Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Bank capital fight...

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Bank capital fight...: http://hypoventure-capital.com/2011/06/hypo-venture-capital-headlines-bank-capital-fight-spills-into-u-s-congress/ The fight by big banks...

Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Bank capital fight spills into U.S. Congress

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The fight by big banks against higher capital standards came to the Congress on Thursday where Republicans held a hearing to air Wall Street concerns about regulation and its impact on profits.

Little more than two years since taxpayer bailouts were needed to firm up banks’ flimsy balance sheets, governments on both sides of the Atlantic are moving to force the banks to hold more capital and be better prepared for future crises.

Banks are resisting, however, and remarks made at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing showed they have support among many Republicans and some Democrats, with the 2007-2009 credit crisis growing fainter in the rear-view mirror.

Citing concerns about international competitiveness and the availability of credit in a fragile economy, JPMorgan Chase Chief Risk Officer Barry Zubrow told lawmakers: “The regulatory pendulum clearly has now begun to swing to a point that risks hobbling our financial system and our economic growth.”

Final decisions on new global bank capital standards are still months away. The standards are being developed through the Basel III process being coordinated by the Financial Stability Board, an international body based in Switzerland.

The United States is committed to full implementation of the Basel III accords, once they are finalized, both “at home and abroad,” U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard told the House Financial Services Committee.

She added that it was important to make sure that capital rules be internationally consistent.

Similarly, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said the Fed is seeking alignment of the Basel III capital rules with those imposed in the United States under last year’s Dodd-Frank financial oversight law.

At a minimum, under the Basel pact, banks will have to hold top-quality capital equal to 7 percent of their risk-bearing assets. Analysts expect the largest financial institutions to have to hold additional capital of about 3 percent.

Financial industry officials also complained at the hearing that new derivatives rules under Dodd-Frank will put U.S. firms at a disadvantage because other countries have yet to implement their own strict standards.

Regulators said they are also pushing for derivatives rules to be implemented internationally. Brainard said she visited London and Frankfurt in the last two weeks to make the case for an international agreement on margin standards for derivative trades that do not go through a clearinghouse.

ECONOMIC CONCERN

John Walsh, a top U.S. banking regulator, expressed concerns at the hearing similar to those raised recently by large banks, which fear that higher capital requirements will crimp their lending and reduce their profits.

“Attempting to wring risk out of the banking system through the device of high capital requirements must be weighed against the costs … and potentially lower economic growth,” Walsh told the House hearing.

Walsh is acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. He said his agency supports requiring large banks to hold a “moderate” amount of additional capital.

A witness for the union movement urged regulators to resist calls to relax their stance.

“Deregulatory whipsawing of the kind recommended today by my fellow witnesses may temporarily increase some bank profits. But the price will be another cycle of economic crisis and job loss,” said Damon Silvers, associate general counsel of the AFL-CIO labor group.

The Dodd-Frank banking reforms approved last year required the Federal Reserve to come up with capital requirements for banks with more than $50 billion in assets and for other large financial firms deemed important to the smooth functioning of financial markets and tapped for stricter Fed supervision.

World regulators, as part of the Basel III process, are deciding how much of an added buffer to impose on the largest, most internationally active banks.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, an industry lobbying group, “disagrees with the discussion underway by the Financial Stability Board which would impose an additional capital charge for globally systemically important financial institutions,” said SIFMA President Tim Ryan in remarks prepared for the hearing.

BACHUS: DON’T OVER-REGULATE

“If we over-regulate and ignore the plans of the rest of the world, then I fear we will push capital, industry and jobs right out of our country,” Republican Representative Spencer Bachus, chairman of the committee, said at the hearing.

Earlier this month, Tarullo got the banks’ attention when he said the Fed might require the largest banks to hold between 8 percent to 14 percent in total capital. He backed away from that on Thursday.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Bundesliga side started off their Champions League...

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Bundesliga side started off their Champions League...: http://hypoventure-capital.com/2011/08/hypo-venture-capital-headlines-bayern-munich-2-0-zurich-schweinsteiger-robben-strikes-down-swiss/ Ba...

Bundesliga side started off their Champions League campaign in fine form as they earned a convincing win over their Swiss visitors

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Bayern Munich gained a decisive upper hand in their quest for Champions League qualification as they earned a 2-0 win over Zurich in the first leg of their play-off tie.

Bastian Schweinsteiger nodded the Germans in front on eight minutes, and although the visitors did well to avoid having the match slip away, Arjen Robben’s curling effort on 72 minutes put the Bundesliga side well in control of the tie.

