SEC chairman pitches budget boost to Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked Congress for a big budget hike on Tuesday, pledging to use the extra funds to improve outdated technologies and hire more examiners, economists and other market experts.

"The rapidly expanding size and complexity of the markets presents enormous oversight challenges," SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony before the House appropriations panel that oversees the agency's budget.

"In FY 2013, the SEC will need to hire specialists in a number of areas to strengthen our oversight of the markets, protect against known risks, and best enable our markets to facilitate economic growth."

For fiscal 2013, which starts in October of this year, the SEC is requesting an 18.5 percent boost from its current fiscal 2012 budget of $1.32 billion.

The SEC's ability to convince lawmakers to agree to such a large funding increase remains in doubt.

Although the SEC's budget is deficit-neutral and offset by fees imposed on the industry, many of the Republicans who control the House have been reluctant to support raising the agency's funding amid concerns over the implementation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

The SEC has faced criticism in the past over whether it is accurately judging any potential economic harm that may come from its rules, an area that some lawmakers have focused on in their efforts to slow down Dodd-Frank.

Last year, a federal appeals court overturned a Dodd-Frank rule that would have made it easier for shareholders to nominate directors to corporate boards. In its ruling, a three-judge panel sided with the business groups challenging the rule and said the SEC had failed to properly weigh the rule's economic impact.

In an effort to convince lawmakers to boost the SEC's funding, Schapiro pledged on Tuesday to use some of the extra money toward bringing more economists on board.

"As the commission undertakes additional rulemaking and evaluates existing rules, continued access to robust, data-driven economic analyses is necessary to develop efficient rules and evaluate the effectiveness of our existing regulations," she said.

She also said more experts would be needed to carry out new responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank law, particularly in the area of over-the-counter derivatives.

"New staff also will be needed to help conduct risk-based supervision of registered security-based swap dealers and participants, including by using newly available data to identify excessive risks or other threats to security-based swap markets and investors," she added.

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Tine takes on the Chinese in All England badminton

Tine Baun, the only woman to have denied China an All-England Open singles title in the last ten years, has special reasons for wanting the chance to try again when the world's oldest tournament gets underway here on Wednesday.

The twice former champion from Denmark was unable to make a title defence last year because of a heel injury, and believes her special affinity with the century-old tournament she calls her second home offers hopes of defying the sport's greatest nation again.

Baun, formerly Rasmussen, also wants to do well because at the age of 32 this could be her last All-England Open. She expects to retire not long after the Olympic Games in August and says: "I could do one more All-England, but not two."

Despite another injury-affected season, Baun did enough at the Hong Kong Open in November to suggest her formidable smash and phases of inspirational attack can, when combined with triumphant memories, still make an impact.

There she beat Wang Shixian, the reigning All-England champion, before losing the final to Wang Xin, the Asian Games champion. Here in Birmingham, as the fifth seed she will draw hope from those matches, and from the ambience she loves.

"I feel that when I play, I play good matches," Baun said. "I've been struggling with the right hip, but it's getting better. And I feel that the spectators get behind me at All-England. This is a very special tournament for me."

Her main obstacles will be the trio of outstanding Wangs - Wang Yihan, the world champion, Wang Shixian, the All-England champion, and Wang Xin, the winner of several Super Series titles since last year.

The most dangerous is probably Wang Yihan, who won the 2009 All-England and this year's Malaysia Super Series, and is popular with European audiences both for her ability to impose a creative game and an evident range of emotions.

She should meet Baun again in the quarter-finals, and is favourite to regain the title. However the Dane may take comfort from having beaten her in a thrilling final two years ago, the last time either competed at the All-England.

By contrast Wang Shixian, the titleholder, is more of a running player, with consistency, good speed and excellent movement, all of which helped her win the Korea Super Series in Seoul two months ago.

And Wang Xin, the second seed, is a versatile player who attacks and defends well. However she has a possible semi-final against Saina Nehwal, the very able Commonwealth champion from India, who is probably due to make a mark in Birmingham.

Intelligent, well-ordered, and tactically astute, Nehwal has as one of her career ambitions to deny the brilliant Chinese a monopoly. Five of the eight women's singles seeds this week are from the world's most powerful badminton nation.

China is also very strong in all the other events, topping the seeding list in three of them. Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng head the men's doubles, Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli the women's doubles, and Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei the mixed doubles.

Only in men's singles does another nation top the list - Malaysia, in the person of Lee Chong Wei, the defending All-England champion.

However China's Olympic champion Lin Dan narrowly beat Lee in the final of the world championships at Wembley in August, suggesting that China could repeat its unique 2009 All-England achievement of a clean sweep of all five titles.

