International Banker (December 18)
If Japan’s Financial Services Agency and the nation’s “asset-management industry work together to establish ‘customer-oriented business operations’, they may succeed in gaining the trust of retail investors, and the financial assets of Japanese households may finally show a visible shift from cash and deposits to securities.” Two decades of failed efforts starting with the Big Bang financial reform suggest “it will take much effort to gain the trust of retail investors, some of whom have experienced disappointing returns in the past. Unless the Japanese financial industry works harder than ever for customers’ interests, the goal of ‘savings to investments’ will turn out to be elusive once again.”
Tags: Asset-management industry, Big bang, Customer-oriented, Disappointing, Elusive, Failed, Financial assets, Financial Reform, FSA, Households, Investments, Japan, Retail investors, Securities, Trust
New York Times (September 2)
The 2012 Summer Paralympic Games began in London with a big bang. The “opening ceremony that was truly cosmic. It featured the physicist Stephen Hawking as master of ceremonies and Sir Ian McKellen as Prospero, wearing a gown of stars and telling Miranda, who was floating above the stadium in a wheelchair, to “shine your light on the beautiful diversity of humanity.” Going on to reenact the Big Bang, the ceremony got the Games off to a spectacular start.
