“Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.” – Warren Buffett. AFC Funds Performance Summary World markets started weak this year with a big drop in January and February 2016, and most… Continue Reading
Amsterdam, Budapest forums to discuss collateral management, retail banking problems
The planned 5th Annual Collateral Management Forum in Amsterdam on June 2-3 will take up a variety of issues, including numerous challenges presented to financial institutions by continual regulatory changes. Continue Reading
Second Annual Credit Risk Management Forum
Banks such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, UBS and UniCredit and regulators including the European Central Bank and European Risk Management Council will be represented at this event, which will address one of the hottest topics in today’s banking. The vast number of subjects to be addressed at the 2nd Annual Credit Risk Management Forum include suggestions for new ways of managing credit risk and challenges presented… Continue Reading
Myanmar Apex Bank launches mobile app for remittances
Myanmar Apex Bank (MAB), one of the four private banks set up during Myanmar’s 2010 privatisation wave, has launched a system allowing remittances via mobile phone text messages. Continue Reading
China official proposes allowing private retirement savings accounts
By Andrei Skvarsky. A senior official in the China Securities Regulatory Commission has proposed that individuals should be allowed to open private retirement savings accounts in addition to the current system of centralised pension deductions. Continue Reading
China’s LeEco streaming movies provider to invest about $100bn in Russia – EWDN, Kommersant
LeEco, China’s Netflix-like provider of streaming movies, plans to establish a presence in Russia this summer and to initially invest a minimum of $100m into the Russian market, according to the East-West Digital News (EWDN) website and Russin business daily Kommersant. Continue Reading
Developers sure to hail China’s real estate destocking policy – CEIC
By Andrei Skvarsky. A current Chinese government policy to stimulate real estate sales as a way to clear the country’s stocks of unused properties is likely to benefit developers and hence give a boost to construction, according to a subsidiary of the Euromoney Institutional Investor publishing group. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – March 2016 Newsletter
“The only way to stay consistently ahead of the game is to adopt a long-term view and, if appropriate, with a strong contrarian spin.” – Marc Mobius. AFC Funds Performance Summary This past month we have again received several accolades for the outstanding work of our team: Lipper’s Citywire has again listed AFC Asia… Continue Reading
Over 20 countries represented at Moscow Exchange event
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment professionals from more than 20 countries were among the more than 1,900 participants in an annual conference in Moscow on April 12 that was hosted by Moscow Exchange and had key Russian ministers and the Russian central bank governor among its speakers. Continue Reading
FXPrimus analyst: Oil price likely to sink back, oil market to stay volatile overall
A senior analyst at the FXPrimus global financial and commodities brokerage believes that the oil price, having risen by about 60 per cent since February, is likely to drop again but that in any case it will remain volatile in the foreseeable future. Continue Reading
MNI Indicators poll suggests business sentiment in Russia has gone up markedly
By Andrei Skvarsky. Monthly surveys by Deutsche Boerse-owned research company MNI Indicators suggest that Russian companies were by and large doing better in March than in February and that overall business sentiment in Russia went up with optimists and pessimists making up roughly equal proportions of the country’s business community. Continue Reading
Football contest organised by UAE’s Bayut becomes networking opportunity
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bayut.com, a Dubai-based property portal, has said it organised an amateur football tournament for United Arab Emirates real estate companies which has proved to be a “great” networking opportunity for businesspeople as well as a sports event. Continue Reading
The Global Stage For Tech Innovation – #BR2016
Join the Business Rocks Community – 2:4:1 Ticket Offer *Limited quantity Business Rocks is the global platform for tech innovation and is Manchester’s chance to cement its position as the UK’s second tech cluster and make some noise to the world. We’re bringing the European technology market to Manchester Central 21-22 April 48 hours of… Continue Reading
Lombard Odier banker: Financial situation in Russia ‘under control’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank with a presence in Russia, does not see the latter’s economic troubles as a major crisis and believes that the country might be at the start of a path towards recovery. Continue Reading
Lawyer suggests EU govts help dispel banks’ fears of returning to Iran
