The FINANCIAL -- To keep up with the rapid adoption of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, industries have been increasing their mobile budgets in dramatic fashion, and the finance vertical is leading the way.
A May report by mobile advertising network Millennial Media and comScore found that the worldwide finance industry had the largest mobile advertising budget out of all verticals on the Millennial Media platform. And continued growth in spending is almost guaranteed—comScore data showed that finance-related mobile ad budgets grew 34% between 2010 and 2011.
Advertisers said they were centering mobile finance campaigns on lead generation and registering potential customers; 70% of respondents named that as their top goal. Maintaining a market presence was a distant second at 16%. Those goals differed substantially from those of advertisers overall, which were more evenly split between focusing on lead generation/registrations and sustaining market presence, with market presence edging out lead generation.
When looking at mobile financial consumers, the study found them to have a remarkably high smartphone penetration rate of 80%. It also found them to be significantly more likely than the overall mobile audience to own a web-enabled mobile device that wasn’t a phone, such as a tablet or ereader.
Optimizing the user experience for tablets can pay dividends for financial brands looking to lead users to websites or mobile apps.
In analyzing its clickthrough data on finance-related mobile ads, Millennial Media found that 54% of secondary actions prompted by finance ads consisted of enrolling, joining or subscribing, making it the most popular post-click action. Fifty-one percent of ads prompted mobile finance consumers to follow up on a click by placing a call, while 24% asked users to download a finance-dedicated mobile app.
According to eMarketer, customers also showed an affinity for apps when asked how they preferred to access information on a mobile device. While most financial consumers still preferred to access information on a browser, a significant number were willing to use branded mobile apps instead. Customers appeared to be most likely to adopt apps when they aided them in frequent tasks, such as accessing a bank account.
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Put upon finance directors have itchy feet, says Michael Page and GAAPWeb - Recruiter
Peter Istead, managing director of Michael Page Finance, says: “Finance departments are increasingly being brought in to manage and reduce business costs and risk across an organisation.
“They are therefore required to be more versatile in today’s market,” he adds, saying that in some smaller companies, this includes taking on responsibility for HR and procurement issues.
“With the removal of many layers of middle management, organisations are reducing promotion opportunities for their key staff; combining this with increased workloads and little growth in salary and bonuses can be a dangerous mix.”
The financial directors questioned were also largely prepared to move for their ideal job – 16% regionally, 13% nationally, 47% on an international level.
It also shows that management accounting is predicted to be the most important skill in the year ahead, according to 24% of those surveyed, followed by treasury/cash management (17%), risk (15%) and reporting (14%).
Finance ministry preparing new policy road map for banking sector - Economic Times
The North Block has already begun discussion with the central bank on the framework that will prescribe profit, capital adequacy, size and any other condition it deems fit for such banks to graduate into full-fledged banks. "We have written to the RBI asking for a clear roadmap for the smaller banks that want to expand," a senior finance minister official told ET.
Experts say such a policy can ensure that these entities have clear performance benchmarks fitted well into their own growth plan and hope to grow.
"A clear policy will help incentiwise better players.. It would improve access to banking in states and regional centres that have low credit penetration now," said Vibha Batra senior vice president, co-head, financial sector ratings, ICRA.
The government had in its 2010-11 Budget announced its intention to allow more bank licences, but progress has been slow because government has been unable to amend the banking regulation act.
The Reserve Bank of India is ready with the new bank licensing rules but is waiting for the changes in the banking law to be approved by parliament that will and empowers to supersede a bank boards.
In such a situation, the finance ministry feels a well laid out growth map for the smaller banks can help the cause of financial inclusion just as well. The finance ministry is already begun work on Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) attaining some traction in size in their geographic region.
The ministry has said that geographically contiguous RRBs sponsored by different banks within a state could be amalgamated with single sponsor bank to help optimizie use of modern technology and give adequate muscle to expand coverage in the region.
