Posts Tagged ‘customer’

November 6, 2011 - 10:56 am Comments Off

The government of George Papandreou won the confidence of the Greek Parliament in the night from Friday to Saturday with only three votes in advance (153 votes out of 300). A reprieve for the Prime Minister called for the formation of a coalition cabinet, in a speech before the crucial vote for the ratification of the Europe Agreement Debt of Greece and the future of the country. According to Papandreou, the early elections – that the Conservative opposition was calling for – was a disastrous decision, likely to endanger the payment of the sixth tranche of aid from the European rescue plan.

On borrowed time since the disputed proposal to hold a referendum on the agreement, laboriously adopted at the European summit at dawn on October 27, Papandreou has started to prepare for his release, saying in his speech he was ready to leave office ."My position is the last thing I care about. Even matter if I am not re-elected. (…) I never conceived of politics as a profession, "he said.

The head of government has indeed lost the little credibility he had left with the political elite and the Greek people. Even within his party, PASOK (Socialist), leadership is increasingly contested. The barons of the government are the finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, Minister of Education, Anna Diamantopoulou, the Health Minister, Andreas Loverdos, lambasted the escape of his responsibilities as representing the call to the people, as unexpected as moved. The abandonment of the idea, which had angered the countries in the euro area was confirmed Friday in Athens.

Wall Street should be shaken

September 22, 2011 - 5:24 pm Comments Off

A new session promises to be eventful Thursday on Wall Street. Futures on the Dow Jones fell by 2.06% to 10,831 points, those on the Standard & Poor's let go of 2.23% to 1136.10 points and the Nasdaq lost 2.32% to 2208.20 points.

Like European and Asian stock markets, Wall Street should not escape the anxiety of investors pessimistic after the U.S. central bank on the global economy. The central bank has held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk".

For this, the Fed announced an operation to extend the maturity of the assets it holds up to 400 billion dollars by June 2012."One can interpret this decision by the Fed as the will not to launch a" quantitative easing "3 (monetary easing to boost the U.S. economy) in the immediate future, says Arnaud Poutiers, executive vice president of IG Markets short term personal loan. Indeed, "Operation Twist" is intended to influence the long bond rate, but without increasing the size of the Fed's balance sheet, so without creating money ".

On the currency markets, the euro continued to sink against the dollar: the euro back below the $ 1.35 (-0.91%).

On the corporate side, Moody's lowered the credit ratings of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. The agency that the state may fly to their rescue.

United Technologies will buy the equipment for Goodrich Aircraft $ 16.5 billion (12.2 billion euros) in cash, a transaction that would be the largest acquisition of U.S. industrial giant in 10 years.

FedEx has reported an EPS according to the consensus of $ 1.46 per share in the first quarter, a turnover of 10.52 billion dollars (against the consensus of 10.32 billion dollars).

The trader UBS would have bet up to $ 10 billion

September 18, 2011 - 4:00 pm Comments Off

Commitments at risk of Kweku Adoboli have increased to 10 billion dollars (7.2 billion euros) according to the Sunday Times. Arrested on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the trader in London the Swiss bank UBS has been detained by a judge Friday. May request bail at a subsequent hearing Thursday.

UBS said Thursday an estimated loss of 1.5 billion euros due to fraudulent transactions of its employees. Since then, the bank did not provide details on the mechanisms in question. The extent of fraud appears, however, reach gigantic proportions: it would be spread over three years since October 2008, without apparently the slightest alarm it caused internally. UBS warned regulators Swiss and British have launched a joint investigation.The bank has set up a parallel internal investigation unit called "Project Bronze" and instructed one of his best traders in derivatives, Jason Barron, to unwind positions Kweku Adoboli. While the fraud would have been discovered in the day Wednesday, all commitments have been liquidated Adoboli Friday.

Supposedly low-risk operations

The trader, who was promoted to his post in 2008 from the back office services, was a member of a small team of five people at Delta One desk. Their mission: to invest large sums to the equity of the bank's alleged market changes, via financial instruments called ETF (exchange traded funds). Generally, low profits emerged from these supposedly low-risk operations at very high volumes.Adoboli of the fault could have come from a lack of coverage of his Paris, which would have resulted in a spiral of losses since the collapse of financial markets this summer.