Women's singles seeds:

1. Wang Yihan (CHN); 2. Wang Xin (CHN); 3. Wang Shixian (CHN); 4. Saina Nehwal (IND); 5. Tine Baun (DEN); 6. Jiang Yanjiao (CHN); 7. Li Xuerui (CHN); 8. Juliane Schenk (GER).

Men's singles seeds:

1. Lee Chong Wei (MAS); 2. Lin Dan (CHN); 3. Chen Long (CHN) 4. Peter Gade (DEN); 5. Chen Jin (CHN); 6. Sho Sasaki (JPN); 7. Kenichi Tago (JPN); 8. Lee Hyun Il (KOR)

Gas supplies to Jordan stop after 13th pipeline blast

Egyptian natural gas supplies to Jordan have again halted completely after the gas pipeline was blown up for the 13th time, Jordan's energy minister said Monday.

Official Jordanian news agency Petra quoted Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Qutaiba Abu Qura as saying Jordan is communicating with Egyptian officials to learn the extent of the damage and the time needed to resume gas flow to Jordan.

On Monday, an Egyptian security official said six armed men planted the bombs in the Masaeed area close to Arish.

During the Mubarak era, Egypt signed a 20-year gas deal with Israel, which has also received gas from the pipeline. The agreement is unpopular with some Egyptians, and critics say Israel gets the gas at rates much lower than international prices.

Previous explosions sometimes forced weeks-long shutdowns of the pipeline, which is run by Gasco, a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS.

Egypt supplies Jordan with gas per an agreement signed in 2001 that was renewed last September.

Jordan relies on Egyptian gas supplies for 80 percent of its electricity. Repeated attacks on the pipeline have forced Jordan's electricity companies to use diesel and other fuels to run their power stations, causing the National Electric Power Company to lose about 1 billion dinars last year.

In November, Egypt said it would tighten security along the pipeline by installing alarms and recruiting security patrols from Bedouin tribesmen in the area.

Mena lending falls as Europe banks retreat

Dubai - Middle East and North Africa (Mena) lending fell to the lowest level in eight years as European banks retreat from the region due to the sovereign-debt crisis and as companies pursue record bond sales.

Borrowers based in a region that includes Gulf oil exporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates raised $1.97 billion of syndicated loans in January and February, the lowest amount for the same period since 2004 and 40 per cent less than in the first two months of last year.

Europe’s debt woes, which led to last month’s €130bn ($172bn) bailout for Greece, is forcing European lenders to trim more than €775bn from their balance sheets. As a result, loan borrowing costs for companies and financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa rose to an average 210 basis points more than benchmark rates since October from 196 basis points in the first nine months of 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Many international banks are experiencing their own difficulties, for example capital constraints, and are less inclined to participate in syndications in the region,” Philip Smith, senior director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings Ltd, said in a telephone interview in London on March 2.

Pricing may also affect syndicated loan volumes as international lenders try to obtain higher spreads, Smith said.

An increase in risk appetite this year has meant regional companies are able to borrow money more cheaply through bond sales. During the first two months of 2012, companies in the region raised a combined $9.2bn from conventional and Islamic bond sales, the most since Bloomberg began tracking debt sales in the region in 1999. That surge compares with $1.1bn in same two months last year, Bloomberg data show.

Average yields on corporate bonds in the Middle East declined 25 basis points, or 0.25 of a percentage point, so far in 2012 to 4.969 per cent on March 2, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai Middle East Conventional Corporate US Dollar Bond Index.

“Historically, bond issuance in the region has been quite low but this is changing as the market matures,” Smith said.

Sales of sukuk, which comply with Islam’s ban on paying interest, surged more than eight-fold to $5.9bn in the predominately Muslim Gulf Arab region so far this year.

That includes a $4bn Islamic bond sale by the civil aviation authority of Saudi Arabia, a nation of 28 million people which has committed to investing more than $500bn to develop infrastructure and create jobs for youth.

Companies in the Middle East had long favored bank loans over bonds due to the lack of development of regional debt markets. In 2007, Middle Eastern companies raised a record $109.6bn in syndicated loans, while bonds in the region amounted to $34.3bn, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

That year, all of the top 10 mandated banks for Middle East and North Africa lending were based outside the region, including seven from Europe. European banks have since scaled back their regional business as European Union governments take steps to contain the sovereign-debt crisis, leading to a rise in borrowing costs.

“If the international banks are retreating we can see local banks taking up the balance,” Alexis Postel-Vinay, head of loans syndications, Middle East at BNP Paribas said in an e- mailed response to questions on February 29. Capital ratios of most UAE banks exceed 20 per cent, which are “much higher” than many European and US institutions, he said.

