http://www.complinet.com/ Complinet Complete Middle East RSS feed en Complinet Limited en Complinet Limited http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129955 Tirupur MP C. Sivasami had sought a detailed account from the Union Government on the action taken by it in the forex derivative scam, which plunged the Tirupur knitwear exporters into a loss of Rs. 300 crore. The knitwear exporters reported to have suffered losses after they were 'lured' by the banks to purchase 'exotic forex derivative' products from them to hedge against the rupee-dollar fluctuations during 2008. Investigation Following an order from Orissa High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation into the complaints of the exporters only to be stopped later after an Association of Bankers obtained an interim stay on the inquiry. Mr. Sivasami, during the zero hour in the current session of Parliament, asked the government whether it had taken any initiative to protect the exporters and prevent the bankers from recovering the loss arisen due to the derivative contracts, which were later termed by the Reserve Bank of India as illegal. Action Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129955 2010-03-14T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129956 The stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has constituted a technical advisory committee under the chairmanship of S Sadagopan, professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. The committee comprising technology experts will advise the regulator on framing the policies to meet the challenges associated with the use of advanced technology in the securities market. Other members of the committee include H Krishnamurthy, principal research scientist, Indian Institute of Science, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, Anil Agarwal, independent IT consultant and Vibhakar Bhushan another independent consultant. With Indian markets starting to experiment with more sophisticated methods of trading like algorithmic trade or programme based trading, experts feel that there is a greater need to monitor these technologies to protect the interest of investors. "Now we are moving to the next level, where we will Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129956 2010-03-14T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129957 India's capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday banned Jaybharat Textiles and Real Estate Ltd (JTREL), a company promoted by the Tayal group, from accessing the securities market for violating Sebi norms. According to the order, certain entities related to the promoters of JTREL artificially inflated the firm's share prices. Sebi found that the share price of JTREL rose 117% between September 2007 and December 2009. The Tayal group is also a majority stakeholder in Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. Earlier this week, Sebi banned 100 entities related to the promoters of the bank from dealing in the securities market. These entities also allegedly violated a number of Sebi rules. The regulator had also found that Tayal and his associates actually own 55.01% of the bank and not 28.60% as had been claimed by the Tayal group. Also, Fitch Ratings placed all national ratings of India's Krishna Knitwear Technology Ltd, Eskay Knit India Ltd, Actif Corporation Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129957 2010-03-14T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129855 If all proposed regulatory changes currently on the table were implemented at the same time, banks' profitability would be decimated and return on equity would plummet to unacceptable levels, the Retail Banking in Europe conference heard. Carla Antunes da Silva, bank analyst at JP Morgan, told the conference in Milan that increased capital requirements were only one piece of the jigsaw. If all of the regulatory measures currently being considered were applied simultaneously, the effect on estimated 2011 profits would be a fall of around 30 per cent. Return on equity would be slashed from 5.4 per cent to just 1.3 per cent. "This is unacceptable as it is well below the cost of equity," said Antunes da Silva. She said such a fall would make it almost impossible for banks to attract private capital. In such circumstances, governments would have no choice but to continue to support the banks, which ran contrary to their intentions to allow certain institutions to fail in the future, she Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:44:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129855 2010-03-11T06:44:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129879 Approaching IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) through a converged set of accounting standards, as announced by India, is a highly inconsistent but alternative line of thinking, observes T. P. Ghosh, Professor in the Institute of Management Technology, Dubai International Academic City, UAE ( www. imtdubai.ac.ae). For starters, it may help to know why there is a growing interest among all capital market participants, including the SEC in the US, for accepting a single set of robust accounting standards. Many multinational companies and national regulators and users support global standards because they believe that the use of common standards in the preparation of public company financial statements will make it easier to compare the financial results of reporting entities from different countries, explains Ghosh, in the course of a recent interaction with Business Line over the phone and email. "They believe it will help investors to understand opportunities better. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129879 2010-03-11T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129881 Saudi Arabia wants to further open up the Arab world's largest bourse to foreign investment and has considered exchange traded funds, the head of the Capital Market Authority said in newspaper interviews. In 2008, the word's top oil exporter and OPEC member allowed so called swap agreements between non resident foreign investors and local intermediaries, permitting indirect foreign ownership on the bourse. Previously, foreigners could enter the Saudi stock market only through selected funds. But large international investors such as pension funds have held off investment on a large scale pending further steps to allow entry to the market and hope for eventual full ownership. In an interview with al Watan newspaper, Adulrahman al Tuwaijri, chairman of the CMA, said: "We want to study new ways through which the foreign investor can enter." Without adding further details, he said: "We're moving towards entry of foreign investors through exchange traded-funds (ETFs)." Such funds Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129881 2010-03-11T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129793 Kuwait's Criminal Court has found a total of 72 people guilty of using forgery and money laundering to misappropriate public funds from the country's Labour Support Programme. The chief suspect in the case, identified by the Arab Times as A Al-Ajmi, was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 31,772 Kuwaiti dinars (£73,593). According to prosecutors, he used a number of his relatives to pose as officials of two fictional companies for which he had set up bank accounts. The details of these associates were forwarded to the Labour Support Programme, which paid a social allowance to the individuals' bank accounts. However, many requested that their bank send a portion of the allowance to the company accounts belonging to Al-Ajmi, who then transferred the funds to own deposits. Judge Wael Al-Atiqi sentenced 19 other suspects in the case to three years in jail, which will be suspended if they pay a fine of 1,000 dinars each. The remaining 52 defendants will stay Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:14 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129793 2010-03-10T04:00:14Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129814 The Bank of Algeria (central bank) ordered all national banks and financial institutions to control the financial transactions of persons whose accounts show abnormal movements of capital in order to detect money-laundering, tax evasion, and the financing of illegal activities. Arabic-language daily newspaper, El Khabar, reported that the instruction issued by the Bank of Algeria included saving accounts, wage payment accounts and cash deposit accounts as well treasury bonds of physical persons or those belonging to economic enterprises, the paper stated citing sources, adding that the accounts of some of these companies "had been frozen during the last weeks, because cases of a large-scale fiscal evasion had been recorded." Sources of El Khabar indicated that the Bank of Algeria had obtained information concerning the existence of about 150 accounts whose movements of capital had exceeded 1bn dinars during the three weeks of last February, a matter that had led financial institutions Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129814 2010-03-10T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129816 The setting up of the Financial Stability and Development Council as proposed in the Union Budget 2010-11 will not undermine the independence of the Reserve Bank of India, the financial sector regulator, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said. Addressing directors of the RBI during his customary annual meeting with the country's financial planners on Saturday, Mukherjee also underlined the imperative of reverting to the high GDP growth path. The finance minister, while alluding to the resilient and fast paced recovery of the economy, referred to his recent Budget announcements as an endeavour to keep up this momentum of growth. He said the emphasis is on meeting the three important challenges of quickly reverting back to high growth path, making development more inclusive and improving governance. Spelling out the key lessons of the crisis, he stressed the need for proactive domestic oversight and regulation of financial markets and addressing transmission channels of contagion. He Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129816 2010-03-10T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129817 Obedient to intensifying U.S. government pressure to crack down on offshore tax evaders, in January Israeli banks began ordering clients they identify as "Americans" or "U.S. tax residents" to close investment accounts they hold in Israel. It is apparently an anticipatory measure, ahead of changes in U.S. law. Local banks are apparently responding to changes in American regulations as their legal counsels interpret them. The Bank of Israel hasn't handed down instructions to the banks on the matter, which doesn't fall under its purview. In February, for instance, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot informed clients that as a "result of current U.S. regulations" it can no longer provide "securities services to U.S. persons," and explained the termination procedure. "You are receiving this letter because you are identified in our records as a customer who may be a U.S. person, within the meaning of the applicable regulations," Mizrahi wrote. The letter said that clients who fall into this category Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129817 2010-03-10T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129752 The purported owner of a downtown Los Angeles medical clinic has been convicted of health care fraud and money laundering for bilking Medicare out of more than $3.2m in 2004. Manuk Karapetyan, 46, an Armenian national, was found guilty by a federal jury. According to court documents, Karapetyan submitted roughly 6,000 health insurance claims for more than 800 Medicare patients who were supposedly treated at his clinic, USA Independent Medical Corp. The claims were made under the names of four California-licensed physicians who never worked for the medical clinic and whose identities had been stolen. Prosecutors stated: "At trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that there was no medical clinic, no patients received medical services and no doctors provided any medical services. Nevertheless, USA Independent billed Medicare for services such as echocardiography, office evaluations, ultrasounds, electromyography studies of the anal or urethral sphincter and anorectal manometry." Before Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:10:48 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129752 2010-03-09T07:10:48Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129766 SEBI had said on December 11 that all documents related to an investor, including KYC and power of attorney details in respect of transactions/requests made through MF distributors, should be available with RTAs and asset management companies. It had asked fund houses to confirm if they were maintaining all investor-related documents. Distributors said this had increased their work, affecting investments. "A lot of effort goes into searching data and documents. Submission and confirmation is another task. It is cumbersome to dig out documents of clients who have been investing for the past five-eight years. There is no clarity on what has to be done in case the KYC documents have been lost. So, rather than sales, most of our time is invested in complying with the order," said Rakesh Goyal, head of mutual fund distribution at Bonanza Portfolio. Sebi has banned payment of commissions and brokerages till its order is complied with. "No further payment of commissions, fees and/or payments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129766 2010-03-09T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129769 The Reserve Bank of India has appointed two audit firms for conducting a special audit of Bank of Rajasthan following detection of some irregularities. Deloitte & Touche Consulting India will conduct a special IS audit of the bank while Deloitte, Haskins & Sells will conduct a special audit of the books and accounts of the bank under section 30(1B) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, BoR said on Monday. On February 25, the Reserve Bank of India had imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Bank of Rajasthan private sector bank for major lapses. The penalty was levied for violation of the RBI's directions issued under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in the area of acquisition of immovable properties, deletion of records in the bank's IT systems, non-adherence to know your customer/anti money laundering guidelines in the opening and conduct of certain accounts, irregularities in the conduct of accounts of a corporate group and failure to provide certain documents sought Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129769 2010-03-09T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129770 An officer convicted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of financial and economic crimes for 14 years has been appointed head of the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Economic Crime Wing (ECW) by the PPP government after his crime record was concealed during the promotion process as he is a friend of President Asif Ali Zardari. The decision was taken recently after Pakistan was indicted and blacklisted by a global anti-corruption body, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Ahmad Riaz Sheikh, who was convicted and given 14-year rigorous imprisonment with Rs20 million fine imposed and property confiscated, has not only been restored and promoted to BS-20, notwithstanding the conviction upheld, has been made the FIA additional DG, a BS-21 post, now heading the ECW. The charge sheet the NAB had furnished against Sheikh, the then FIA deputy director, found his family travelling to Europe on chartered planes, all children enrolled in the Aitchison College Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129770 2010-03-09T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129772 Any company should have separate committees for audit and risk management and the latter should be accordingly represented on the company board, according to a British business school head. "The company board should play a strong role in adopting a realistic risk management system and risk management system should be carefully separated from its audit committee," University of Warwick's Warwick Business School director Derek Condon said at a seminar on "Risk Management and Corporate Governance" here Monday. He said rotational audit is fine and practised by many companies. "However, I would not recommend over-rotation. Because it may take away knowledge and experience from the company and may put an established system into jeopardy," he said when asked if auditors should be rotated to ensure fairness. On the multi-crore Satyam fraud, he said financial fraud was nothing new or peculiar to India and it is more