| BizBits for Nov. 21
A weekly roundup of area business news of interest in the Northwest.New HiresJim Kaiser joined NOVA Home Loans as vice president and senior loan officer at the Oro Valley office, 10355 N. Oracle Road. Kaiser previously worked for Pinnacle Mortgage and Bank of America. Evie Coakley has joined T.L. Roof and Associates Construction Company as a project manager. Coakley brings more than 20 years of construction experience to the company. Vicki Cox Golder will be installed as the 2008 first vice president of the National Association of Realtors on Dec. 6. Golder previously served as president of the Arizona Association of Realtors and the Tucson Association of Realtors. Donald Philips has joined T.L. Roof and Associates Construction Company as a project superintendent. Philips has been in the construction industry for seven years and previously worked as a wireman for an electrical contractor.
NewDominion expanding into Triangle, hires SunTrust vets
NewDominion Bank plans to expand into the Triangle and has hired two veteran commercial lenders from SunTrust Banks Inc. to lead the effort. The community bank plans to seek approval from the state banking commission for an office that will likely be in Chapel Hill, says Benjie Guion, NewDominion's chief operating officer. The bank, which opened in 2004, has hired Wes Pope and Shawn Turner from SunTrust to lead the operation. Both have more than 20 years of commercial lending experience and deep roots in the market, which Guion views as a logical expansion area for the bank. .
Palace seeks resumption of WB road loans to RP
MANILA, Philippines -- Malaca�ang has been assured by the World Bank representative that she would push for the resumption of deliberations on the $232-million loan intended for Philippine road projects, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said Wednesday. According to Andaya, the assurance was made after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the World Bank agreed to adopt Philippine laws governing procurement in implementing Phase 2 of the National Road Improvement and Management Program (NRIMP) as a �safeguard� against corruption. A Reuters report, however, said the World Bank would not resume loans to fund the construction of Philippine roads until it completed investigations of reports of bid rigging in NRIMP Phase 1. The report quoted World Bank spokesperson Peter Stephens as saying: �Our position remains as it was, which is that we want this project to go ahead but it has to go ahead in the right way and at the right time.
Bank of America Launches Monday Morning Quarter Back(TM) Sweepstakes
Promotion emphasizes saving through check card usage with Keep the Change(TM) feature, celebrates relationship with National Football League as "Official Bank of the NFL" CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America, the Official Bank of the National Football League (NFL), today launched Monday Morning Quarter Back(TM), a six-week sweepstakes promotion that encourages saving through the company's Keep the Change(TM) program and creates opportunities for NFL fans to win exclusive prizes -- including a trip for two to Super Bowl XLII (Forty-Two) in Arizona. Participants also will vie for weekly prizes, including the opportunity to be one of 12 customers -- two per week for six consecutive weeks -- who earn one-quarter of their weekend spending back. (Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-b ) Starting today, customers can visit www.bankofamerica.com/quarterback to get official rules, more information and to sign up to participate.
IMF Completes Fifth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with Niger and Approves US$1.5 Million ...
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the fifth review of Niger's economic performance under a three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The completion of the review enables the release of an amount equivalent to SDR 940,000 (about US$1.5 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 25.38 million (about US$40.4 million). In completing the review, the Executive Board approved Niger's request for a waiver for the nonobservance of a continuous structural performance criterion on the application of the flexible pricing mechanism for petroleum products. The Board also approved Niger's requests for the modification of the quantitative performance criterion for end-December on domestic financing of the government, the modification of the structural performance criterion on the application of a flexible mechanism for petroleum pricing, and the elimination of the structural performance criterion for end-December on the adoption of a decree defining the modalities for reimbursing the frozen postal savings accounts of the former National Postal Savings Office over a two-year period.
Oil wealth takes Islamic banking mainstream
Citigroup, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, as well as financial capitals like London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, are all going into the Islamic banking business. Today, an estimated 300 Islamic financial institutions hold at least $500 billion in assets, and deposits are increasing more than 10 percent each year. In addition to Islamic loans, there are Islamic bonds, Islamic credit cards and even Islamic derivatives. Loans and bonds that conform to the Koran are already available in the United States. And Britain, Japan and Thailand are contemplating issuing Islamic bonds of their own. In Islamic banking, financiers are required to share borrowers' risks, meaning that depositors are treated more like shareholders, earning a portion of profits. Financing deals resemble lease-to-own arrangements, layaway plans, joint purchase and sale agreements, or partnerships.
Greek Current Account Deficit Widens In September
(RTTNews) - Greek current account deficit rose by EUR 487 million year-on-year to EUR 1.71 billion in September, the Bank of Greece said on Tuesday. A year ago, the deficit was EUR 1.22 billion. The widening of the current account deficit was mainly due to growth in the trade deficit and income deficit in the same period. This was partly offset by an expansion in the surplus in the services account. The EUR 490 million rise in the overall trade deficit was mainly attributable to a EUR 449 million increase in the trade deficit excluding oil and ships. The overall surplus of the services balance widened by EUR 142 million, largely as a result of a considerable increase in net transport receipts. The current account deficit widened by EUR 4.84 billion to EUR 20.98 billion during the 8-month period from January to September 2007, compared to the same period of 2006.
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