In 2011, syndicated lending in the Middle East and North Africa fell to $43.3bn, the lowest level since 2009, and only three of the top-10 banks were from Europe, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Regional lenders including National Bank of Egypt took up four of the top spots. So far in 2012, half of the top 10 mandated banks are based in the Arab world.

European banks may engage more in the region as borrowing costs for European banks start to fall. The three-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor, fell 10 basis points from a high of 0.582 per cent on Jan. 3 to 0.486 per cent on February 29. This is an increase of 24 basis points from a low of 0.245 per cent on June 15.

The three-month Emirates interbank offered rate, the rate at which banks in the UAE lend to each other, fell to 1.47 per cent on August 8, the lowest level since Bloomberg began collecting data in September 2006. It has since risen seven basis points to 1.536 per cent on March 4.

“With significant volumes of 2007-legacy transactions due for repayment in 2012 we are anticipating a pick-up in volumes later in 2012 as borrowers engage with lead arrangers on their refinancing requirements,” John Starling, a director for HSBC Holdings Plc’s loan syndicate in London, said in an e-mailed response to questions on February 28.

Loans valued at $43.9bn will mature in the region this year, an increase of more than $10bn from $33.6bn last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. GCC companies have almost $90bn of foreign-currency debt maturing through the end of 2013, according to a December 19 estimate by Barclays Capital analysts.

Dubai and its state-controlled companies face about $10.3bn in debt repayments this year, according to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch estimates.

Other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are also spending on infrastructure as they benefit from a rise in oil prices above $100 a barrel this year. Qatar, the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has ramped up spending as it prepares to host the 2022 Soccer World Cup.

Banks are likely to pick up some of the financing slack, even if volumes are lower than last year.

“Our commitment to the region remains the same, emerging markets are important to us, but there are some European banks that have chosen to exit,” Simon Meldrum, director of central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa loan syndicate at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, said in a telephone interview in London on March 1. “It’s a quiet start to the year, but we are only two months in so I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions.”

Source: Alrroya

World internet economy expected to increase dramatically by 2016; BCG says

Dubai - The Internet economy of the world is projected to increase dramatically by 2016 providing companies and countries with a vital source of growth, according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The biggest driver is the unprecedented increase in the number of users around the globe—from 1.9 billion users in 2010 to a projected 3 billion users in 2016, about 45 percent of the world’s population. The rise of the emerging markets, the popularity of mobile devices, especially smart phones, and the growth of social media are also compounding the economic impact of the Internet.

In The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy, the latest in a series of BCG reports on the rise of the Internet, BCG makes the case that businesses will be fundamentally transformed over the next five years. It also urges action by companies and countries, recommending the creation of a “digital balance sheet” and offering an agenda for chief executives and policymakers to build their digital advantage.

“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital,” said David Dean, a coauthor of the report and a senior partner at BCG.

Joerg Hildebrandt, Partner and Managing Director at BCG Middle East added: “The findings of this report are particularly relevant for the Middle East as this is one of the fastest growing regions in terms of internet and smart phone penetration."

The Rise of the New Internet

The BCG report charts several major shifts that are not well understood by many corporate executives and policymakers. These include the following changes in the use and nature of the Internet:

From a Luxury to an Ordinary Good. Twenty years ago, at the Internet’s commercial birth, its use was restricted to the relatively wealthy. Today it is almost everywhere, with half the world’s population expected to use the Internet by 2016.

From Developed to Emerging Markets. By 2016, nearly 70 percent of the Internet users in the G-20 will be from emerging markets, up from 56 percent in 2010. China will have nearly 800 million Internet users—about the same number as France, Germany, India, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. combined. The contribution of emerging markets to the G-20’s Internet economy will grow from less than one-quarter in 2010 to more than one-third in 2016.

From PC to Mobile. By 2016, mobile devices—increasingly, smart phones—will account for about 80 percent of all broadband connections in the G-20 nations.

From Passive to Participatory. Social media are changing global communication patterns. Countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico are going straight to social, with more than 90 percent of Internet users engaged in social media. In these countries, social media are used more extensively than in developed markets in the creation and sharing of content.

Why Every Business Needs to Go Digital

Consumers are starting to derive extraordinary value from the Internet, according to the BCG report. Across the G-20, $1.3 trillion of goods was researched online before being purchased offline—representing 2.7 percent of GDP, or more than $3,000 per connected household. In the largest G-20 economies, the perceived value that consumers place on the Internet, above what they already pay, is $1.9 trillion, or $5,000 per connected household.

Likewise, companies that make extensive use of the Internet—including social media—to sell, market, and interact with their customers and suppliers grow faster than those that do not. Over the past 18 months, BCG surveyed more than 15,000 small and medium-size enterprises around the world.

