With China's economy stumbling along and banks wary of lending as defaults rise, small business operators are hocking belongings and company assets for loans from pawn shops. Pawn shops charge clients a monthly rate of about 3.2 percent, much higher than about 0.44 percent for bank loans, but cash-strapped borrowers are attracted by their efficiency and convenience for short-term loans. Nationwide, the industry as a whole is still tiny with only about 36 billion yuan in net assets spread among some 2,800 players. (Source: chinadaily.com)

The crisis in the Scottish housing market was underlined when a report revealed a drop of 40 per cent in new mortgages in 2008. The report also stated that there were more than 1,000 fewer first-time buyers than in 2007 and a fall in house sales from 8,520 to 5,041 in the same period. The fall in mortgages north of the Border was lower than the UK as a whole, where mortgages plunged by 50 per cent. Scotland's share of the market has raised from 10 per cent in 2007 to 12 per cent in 2008. (Source: scotsman.com)

Recently, many essential drugs have been held at European ports on way to Africa or Latin America from India, by EU customs for IP infringement or labeling them counterfeits. India is a source of affordable life saving medicines for many African and developing countries. Experts believed that drugs are being seized because of EU regulations authorizing custom action against goods on grounds of IP infringement. It becomes a non-tariff trade barrier to block legitimate generics from developing countries. (Source: indiatimes.com)

Apple has failed in its bid to trademark "pod" in Australia. Guitar accessories group Line 6, which manufactures the "POD" device, argued it has a pre-existing trademark in the same category. Australian Trade Marks Office hearing officer Iain Thompson declared that the POD device was an established product. Apple said the POD was "digital signal processing hardware," and thus did not fall into the "portable electronic devices" class of trademark. Thompson argued the iPod's sound equalizer features used digital signal manipulation.( Source: smartcompany.com)

Chinese companies and institutions made a breakthrough in research and development last year as the number of their invention patent applications exceeded those made by individuals for the first time. According to the latest statistics, China's domestic service invention patent applications accounted for 50.8 percent of the total. Service inventions, as a rule, are the research fruits of enterprises, institutions and other organizations. As they attract more resources and support, they represent greater quality and a higher level of innovation. (Source: chinadaily.com)

Leading investors believe an innovative new capital structure could rescue $123 billion investment trust industry from near collapse. Akarui Credit Opportunities offers investors the choice of traditional listed shares and an unlisted share class that will be priced at net asset value. Investors would be able to switch from listed to unlisted shares at any point and, at six monthly intervals with board consent, from unlisted to listed shares. Industry-wide average discounts to net asset value hit a record 19.8 per cent in December 2008. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)

The Unit Trust Association (UTA) of Sri Lanka is aiming towards attracting small investors by steering them away from more traditional investment options. The UTA collects funds in a licensed trust which is kept with the custodian bank. A recent market study found that the public had little understanding of unit trusts which provide an alternate method of investing. The savings market is valued at Rs.500 billion; the fixed deposit market is valued at Rs.550 billion while the unit trust market stands at Rs.7 billion. (Source: sundaytimes.lk)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the world's largest asset custodian, said it will start a fund management venture with Western Securities in China this year to tap $3.2 trillion of household savings. Xi'an, China-based Western Securities, will hold 51 percent of the business, while Bank of New York will own the balance. China's fund managers have raised their equity holdings to an average 75 percent of total assets as the benchmark index climbed this year. (Source: bloomberg.com)

Swiss regulator have issued a statement telling fund-of-hedge funds that creating new units or distributing partly illiquid funds is prohibited, in a move that also spells out the appropriate use of hedge fund "side pockets". Experts expect that on average 20-30 per cent of the assets of funds of hedge funds will land in side pockets. Julius Baer and Vontobel could benefit from new guidelines. UBS and Credit Suisse are also expected to use the opportunity to ring-fence some illiquid assets. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)

The quota allocated to participants in China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program is set to reach US$30 billion by 2014, up from the current US$11 billion. Foreign applicants that rent out their quotas to third parties such as hedge funds are likely to get the cold shoulder in favor of actively managed A-share funds. The QFII program is intended to open up China's stock market to foreign expertise without allowing unlimited amounts of capital to flow in and out of the country. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)

City bankers are desperately attempting to renegotiate costly divorce settlements they can no longer afford, according to top law firms. There is a big increase in the number of high earners who want to cut maintenance payments to their spouses in the face of reduced income and smaller, or nonexistent, bonuses. Divorces in the UK include a split in marital assets in addition to maintenance payments, but renegotiation through the courts can be a long-winded and costly affair. Settlements are likely to be adjusted to a one-off payment this year. (Source: guardian.co.uk)

In Australia's legislation, a person is said to be in a de facto relationship with another person if they have a relationship as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis but are not married or related to each other. It creates a new definition of 'spouse' which will be used in the Income Tax Assessment Act - which can affect the tax situation of your temporary visa holders. As the definition of spouse now includes de facto couples and same sex partners, more temporary residents may automatically become Australian residents for tax purposes. (Source: mondaq.com)

