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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (33853)	4/25/2008 11:37:51 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 219162

there's only one thing to ride: The coat tails of the emerging markets. Thus the piling up on commodities.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (33853)	4/25/2008 4:43:23 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 219162

Consumers flush with credit in the UAE are heading down the same road that has left the US and UK with a massive debt crisis, warned Abu Dhabi's new English language daily publication. Not every country is a prudent as Brazil is... Quick action required to prevent a UAE debt crisis Author: Moussa Ahmad Source: BI-ME Published: 23 April 2008 Consumers flush with credit in the UAE are heading down the same road that has left the US and UK with a massive debt crisis, warned Abu Dhabi's new English language daily publication. "Currently, personal debt levels [in the UAE] are proportionately a quarter the size of those in the UK, but they are growing quickly and the regulatory structure is in danger of not keeping up," reported the National. Citing figures from the Ministry of Finance, the paper said the value of personal loans in the country increased by 39% last year to AED 43.6 billion from AED 28 billion in 2006. A booming economy and low interest rates are, according to the paper, fuelling a rise in personal debt levels in the UAE that some bankers are warning could, if not checked early enough, reach danger point. The situation is made more severe by a credit scoring and credit reference system that is not fully developed. The paper demanded quick action to prevent what could amount to a "debt crisis". The paper demanded that the banks, as a first step, act responsibly in their lending practices. "After all, they only need to look to the West - to the subprime crisis and the credit crunch - to see what can happen when financial institutions become reckless. The Central Bank should also increase its monitoring of banking practices to watch for irresponsibility. The last thing that we want to see in the UAE is a major bank having to go to the government for a bail out", it said. One easy solution for many banks here would be, according to the paper, to demand a form of collateral from borrowers. "All too often, large loans are offered without the banks demanding that a lender's monthly salary be deposited with them", remarked the paper adding that "unscrupulous persons can borrow money and then leave the country without ever having to repay their debts. In the West, when money is lent to buy homes, the houses are the collateral, which, as we have seen in the US with the subprime mortgage crisis, has meant that defaulters have seen their homes repossessed." According to the paper, the UAE Minister of Finance and the Governor of Central Bank defended the country's monetary policy when asked about the growing amount of personal debt saying they were aware of the problem and were taking steps to deal with it. The Governor, it added, downplayed the amount of unrecoverable personal debt by pointing out that defaults on loans that ended in court were only 0.84% of all loans in 2007. "Undoubtedly, interest rate cuts dictated by following the moves of the US Federal Reserve as a result of the Dirham peg to the US Dollar, have been responsible for the excess of liquidity in the market, which has translated into easier loans for the consumer," the paper said. The excess was attributed by the paper to surging oil revenues which "have flooded the economy with cash and falling interest rates have assured there are many eager borrowers. Double-digit inflation has also encouraged borrowing, since borrowers can be fairly sure that the funds they borrow and spend today will be more valuable than those they will pay back later," it added. "Other solutions to taming personal debt include capping the amount of money that any one person can borrow, and setting up more retail installment plans so that consumers do not have to pay large amounts in advance for such things as annual rent," added the paper.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (33853)	4/29/2008 12:17:32 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 219162

Spain's biggest bank, said first-quarter profit climbed 22%. ``Santander has set itself apart from the investment banks and their dramatic losses.'' bloomberg.com