In the U.S., businesses with a medium or high Internet presence expect to grow by 17 percent over the next three years, compared with 12 percent for other companies. In the U.K., the overall sales of businesses with a medium or high Internet presence rose by 4.1 percent each year from 2007 to 2010—about seven times faster than so-called low-Web and no-Web businesses. This trend is consistent across all the countries surveyed, underscoring the Internet’s contribution to economic growth and jobs creation.

Hildebrandt added: "To compete, companies need to strengthen what we call their digital balance sheets by building their digital assets."

Source: Press Release

iPad dispute signals new era in trademark troubles

SHANGHAI (AP) — iPotato, isock, icouch, istove, i-you-name-it. An Internet search for "i" words from A to Z will turn up just about any combination you might think up, from all over the world, only a handful of them related to Apple Inc.

Given its penchant for "iproducts," Apple's current troubles in China over the iPad trademark are not its first, and are unlikely to be its last. China's importance as a major consumer market is bringing fresh headaches for companies, and even celebrities, seeking to protect and claim brand names. That's apart from the usual problems with piracy and other infringements.

Financially troubled Proview Electronics Co., a computer monitor and LED light maker, says it registered the iPad trademark in China and elsewhere more than a decade ago and wants Apple to stop selling or making the popular tablet computers under that name. Apple says Proview sold it worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 2009, though in China the registration was never transferred.

The number and variety of such disputes is rising as Chinese companies seek to leverage trademarks to their advantage, either for the sake of acquiring attractive brand names or for financial gain, said You Yunting, a lawyer with the Debund Law Office in Shanghai, which specializes in trademarks and patents.

"This is an era of development and people are paying more attention to brand names now," said You. "China is not good at innovation. I'd say Proview would not be suing Apple if its financial situation was fine."

Apple and Proview are battling in Chinese and U.S. courts. Apple's right to make and market the iPad under that name in China may hinge on a pending ruling from the High Court in Guangdong, in southern China. Over the past month, the conflict has escalated with Proview challenging not only Apple's use of the mainland Chinese trademark but also the 2009 deal, which involved worldwide rights to the iPad name.

Whatever the outcome, the dispute highlights the rising stakes of the trademark name game in the increasingly lucrative China consumer market, one that most global companies cannot afford to miss out on regardless of the risks.

Verizon launches wireless broadband for homes

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Wireless on Tuesday announced a version of its wireless broadband service that's designed for use in rural and remote homes that can't get DSL or cable.

The service, called HomeFusion, could also appeal to some households where DSL is the only fixed-line option, since it's faster than most DSL services.

HomeFusion could provide potent competition for satellite broadband providers, which are often "providers of last resort" for rural homes.

The service requires the installation of a cylindrical antenna, about the size of a 5-gallon bucket, on an outside wall. The hardware costs $200, but the work is free.

Service starts at $60 per month for 10 gigabytes of data. That's enough of a monthly data allotment to download the complete works of Shakespeare 2,000 times, or to watch about 10 hours of HD-quality video using an Internet streaming service such as Netflix.

Dallas, Nashville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., will be the first areas to get the service, later this month. By the end of the year, Verizon hopes to provide it everywhere it has coverage with its new "LTE" wireless network.

Verizon cites the same speeds for HomeFusion as for LTE data sticks: 5 to 12 megabits per second for downloads, and 2 to 5 megabits for uploads. However, LTE users frequently report much higher speeds, ranging up to 70 megabits per second for downloads.

By comparison, DSL service provided by Verizon Communications Inc., the fixed-line phone company that owns most of Verizon Wireless, provides download speeds up to 7 megabits per second in most areas.

Verizon's DSL service doesn't limit the data usage like HomeFusion does. The average U.S. and Canadian household usage of 22.7 gigabytes in September, as reported by Sandvine Inc.

However, a few heavy-using households skew the figure: the median usage was just 5.8 gigabytes. In other words, half of all broadband households used 5.8 gigabytes or less, and would have some headroom with a 10-gigabyte plan.

The 10-gigabyte plan would limit Internet movie watching to a few hours per month, and limit downloads of big software packages as well.

Verizon will sell step-up plans with 20 gigabytes of data for $90 per month and 30 gigabytes for $120 per month. It charges $10 per gigabyte of overage on any of the plans.

The $60 and $90 plans provide one-third more data per month than corresponding plans sold by ViaSat Inc. for its Exede satellite broadband service.

Wireless broadband for home use is not a new idea. Clearwire Corp. sells a similar service, without an external antenna, but has limited rural coverage. A number of smaller companies limit their service to one community.

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