The Securities and Exchange Board of India will modify some rules pertaining to inheritance of shares. The move is likely to benefit the legal heirs awaiting inheritance of shares belonging to deceased relatives who neither made a will nor filed the mandatory nomination with depositories. The new guidelines will pave the way for quick transmission of shares. In transmission a person acquires an interest in the property by operation of law, whereas transfer is affected by an act of the parties. (Source: indiatimes.com)

China considers increasing the windfall tax threshold for the country's oil companies in a bid to stimulate the sector. The windfall tax measure is levied when the price of crude oil reaches USD40 per barrel on a sliding scale between 20% and 40%. Currently, the 40% rate is reached when the price exceeds USD60 per barrel. If the measure is approved, it is hoped that it will significantly reduce the tax burdens of China's three largest oil companies. (Source: LawAndTax-News.com)

The Philippine Senate has adopted a proposal to begin the removal of the documentary stamp tax levied on secondary trading in a bid to boost the country's flagging stock market, which will make the Philippines more competitive for share dealing compared with the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore, where transaction costs are lower. Supporters of the bill are aiming to have final approval before a Senate recess in March. (Source: Tax-News.com)

Singapore has announced an enhanced tier of fund management tax incentives which will come into effect on 1 April and last to the end of March 2014. Under the current rules, income derived from qualifying funds is generally exempt from Singapore income tax, but qualifying funds can only be in the form of companies, trusts and individual accounts. The new tier will also apply to funds that are limited partnerships. The 30-50 per cent investment limit imposed on resident non-individual investors will also be lifted. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)

Based on stamp duty records, 2,003 building units were sold and purchased in Macao in the fourth quarter of 2008, the lowest level since 2002. The value of these property transactions dropped by 64.6 percent to 2.67 billion patacas (338 million U.S. dollars) in the period, and the majority of the transactions were residential units and the respective value amounted to 2.15 billion patacas, dropping by 53.3 percent and 66.1 percent respectively quarter-to-quarter. For the whole of 2008, a total of 21,516 units were purchased and sold, down by 33.3 percent over 2007. (Source: people.com)

According to a report by the Ministry of Finance, Beijing should actively guide the renminbi's exchange rate to about RMB6.3 against the US dollar. The report also said the country should increase the amount of commodities that it purchases from abroad and build up its energy reserves in order to prevent positive pressure on the renminbi's value against the dollar. However, depreciating the currency would be of little help, as the drop in exports is due to a lack of demand. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)

Deutsche Bank has announced the launch of 'Al Mi'yar', a first of its kind platform aimed at facilitating the issuance of Shari'a compliant securities. Al Mi'yar will enable Islamic investors to meet their specific investment objectives by giving them exposure to different asset classes without compromising their Islamic beliefs. The certificates will be tradable Islamic securities. The platform allows for the issuance of tradable Islamic money market products settling with short settlement cycles enabling the issuance of overnight products or other short dated money market instruments. (Source: Tax-News.com)

Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) face a significant hit on profits if real estate prices continue to fall in the Middle East. IFIs' direct exposure to real estate assets in 2008 reached 20 percent of total loans, making them vulnerable to an ongoing correction in the previously fast-growing sector. The industry is now feeling the pinch, as low liquidity and investor confidence push down prices. The industry also saw a sharp fall in Islamic bond, issuance in 2008, falling to $14.9 billion from more than $34.3 billion a year earlier. (Source: reuters.com)

UK research firm African Rainbow Consulting is to launch an index ranking African countries for their investment potential, as the region's markets become more developed. At a time when many developed economies are mired in recession, Africa's GDP growth is forecast to exceed 5 per cent in 2009 and its markets present excellent value investment opportunities. In recent years several investment firms have launched Africa-themed funds. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)

China's exports in January plunged by 17.5%, the sharpest drop in more than a decade. It marked the third straight month of declining exports, but January's decline steeper by an order of magnitude from the 2.8% decline recorded in December. However some said the economic downturn may not be as severe as suggested by the January figures, due to the seasonal effect of the Lunary New Year holiday. Imports fell by 43% in January, resulting in a trade surplus of US$39.1 billion. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)

The four major Australian banks will benefit substantially from the crisis, as they have further consolidated with the acquisition of regional banks and specialist wealth providers. The banks benefited from well-capitalized balance sheets, resilient housing prices and swift action by regulators. Australian financial services providers also provided shareholders with better returns over the last five years than their international competitors. Based on their risk-adjusted shareholder value, financials performed better than their peers in the US and Western Europe. (Source: investordaily.com)

Kuwait has lost 31 billion dollars of its estimated 300-billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund as a result of the global economic crisis. Losses in Kuwait's foreign investments were nine billion dinars. Most of the losses were book losses. The government has unveiled a multi-billion dollar stimulus plan that includes wide-ranging state guarantees for bank loans and assisting troubled investment firms to repay their debts. Last year, Kuwait guaranteed deposits of all banks in the country. (Source: zawya.com)

Hong Kong would further develop and increase financial cooperation with emerging markets to consolidate its position as an international financial center. Since the structure of most Islamic financial products involved the sale and re-purchase of assets, such transactions might entail tax liabilities in HK. Therefore, it plans to create a level playing field for Islamic financial products vis-à-vis conventional ones, including making changes to or clarifications of the arrangements for stamp duty, profits tax and property tax. (Source: xinhua.net)

【Chief Editors: Cynthia & Lillian 】

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