'IFAs could see professional indemnity insurance costs soar by over 50 per cent after the departure of major insurers from the IFA market and increasing claims, PII brokers are warning.

In July last year, PI insurer Beazley pulled out of the IFA market due to increasing claims and QBE followed in December, saying the market was no longer profitable....'

Investors Europe, a stock, futures & forex broker regulated by the FSC. Read our disclaimers on spot forex, on the diffusion of third party products, news, services and U.S. Persons

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/markets/article3290280.ece

'0720 Sam Fleming, Economics Editor, reports: The euro crisis is a greater threat to developing economies than the crash of Lehman Brothers, the World Bank has warned. In its Global Economic Prospects report for 2012, the Bank lowers growth forecasts for developing nations to 5.4 per cent and for wealthy nations to 1.4 per cent.

It urged developing countries to “prepare for further shocks while there is still time”, amid deep concern about the potential for the euro crisis to worsen further and spill worldwide. The euro area is predicted to suffer a 0.3 per cent contraction this year, following growth of 1.6 per cent in 2011. Growth in China will cool to 8.4 per cent from 9.1 per cent.

Developing nations have less room for manoeuvre now than they did in the slump of 2008-09, leaving them exposed to developments in the single currency region, it explained. The Washington-based lender said that capital flows into developing countries had already weakened amid a retreat by global investors. In the second half of 2011 flows tumbled to $170 billion (£110 billion), it said, just over half the level of a year earlier.

The World Bank fears that if the crisis is not successfully contained, “the world could be thrown into a recession as large or even larger than that of 2008-09”. '

http://bit.ly/zXLWGK

'Foreign investors are vital to the Spanish economy: They are Spain’s best hope for dealing with the glut of new homes on the coast, something even the incompetent former Government recognised with its futile European road-shows last year. So why, then, is the state making it harder than ever to get an ID number, known as a número de identidad de extranjero, or NIE number for short, without which foreigner investors can’t buy?

I ask the question, but don’t expect an answer from me because I’m as baffled as anyone. At a time like this the Government should be bending over backwards to make it easier for foreigners to buy property in Spain, not creating new obstacles.

NIE numbers for property buyers are nothing new, so what has changed? The fact that you can no longer use a power of attorney to authorise someone else to request a number on your behalf. That used to take the pain out of the process (whilst adding to the cost), but now you have to go in person and waste half a day in some grim government office staffed by surly bureaucrats and police.

As Graham Hunt of Houses for Sale in Spain writes in his blog piece The Law Of The Stupid. NIE Numbers in Spain:

“The applicant also needs to present themselves, at least here in Valencia, at a police station in the middle of an industrial estate on the outskirts of Valencia and queue up to be treated like a piece of dirt by the civil servants working there.”

Is there any alternative? Yes, you have the option of requesting a number from the Spanish embassy or consulate at home, if you live near one, which most people don’t. That, however, can take months, which is no use to most people buying a property.

For most people, the only option is to waste a morning of their life suffering at the hands of the Spanish bureaucracy, with the biggest queues and longest waits reserved for buyers from countries outside the EU, like Russia and China. As Graham says, “This means that millionaires wanting to invest a lot of money in Spain are treated like dirt on their first experience of the country.”

Once again, the Spanish bureaucracy comes up trumps.

+ More information on Spanish NIE numbers....'

http://tgr.ph/FSC_like_FSA  ? There is a danger that the culture of the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) could "largely mirror" the expensive, bureaucratic and "high-handed" Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Treasury Select Committee has warned.

'In a hard-hitting report, the Parliamentary committee called for a substantial overhaul of the draft legislation to avoid mistakes made by the FSA.
 Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Committee, said: "If we are not careful, the FCA will become the poor relation among the new institutions. But it is the one that will matter most to millions of consumers."
 He added: "The plain fact is that the FSA did not succeed in protecting consumers from spectacular regulatory failures. The mis-selling of PPI and endowment mortgages are just two examples.
 "The FSA is not only expensive, for which the consumer always pays, but many have told us that it has also become bureaucratic and dominated by a box-ticking culture. The creation of the FCA is an opportunity to create something much better."
 The Committee said it had concerns for the future accountability of the FCA after receiving a devastating report of the FSA's culture from the "most senior figures in the fiffinancial services industry".
 Although the complaints were anonymous, the MPs said the "scale and substance of the criticisms makes it improbable that they do not reflect an underlying problem".
The Committee said it had experienced the FSA's high-handedness itself when one of its reports last year was rejected by the regulator "within hours".

"The fact that a non-elected public body would so hastily dismiss recommendations from a parliamentary committee raises concerns about the accountability and culture of the FSA," it said.
Despite the evidence that the FSA lacked accountability, the MPs said it seemed the "FCA will largely mirror the current arrangements under the proposals as they stand".
 The report called for rules to be included that will force the FCA to publish board meeting minutes as well as face tougher scrutiny from Parliament.
The MPs also criticised the draft legislation for being confusing. They called for the FCA to have a more clearly defined duty to promote competition in financial services. "We were disappointed that HM Treasury did not make promoting competition a primary objective for the new authority," the Committee said.
 The final Bill should contain clear definitions between retail and wholesale consumers and practitioners, and the "balance of protection and consumer responsibilities that attach to these different groups".
 
