Barclays plc (LON:BARC) has appointment Dennis Watson as its new Head of Asset Finance within the Corporate Bank.Watson is already responsible for the bank’s real estate, project finance and mezzanine debt origination teams and will assume control of the Asset Finance business, taking over from Alex Brown who has moved across to spearhead Barclays representation in the education, local authority and social housing sectors.
The change of leadership comes as Barclays reshapes the way asset finance is delivered to its corporate banking clients.
Dennis Watson explains: “We are not changing our appetite for asset finance, far from it, but what we are doing is bringing asset finance alongside our other asset backed and working capital debt propositions, enhancing the client experience by identifying needs earlier and supporting them with the right capital structure from a wider range of products.
"In today’s uncertain world it is important that a client’s debt needs are viewed in the round rather than on a single asset or transaction basis.
"Alex ran the asset finance business with great success in recent years, putting the business on a solid footing for the future and it is only through the efforts of him and his team that asset finance has become such an important instrument in the debt toolbox for Barclays”.
Money challenge to tribes' sentencing authority - Consumer Electronics Net
GAO report shows funding remains challenge to tribes considering more jail time for criminals
By The Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ' American Indian tribes authorized to triple the amount of time tribal members can spend in jail say they're challenged by a lack of funding.
The increase in tribal courts' sentencing authority from one year to three years for a single crime came two years ago under the federal Tribal Law and Order Act. But a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday showed that none of the 109 tribes who responded to a survey about the sentencing increase were taking advantage of it.
Nearly all of those tribes said they need more money and technical help from the federal government to provide public defenders, establish or update criminal codes, and have sufficiently trained judges as the law requires.
The report shows 36 of the tribes surveyed are working toward the new authority. Another 34 tribes were unsure whether they would go in that direction, while 31 said they had no plans to do so, the report said. The enhanced sentencing isn't mandatory for tribes.
Troy Eid, chairman of the Indian Law and Order Commission born out of the Tribal Law and Order Act, said tribes across the country are exploring the authority but it will take time to get all the elements in place if that's the path they choose.
"My impression is that within the next year, you'll start to see some tribes actually implementing the system," he said. "Tribes are being super careful. No tribe wants to get this issue wrong; it has to be legally correct."
The GAO cautioned the report isn't representative of all tribes. Congressional investigators identified 171 of the 566 federally recognized tribes that received federal funding for tribal courts to include in the survey, but not all of them responded.
Tribal leaders have said a year in jail for any crime under tribal law, including homicide, hasn't served as much of a deterrent on reservations. Members of the Navajo Nation Council have been debating whether the enhanced sentencing provision would help send a message that tribal officials are serious about combatting crime.
"The bad guys are saying they could get away with anything on the rez, which now pretty much is true," said Edmund Yazzie, chairman of the Navajo Nation Council's Law and Order Committee, and a former sheriff's deputy. "But now the committee is trying to take another look at it."
Seventy of the tribes surveyed said they had at least half the requirements in place to hand down lengthier sentences, but some are choosing not to because of associated costs, like probation. One unnamed tribe said it has had an effective criminal and civil justice system for 40 years without the requirement of a law-trained judge, and that hiring one from outside the community would be unreasonable.
Tribes receive funding, training and other assistance through the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of Justice, but it's not always enough.
The BIA said it has provided more than 60 recording devices to tribes to help them meet another requirement that they maintain a record of criminal proceedings. The agency said it has plans to give 15 more to tribes that request them and also has asked for $1 million more in funding for tribal courts in its 2013 budget justification.
The GAO recommended that the federal government clarify to tribes the funding sources available to help them pursue the enhanced sentencing.
Mato Standing High, attorney general of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said the tribe is fortunate in that it has the financial resources to meet many of the requirements under the Tribal Law and Order Act. The only thing missing is an updated tribal code that would reflect a new class of crimes, like rape, arson or homicide, with lengthier sentences, he said.
The tribe hasn't decided officially whether to move forward with the enhanced sentencing authority, he said, but is considering how to classify crimes after comparing them to state and federal crimes and penalties.
"Tribes really need to see it as an opportunity to exercise sovereignty and have more local control," Standing High said. "That's the goal of it, and I understand also that it takes a lot of resources that a lot of tribes don't have."
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Where Tim Hortons coffee shop lost money - Metronews.ca
A Tim Hortons coffee shop in Newfoundland’s largest hospital has no shortage of customers, yet managed to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars last year.
Located in St. John’s Health Sciences Centre, the Tim Hortons outlet lost $260,000. It’s the fourth fiscal year in a row that the franchise has seen red, according to hospital documents. From 2008 to 2009, it bled nearly $300,000.
After the recent loss, Eastern Health, Newfoundland’s largest integrated health organization, decided to turn over the shop’s operations to the private sector. It’s a way to channel funds where they’re needed most, president and CEO Vickie Kaminski said in a news conference Tuesday.
“We’re going to have to shift dollars from inefficient areas into our strategic priorities to begin to meet unmet health-care needs.”
Spokesperson Zelda Burt said the hospital coffee shop was paying its staff higher wages than other Tim Hortons employees would typically receive.
“They charge you $1.94 for a large coffee, but the situation was that staff who were pouring that coffee were Eastern Health staff. They were actually getting paid $28 an hour.”
Burt added that the direct wages are around $20 an hour. Benefits and employer costs account for the difference. “That’s where you’re looking at the loss.”
An industry source told the Star that paying those kinds of wages, instead of minimum wage, would devour what little profit margin there is.
The Tim Hortons outlet was already privately managed, but now a private operator will also take care of its employees.
After opening in 1995, there was an expectation that the shop would earn enough profit to pay for the salaries of several nurses, CBC reported.
The coffee shop’s move to the private sector is part of Eastern Health’s overall plan to return to a balanced budget. The organization will shed 550 “full-time equivalent positions” to save $43 million.
Burt emphasized that there would be no layoffs of permanent employees, and no reduction of Eastern Health services or programs.
Tim Hortons refused to comment when reached by the Star.
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