Retirement fund manager EPFO's trustees today approved a proposal to resume investment in the scam-hit LIC Housing Finance, a subsidiary of the country's largest insurance company Life Insurance Corporation.
The decision to resume investment in the LIC Housing Finance was taken at the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
The CBT had suspended investment in housing finance company following disclosure of the bribe-for-loans scam in November 2010 in which top officials of the LIC Housing Finance were allegedly involved. "Amount invested in LIC Housing Finance is not much...approved investment is only about Rs 800 crore," CBT member and Secretary All India Trade Union Congress D L Sachdev told reporters after the CBT meeting.
The EPFO had invested Rs 454 crore in the bonds of LIC Housing Finance Company. The fund manager's prevailing investment norms allow for investment of up to Rs 846 crore in the company.
The EPFO's advisory body, the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC), took up the issue in its meeting on January 28 and recommended resumption of investment in LIC Housing Finance. LIC Housing Finance went through a bad phase after CBI in November arrested its CEO Ramachandran Nair and seven other senior bankers for allegedly colluding with real estate firms to sanction large-scale corporate loans, overriding the mandatory due diligence involved in such approvals, besides other irregularities.
FinMin: bill on CPB rescue allows options apart from EU bailout - famagusta-gazette.com
After lengthy discussions, the Parliament approved early this morning a bill providing for the state to act as an underwriter to CPB's capital increase of 1.8 billion euro through a rights issue.
''The effort made tonight (yesterday for the approval of the bill) gives the possibility to examine other options,'' Sharly said responding to a question whether Cyprus would avoid the EU support mechanism.
''And yes we will work in the time ahead to explore every option possible to avoid the (support) mechanism,'' he added.
Sharly said he is moved by the sense of responsibility shown by all MPs who approved the bill.
Furthermore, replying to questions, Sharly voiced his concern over developments in Greece, expressing hope that Greek politicians will put the interest of their country before their own political benefit so that Greece will remain in the euro area.
''If this prevails I believe that at the end of the day Greece will make it and will remain in the Euro area and the Greeks will see better days,'' he added.
Cyprus is heavily interconnected with Greece through the Cypriot baking system whose loan portfolio in Greece accounts for approximately 25 billion euro. While Athens is gearing up for new general elections on June 17 speculation for Greece's exit from the Euro area is rising.
''For this reason I say if the Greek politicians show the same sense of responsibility like their Cypriot colleagues I believe they will make it (to remain in the Euro zone) and will not drag Cyprus in more difficult days,'' Sharly said replying to a question.
Copyright Famagusta Gazette 2012 All comments are now moderated
Road money is still just a trickle - Vancouver Business Journal
The six-year plan released this week reflects last year’s priorities since nothing has changed.
Someday: Olde Towne Road will be straightened at the sharp turn in front of The Colonies at Williamsburg. When the timeshares were developed, VDOT gave up surplus right-of-way for buffers and The Colonies gave up land to fix the curve. The project will cost $2.66 million.
Croaker Road will be widened to four lanes from Richmond Road to the James City County Library. The project includes replacing a new two-lane bridge over the train tracks. The total project cost is $12.67 million, of which $984,211 is already funded.
Longhill Road will expand to four lanes between Route 199 and Olde Towne Road and get sidewalks. The road is already over capacity. The project will cost $11.8 million, with about $135,000 in hand.
County officials consider this project the most urgent, but Olde Towne and Croaker will likely reach the construction phase beforehand.
Racefield Drive would be paved under a project that sets aside money annually until enough has accrued to complete a project. So far, the county has $69,000 toward $177,600 needed.
Hicks Island Bridge over Diascund Creek will be replaced under a similar funding scheme. The bridge has a low sufficiency rating and has been pinpointed by VDOT as priority for replacement. The project will cost $726,000, of which $280,800 is funded.
The Board of Supervisors will review the priorities next week.
Want to go? The supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, in Building F of the County Government Complex, off Mounts Bay Road.
Manappuram Finance Q4 net profit up 83% at Rs 187 cr - MoneyControl.com
Published on Sat, May 19, 2012 at 12:59 | Source : Moneycontrol.com
Updated at Sat, May 19, 2012 at 13:00
Money troubles raises corruption risk in football - Bangkok Post
There are thousands of players like Mario Cizmek in football, professionals who never fulfilled their early promise yet whose passion for the game takes them to unfashionable clubs to earn a living from the game they love.
Former Croatia footballer Mario Cizmek, who has admitted involvement in fixing eight matches in 2010. Croatia's centre-left government is drafting a new law on sports aimed at bringing more transparency in management and money flows.
Cizmek represented his native Croatia at under-20 and under-21 level. A diagnosis of diabetes halted his rise and he never made it to the big leagues. Instead he became a journeyman, playing for clubs as far afield as Israel and Iceland.
The 36-year-old midfielder, though, has since made a name for himself for the wrong reasons after admitting involvement in fixing eight matches in 2010, raising the prospect of time in jail and a ban from playing the sport for life.
Cizmek said his life started to unravel after his club, Croatia Sesvete, failed to pay his salary, which amounted to roughly 3,000 euros (about $3,900) a month.
"A month or two is not a problem but I did not get my wages for a full year," he told AFP.
He owed the state about 35,000 euros (dollars) in taxes and social contributions and did not want to ask friends and family for loans anymore.