New to fear layoffs

The extent of the scandal poses serious threats to the future of UBS. While the bank has launched a 3500 plan job cuts, new job cuts are feared. The approximately 6000 employees of the investment bank in London feared an outright shutdown of their business, which should show a loss on the year while UBS as a whole should remain the beneficiary. Despite calls for resignations in Switzerland, head of UBS, Gruebele Oswald replied that he did not intend. "If you ask me whether I feel guilty, I say no," he told the newspaper Der Sonntag.

Concerned about its reputation with its clients it manages fortunes, UBS wrote them a letter Saturday to try to reassure them. "We fully understand that this incident may worry, says the bank. We are very disappointed and we also assure you that UBS is taking the matter very seriously and makes every effort to resolve it quickly. Your assets are safe with us. "

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The Netherlands suggest an output of the euro in Greece

September 11, 2011 - 2:44 pm Comments Off

European solidarity is crumbling a little more each passing day, while Greece and by extension the whole euro area plunged into crisis. The new wake-up call came Thursday from the Netherlands, already among the most reluctant to accept the end of July a second bailout of Greece. Exclusion from the euro area is no longer taboo.

The Dutch Minister of Finance Jan Kees de Jager, called Thursday for sanctions on countries in the euro area that do not fit European requirements for fiscal discipline. "If a country does not wish to meet the requirements, then there is no other option but to leave," said the minister. He added: "If we can not keep to the rules of the game, then you must leave the game" but added that it was only "a last resort."The day before, the Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte had already called for the creation of a post of European Commissioner responsible for enforcing the stability pact, demanding the implementation of sanctions as a limitation of funds or a loss of the right vote.

These misgivings, if they meet the concerns of domestic politics, can not find at least resonate with its neighbors. Finland still requires, in exchange for his participation in the aid plan, strict guarantees, while Slovakia has postponed the approval of the December European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

Tutelage

The Dutch minister said that the remaining German and Finnish counterparts, met Tuesday in Berlin, welcomed the proposals.The chairman of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) has poured oil on the fire, speaking in a setting under supervision of Greece, on failure of the bailout and failure of economic commitments. "Yes, if there is no other measure, it must be done," said Jean-Pierre Jouyet, former Secretary of State for European Affairs. At the same time, Athens warned Thursday by the voice of the Minister of Economy, the deficit will be higher than expected because of the recession. The European Commission has tried to defuse the pressure: "No release or removal of the euro area is possible after the Treaty of Lisbon. Participation in the euro area is irrevocable. "

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Canal + is the CSA in trouble

September 9, 2011 - 8:04 pm Comments Off

The acquisition of Direct 8 Direct and Star channels by Vincent Bolloré Groupe Canal + causes a shock wave with unprecedented media players. All appeal to the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) and criticize the slowness of the regulator to take a position on the future of digital terrestrial television.

Financial markets have been quicker to react. Indeed, TF1, which has focused its entire strategy on the fierce opposition to a free channel developed by Canal + – Canal 20 – lost 7.2% Friday on the Stock Exchange. Similarly, the title M6 tumbled 6.51%. Conversely Bolloré won 3.37%, analysts hailing the financial bargain. Finally, the titles NRJ (+0.7%) and NextRadioTV (-0.39%) were well maintained, the market focusing on the sale of their television assets.

Next operator, TF1 was walled in silence.M6, however did not fail to remember that in 2005 had played the Cassandra of PAF: "From the launch of DTT," said Nicolas de Tavernost, CEO of M6, "we warned that new entrants to the television would be the first out. And it did not fail to be realized: The group Pathé came out quickly, followed by groups AB and Lagardère, and Bolloré today that even before it has completed the acquisition of Virgin 17 has already sold! ".And the boss of M6 denounces "the enrichment of certain due to bad political decisions."

Let the TNT in the sole hands of incumbents

For Nicolas de Tavernost, it would have been wiser to let the TNT in the sole hands of the historical actors committed to long-term rather than opening the landscape to new players: "This only impoverish the sector" , he notes "The new entrants have pocketed more than € 1 billion – out of Pathé, that of AB for 525 million, 70 million of Lagardère and now to 465 million Bolloré Ed -. Much money is wrong sector and creation! This represents almost a year cost grid of TF1, and a year and a half program M6.I hope in the future, the CSA will take its responsibility and shall cease to grant frequencies to new entrants, "he says.

