The Star Online: Business

ECB to uphold emergency funding to Cyprus till Monday
Bankers get one last bonus season before EU cap
Japan February exports fall

ECB to uphold emergency funding to Cyprus till Monday

Posted: 21 Mar 2013 06:38 PM PDT

Friday March 22, 2013

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank (ECB) warned that it will only continue to provide emergency funding to Cyprus until Monday as the debt-hit country scrambles to secure funding for its banks.

"The governing council of the European Central Bank decided to maintain the current level of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) until Monday. Thereafter, ELA could only be considered if an EU/IMF programme is in place that would ensure the solvency of the concerned banks," the ECB said in a short statement.

On Wednesday, ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen had hinted that Cyprus' banks could not count on the ELA emergency funding if Nicosia did not agree to a bailout deal, complete with a restructuring of its banking system.

The ECB could only provide funds to banks that were solvent, and their solvency would not be assured "if an assistance programme for Cyprus that guarantees a rapid recapitalisation of the banking sector is not agreed upon soon," Asmussen said.

Cypriot leaders were to decide yesterday on a newly drawn-up plan aimed at securing a bailout for the near-bankrupt eurozone member, after parliament rejected a controversial tax on savings.

President Nicos Anastasiades is to present a "Plan B package" to party leaders at the presidential palace, after he chaired an emergency cabinet meeting called to weigh the alternative plan on Wednesday. - AFP

Bankers get one last bonus season before EU cap

Posted: 21 Mar 2013 06:37 PM PDT

Friday March 22, 2013

BRUSSELS: Bankers in Europe will have one final bonus season before they are barred from awarding themselves payouts worth more than their salary, European Union lawmakers agreed on Wednesday, paving the way for the first cap of its kind globally.

The cap is designed to address public anger at a bonus-driven culture many European politicians believe encouraged the risk-taking that led to the near-collapse of some of the region's biggest banks.

The law will take effect in January 2014 but will only apply to bonuses paid in 2015. A special provision to recognise that bonuses are paid for the previous year's work means bankers who collect payouts next February and March will not yet be affected.

The new rules will make it harder to award large payouts such as the bonus worth more than £17mil cashed in this week by Rich Ricci, the head of Barclays' investment bank.

The rules, part of a wider capital regime for banks, allow bonuses of twice bankers' salary if shareholders agree. They represent the toughest bonus regime anywhere in the world. - Reuters

Japan February exports fall

Posted: 21 Mar 2013 06:36 PM PDT

TOKYO: Japanese exports fell in February from a year earlier, but confidence among Japanese manufacturers improved for the fourth consecutive month in a sign that the economy is slowly recovering from last year's recession.

Finance Ministry data showed exports fell 2.9% in February from a year earlier, more than a 1.9% drop expected by economists in a Reuters poll, after a revised 6.3% rise in January.

Analysts said it would take time for the yen's slide to 3-year lows, which has been driven by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for aggressive monetary easing and fiscal pump priming, to feed through to improved exports even though it immediately raises the price of imports.

But the policy mix aimed at ending nearly two decades of deflation and dubbed "Abenomics" is already boosting corporate morale.

A Reuters monthly poll, which is closely correlated with the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan corporate survey, showed manufacturers' sentiment index rose two points to minus 11 in March and was expected to swing to plus four in June.

"The trade data show the pace of improvement in exports is slower than previously expected. The yen's weakness is likely to have an impact on export volumes gradually from the March and April data toward summer," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at Itochu Economic Research Institute in Tokyo.

"The Reuters Tankan shows a pickup in corporate sentiment for both manufacturers and non-manufacturers on the back of higher share prices," he said.

A negative reading in the poll means there are still more pessimists than optimists, but the March 418 survey of 400 firms, shows the gap has been steadily narrowing since the end of 2012.

Imports rose 11.9% in the year to February, a fourth straight increase but below expectations of a 15.1% rise. The 777.5 billion yen (US$8.14bil) deficit was narrower than the 836 billion yen deficit expected by economists, but was still the largest on record for the month of February. - Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Khamis, 21 Mac 2013