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Report: Payouts UNjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: July 23, 2010

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24-Jul-2010 18:38

DBS / DBS

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Report: Payouts UNjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: July 23, 2010

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24-Jul-2010 18:36

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News

Report: Payouts unjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called undeserved

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: July 23, 2010

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24-Jul-2010 18:27

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http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/jul/23/report-payouts-unjustified/news/

With the financial system on the verge of collapse in late 2008, a group of troubled banks doled out more than $2 billion in bonuses and other payments to their highest earners. Now, the federal authority on banker pay says that nearly 80 percent of that sum was unmerited.

In a report to be released today, Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's special master for executive compensation, is expected to name 17 financial companies that made questionable payouts totaling $1.58 billion immediately after accepting billions of dollars of taxpayer aid, according to two government officials with knowledge of his findings who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the report.

The group includes such Wall Street giants as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and the American International Group as well as small lenders such as Boston Private Bank.

Feinberg's report points to companies that he says paid eye-popping amounts or used haphazard criteria for awarding bonuses, people with knowledge of his findings said, and he singles out Citigroup as the biggest offender.

Even so, Feinberg has very limited power to reclaim any money. He can use his status as President Obama's point man on pay to jawbone the companies into reimbursing the government, but he has no legal authority to claw back excessive payouts.

Feinberg's political leverage has been weakened by the banks' speedy repayment of their bailout funds. Eleven of the 17 companies that received criticism in the report have repaid the government with interest, so they have no outstanding obligations to reimburse.

As a result, Feinberg will merely propose that the banks voluntarily adopt a "brake provision" that would allow their boards to nullify or alter any bonus payouts or employment contracts in the event of a future financial crisis. All 17 companies have told Feinberg that they will consider adopting the provision, though none has committed to do so.

Feinberg is expected to call the payouts ill-advised but not unlawful or contrary to the public interest, people with knowledge of his report said.

On Wall Street, meanwhile, profits and pay have already rebounded. Goldman Sachs is on pace to hand out an average of $544,000 per worker in salary and bonuses, although many could earn several times that amount.

JPMorgan Chase's investment bank is on track to pay its workers, on average, about $400,000, while the average Morgan Stanley employee could collect about $262,000.

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Posted by (modified1) on 07/23/2010 at 08:42 am.

These payouts are about as "fat" as those that members of Congress and the White House gets.

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24-Jul-2010 18:21

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News

Report: Payouts unjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called undeserved

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: July 23, 2010

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24-Jul-2010 18:12

Others / SGX Proposes new rules & measure for short selling

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SGX proposes new rules and measures for short selling

SINGAPORE

This includes the requirement to mark all sell orders, either as a normal sell order or a short sell order. With the collated data, SGX intends to report the short sales volume and value by counter for each trading day.

To facilitate the marking of sell orders, SGX requires its Trading Members to put in place procedures to ensure that customers indicate their sell orders.

The dealer or remisier cannot transmit a sell order to SGX if the customer has not made his or her order indication.

SGX said the move is to facilitate greater market transparency as timely short selling information, will provides greater disclosure and contributes to enhanced accountability.

The exchange defines a short sell order as “any sell order where the seller does not own the quantity of security to be sold at the time of placing the order”.

SGX is embarking on a consultation exercise on the proposed change and said the exercise is being conducted after close discussions with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Separately, SGX chief executive Magnus Bocker said that doing away with a lunchtime trading break could increase volumes on the Singapore Exchange by 10 per cent.

Mr Bocker disclosed this when speaking at a Foreign Correspondents Association event here yesterday. He also confirmed a MediaCorp report earlier this week that the exchange was considering plans to have continuous trading in each session.

However, he said that it is still too early to talk about when to implement it and also confirmed it is currently in discussions with market participants on the move.— The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has proposed new rules and measures to provide more information on short selling activities.

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24-Jul-2010 18:08

Others / DOW & STI

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By combining transparency regarding the results of stress tests with appropriate measures ... European authorities will send a clear message to market participants about the resilience of the financial system.

