Euromoney (August Issue)
“Singapore’s long drive to become the world’s leading centre for private asset management is gaining momentum as Asia’s wealthy exert greater influence and overseas investors flock to the city state.” Singapore is now a “legitimate rival to Switzerland,” with estimates the island state will overtake the Alpine nation in terms of assets under management by 2015.
Tags: Asia, Asset management, AUM, Influence, Investors, Momentum, Singapore, Switzerland, Wealthy
Businessweek (March 4)
“The Swiss government must figure out how to translate some of the world’s toughest rules on executive pay into national law and risk an exodus of big corporations after voters overwhelmingly backed new curbs in a referendum.” In addition to giving shareholders a binding vote on executive pay, the measure will crack down on golden handshakes and golden parachutes.
The Economist (September 3)
Japan’s not alone in living with an overvalued currency. The commodities “boom has lifted the Australian dollar by more than 43% since the start of 2009” and “pushed up Brazil’s real by even more.” Switzerland escaped this boom, but it’s blessed (or cursed) “with a commodity prized more than iron ore or soyabeans in uncertain times: safety.” As a result the Swiss franc has shot upward. Policymakers in all three countries are concerned, but efforts to weaken their currencies have born little fruit. “Instead of trying to prevent a rise in the currency, countries can, of course, learn to live with it.”
The Independent (August 30)
The second generation of biofuels may be drawing near. By using enzymes that allow elephants to digest “sugars which normally remain locked up in the cellulose structure of plant cells,” Swiss researchers were able to “convert 90 per cent of bio-mass, such as maize stalks or wheat straw, into ethanol—about double the rate until now.” This second generation technology would make it possible to “to mass-produce eco-friendly gasoline for the first time without relying on food crops.”
The second generation of biofuels may be drawing near. By using enzymes that allow elephants to digest “sugars which normally remain locked up in the cellulose structure of plant cells,” Swiss researchers were able to “convert 90 per cent of bio-mass, such as maize stalks or wheat straw, into ethanol—about double the rate until now.” This second generation technology would make it possible to “to mass-produce eco-friendly gasoline for the first time without relying on food crops.”
Tags: Biofuel, Food crops, Gasoline, Switzerland, Waste