A challenging position that Alain Weill, CEO of NextRadioTV BFMTV and claiming to be "a long-term player like NRJ. Neither one nor the other have sold one of our assets. Today the market is recomposed out of all control and outside of government. Because we do not see how the CSA will be able to oppose the acquisition of Direct 8 Direct and Star by Canal +, "Storm Alain Weill," Today I ask the government: I hope that they let me develop my group, or do I accept offers that can not stop me to sell my assets? ". Alain Weill claims to have been in contact during the summer with a potential buyer, a large German operator.For his part Jean-Paul Baudecroux, the president of the NRJ Group regrets "the immobility of the CSA, a year ago, advocated a call for applications for new frequencies. All the evidence that we were right to claim the body and cry a second frequency. It is the mission of CSA to maintain pluralism. "

Presentation of the report of the TNT to the Prime Minister

Michel Boyon, president of CSA presented its report Friday afternoon knew the future of TNT to François Fillon. He will detail Monday as the sector has been waiting several months his positions on the future of TNT. Michel Boyon made recommendations that take into account several scenarios. In particular, the one where Brussels does not validate the legality of the famous lines that were to be granted compensatory … incumbents.He will have to consider a new scenario: one in which Canal + bought Direct 8 Direct and Star.

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Stock Exchange: managers hope a better season

July 4, 2011 - 9:00 am Comments Off

Click the preview to enlarge the graphic.

More calm, but not necessarily the trees that ascend to heaven. That's the feeling of professionals after a first half that gave them turn cold sweats and serious blows hot. Wall Street has ended sharply higher Friday, reassured on industrial production in six months and the CAC 40 gained 5%, not bad. But the last six months have not been a straight line, making investors 'waltz' sectors in their portfolios over the month. Next? The majority of the fifteen institutions we surveyed supports the actions. A conviction is not new, six months ago the answer was the same as other financial investments lack of prospects. But no one still believes in a peaceful market."The agreement to be on the U.S. debt ceiling will take over any concerns, we can expect markets corrugated iron over the summer," warns Edmond de Rothschild AM.

The jolts are therefore likely to be numerous. "Be a little patient and wait for the summer," advises Pictet. For individuals, two solutions: building a portfolio, forget the frenzy of the CAC 40 and look at the long-term performance by focusing in the range of performance. Or take advantage of periods of decline to make purchases with it like the pros. "The economic environment is still fragile and volatile, we remain cautious and prefer shopping on the decline," said Franz and Wezel at Axa IM.

Be opportunistic

Experts predict on average a CAC 40-4172 points (4%) in late December, while it has risen above the figure of 4,000 points Friday faxless cash advance.If these forecasts prove correct, 2011 would be a good year. This scenario is nevertheless undermined by the U.S. economic slowdown and the state of public finances in Europe and overseas. "Historically, growth slows sharply when the public debt ratio exceeds 90% of GDP. This will happen in many countries in the coming years, which will eventually be detrimental to the equity markets, "said Pierre Sabatier in Primeview. In this context, some sectors such as electricity producers and telecom operators, are considered sensitive by Pascal Heurtault Aviva Investors, their operating conditions can deteriorate suddenly due to changes in regulations.

Finally, the first half was disappointing those who had bet on emerging stock markets. Should we return to these places? "No.They always treat with a bonus to unrealistic expectations of growth without any problems, "says Alain Bokobza at Societe Generale in which inflationary pressures are still weighing. The development of emerging economies, however, makes it increasingly difficult global analysis. "We can target a few countries like China or Indonesia but staying away from Brazil and India," says Pictet. Others believe the potential of Russian actions. Schroders recommends devoting 15% of the pocket to the emerging international equity.

The exorbitant cost of cyber attacks

July 3, 2011 - 1:32 am Comments Off

The numbers are staggering. In Germany, the financial damage caused by cyber crime amounted to 61.5 million euros in 2010, according to figures released Thursday by the criminal police and the Federation of high tech Bitkom. This is equivalent to an increase of 66% over the previous year. As the United States, the FBI estimated the cost of crime to some digital $ 560 million in 2009. A world-wide, according to McAfee, cyber crime would have generated some 1000 billion in 2008, about 1.64% of world GDP for that year. Remains that, without minimizing the scale of the scourge, these figures are perplexing.

