Standard Life Investments has reported that its net sales for the end of 2007, increased to a record GBP7.9 billion, up over 23% from GBP6.4 billion reported for the corresponding period in 2006. Despite a sharp slow down in the fourth quarter its mutual funds range has reported net inflows from UK retail customers of GBP1.5 billion during 2007, up from GBP1.3 billion for the same period in 2006. (Source: banking-business-review.com)


Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have been hit by a lawsuit from a city resident, Fang Shouwei, who claims they violated his intellectual property rights by failing to give him credit for the event's official slogan, “One World, One Dream”. Wang Zhenyu, Mr. Fang's lawyer, said his client had notarized evidence that he had submitted “One World, One Dream” to the Committee by e-mail during the slogan campaign. (Source: ftchinese.com)


According to Japanese Sankei, statistics released by UNCTAD showed that global FDI amounted to USD1.5379 trillion in 2007, increased by 17.8 percent year-on-year, which surpassed the milestone of USD1.5 trillion. Although the number and amount of M&A fell markedly due to impacts of the U.S.’s sub-prime crisis, the total amounts of investment of the year exceeded those of previous years substantially by virtue of remarkable performances of enterprises. (Source: fdi.gov.cn)


Bermuda Finance Minister Paula Cox announced in her 2008 budget speech that Social Insurance contributions will increase by 6.75%. The standard rate of payroll tax, assessed on businesses with annual payrolls of BMD1 million or more, and on exempted companies, will also be raised from 13.5% to 14%. The lower rates of payroll tax for small and medium sized businesses will remain unchanged. For both local and international companies registered in Bermuda, Cox announced a 6.5% increase in company fees, applicable from 1 April, 2008. (Source: Tax-News.com)


The China Securities Regulatory Commission is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with its US counterpart that will allow Chinese banks to sell US stock mutual funds. The agreement would expand the existing channels of outbound investment under which banks are limited to selling pure equities funds on behalf of the likes of fund management companies. (Source: China Economic Review)


The online community MySpace has signed an agreement with BBC Worldwide to bring some of the British broadcaster's programs to a worldwide audience. The agreement will allow MySpaceTV users to subscribe to a BBC Worldwide channel. Other BBC programs that will be featured include "Robin Hood," "Torchwood," "The Catherine Tate Show," "Red Dwarf" and "The Mighty Boosh." (Source: chinaview.cn)


The Chinese government has launched an ambitious plan to build 97 regional airports by 2020 at an estimated cost of $62.5bn in an attempt to meet soaring domestic passenger and cargo demand. 45 of the new airports are to be finished by the end of 2010. But analysts said chronic congestion will linger even with the addition of new airports, because of shortages in skilled personnel. (Source: ftchinese.com)


Britain will this year experience its first annual fall in house prices since 1995, says a study published on Jan.28. The average is forecast to fall £11,000 to £188,000, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. However, after this 5.5% fall, it expects prices to begin climbing again in 2009. (Source: thisismoney.co.uk)


LibertyBank, a privately-held community bank in Oregon, US, has signed an agreement to participate in the MoneyPass surcharge-free ATM Network. LibertyBank will now be able to grant its clients access to more than 12,000 MoneyPass ATMs located across the US. (Source: banking-business-review.com)


The Chinese yuan may rise more than 10 percent this year against the dollar, said Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former top currency official. China's currency has strengthened 1.4 percent this year, on course for the biggest monthly advance since the end of a dollar peg in July 2005, as the government seeks to curb inflation. The Group of Seven industrialized nations have called on China, Japan's biggest trading partner, to stop keeping the yuan artificially weak to support exports. (Source: bloomberg.com)


A Singapore sovereign wealth fund is expected to be the lead investor in a $6bn fund that TPG is raising to invest in troubled financial firms. Government Investment Corp of Singapore would commit between $2bn and $3bn to the new fund, which is being marketed exclusively to a handful of the world's largest sovereign wealth and pension funds. The State Administration for Foreign Exchange, an arm of the Chinese government, might also come in as a big investor in coming weeks. (Source: ftchinese.com)


Huawei Technologies and Bain Capital have given up on a plan to acquire 16.5% of 3Com for US$2.2 billion due to US concerns. The companies were unable to secure approval for the deal from the Committee of Foreign Investment in the US, which vets foreign investments in sensitive sectors, despite taking significant measures to assuage political concerns over the purchase. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)


