MEXICO CITY (Reuters): Group of 20 nations agreed to push Europe to take extra steps to resolve the debt crisis on Friday as they inch toward a deal to boost the International Monetary Fund’s firepower. Mexico Deputy Finance Minister Gerardo Rodriguez said talks between G20 officials in Mexico City on Thursday and Friday were a ...

By Jeff Glekin Reuters Breakingviews: Tales of the Ambani brothers’ mixed fortunes tell the same story — declining opportunities for investment in India. Mukesh may be cash-rich while Anil is in stark need of funding. Although some think that has the makings of a reconciliation between the two, that’s unlikely. Mukesh would rather buy his ...

Reuters: The International Monetary Fund is seeking to more than double its war chest by raising $600 billion in new resources to help countries deal with the fallout of the euro zone debt crisis, but the United States and other countries are throwing up roadblocks. The United States and Canada said on Wednesday Europe must ...

Reuters: Greece goes head to head with its creditors on Wednesday in a renewed attempt to break a deadlock in negotiations to slash the country’s debt and stave off default. International private sector creditors represented by the Institute of International Finance IIF.L were set to meet the government in the afternoon. Talks broke down on ...

Perhaps exposing brokers and investors who campaigned heavily for relaxed credit rules for their lack of judgment, the Colombo stock market yesterday failed to close on the up, despite enjoying a big burst in early morning trading. Opening with boosted confidence following the SEC’s relaxed credit rule announcement, the bourse gained sharply by 1.8% or ...

THE proposed amendments to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) have created a much-needed discussion forum on pension funds and their benefits, while also bringing several crucial points into the limelight. Experts have pointed out that if the Government is genuinely keen on maximising returns of workers, then they need to exempt EPF earnings from tax ...

LONDON (Reuters): Mass euro zone ratings downgrades are unlikely to shake up investors too much, but with Greek debt talks at an impasse, pressure has been loaded on the bloc to shore up its defences and glimmers of optimism from last week have been firmly doused.  With the United States and Japan already downgraded from ...

FRANKFURT (Reuters): The European Central Bank’s flood of cheap three-year money is helping the euro zone’s banking system substantially and supporting confidence in the bloc’s economy which is showing some signs of stabilisation, its president said on Thursday.   The ECB left interest rates on hold, pausing to assess the impact of back-to-back cuts and ...

TOKYO (Reuters): Asian shares rose to a one-month high and the euro clung near its strongest in a week on Friday as strong demand in Spanish and Italian debt sales tempered risk aversion ahead of another auction from Rome later in the day. Interbank lending rates fell in a sign that worries about a credit ...

FRANKFURT (Reuters): The European Central Bank will take a breather this month after unleashing back-to-back interest rate cuts and a slew of other measures, pausing to assess the impact of the crisis-fighting steps it took in the final two months of 2011. The euro zone central bank is widely expected to keep rates at 1.0 ...

Respected blue chip Aitken Spence pulls out of biggest FDI project – the $ 500 m Colombo South Container Terminal due to issues with funding and cost escalations Construction cost up 30% to $ 350 m; overall project cost now estimated at $ 595 m up from $ 475 m at bid proposal stage Lender ...

Political corruption: The definition Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the ...

Sri Lanka’s pioneer Islamic bank, Amana Bank was voted the ‘Best Islamic Bank in Sri Lanka’ at the global Islamic Finance News poll for 2011 conducted by the Malaysia-based RedMoney Group. The results of this prestigious award poll held for the 7th consecutive year were officially released on 4 January 2012, which includes the results ...

BERNE (Reuters) : Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigned with immediate effect on Monday, saying he could not prove he had been unaware of a controversial currency trade made by his wife and wanted to protect the integrity of the central bank. Hildebrand’s decision to relinquish one of the top 10 central banking jobs ...

Reuters: U.S. manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in six months in December, capping a late-year upswing, but a European slump and rising oil prices posed threats to the U.S. economy in the new year. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity hit its highest level since June, coming in above forecasts ...