Many experts give little credence to these studies because most of them emanate from computer security specialists. For the record, other than McAfee is the world number two antivirus software.In addition, "less than 10% of companies report having experienced cyber attacks," said Jean-Paul Pinte, senior lecturer in strategic intelligence at the Catholic University of Lille. According to the specialist risk management and cyber terrorists of enterprises affected societies fear the bad publicity due to media coverage of cyber attacks.

Jean-Paul Pinte, "we know nothing of the legacy and financial losses suffered indirectly." He added: "If an attack is to relieve a company of sensitive information, loss of data will generate multiple costs, such as loss of competitiveness, or the upgrading of security."

"Hard to get a comprehensive view"

Director of the National Security Information Systems (Anssi), Patrick Pailloux abounds in this direction."When a site is the victim of an attack, he takes as an example, it is first blocked, causing a shortfall. Then we must add additional costs to set up a hotline strengthened. "And on the practices of industrial espionage initiated via the Internet," How can we measure in terms of losses that a competitor could steal ?, "asks the director of Anssi. Clearly, "it is difficult to get a comprehensive view of the problem," says he.

Despite these criticisms, these figures are held up to each event on Cybercrime. However dated, the estimated one trillion dollars of McAfee is authoritative. Last May, it appeared even in the "reminder" of the fourth Parliamentary Forum on Information Society in Geneva, on the initiative, among others, the United Nations.Trompe-l'oeil, the text quoted a source stamped Europol, the pharmacy police intergovernmental European Union, which actually refers to the numbers … the software publisher.

If governments do not hesitate to chopping these impressive figures, it is often necessary to legitimize, but costly reinforcement of their agencies against digital piracy. Or clear, make the pill easier to swallow from taxpayers. In January, the UK has estimated that cyber attacks cost him a whopping 27 billion pounds per year (32.2 billion euros) in a government study.An amount (by far) greater than the harm claimed by the United States … A few days before making public figure, London has announced the release of 650 million pounds over four years to "strengthen its cyber security " guaranteed high risk personal loans

International cooperation in the war-horse

Without waving the national figures, France is no exception, as evidenced by the announcement of piracy Bercy in March. Patrick Pailloux it was for the state to "lead by example" to encourage companies to report piracy they wipe. The Director of Anssi said that 150 computers were then infiltrated by hackers to steal documents for the French presidency of the G20. "We were able to counter the threat," he goes on, noting that thirty experts have been mobilized for two months to "clean up" more than 130,000 positions in the Department.A communication that is timely, since Anssi plans to double its workforce (360 employees) by 2013.

Such methods may be distasteful, but experts and politicians agree: there is no time to waste on the face of digital crime. "For a long time in France, we thought that hacking and computer intrusions were not really dangerous, says Jean-Paul Pinte. But now we know that it's become a real business, and that the threat can come from anywhere: a simple USB key, hard drives or even photocopiers, which, connected to the Internet can become the target of hackers ".

Therefore, international cooperation, which requires significant resources, is "a priority," insists Patrick Pailloux. And for good reason: "90% of attacks are international," says the director of Anssi.In the columns of The Tribune, Laurent Wauquiez, Minister for European Affairs, recently recalled that a hacker "can be installed in Latvia, while in France to intervene through a Canadian site." He even considers urgent that Europe adopts "a kind of cyber-FBI-backed Europol" to stem the digital crime. And one last statistic to shoot, ensuring that "a user of thirty lost money in Europe over the last year" due to a hacker.

Businesses, prey selection

Having surveyed 45 U.S. companies in 2010, the Ponemon Institute found that on average, the financial damage caused by hackers and data theft was $ 3.8 million.Like that of McAfee, this figure is to be taken lightly, as though Ponemon shows his independence, his study was commissioned by ArcSight, a specialist in digital security. However, it appears that large groups are increasingly being targeted by hackers. Since the beginning of the year, the list of companies or institutions that have suffered cyberattacks has continued to grow. Sony has suffered more than ten attacks since mid-April, leading to theft of confidential data of more than 1 million customer accounts. Recently, Sega has had the same misfortune: the editor of the series of Sonic hedgehog found in mid-June have been stolen names, email addresses, birth dates and passwords of almost 1.3 million customers on its servers.Google or Citigroup also suffered cyber attacks.

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The global economy risk the derailment, according to the IMF

June 18, 2011 - 5:56 pm Comments Off

Lehman syndrome is in everyone's head. The debt crisis in Greece and other countries in the euro zone could "derail the economic recovery in Europe and perhaps in the world," said Friday in Sao Paulo (Brazil) Olivier Blanchard. The chief economist of the IMF keeps clearly in mind the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers and the effect of stupor that had followed. A few weeks later, international trade plunged by more than 15% and the global economy went into recession.

