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March 2010
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Islamic Bonds Default – Will Dubai World Be Next?

I have been following the developments surrounding the Dubai World’s sudden call for a standstill agreement with its creditors.  But there are many articles written about this topic that I hesitated to add a new one.  But now, thanks to a recent Reuters report, it is interesting to look at the issue  from the perspective [...]

After G20, Disagreement On Interpretation Of Bank Bonus Accord

The ink has scarcely dried on the G20 document on bankers’ bonuses issued at the recent G20 Pittsburgh meeting when disagreement on interpretation surfaced between Europe and the US.
The text of the final agreement among the Group of 20 Nations (G20) calls on countries’ regulators to apply corrective measures, such as higher capital requirements, on [...]

Bank Bonus Payments – French Style, With Clawback Provision

So Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley – three well known Wall Street financial institutions, have successfully repaid the US Government the billions of dollars of bailout money it took previously to avoid massive liquidity meltdowns and bankruptcies.  In doing so, they have side stepped Government pay restrictions that are applicable to those financial [...]

Robberies – Why Make It Easy For The Robbers?

A BBC report caught my attention a while ago.  It says that an unamed Saudi princess was robbed in her hotel suite in the popular Italian island resort of Porto Cervo. Now people do get robbed anywhere.  But this robbery is somewhat unusual.  It appears that the robbers had a real easy task to perform.
I do [...]

Robbers, Swindlers, Cheats

We are familiar with stories about banks disappearing due to financial crisis – in effect these banks failed and went into bankruptcies.  But a BBC report the other day tells of a bank in Uganda called the Visa Finance Bank that disappeared quite literally.  And no wonder, for it was really a scam run by [...]

Cristiano Ronaldo – From Manchester United to Real Madrid

So Cristiano Ronaldo has left Manchester United in a world record £80 ($130) million move to Real Madrid.  It is goodbye EPL (English Premier League) and hello Primeria La Liga (Spanish League).
So how much will the 24-year old Manchester United player be paid by his new employer – Real Madrid?  According to press reports, Cristiano [...]

Bank Failures

Did you catch the headline the other day?  It says so far this year there are 40 bank failures in the United States. That’s an average of approximately 7 bank failures every month.
How does this compare with 2008?  For the whole of 2008 there were 25 such bank failures.
Let’s look at it another way.  How [...]

Money Makes The World Go Round

The Financial Meltdown
It seems like only yesterday that the world was faced with a global financial meltdown.  Global banking giants were in danger of going into bankruptcy; so also were the insurance giants.  The automotive giants followed suit.  To be sure, some of these former giants did go belly up, while others were thrown a [...]

Discounts

I saw in The Star Newspaper in Malacca (Malaysia) today an advertisement that reads as follows:
“We’re giving a discount on discounts.”
This is from Citibank. What a catchy statement.
Reminds me of the time decades ago when I was working in private equity fund management (aka venture capital). A colleague of mine was working on a deal [...]

From Rags To Riches To . . . ?

The Abruptly Wealthy
If you have an opportunity to receive an unexpected financial windfall, how much would you like it to be? How about $232.1 million?
A despatch from Associated Press dated June 6, 2009 named Neal Wanless as the sole winner of 9th largest Powerball jackpot in history. After deducting taxes on this jackpot [...]