EoW July 2010

bankruptcy in September 2008 – seem well positioned to extend their advantage. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Goldman, a huge global investment banking and securities firm, on 16 th April. (“Goldman Probes Enhance Allure of Asian Banks,” 21 st April). “Asian emerging-market financial stocks will continue to outperform,” Mr Burgos was told by Khiem Do, the Hong Kong-based head of multi-asset strategy at Baring Asset Management (Asia) Ltd, which oversees $11 billion. “There’s a lot less volcanic eruption in Asian financials compared with Western financials, which face increasing regulation and sovereign-debt issues.” “Asian banks in general have more healthy balance sheets, and their loan growth so far has been recovering quite well versus still-negative loan growth in US and European banks,” said Grace Tam, vice president of investment services at JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd, also in Hong Kong. Ms Tam’s unit manages about $102 billion in Asia-Pacific assets. Ironically, much of the strength of the Asian banks derives from the financial crisis triggered in 1997 by plunging currencies that forced Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea to seek International Monetary Fund aid. The crisis also reinforced the importance of fiscal prudence in banking. As a result, Asia’s emerging-market countries have about $3.7 trillion in reserves, almost half the global total. Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor

province of Alberta, cost the government at Ottawa $300 million, with $1.1 million spent on armoured vehicles alone.Assuming identical costs in Huntsville, a picturesque town in the District of Muskoka, hosting the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom for the day and night of 25 th June 2010, works out to about $12.5 million per hour. Originally, the G20 summit also was set to take place in tiny Huntsville (population 18,000), but the larger June 26 th to 27 th meeting – attended by finance ministers and central bank governors – was moved to Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre.

Finance

An ill wind for Goldman Sachs blows balmy in Asia

Asian banks are likely to benefit from the fraud charges brought against Goldman Sachs Group Inc in the United States. Reporting from Singapore for Business Week, Jonathan Burgos observed that bank shares in China and India – which have outperformed global rivals by about 30 percentage points since the New York-based brokerage house Lehman Brothers filed for

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EuroWire – July 2010