By Andrei Skvarsky. A London lawyer has suggested that European Union governments pilot European banks through a grey area that makes them afraid of moving into the Iranian market despite the United States’ lifting of nuclear programme-related sanctions against Iran in January. Continue Reading
Sberbank hires banker from Summa Group to run HNWI unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has hired Evgenia Tyurikova from Russian private investment company Summa Group to run the unit providing services for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). Continue Reading
Ernst & Young says Moscow Exchange IOSCO-compliant
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange’s benchmarks for its currency, equity, bond and money market segments have been declared by Ernst & Young to be compliant with the principles of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), an association of securities regulators. Continue Reading
Goldman Sachs said to have bought stake in Russian online recruitment firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Goldman Sachs is said to be among investors that have bought out online recruitment agency HeadHunter (hh.ru) from Mail.Ru Group, a leading Russian Internet company listed on London Stock Exchange, for 10bn roubles (about $145.5m at the current market exchange rate). Continue Reading
Russian startups selected for programmes to help them move to Ireland – Pulsar
By Andrei Skvarsky. Some Russian startups planning to relocate to Ireland have been declared eligible for accelerator programmes run by NDRC, an Irish early-stage investor in technology companies, NDRC and Russian venture find Pulsar Venture Capital announced today, on St Patrick’s Day. Continue Reading
Azerbaijan money supply shrinks by half since mid-2015 – newspaper
By Andrei Skvarsky. Azerbaijan’s money supply excluding bank assets has contracted nearly by half since mid-2015, an Azeri newspaper said, claiming that the reason is that Azeris have been changing national currency for dollars on a wide scale. Continue Reading
MNI Indicators: Consumer sentiment in Russia up slightly but still low
By Andrei Skvarsky. Surveys by MNI Indicators, a research arm of Deutsche Boerse, suggest that consumer sentiment in Russia remained quite low in February but that on the whole consumers were a wee bit more optimistic than in January. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – February 2016 Newsletter
“The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator.” – Ben Graham. AFC Asia Frontier Fund (AAFF) USD A-shares lost -0.8% in February 2016. The fund this month underperformed the MSCI Frontier Markets Asia Index (+0.4%) and the MSCI Frontier Markets Index (+3.5%), but outperformed the MSCI World Index (−1.0%).… Continue Reading
Russia’s Pulsar firm to give priority status in acceleration programme to women-founded startups
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia-based seed accelerator Pulsar Venture Capital has promised to give priority status in an acceleration programme to Russian high-tech startups founded by women in a bid to boost female presence in industries where it remains low. Continue Reading
India to resume full-scale trade with Iran
By Andrei Skvarsky. India plans to resume full-scale trade with Iran, a British business communications agency said, citing a decision by the Indian government that followed the lifting of international anti-Iranian sanctions. Continue Reading
Sberbank strategist: Oil, rouble to drop again but to resume ascent
By Andrei Skvarsky. A top analyst at Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has argued that the current oil price rise and the consequent re-appreciation of the rouble represent a stable long-term trend but that both the oil price and the Russian currency are likely to sag again before resuming their upward movement. Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange : Derivatives trade doubles in volume year-on-year
By Andrei Skvarsky. Trade in securities, money and precious metals on Moscow Exchange has grown significantly year-on-year with sales of derivatives more than doubling and those of precious metals nearly trebling, the bourse said. Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange reports record client activity in derivatives, forex segments
Moscow Exchange has said it had record client activity in its derivatives and foreign exchange segments in February. Continue Reading
Iran’s Bank Mellat to reopen Seoul branch
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank Mellat, Iran’s largest private lender, plans to reopen its branch in Seoul next month after effectively suspending its business in South Korea in 2010 because of Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic, a London-based business communications agency said. Continue Reading
MNI Indicators poll: Business sentiment in Russia up but production 19% down month-on-month
By Andrei Skvarsky. Barometric monthly surveys by a Deutsche Boerse subsidiary suggest that overall business sentiment in Russia edged up in February but that pessimists still outnumbered optimists among company executives and that production had plummeted by one-fifth month-on-month. Continue Reading