With a new version of its forecasts, this time slightly down from last April (world growth is reduced from 4.4% to 4.3% in 2011), the IMF is concerned about the risk of "destabilizing defects" on sovereign debt.The feared scenario is thus described: "In the event of a severe market event, a shock could reverberate beyond the euro area by the game at a time of exposure border (bank's debt these countries) and a general decline in risk appetite. "

Overheating of the emerging

Long shared the conduct more or less expansionary economic policies deemed desirable by governments, the IMF now delivers an unambiguous message: "Policy makers should strive to make rapid progress in the consolidation of the financial system." He took the opportunity to ask the U.S. Congress to meet "immediately" the ceiling of federal government debt, currently the subject of disagreements between the Republican and Democratic members.

The IMF estimates that Japan will suffer a decline of 0.7% of GDP this year, following the earthquake that struck the archipelago on March 11, but its economy is expected to rebound 2.9% in 2012. International experts acknowledge the slowing U.S. economy since the beginning of the year they consider "higher than expected." This leads to belittle the Fund from 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points growth figures for the United States in 2011 (2.5%) and 2012 (2.7%). "In contrast, growth has surprised on the upside in the euro area, driven by investments more generous in Germany and France," he notes.For the second consecutive year, the German economy will grow at a rate above 3% in 2011, while its French neighbor to grow by 2% this year and 1.9% next year.

Emerging countries, whose annual growth will exceed 6% in 2011 and 2012, are facing a problem of "overheating". Without naming any countries by name, Olivier Blanchard believes that "inflation rises above the increase in raw materials and food prices." Hence the recommendation made to them to tighten their monetary policy, "The more long rates remain low, the greater the risk of a crash landing."

The Asian market took a breather

June 1, 2011 - 8:32 am Comments Off

The day after a day of general rise in global markets, boosted by press reports on the refusal of Germany to reschedule debt Greek investors take a breather. Asian markets, the trend is illustrated by the Nikkei stock exchange who, having garnered an increase of nearly 2% Friday, appears on Wednesday in a small increase of 0.23% to 9716 points to 7 hours.

As for values, the day is marked by lower DoCoMo (-1.32%), whose debt is placed on negative watch by Moody's. Toyota also declined sharply from 1.03% despite announcing a 90% recovery of vehicle production in Japan in the month of June.

Sales of new vehicles in Japan, excluding mini-models, dropped 37.8% in May compared to the same month of 2010, 142,154 copies, recording their ninth consecutive decline, due to the effects of the earthquake of 11 March on production and morale of buyers.

Slowdown in China

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and Shanghai have more trouble finding momentum Wednesday. Both markets lose respectively 0.14% and 0.25%. Investor sentiment is at its lowest since the announcement of an increase in manufacturing activity in China in May slower than in April, according to two separate indices published by an organization close to the government and the bank HSBC.

PMI purchasing managers of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) fell last month to 52 cash advance loan.0, against 52.9 in April, the agency reported in a statement.For its part, HSBC has calculated a PMI to 51.6 for May, against 51.8 in April, and noted "a continued moderate growth in manufacturing output accompanied by an easing of inflationary pressures" on last month.

These indicators show that the anti-inflationary measures by the Chinese government began to produce results. The banking sector, for its part, does not welcome news: Industrial & Commercial Bank of China lost 0.15% while Poly Real Estate Group dropped 0.43%.

Furthermore, the reluctance dominates. The Korean Kospi lost 0.26%, while the Indian Sensex advance of 0.59%. For its part, the Australian S & P climbed 0.33% despite the announcement of a contraction in GDP of 1.2% in first quarter 2011 compared to the previous quarter due to a series of natural disasters.The markets finally react well because these figures are slightly better than forecasts which projected a contraction of 1.4%.

The increased gross

For their part, oil prices were on the upside Wednesday in electronic trading in Asia, facing the hopes of resolving the debt crisis in Greece, according to analysts.

In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for July delivery took 30 cents to 103 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for delivery gained 31 cents to equal 117.04 dollars.

"The chances of Lagarde IMF are considerable"

May 26, 2011 - 3:00 am Comments Off

A video of Figaro.fr