"You lose your dignity and become an easy target," he said, revealing how the organisers of the match-fixing worked on cultivating susceptible players for months.
Cizmek said he received between 2,000 and 3,000 euros ($2,600-3,900) a match and was one of 15 players and football officials sentenced by a Zagreb court last December for rigging eight Croatian First Division (HNL) matches.
For that, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail in the country's first trial of its kind. He is now waiting for Croatia's Supreme Court to give its final ruling. If it finds against him, he will go to prison.
Cizmek stressed that the difficulties he faced did not justify his behaviour and now wants his experience to serve as an example to young players tempted to follow the same path.
"You get just a bit and you can lose almost everything," he said. "Football was my whole life and I lost it," he said.
"You feel so stupid and miserable ... thinking, 'How is it possible that I'm doing this after a honest career spanning 20 years?'"
Cizmek, though, is not an isolated case in the global game.
In Turkey, nearly 100 people, including officials and players from top sides like Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas, are currently on trial over claims that at least 19 first and second division matches were fixed during the 2010-11 season.
Italian prosecutors are also grappling with fresh claims of graft, six years after current Serie A champions Juventus were stripped of two league titles and relegated to Serie B for trying to influence refereeing appointments.
Corruption allegations have also rocked the fledgling league in China, while the probe in Croatia was launched in late 2009 after German police provided information about match-rigging and betting fraud across Europe.
Football's world governing body FIFA has launched a new drive against corruption in the game, including an appeal for assistance to Interpol and the establishment of protection programmes for those who blow the whistle on match-fixing.
FIFA estimates that between 400 and 500 billion euros are generated each year by betting on sport -- both legal and illegal -- with between five and 15 billion euros stemming from fixed matches, making it hugely attractive for organised crime.
But in a special "Black Book", the global football players union FIFPro said there was "a clear link between the non-payment of wages and match-fixing".
It found that more than 40 percent of professional players in 12 Eastern European countries did not have their salaries paid on time.
Cizek said the reality of fixing matches is more mundane than simply making mistakes on the pitch and with most first division sides in Croatia struggling financially, it's easy to see how players can succumb to temptation.
"There were eight of us (from the same club involved in match-fixing) on the pitch, it was enough just not to play with 100 percent effort," he explained.
Marketing and sponsorship income have dropped dramatically in less high-profile leagues like Croatia due to the economic crisis, while poor quality games and fans turned off by a string of scandals has left clubs playing to almost empty stadiums.
Anti-graft prosecutors in Croatia suspect several top football officials of taking bribes and fixing matches.
"The current situation within Croatian football is the most critical ever" since the former Yugoslav republic gained independence in 1991, said leading sports journalist Robert Matteoni.
"The main problem is poor management of the federation and clubs, which are on verge of financial collapse."
The Croatian league has vowed to slim down from 16 clubs currently to just 10 by 2014.
"Simply, Croatia's economic environment cannot support 16 professional clubs," added Croatian football federation (HNS) secretary-general Zorislav Srebric.
To tackle the problem, Croatia's centre-left government is drafting a new law on sports aimed at bringing more transparency in management and money flows.
Changes in the football federation leadership are also imminent, media reports have suggested.
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Xpress Money may use the UAE as trial market for transaction service - Zawya.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai The UAE could be one of two trial markets as the UK-headquartered payment services company Xpress Money makes a move into the individual to business (or business to individual as the case may be) transaction space. Its home market could be the other test market with the trials expected to start post-summer.
“There are very few payments facilitators who are already offering such a service capability and those who are got into it quite recently,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, who heads the regional operations at Xpress Money. “By getting in ourselves at the earliest we expect to narrow any advantage the others may have.
“As of now, we are trying to feel the market out by talking to institutional clients.”
Sources at local remittance houses reckon this is the way forward for the industry. Having institutional clients readily translates into substantial funds flowing through the remittance pipeline and that can only be a good thing for all industry players.
Xpress Money — which came into being in 1999 — only services individual to individual payments, with the UAE — where it has 350 locations operated by various exchange houses — and the GCC being one of its top transactional markets globally. Last year it entered the US and more recently Australia. The plans are to extend coverage to Latin America.
Widely rated
That is why the company wants to get into payment settlements involving individual to business and vice-versa. This category is widely rated within the industry as the next big thing.
Such services could be utilised to make an airline booking, whereby a customer can do the needful at a physical location where the Xpress Money service is available, or for a business to send salary contributions to outstation employees.
“We are formulating the systems and will also require having in place strict compliance practices,” said Giriyan. “Also, future corporate clients would need to be assured that we can provide optimum coverage through physical locations and that’s being addressed. We will also need to maintain bank accounts.
“It’s different to the typical compliance requirements for individual to individual and quite exhaustive.”
Not that remittance volumes involving individuals are showing any signs of slacking off. The estimated volumes last year through the GCC corridor were estimated at $76 billion (Dh278.9 billion). Saudi Arabia alone would account for more than $25 billion, enough to place it among the Top Three worldwide.
“But it’s still the US that is the biggest remittance market by far and the recession does not seem to have had any impact,” said Giriyan. “Last year it was estimated at $51.6 billion and it’s not difficult to see why — the whole of Latin America depends on individual remittances coming out of the US and so are many markets in Asia.
“China, India and Mexico remain the biggest recipients of remittance transactions, which goes to show that customer to customer volumes are not saturated. But customer to business opens up a whole new stream of opportunities.”
By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor
© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
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