European Central Bank executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell

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24-Jul-2010 18:06

Others / DOW & STI

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Clear message that banks are resilient: ECB

Special measures to help Spanish, Portuguese lenders extended

LONDON

“Stress tests contribute to the effectiveness of financial intermediation by providing more information about the condition of financial institutions and of the financial system as a whole.

“By combining transparency regarding the results of stress tests with appropriate measures to deal with potential weaknesses, European authorities will send a clear message to market participants about the resilience of the financial system,” she said.

The markets were a shade higher as investors awaited the findings. About one hour after the opening bell in New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 per cent at 10,351. Europe’s Stoxx 600 benchmark was up 0.2 per cent at 254.93.

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) was set to publish the results of stress tests on 91 European lenders after the close of regional markets on Friday (

Regulators are scrutinising banks to assess if they have enough capital, defined as a Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 6 per cent, to withstand a recession and sovereign debt crisis, according to a CEBS document.

Although most of the banks were expected to get the all-clear, there was concern that the tests were not as stringent as they should be, or even as rigorous as those in the United States a year ago.

“Given the recalcitrant and rather secretive way in which it has been prepared, the release of bank stress tests results is unlikely to be the silver bullet that guarantees a rapid normalisation of the financial system,’’ said UniCredit London’s chief economist Marco Annunziata.

A survey by Goldman Sachs forecast that 10 of the 91 banks would fail, the

On Friday, hours before the release of the findings, European authorities announced the extension of special measures to help the Spanish and Portuguese banking sectors until the end of this year.

The European Commission said it had prolonged authorisation of schemes in both countries originally set up in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Among the banks subjected to the tests were 27 Spanish and four Portuguese lenders. In Spain, permission was extended for an amended system allowing individual banks in trouble to be recapitalised with state involvement. A Portuguese scheme obliging banks to pay extra premiums in exchange for public guarantees in the event of collapse was also extended.

Anxiety about Europe’s banks in recent months mounted in tandem with the sovereign debt crisis, which eventually led to a €110 billion ($193.5 billion) bailout of Greece and a €750 billion backstop for the region’s troubled governments.— Stress test results of 91 banks in 20 countries in Europe will send a “clear message” about the resilience of the continent’s financial system, European Central Bank executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said on Friday a few hours before the release of the findings.early Saturday morning, Singapore time).Guardian report had earlier cited analysts saying they expected that a few banks — located in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia —might not pass the tests.BBC reported.

AGENCIES

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24-Jul-2010 17:51

SMRT / SMRT

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In case of emergency ...
Letter from Bernadette Low
Manager, Corporate Marketing and Communications, SMRT Corp WE THANK Johnnie Chia for sharing his thoughts on safe travel in our trains (“Why no maximum capacity signs in MRT trains?”, June 11).
Although our trains are designed to carry up to 1,800 passengers, the average train load during peak hours is about 1,300 to 1,500 passengers, which is below the Land Transport Authority’s recommended guideline of 1,600 passengers. SMRT monitors passenger loads regularly and will adjust frequencies to match demand where possible.
We wish to assure Mr Chia that SMRT is well prepared to handle emergencies. Each train that we operate along the North-South and East-West lines is manned by a Train Officer, who is in constant contact with the Operations Control Centre (OCC), while our Circle Line trains are closely monitored by staff at the OCC.
During an emergency, the train is usually driven to the nearest station for passengers to evacuate, and announcements are made to inform passengers of the situation. At the station, staff are available to assist and guide passengers out of the train.
To familiarise commuters with our safety equipment and knowledge on how to react during an emergency, we introduced the SMRT Community Emergency Preparedness (SCEP) Programme in 2006. Comprising theory and practical sessions, the SCEP trains participants to be vigilant while travelling in the SMRT network and includes hands-on experience on how to evacuate from a train in an emergency.
To date, close to 13,000 people have been trained.

We will continue to explore other ways to involve the public in emergency preparedness.