The visitors were first to attack and Amine Chermiti had a warning shot sail over the bar early on. However, Bayern showed more bite, and Schweinsteiger struck shortly thereafter. Arjen Robben whipped in a dangerous cross from the left, and after a slight deflection from Mathieu Beda, the Germany international nodded into the lower-right corner of the net.

Philipp Lahm should have made it 2-0 in the 12th minute, but Johnny Leoni made an excellent save after the full-back had surged into the left side of the penalty box. The defender turned provider not long after as he set up Mario Gomez, but the off-form striker hesitated and the chance went begging before he even had the opportunity to shoot.

Gomez again failed to take advantage on the hour mark; through on goal he was stopped in his tracks as he struggled to slip the ball onto his favoured right foot.

Possession was rare for Zurich, and even more scarce were opportunities on goal. Chermiti headed a free kick straight into Manuel Neuer’s arms, but was nonetheless called offside, and Ricardo Rodriguez had a long-ranged blast miss a couple yards wide.

Not satisfied with the result of the first 45 minutes, Bayern came out firing in the second half. Following some good lead-up play from Franck Ribery, Gomez missed an absolute sitter from the edge of the six-yard box on 51 minutes. Moments later, the France player’s drive was parried, but Leoni recovered to deny Lahm’s follow-up.

Ribery was unlucky not to make it 2-0 on the hour mark as his free kick hit the right post, but Robben eventually got the vital second goal as he struck a trademark left-footed effort into the upper-left corner.

Zurich tired late in the game as the hosts pressed mercilessly for a third. Gomez looked to finally have his goal, but Dusan Djuric cleared his effort off the line after the striker had rounded Leoni.

The visitors managed to keep the score down to two, but things nonetheless went from bad to worse late in the game. Defender Mathieu Beda received his marching orders for a second yellow card, meaning that he will miss the second leg of the tie.

Bayern will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet for the third time in four competitive matches this year, and to bring a two goal advantage into the return fixture. However, Zurich are not to be under-estimated and can head into the second leg with hope – albeit slim – of reversing the tie.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Sony insurer sues ...

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Sony insurer sues ...: http://hypoventure-capital.com/2011/08/hypo-venture-capital-headlines-sony-insurer-sues-to-deny-data-breach-coverage/ One of Sony Corp’s ...

Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Sony insurer sues to deny data breach coverage

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 One of Sony Corp’s insurers has asked a court to declare that it does not have to pay to defend the media and electronics conglomerate from mounting legal claims related to a massive data breach earlier this year.

The dispute comes as demand soars for “cyberinsurance,” with companies seeking to protect themselves against customer claims and associated costs for data and identity theft.

How to write such policies has become a huge subject of debate in the insurance industry.

Zurich American Insurance Co asked a New York state court in documents filed late on Wednesday to rule it does not have to defend or indemnify Sony against any claims “asserted in the class-action lawsuits, miscellaneous claims, or potential future actions instituted by any state attorney general.”

A Sony spokesman in Tokyo said his company does not comment on pending litigation.

Zurich American, a unit of Zurich Financial Services, also sued units of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, AIG and ACE Ltd, asking the court to clarify their responsibilities under various insurance policies they had written for Sony.

“Zurich doesn’t think there’s coverage, but to the extent there may be a duty to defend it wants to make sure all of the insurers with a potential duty to defend are contributing,” said Richard Bortnick, an attorney at Cozen O’Connor and publisher of the digital law blog CyberInquirer.

Bortnick, who is not involved in the case, said that while Sony may be able to claim there was property damage as a result of the data breach, Zurich is likely to argue that the sort of general liability insurance it wrote for Sony was never intended to cover digital attacks.

AIG declined to comment, and Mitsui Sumitomo could not immediately be reached.

In April, hackers accessed personal data for more than 100 million users of Sony’s online video games. Sony has said it could not rule out that some 12.3 million credit card numbers had been obtained during the hacking.

In May, Sony said it was looking to its insurers to help pay for its massive data breach.

Sony has said it expects the hacking to drag down operating profit by 14 billion yen ($178 million) in the current financial year, including costs for boosting security measures. The company said the figure does not include potential compensation.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Taliban Rel...

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich: Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Taliban Rel...: http://hypoventure-capital.com/2011/07/hypo-venture-capital-zurich-headlines-taliban-releases-disturbing-video-showing-horrific-group-execut...