survey. Deloitte busts $1bn revenue barrier. Giam Swiegers, Deloitte Australia CEO ... the firm’s revenue has made it the country’s second-biggest accounting firm. Photo: Peter Braig Agnes King Deloitte Australia has cracked the $1 billion revenue barrier and upset, temporarily at least, the ranking of the big four accountancy firms. It leapfrogged Ernst & Young and KPMG to become the country’s second-biggest accounting firm behind PwC.

Deloitte posted income of $1.1 billion for the 12 months to May 31, up 18 per cent, in a tough year for professional services firms. Consulting was the growth engine. But financial advisory services, including economic advisory, corporate reorganisation, valuations and infrastructure advisory also performed well. How long-lived Deloitte’s elevated position will be won’t be certain until PwC, KPMG and EY close their financial years on June 30. Without disbursements, Deloitte’s income for fiscal 2012 was $1.05 billion, up 13 per cent. The firm has appointed 61 new partners. 10 signs the writing’s on the wall. Dominic White From Enron to Hastie Group, equity investors always rank lowest among creditors trying to recoup money from companies that collapse.

Shareholders are often left with nothing except embarrassment, impotent rage and the burning question: “How did I misread the signs?” Michael Ryan, managing partner of Taylor Woodings, says the accountancy firm keeps a list of 20 or 30 warning signals that a company that is heading for trouble. “One on its own is not an indicator,” says Ryan. “But if you see three of four happening at once that’s something to be wary of.”The Australian Financial Review has compiled its own list of what to look out for: think of it as your cut-out-and-keep guide to avoiding the angst that can accompany losing your shirt on a bad stock. 1.

Debt, and a company’s inability to pay interest on it, is at the root of every business failure. 2. Beware of rats leaving a ship: they know it’s sinking before you do. 3. 4. It’s been the hubristic downfall of many a CEO. 5. The difference between price and value. Philip Baker How many times have you heard a broker say a particular share is cheap? The one-liner would have been touted many times this week when a host of stocks hit 52-week lows and the sharemarket posted a technical correction. Qantas, Leighton, Asciano, David Jones, Myer, Harvey Norman and an array of media stocks, including Fairfax Media, publisher of the Weekend Financial Review, have all fallen dramatically this year. But just because a stock is 20 per cent, 30 per cent or 60 per cent off its high doesn’t mean it’s cheap.

Hastie Group shares fell 91 per cent in the year before they were placed in administration last month. At first glance, price and value appear understandable and intertwined. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says price is what you pay, value is what you get, while Platinum Asset Management’s Kerr Neilson believes a good company doesn’t necessarily make a good investment. But there is a hitch. Bond yields are also propping up valuations. Telstra to send jobs offshore. John McDuling Telstra is working on plans to shift as many as 324 jobs offshore as part of ongoing efforts to keep a lid on costs and simplify its monolithic operating structure. The telco submitted a proposal to employees and unions that would see positions in credit management (which involves chasing unpaid bills) moved to offshore partners in Asia. If it goes ahead, a call centre in Brisbane would be shut, affecting 116 roles. The remaining positions are spread across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and include jobs already outsourced through staffing agencies.

The redundancies come months into delicate negotiations with unions over a new enterprise agreement. “These are difficult changes to make and we don’t take them lightly, but they are necessary as we strive to simplify our business and improve customer service,” a Telstra spokeswoman said.