The MPs were also still concerned about the clarity of the relationship between the FCA, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Policy Committee.
It was vital the FCA is efficient and less expensive than the FSA, the MPs said. "The Government should include in the Bill requirements for far more extensive cost-benefit analysis."
 
The Committee also noted that low salaries had made it hard for the FSA to retain staff but it stopped short of recommending better pay.
 

http://bit.ly/FSC_transparency

“The current legislative proposals do not provide adequate accountability, nor the framework for sufficient scrutiny of, and explanation by, the regulator.”

'The Treasury select committee has called on the Government to increase the accountability and transparency of the new financial conduct regulator.

In a report published today, the TSC says the financial services bill should include a range of measures including publishing full minutes of board meetings and a requirement for the Financial Conduct authority to provide information to parliament when asked.

The report says: “The current legislative proposals do not provide adequate accountability, nor the framework for sufficient scrutiny of, and explanation by, the regulator.”

Publishing board minutes was a suggestion made to the committee by FSA chairman Lord Turner who said he would back the move as long as it did not apply retrospectively.

The report also calls for the committee to be able to scrutinise people put forward by the Treasury for the role of FCA chief executive before they are given the role and for industry and “particularly trade bodies” to be more vocal with concerns about regulatory practice.

In the past committee members have been highly critical of the quality of FSA cost benefit analyses, with Conservative MP Mark Garnier describing one study used to justify the retail distribution review as “farcical”. The report says the FCA must challenge “old and inappropriate” FSA practices, singling out CBAs as a particular concern. It says the regulator must improve the quality of information it collects and avoid a tick box approach.

It says: “The Government should include in the bill requirements for far more extensive CBAs and consultation with firms, representative bodies and and panels prior to the introduction of new regulation.”

It adds that when new regulation is forthcoming, the regulator must be clear about exactly what it expects from firms.'

Source : http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/1044300.article?

http://www.cdeclips.com/en/world/fullstory.html?id=71498

'BEIJING - China and the United States should enhance economic and trade cooperation rather than politicize economic issues, leading government officials said on Wednesday.

"China insists that dialogue is better than confrontation, cooperation is better than containment," Premier Wen Jiabao said as he met US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

"We should take care of the core interests and concerns of each other, and resolve friction appropriately," Wen said.

"Both countries should take concrete measures and promote cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure and high-tech, in a wider, closer, more balanced way.".....'

http://boulle.co/offshore_reshoring

http://www.cdeclips.com/en/opinion/fullstory.html?id=71449

'..Great empires rarely succumb to outside attacks. But they often crumble under the weight of internal dissent. This vulnerability seems to apply to the eurozone as well.

Key macroeconomic indicators do not suggest any problem for the eurozone as a whole. On the contrary, it has a balanced current account, which means that it has enough resources to solve its own public-finance problems. In this respect, the eurozone compares favorably with other large currency areas, such as the United States or, closer to home, the United Kingdom, which run external deficits and thus depend on continuing inflows of capital.

In terms of fiscal policy, too, the eurozone average is comparatively strong. It has a much lower fiscal deficit than the US (4 percent of GDP for the eurozone, compared to almost 10 percent for the US).

Debasement of the currency is another sign of weakness that often precedes decline and breakup. But, again, this is not the case for the eurozone, where the inflation rate remains low and below that of the US and the UK. Moreover, there is no significant danger of an increase, as wage demands remain depressed and the European Central Bank (ECB)will face little pressure to finance deficits, which are low and projected to disappear over the next few years. Refinancing government debt is not inflationary, as it creates no new purchasing power. The ECB is merely a "central counterparty" between risk-averse German savers and the Italian government....' 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/318049-european-crisis-we-re-just-at-the-very-beginning

'Back in October, at one of the many euro summits, the European government leaders, uhm, persuaded the Institute of International Finance, representing large banks and insurers holding Greek debt, to accept a 50% “voluntary” haircut on their holdings. ISDA’s credit event determination committee fell into line, and ruled that since it was “voluntary”, the writedown did not constitute a credit event that would trigger CDS payouts...'

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11368355/1/italys-pm-no-nation-can-fight-debt-crisis-alone.html

'ROME -- No European nation is strong enough to ride out the continent's debt crisis alone, Italy's new premier insisted Saturday, urging fellow EU members to develop a common growth policy.... '

http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=23607

http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/2956466/Hedge-Funds-and-Alternatives-Hedge-Funds/Following-the-Smart-Money-Can-Be-Dumb.html?

'.. Would you have outperformed the overall stock market if you bought the stocks that were most overweighted by hedge funds at the end of the third quarter?

The answer: It depends on when you bought as much as what you bought.

For example, if you bought all 15 stocks on November 16, the day all of the holdings were publicly disclosed, you would have lost 2.58 percent by year-end. This compares with a 1.67 percent gain for the S&P 500, which means you would have lagged the broad market by more than 4.2 percentage points. Not too good...'