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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (59747)	4/28/2006 2:26:15 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Credit Suisse Merges Pvt Bks To Squeeze Costs (Wrong monty python - there is no place to RUN AWAY - you cannot escape) By Katharina Bart and Martin Gelnar Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ZURICH (Dow Jones)--Credit Suisse Group (CSR) said Thursday it will merge four independent-label private banks and a securities dealer, in an effort to squeeze costs. Europe's seventh-largest bank by market capitalization said the combination of Clariden Bank, Bank Leu, Bank Hofmann, BGP Banca di Gestione Patrimoniale and Credit Suisse Fides will result in additional net profit of CHF100 million from 2008. The savings will stem from the loss of around 200 jobs over the next 18 months. The new bank - Clariden Leu - will have total assets under management of around CHF112 billion. Switzerland's largest private banks - apart from Credit Suisse itself and UBS AG (UBS) - are Julius Baer Holding AG (BAER.VX), which manages CHF304.32 billion in client assets, and unlisted, Geneva-based Pictet & Cie, which manages CHF261.5 billion. Like Julius Baer, Credit Suisse says it wants the bank to be part of the mergers expected in the industry. Clariden Leu will have "the critical mass to... play an active role in the ongoing consolidation process in this sector," Walter Berchtold, Clariden Leu's chairman and head of Credit Suisse's flagship private-banking operations, said in a statement. Analysts lauded the move as positive, albeit long overdue. It follows a similar push by cross-town rival UBS, which combined its private banks several years ago before selling them to Julius Baer in 2005. "The CHF100 million in cost savings looks a bit conservative to me given the amount of jobs that are set to go," said Dirk Becker, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Kepler Equities. Becker rates the shares a buy. At 0800 GMT, the stock traded up 0.7%, or CHF0.50, at CHF76.95 amid a lower broader Swiss market. The merger unites Clariden, which has few clients in Switzerland but a long history in growth markets such as Asia, with classical offshore banks, or wealth managers for non-Swiss residents who come to Switzerland for banking services. Bank Hofmann is highly dependent on Swiss and German clients, while Lugano-based Banco Gestione Patrimoniale targets wealthy Italians. The move also underscores Credit Suisse's commitment to an independent brand alongside its own, which differentiates it from UBS' single-brand strategy. "What Credit Suisse has basically done is underwritten an independent brand within the bank, where UBS has deleted it," said Ray Soudah, founder of Millenium Associates, a Swiss-based M&A advisor for financial services firms. While private bank mergers are typically fraught with worry over asset outflows as clients take their cash out, Soudah expects minimal fallout from the plan because it is friendly, within the confines of Credit Suisse, and retains two strong brands - Clariden and Leu. "There will be minimal damage compared to a normal private-banking merger," he said, noting private bank combinations typically see asset outflows of 5% of the total. "If anything, there will be inflows because Clariden has several superior products, so we may see a net positive because a wider product range becomes available to more clients," Soudah said. Credit Suisse expects to complete the move by the end of next year. The new bank will be headed by F. Bernard Stalder, head of Clariden. The current CEO of Bank Leu - Hans Nuetzi- will run Clariden Leu's private-client business, while a Clariden executive, Beat Wittmann, will oversee the products division. Credit Suisse is in the throes of another strategic overhaul, dubbed one-bank and organizing its business along three lines. Under that scheme, the bank has recently dropped the Credit Suisse First Boston brand name for its investment bank. Credit Suisse also plans an initial public offering for its insurer, Winterthur. Company Web site: creditsuisse.com -By Katharina Bart, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8043; katharina.bart@dowjones.com (Hans Schoemaker in Zurich contributed to this story) (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 27, 2006 04:12 ET (08:12 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 04 12 AM EDT 04-27-06

To: TobagoJack who wrote (59747)	4/28/2006 2:38:30 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

FHLB Office Of Finance To Offer $3B 10-Year Global Bond (meanwhile banks keep raking in the fees) NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The Federal Home Loan Banking System's Office of Finance said Thursday it will offer a $3 billion 10-year global bond through lead managers Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and UBS Securities. The deal is expected to price sometime next week. Terms will be as follows: Amount: $3 billion Maturity: May 18, 2016 Coupon: tba Issue Price: tba Yield: tba Spread: tba Settlement: two days after pricing Call: Noncallable -By Allison Bisbey Colter, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5298; allison.bisbey-colter@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 27, 2006 16:19 ET (20:19 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 04 19 PM EDT 04-27-06

To: TobagoJack who wrote (59747)	4/28/2006 2:43:40 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Women Advance In Syria But Still Not Equal In Govt (The glass ceilings are being shattered dear General - how do we keep these women beat down and holding even MORE power over us?) DAMASCUS (AP)--Women are rising in Syrian political life but have not achieved equality with men, and the government has not taken steps to promote them, a report by the government and U.N. said Thursday. The report, titled "Toward the Political Empowerment of Syrian Women," said the number of women in decision-making positions had grown steadily during the past 30 years. Of the 186 members of the Syrian parliament in 1973, only four were women, or 2%. But 30 of the current 250 legislators are women, a representation of 12%, the report said. While this is an improvement, Syria was still below the international average of women filling 13.4% of parliamentary seats, the report said. Last month, President Bashar Assad appointed Najah al-Attar as Syria's second vice president. She became the highest-ranking female official in the Arab world, and the first woman vice president in Syrian history. Syria has two women in its 30-person Cabinet. They hold the culture and social affairs portfolios. The report, compiled by the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs in cooperation with the U.N. Development Fund for Women, said the government has failed to take the steps necessary to enable women to achieve their "full rights, equal to men, to participate in the political, cultural and economic life," as laid down in the constitution. The study said the government should amend legislation to improve women's roles in all activities. It also called on the government to adopt "specific mechanisms" to promote women, and to increase expenditure on educating and training women "to protect them from exploitation." (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 27, 2006 18:31 ET (22:31 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 06 31 PM EDT 04-27-06

To: TobagoJack who wrote (59747)	4/28/2006 2:46:33 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Mexican Congress Approves Price Controls On Books (more on pricing frauds - the internet changes this distribution model eh? Australia didn't seem to embrace the cost cutting measures in that other post eh? They didn't pass on cheaper digital prices - so silly eh?) MEXICO CITY (AP)--Mexico's lower house of Congress approved a bill that would mandate fixed prices for books and forbid discounting, a measure critics described on Thursday as a misguided attempt to protect booksellers. Some lawmakers of the conservative National Action Party said the measure would hurt consumers and actually damage small shops in the provinces, because they couldn't recover extra transportation costs if forced to sell at the same prices as vendors in Mexico City. "The bill forbids discounts. This hurts consumers, because nothing guarantees that the fixed price is going to be low," said National Action Rep. Sergio Penagos. The measure passed late Wednesday on a 241-81 vote with 12 abstentions, but must still be approved by the Senate. Thousands of small bookstores have closed in recent years, in part because of lower prices at large chain stores, which often receive large wholesale discounts from publishers. But Penagos noted that if book prices increase - or books become unavailable in outlying cities because they can't be affordably transported from the capital - Mexico's already-low rate of book-reading could decline further. A similar system of fixed prices exists in some European countries where book readership rates are high, the bill's supporters said. However, books in those countries are also enormously expensive by Mexican standards. The fixed prices would be determined by a book's publisher or importer. Supporters of the bill said discounts had damaged Mexico's book market by reducing the number of smaller, specialized bookshops which were unable to compete on price. They said discount pricing also encouraged large, cheap print runs of a few popular books, while reducing the number of slower-selling, small-run volumes. (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 27, 2006 18:35 ET (22:35 GMT)