important to know how to handle such crises. "The best way to pre-empt Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129772 2010-03-09T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129708 The Reserve Bank of India is framing new guidelines that would prevent banks from declaring credit cardholders in default after paying their outstanding debts determined through negotiated settlement, a central bank official confirms to PaymentsSource. In India, even when a cardholder pays a negotiated settlement amount, the bank still lists him in its records as being in default, according to an official at the Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd. "And so his name continues to be in the defaulters list," he says on the condition of anonymity. "[The bureau] compiles the list according to the data provided by banks." This essentially blacklists the cardholder, making it difficult for him to secure most types of loans, including home loans and personal loans, sources say. In some cases, the cardholder has to settle a new "balance amount" from the earlier settlement, which has further additions in penalties and interest. "We are aware of this issue, and you should see new rules Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129708 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129710 Companies selling securities to institutional investors will now have to disclose details of the transactions, India's capital markets regulator said on Friday. A company making a qualified institutional placement (QIP) will have to provide the stock exchanges with details of its shareholding before and after the sale, Securities and Exchange Board of India said. The QIP details will be made available on the website of the stock exchange where the firm is listed. Sebi's latest move is aimed at allaying concerns on the identities of investors in a QIP and the utilization of money raised through this route. As the Indian economy recovered from a slowdown, cash-strapped firms-mostly in construction and real estate-turned to QIPs to access funds. Between April and February, 60 QIPs were issued, raising a total of Rs41,552.19 crore for the issuing firms. "Many companies, especially in the real estate sector, have been using the QIP route to fund some of their own subsidiary firms," said Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129710 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129711 The stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has rejected the application of First Global UK Ltd for grant of certificate of registration as a foreign institutional investor. The regulator termed the applicant not a 'fit and proper person' for grant of application as FII, since Shankar Sharma, the director on the board of the applicant has been prohibited from associating with the Indian securities market for a period of one year for alleged unfair trade practices. The order passed by Sebi on February 13, 2009, was later upheld by Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) and the Supreme Court upon being challenged by Sharma. In addition to the restrained order against Sharma, Sebi has also initiated two prosecutions against First Global Stock Broking (FGSB) and its associates, which is still pending before the Bombay High Court. Since the applicant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of FGSB and Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra are the directors on the board of various First Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129711 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129729 The Indian government has decided to set up a centralized database to check terror funding by integrating intelligence from different central [federal] security agencies. Sources in the Union [federal] Home Ministry said the proposed database would act as a "ready reckoner" for different security and law and order enforcement agencies to check illegal routing of money through various financial channels meant to further organized crime and support anti-national activities. They said the databank would be created to detect illegal money movement within and outside the country and among particular groups or institutions by means of banks or other intermediaries. There is no such consolidated data bank for collecting and disseminating intelligence which, at times, creates problem for the government to trace and later stop terror funding. The data bank would be created by the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) -- a central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129729 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129731 The Commissioner (Legal) of Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), S. Tariq A. Husain, has accused the commission's Chairman Salman Shaikh of "misfeasance, concealment of offence, misuse of his position and using confidential information to prematurely withdraw his own investment worth Rs 20million from a bank". The Commissioner (Legal) of Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), S. Tariq A. Husain, has accused the commission's Chairman Salman Shaikh of "misfeasance, concealment of offence, misuse of his position and using confidential information to prematurely withdraw his own investment worth Rs 20million from a bank". In a letter to Federal Finance Secretary Salman Siddique, who is also Chairman SECP Policy Board, the Commissioner (Legal) SECP has tried to defend himself of the charge of being an obstacle in the efficient functioning of the Commission. It is alleged that he has blocked the approval of two major proposals of the Karachi Stock Exchange ie