RRBs, are jointly owned by the centre, the state government and the sponsor bank. Out of the 82 RRBs,81 have already switched to core banking solutions and national electronic fund transfer system. The cabinet last Thursday cleared 632 crore worth capital infusion into RRBs.
Forex Flash: Spanish bank bailout under analysis – ING Bank - NASDAQ
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The timing means to end speculation about an imminent bailout to Spain ahead of Greece's new election next Sunday, removing uncertainty. However, Spain still needs to present a formal request to the creditor institutions ECB, EBA and IMF through the European Commission.
To cover the estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, ING Bank analysts expect a total amount below €100B: "In our view, the final amount to be provided will likely be below €100bn, but it would likely have to exceed €75bn to prevent solvency concerns from flaring up again", wrote analyst Martin Van Vilet, pointing to the Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger independent consultancies to deliver their report in a week.
It is still not known from where will the money come from, but EFSF would be better since EFSF do not have preferred creditor status, whereas ESM loans would be senior to outstanding government debt, potentially damaging Spanish sovereign bond markets.
"The conditionality of the financial assistance will be focused on "specific reforms targeting the financial sector, including restructuring plans in line with EU state-aid rules", added Van Vilet, while pointing to a total of 90% of debt/GDP if Spain requests the maximum amount.
ING Bank analysts expect uncertainty regarding the fund (EFSF or ESM) to trigger a jittery sovereign bond market ahead of Greek elections.
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The Benefits of Trading Forex - Moneyshow.com
Over the last decade, forex (or spot currency) has seen an explosion of interest from traders combined with a similar explosion of services from brokers to education providers. Even though retail forex is very new compared to equities and commodities, it has fast become a mainstream of retail trading. Previously, forex trading was only available to banks and some high-net-worth individuals.
All this should come as no surprise: Forex is the largest single market; it surpasses the size and volume of all the global equity markets combined. So when brokers started offering retail forex, the uptake was always going to be quick.
Today, traders simply can’t afford to ignore forex. The costs of trading forex, e.g. commissions and spreads, are minimal. And unlike stocks and futures, leverage and order size can be controlled so even the smallest accounts can be used for short-term daytrading and long-trading positions. How many other instruments allow you to start off trading just as efficiently from a $200 account to a $1m account and beyond?
The flexibility doesn’t end there. Forex, by its very nature, is international, meaning you can trade it round the clock. Few of us come into trading without work or other commitments in our schedules, and forex is ideally suited if this is your case. For example, if you live on Eastern Time and have a regular day job, US equities are inaccessible. However, Asian currencies such as the Japanese Yen are very active from 7pm ET. Many traders love to trade the Yen during this time. Of course, other currencies are tradable at this time though some move less in the evenings.
How complex is forex trading to enter? Forex, of course, has its own lingo but has many similarities to regular equities and commodities.
Technically, price charts are the same: Bars and candlesticks are used and the same tools are available such as moving averages, MACD, etc.
The fundamentals in forex focus on macro-economic data and sentiment, e.g. inflation, GDP, etc. It is often the same data you would consider for a major stock index such as the S&P. And economic releases are normally scheduled and easy to plan around.
The key factor that makes forex different is that you don’t trade a single currency; rather you always trade a “currency pair.” For example, you don’t buy the euro alone; you have to decide what currency to sell against it. If you choose to sell the US dollar, you have bought the euro-dollar pair, or EUR/USD. This takes a little getting used to at first, but it quickly becomes second nature.
Forex brokers are very well regulated and covered by their relevant authorities such as the National Futures Association in the US or the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. (Forex does not have a central exchange such as the NYSE for equities.)
If you haven’t looked at forex before, ask yourself do you want to experience a market with more flexibility, more leverage options, and just as much if not more profit potential?
H. Hamid is a full-time forex trader who previously worked in London’s financial district. Today he is a regular contributor for DailyForex.com and an administrator of The Forex Room.FOREX-Euro pares gains as Spain doubts persist - Reuters
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