AS expected, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry made a booming start to the New Year with the news that South Africa’s Sun City is planning to invest a hefty US$ 800 million in a massive project in Katana. This brings the total investment from large-scale foreign hotel projects to nearly US$ 2 billion, with Sheraton, Shangri-la, ...

Reuters: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlock in peacemaking, officials said on Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks. Yitzhak Molcho of Israel and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet on Tuesday in Jordan alongside representatives of the Quartet of ...

Reuters: Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is lagging behind its major U.S. competitors in complying with new capital rules, leading the bank to consider even more asset sales, sources said. The bank’s management is focused on not being an outlier compared to its peers and believes it has “viable alternatives” to increase its capital levels, ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asian stocks rose more than 1 percent and U.S. index futures also gained on Friday, as signs of a strengthening economy in the United States encouraged a year-end bounce for riskier assets. European shares were also expected to open higher, helped by a 0.5 percent rise in S&P 500 index futures that pointed ...

It is the season for giving, which we all know is a reason to look beyond ourselves and find some worthy cause to take up for Christmas. Everyone is familiar with the warmth connected with giving and the quiet pleasure in ensuring that someone else has a happy time as well. It can be something ...

10 events and trends that were overlooked this year, but may be leading the headlines in 2012 Foreignpolicy.com: What events and trends flew under the radar in 2011 but could erupt into massive headline-grabbers in 2012? Foreign Policy rounds up the top 10 “stories you missed” this year. 1. India’s military buildup China’s new aircraft ...

By Dinali Goonewardene Prathilaba was telecast on Rupavahini on Sundays at 10 a.m. The TV documentary, a studio discussion on investing in the stock market was commissioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission and panellists from the stock market industry participated. These included stock brokers, research analysts, fund managers and officials from the Colombo Stock ...

All credit to Daily FT on your headline news item in of 15 Dec ‘Extra life for old directors in banks’. Your analysis was spot on and the action obviously moved to ensure continuity of Commercial Bank Chairman Amarasuriya even though many other retiring directors would now try to stay on. This would of course ...

In a well prepared move founder directors of Nations Trust Bank (NTB) Ajit Gunewardene and Eranjith Wijenaike are to step down as Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively late this month paving the way for new dynamic young blood to steer the company forward. The duo who represents the major shareholders has been serving the NTB ...

Plastic crates: Universally used in agri markets In 2002, the writer had a chance of visiting a few farms in Czech Republic, some 200 kilometres away from its capital, Prague. They were all medium sized farms owned by private individuals producing such products as vegetables, fruits and honey. At the time of the writer’s visit, ...

The Colombo stock market saw a dull day’s trading with turnover recording Rs. 664 million and the All Share Price Index falling 0.52% to close below the psychological support level of 6,000 at 5,965 while the Milanka Price Index lost 0.05% to register 5,228. The top turnover contributor list was dominated by fundamentally sound counters ...

Seylan Bank recently re-defined the concept of savings, in an initiative hitherto not seen in Sri Lanka’s banking and financial services industry, by literally ‘dropping’ Rs. 1 million from the skies and parallely supported by a door-to-door campaign. On Saturday 22 October helicopters hovered over different parts of Sri Lanka and dropped thousands of coupons ...

Reuters: Asia’s economic growth looks set to stumble over the next few months, prompting a flurry of interest rate cuts and a spike in stimulus spending that may ultimately pave the way for a strong recovery in the second half of 2012. “The catch-phrase for 2012 is the Asia yo-yo,” said Rob Subbaraman, chief Asia ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters): The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week, suggesting the labor market’s recovery was gaining momentum. The picture of an economy gathering strength was further enhanced by other data on Thursday showing wholesale inventories in October rose by the most in five months, a ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asia’s economic growth looks set to stumble over the next few months, prompting a flurry of interest rate cuts and a spike in stimulus spending that may ultimately pave the way for a strong recovery in the second half of 2012. “The catch-phrase for 2012 is the Asia yo-yo,” said Rob Subbaraman, chief ...