| Banks turn their focus to growing female client base
Female-oriented banking is not about frivolity and bows, but about profit. As the gender gap closes, targeting a hitherto ignored clientele is very big business By Antoinette Odoi
THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
Sunday, Nov 11, 2007, Page 12 .
Financial Services Firms Increasing Spending, But Priorities Differ
Spending is increasing among financial services firms across the insurance, banking and securities/capital markets sectors. But priorities differ, according to a joint survey conducted by Insurance & Technology and its sibling publications, Bank Systems & Technology and Wall Street & Technology.
By Anthony O'Donnell, Maria Bruno-Britz and Penny Crosman
Insurance & Technology
November 19, 2007
If the confidence of financial services firms was shaken by this year's subprime mortgage lending crisis, it certainly isn't reflected in their IT budgets for 2008, judging by a joint survey of insurance companies, banks and securities firms conducted by Insurance & Technology and its sibling publications, Bank Systems & Technology and Wall Street & Technology.
Homegrown PE fund seeks 10% stake in Chengdu bank
China's first government-backed private equity (PE) fund, Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co, is vying for a minority stake in Chengdu City Commercial Bank Co to gain a foothold in the country's banking sector.
The nation's private equity frontrunner is offering 1 million yuan for a 10 percent stake in the bank - the fund's second investment, it was reported previously.
"The two sides are still negotiating on the share placement deal now, and the deal's size has yet to be finalized until the agreement is fixed," Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co's spokeswoman Liu Yiming said in an interview.
An official with Chengdu City Commercial Bank's board of directors' office, surnamed Ma, said: "Bohai Fund is merely one of the domestic strategic investors we are approaching now, and we are still in the process of making selections."
Bohai's offer came on the heels of a Malaysian lender's 19.9 percent stake acquisition in the bank.
Reinsurers Need To Address Catastrophe Risk and Regulatory Issues in 2008 In the coming year, reinsurers should focus ...
The first challenge facing the reinsurance industry in the coming year is providing capacity to address natural catastrophe risk both in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Although reinsurers have been very responsive to the demand for risk transfer from the primary insurance companies in the past (approximately $35 billion of new capacity entered the market since Hurricane Katrina), it is a continually growing market demand, particularly given the property development and appreciation of property in high-risk coastal and earthquake areas. The second challenge is striking the proper balance between the public and private sectors in addressing catastrophe risk. In the U.S., we've seen increasing interest on the part of Congress to expand the role of government related to catastrophe risk -- the House approved the addition of windstorm coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program and is considering legislation to provide low-interest federal loans to state residual markets and state pools.
London shares open lower ahead of BoE minutes, banking stocks fall UPDATE
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Leading shares opened lower ahead of the release of the Bank of England minutes, which will be watched for any clues of a December rate cut, while banking stocks are still bearing the brunt of the falls after Wall Street finished firmer overnight. At 8.57 am, the FTSE 100 index was down 58.2 points at 6,168.3, off a low of 6,127.3, having closed last night 105.7 points firmer at 6,226.5, while the FTSE 250 index was 220.4 points lower at 10,279.5. Volume was average with 244 mln shares changing hands in 78,260 deals. Ex-dividend stocks also contributed 10.29 points to the falls with Cable & Wireless, Carnival, HSBC, Sainsbury and Vodafone all going ex-dividend today. "General concerns about credit are still having an impact on the market as well as the Federal Reserve minutes released yesterday with some investors interpreting these positively while others negatively," said Darren Winder, strategist at Cazenove.
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