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24-Jul-2010 17:33

AusGroup / AUSGROUP: 1H09 revenue up 28.8% to reach A$260.5 m

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(RTTNews) - That outlook appeared to be under threat, however, by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plans for a 40% tax on miners' profits. Several mining giants threatened to pull out investment from the country and halt projects because of the resource super tax, which they said seriously risked Australia's competitiveness.

But a compromise agreement reached by Rudd's successor, Julia Gillard, has now reduced the tax rate to 30% for coal and iron ore miners. Petroleum and gas operation firms will still pay a 40% tax rate.

Last month, a government agency forecast commodity exports to rise strongly in the current financial year.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said commodity export earnings are set to rise by 23.4% in 2010/11 to A$202.5 billion.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

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24-Jul-2010 17:16

Others / DOW & STI

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Can the Arabs Save the World?

By Christian A. DeHaemer | Friday, July 23rd, 2010

You may remember the Middle East as that part of the world that overspent on opulent development.

It was easy to do in the mid 2000s, as oil was ticking up to $147 a barrel...

You've heard the stories of the man-made palm-shaped islands full of luxury villas and indoor ski resorts. Or maybe you've seen the Youtube videos of young sheiks destroying Lamborghinis for fun.

Then last year, we heard news that Dubai World had run out of money and needed to restructure its debts, as it could no longer make payments. There was even fear that the loss would take down some well-placed banks in Europe.

And to tell you the truth, I believed that it would take years to sort out that business, so the oil production capital of the world dropped off my radar screen.

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24-Jul-2010 16:39

Healthway Med / healthway, healthy?

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DESIGNER VIRGIN may NOT be a VIRGIN ? ? ? ?

<>

Australian doctors warn against 'designer vagina' craze

Fri, Aug 01, 2008
AFP

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIAN doctors have raised concerns about clinics offering vaginal cosmetic surgery, warning the trend towards so-called 'designer vaginas' may be exploiting vulnerable women.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said procedures being offered included 'vaginal rejuvenation, revirgination, designer vaginoplasty and G-spot amplification'.

'What is involved in these procedures is often unclear since recognised clinical nomenclature is not being used,' it said in a position paper released this week.

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24-Jul-2010 16:35

Healthway Med / healthway, healthy?

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MARRiES ONE WIFE GETS TWO VIRGINS

Sun, May 09, 2010
The New Paper

Woman discovers she has two vaginas

By SHREE ANN MATHAVAN IT was her first pap smear test and the Singaporean, in her mid-twenties, didn't expect any surprises. After all, she is young and healthy. But what was to have been a routine five-minute check-up last month turned complicated - she discovered she had two vaginas. The discovery was also a first for her doctor. Dr Chee Jing Jye, the medical director at The Obstetrics & Gynaecology Centre at Paragon Medical, had never encountered such a case in her 13 years of practice. The discovery was made after the young woman was physically examined and had a 3-D ultrasound scan for abnormalities in the womb. Fortunately, despite having two vaginas and two cervixes, her womb was fine. Still, the news came as a blow for the woman, said DrChee. The distraught woman declined to be interviewed by The New Paper. Dr Chee said that one of the first questions she asked was: "Am I normal?" The doctor, who is in her 30s, assured her that her condition isn't life-threatening and will not have a major impact on her life. She told The New Paper: "Theoretically, the chances of her getting pregnant in the future should not be much of a problem."

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24-Jul-2010 16:23

Others / Photographying Floods can be risky too

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SANDBAGGING is NOT the SAME as a MULTI-BAGGER STOCK ? ? ? ?

SANDBAGGING is a MEDIOCRE SOLUTION ? ? ? ?

SANDBAGGING DON'T need MERITO-CRACY ? ? ? ?

SANGBAGGING is "BONSAI" in SCALE ? ? ? ?

178investors ( Date: 24-Jul-2010 11:55) Posted:

Sandbags are now hot property, in demand. Sandbags are temporary measure to reduce flooding. Many said they have to build perimeter walls around their properties, as permanent measure, to hold back future floods.