The United States and United Kingdom can expect to lose out on billions in tax revenues and tens of thousands of new jobs if no action is taken by their governments to crack down on software piracy, according to a new report. The study calculates that reducing software piracy in the US by just 10% over the next four years could generate more than 32,000 new jobs, USD41 billion in economic growth, and USD7 billion in tax revenues above current projections. (Source: LawAndTax-News.com)


The number of Chinese visitors to Japan exceeded the number of Americans for the first time in 2007. It is said the total number of tourists entering Asia’s wealthiest and most expensive destination climbed 14 per cent to a record 8.35m. The number of mainland Chinese visitors surged 16 per cent to more than 943,000, while that of Americans fell to just fewer than 816,000. South Koreans remained the most numerous visitors at 2.6m, followed by Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese. (Source: ftchinese.com)


John Hancock Funds has launched the new John Hancock Optimized Value Fund. It has claimed that the fund incorporates a large cap value strategy that combines quantitative modeling with qualitative fundamental research. The new fund provides retail investors access for the first time to a large cap value strategy that has been offered since 2004 within John Hancock's Lifestyle Portfolios to participants in 401(k) plans and variable annuity contracts administered by John Hancock. (Source: banking-business-review.com)


Representatives from Switzerland and the European Commission on Jan.23 resumed a dialogue on the EU's assessment of certain cantonal company tax arrangements. The meeting was the second round of talks on a tax dispute which erupted last year when the EC threatened to launch legal proceedings against Switzerland, ostensibly in an attempt to bring it into compliance with the 1972 Free Trade Agreement between the EC and Switzerland. (Source: Tax-News.com)


Under a new China Securities Regulatory Commission rule, fund management companies can provide wealth management services for investors from Jan 1 this year. A fund management company with no less than 200 million yuan in net assets and no less than 20 billion yuan in assets under management in the latest quarter can apply to provide such services. When approved, a fund management company can accept clients with no less than 50 million yuan for investment. (Source: China Daily)


International auction house Sotheby's said on Feb.13 it won the judgment in a Beijing court against Sichuan Su Fu Bi Auction Company, which uses the same simplified Chinese characters in its name as the international auction house, in a sign that China's judicial system is giving greater protection to foreign intellectual property rights. Sotheby's name, both in English and in traditional Chinese characters, has been registered as trademarks in China. (Source: ftchinese.com)


The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) could be the beneficiary of an exodus of hedge fund managers escaping the UK’s potentially onerous new tax regime for non-doms. The DIFC has taken a world lead in the regulation of hedge funds; its regulator, The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has recently launched a Hedge Fund Code of Practice, which came into force 20 January 2008. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)


Recently, Sun Ya, vice mayor of Wuhan, on behalf of Wuhan signed an appendix to the MOU on Sino-British Sustainable Development Cities with Jones, UK Minister for Trade and Investment. According to the appendix, China and Britain will roll out series trade and technology cooperation in terms of environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as sustainable development cities. (Source: fdi.gov.cn)


UK accountant and business advisor PKF has named Lisa Macpherson as its new national director of tax. She will head up PKF's tax technical team, which supports the mid-tier firm's tax units on policy and technical issues across its national network. Ms Macpherson joins from international professional services firm Deloitte. She worked at the Big Four firm for nearly nine years, developing specialisms in IHT, trusts, pre-owned assets and capital gains tax. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)


Latest statistics show that more than 40 percent of China's foreign investment companies are in Beijing, but the capital still lags behind Shanghai. China boasts about 350 foreign investment companies, among which 153 are in Beijing, other 165 foreign investment companies in Shanghai. Accounting for 1.4 percent of Beijing's foreign companies in number, the investment companies raked in 35.4 percent of profit and turned in 18 percent of tax altogether last year. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)


California Bank of Commerce has announced the creation of Opportunity Capital, a new division to serve smaller businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. Opportunity Capital will focus primarily on extending loans guaranteed by the US Small Business Administration to owner operated businesses in the bank's market area. (Source: banking-business-review.com)


A resent research revealed that some 200 German enterprises settle in China every year since China’s large consumer market and lower labor and production costs are great appeals for them. There were about 4,500 Germany enterprises, including wholly German-invested, Sino-German joint enterprises and representative offices in China. Most of them were involved in machine manufacturing and engineering. (Source: fdi.gov.cn)


Current Media Inc., the television news network co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, plans to raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering. The San Francisco-based company, which owns a Web site and TV network targeted at people ages 18 to 34, will use the proceeds to repay debt of $36.5 million and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The amount of stock to be sold may change. Current Media's planned share sale comes as 25 companies worldwide withdrew or postponed IPOs this month, the most in at least a decade. (Source: bloomberg.com)

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