Margin Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129731 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129732 The SBP has granted the approval to Faysal Bank Limited and EFG-Herms Holdings to conduct the due diligence of the RBS-Pakistans operations, RBS notified KSE on Thursday. It may be mentioned that both parties had requested the State Bank of Pakistan last month to grant permission for commencing the due diligence of Royal Bank of Scotland: Pakistan. Soneri Bank Limited, Pakistans local bank on February 8, 2010 had also expressed its intention to buy major stakes in RBS. Chief Spokesmen SBP Syed Wasimuddin confirmed that Faysal Bank and EFG-Hermes have been obtained due diligence permission by SBP. However, the requisite application of Soneri Bank is under process and the central bank would give the due diligence approval to the interested bank soon once its application gets evaluated, Wasimuddin said. Faisal Bank is the medium-sized banks of Pakistan. According to a research analyst, if FBL successfully bids for the bank at US$87 million, which as of Sep 30, 2009 accounts would increase Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129732 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129733 Companies not complying with the 'voluntary' guidelines relating to corporate governance laid down by the corporate affairs ministry in December 2009 may soon have to offer explanations for the delay. Corporate affairs minister, Salman Khurshid told FE that even though the guidelines would continue to be voluntary, the government intends to ask the companies not complying for the reasons for the their recalcitrance. The government's prodding, analysts say, would force many companies to behave, as open non-compliance will affect their reputation. "The guidelines on corporate governance may not be compulsory but certainly there should be an explanation as to why the companies are not complying with it. Disclosure and explanation are all that we are asking for... you don't have to do what we are asking you to do but just explain why you can't and that's very much democratic," Khurshid said. Though he did not specify any timeframe for seeking explanations, indications are that it could Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129733 2010-03-08T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129707 Regulatory compliance across Bahrain's financial sector has been given a boost by the setting up of a networking group which meets monthly to discuss the latest development affecting the profession. The group now meets at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance and is already attracting more than 50 professionals to the sessions which are expected to increase in attendance in the near future. The group was the brainchild of Norton Rose compliance manager for the Middle East Ajay Chauhan, who had taken part in a similar group in the UK before he came out to Bahrain a year ago. "This is a very good forum to discuss the increasingly important field of compliance and help professionals improve their skills and understanding of existing and future regulatory codes. "Compliance is growing in importance and will continue to grow in the wake of the credit crisis and new regulations are implemented. "The Central Bank of Bahrain is drafting a new corporate governance code that Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129707 2010-03-07T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129709 A Western proposal for fresh U.N. sanctions on Iran includes a call for restricting new Iranian banks abroad and urges "vigilance" against the Islamic Republic s central bank, diplomats said on Friday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Western diplomats familiar with negotiations on the draft proposal -- which Washington worked on with Britain, France and Germany and then shared with Russia and China -- said they were no longer pushing for an official U.N. blacklisting of the central bank. The draft also calls for restrictions on new Iranian banks abroad, which would make it difficult for Tehran to skirt a global crackdown on transactions with existing Iranian financial institutions by setting up new ones. "We will be looking for a tightening of restrictions of new Iranian bank activity overseas," a diplomat told Reuters. The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for defying U.N. demands it halt nuclear enrichment. Tehran rejects Western charges that Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129709 2010-03-07T04:00:00Z http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129714 The Dubai Financial Services Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers of France the French securities regulator. The signing took place between Paul Koster, chief executive of the DFSA, and M Jean-Pierre Jouyet, chairman of the AMF. The AMF is France's independent public body responsible for safeguarding investments in financial instruments and in all other savings and investment vehicles; for ensuring that investors receive material information; and for maintaining orderly financial markets. The AMF also lends its support to financial market regulation at European and International levels. Koster said: "The Autorité des Marchés Financiers has been a valued member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions and an active participant in the work of the Committee of European Securities Regulators, adopting and harmonising international standards in Europe and continuing to establish world-class standards in the regulation Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.complinet.com/global/news/news/article.html?ref=129714 2010-03-07T04:00:00Z