Visions of our future city changing fast from Singapore : "Global City" --> "Sandbag City" --> "Fortress City". Let's hope they come up with acchitecturally pleasing fortresses.

laulan's right.. can't sleep in basement carpark .. risky.. shouldn't basement parking lots go for discount to compensate risk to life and property?

MP calls on authorities to draw up emergency response plan for floods
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 23 July 2010 1917 hrs

Photos 1 of 1

(File pic) Orchard Rd flood at Liat Towers

<>

Video

MP urges authorities to draw up flood emergency response plan

SINGAPORE: Consider an emergency response plan for floods - that's a suggestion from one MP for the authorities in view of the recent spate of floods around Singapore.

A series of dialogue sessions are already planned for residents and the national water agency, PUB.

In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, PUB said it will meet various MPs and grassroots leaders over the next few days.

They include Minister Lui Tuck Yew for the Cambridge Road area, MP Heng Chee How for the Jalan Bahagia area, MP Hri Kumar for Upper Thomson and MP Chan Soo Sen for Telok Kurau.

Concerned residents also want to know how to go about protecting themselves.

Battling floods is nothing new to Joo Chiat estate which is located on low lying ground.

But residents, including the area's MP said they've never seen flooding as bad as in this past month.

For example, one childcare centre was flooded twice over a month.

Channel NewsAsia was told PUB handed out sand bags on Thursday.

For now, the centre has about 50 of these bags stacked at its entrances.

PUB said 780 sandbags have been provided to affected residents across the island to protect their basement entrances and homes in the event of another flood.

Sandbags are just a temporary solution so the centre has engaged a professional engineer to look at more permanent fixtures and this may include constructing raised barriers and walls around the perimeter of the building.

Residents in the area will have a dialogue with the PUB on Sunday to address concerns over how to mitigate future floodings and protect their property.

There's also a call for more proactive measures.

MP for Joo Chiat, Chan Soo Sen said: "My residents would like the authorities to tell us a little bit more about what we can do. We accept that no amount of engineering can totally eliminate the threat.

“If we want to totally eliminate the threat it will be a very high cost option so from time to time this can happen. I think our residents here in Joo Chiat are rational people. They understand that but what they would like to know is what can we do? Do the authorities have some specific advice on what we can do to mitigate the damages?

"We do have emergency response systems in case of a civil defence emergency or terrorist emergency. We have been briefed, sometimes we have even been exercised, so is there something that can be done along this line in case there is going to be a flood?

“What should be a recall system? Who should call who? Where shall we go to? What should be our roles? What kind of report we should give the relevant authorities? What type of advise we should give the residents and how we can calm down the residents and perhaps help them save themselves as well as their properties.”

Some businesses affected by the floods have heeded the call to act.

Liat Towers at Orchard Road, severely hit by rising waters, have more than 200 sandbags around the building.

Its building services executive Chik Hai Lam said it bought 220 sandbags and the PUB added another 60 to the lot on Thursday.

Mr Chik said the bags have helped to "slow down" the water coming in.

It also engaged a professional engineer to propose permanent solutions like flood barriers already installed at the Wisma Atria mall.

Mr Chik added: "Our sand bags will be here as long as the barriers are not up, beyond that. There will be the mountable, likely, glass panels which we can slot in or slide in to be implemented along the front."

Such permanent structures cost about S$500,000 and need to be imported. So it may take about half a year before it can be installed.

Meanwhile, Liat Towers said it wants to set up raised kerbs or walls, at least two feet high to prevent waters from drowning its basement shops.

It's hoping to get the green light from authorities to have the kerbs installed by the end of next week.

Mr Chik continued: "We will be keeping it in line along our building boundary, right on the front exposed area here."

The building's management also plans to install additional pumps to drain out excess water.

At least three shops in the area have been closed for the past month due damage from the floods.

Separately, the PUB said 90 of its staff are on high alert round the clock.

360 contractors, 15 tankers and 20 pumps are also on standby.

PUB has alerted buildings along Orchard Road such as Liat Towers, Lucky Plaza, Tong Building, Delfi Orchard and residences such as Tessarina and Corona Ville on the forecasted weather this weekend.

PUB has met six condominium management, seven commercial buildings and more than 80 affected residents to explain the flood situation and provide advice on what they can do to protect their premises.

Some of them are Tessarina Condominium, Corona Ville, Cluny Court and affected premises/households at Orchard Road, Cambridge Road, Jalan Taman, Telok Kurau, Rienzi Street, Ernani Road, Fidelio Road and Tosca Terrace.

New localised drainage improvement works will be fast tracked in areas such as Cambridge/Dorset, Tembiling Road / Duku Road and Sin Ming Road to Marymount Road.

But there's some reprieve for now - the weather man said Typhoon "Chanthu" has dissipated after making landfall over southern China and is unlikely to have a major impact on Singapore this weekend.

But NEA's Meteorological Services Division said to still expect "short-duration showers with thunder over many areas in the morning and early afternoon.

The public is advised to obtain the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, by tuning in to radio broadcasts, calling NEA's weather forecast hotline at 65427788, following @NEAsg on Twitter, accessing the mobile weather service, available free at Weather@SG or visit the NEA website

The public can also visit the PUB website
for the safety advisory for floods. - CNA/vm

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24-Jul-2010 16:15

Others / Photographying Floods can be risky too

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"BONSAI" will start recruiting ENGINEERS ? ? ? ?

SOME ENGINEERS will be LUCKY to earn S$ Million annual compensations ? ? ? ?

Isolator ( Date: 24-Jul-2010 12:37) Posted:

I can only say the Party members are lousy. I believe none come from Engineering background, most are likely from lawyer, doctor, or maybe marketing... Smiley

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24-Jul-2010 16:12

Others / Photographying Floods can be risky too

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nO WONDER ? ? ? ?

In last week's newspapers, MINISTER GEORGE accepted that CHINA CALLED SINGAPORE "BONSAI" ? ? ? ?

100mm is REALLY "BONSAI" COMPARED to 500mm ? ? ? ?

TRUE ? ? ? ?

DON'T TELL ME ? ? ? ?

MERITO-CRACY also has "BONSAI" version ? ? ? ?

HOPE NOT ? ? ? ?

OTHERWISE, PAY also should be "BONSAI" version TOO ? ? ? ?

178investors ( Date: 23-Jul-2010 17:18) Posted:

The 3 recent floods happened after rainfall had topped 100mm within an hour. Govt feel this is already too difficult a level for them to manage/prevent flooding. Is 100mm the "new normal"? Historical rainfall going back decades showed Singapore had experienced much higher rainfall. Back in the 70's, we had rainfall topping 500mm within an hour. Does the Govt think such heavy downpour will not happen again? What if? Imagine 500 is 5 times 100.

In as far as we can understand from official statements, highest paid Cabinet says we can't be building more and more bigger canals as they compete for space with other infrastructures. That "line of thinking" says we can only build all things horizontally in one dimension. Lee is right: no amount of engineering can prevent flood, in a land-constrained country, if every engineers think using that "line of thinking".

I am sure our engineers are more than capable of multi-stacking competing infrastructures (roads, train rails, canals, rivers, buildings, underground networks of pipes and cables, etc.) where feasible. Look at our MRT train lines. Some part of it run under the singapore river. Some part of CTE tunnel also under a riverway. Did the Engineers say then, "No! It will be flooded if we do that." Also, we have Standard Chartered Building sitting right on top of the Raffles MRT track when tunneling work was carried out, non-stop, right under that building. Did the Engineers say then : "No! It can't be done. The Standard Chartered Building will collapse if we bore under it."

Real Engineers always challenge themselves : nothing is impossible; in fact, impossible is nothing. Our Cabinet should say "sorry" to our hardworking engineers; for the slight.

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News

Report: Payouts UNjustified80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved

News

Report: Payouts UNjustified80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved

News

Report: Payouts unjustified

News

Report: Payouts unjustified

Report: Payouts UNjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved

Report: Payouts UNjustified

80% of 2008 bonuses, payments to troubled banks' execs called UNdeserved