Benelux investors bring high demands for banks.

If banks want to keep attracting investors, they will have to raise their return percentage up to 15 percent. Else investors will seek for it in other sectors. The Ouderaa writes current return is on a level of 4 to 5 percent, although they claim 15 percent should be manageable because the return percentage has already reached over 25 percent in 2006. Researchers fear if banks indulge the raise, they ‘ll have hard put to it.

http://www.mdweekly.nl/919583/beleggers-stellen-hoge-rendementseisen-aan-banken

Yannick Haemers

Light at the end of the economic tunnel

Although the economic crisis is the cause of an enormous unemployment rate, political instability and bankruptcy, it also provides opportunities for some companies.

Because it exposes weaknesses and rewards strengths it forces canny business people to think outside the box and develop new strategic methods to keep their industry from falling flat.
Money, innovation and repositioning are the keywords to successfully overcome the crisis.

Therefore with a sufficient dose of persistence and creativity you too can see the light at the end of the economic tunnel.

Charlotte Dhont
Source: http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14540023

Thank you KBC!

The shareholders of KBC were probably very excited today when they heard that their shares rose by 15,4%. This rise led to the best day for the stock market since March with 3,3% more profits. Other companies that are doing well in the Bel20 are Dexia (with a rise of 4,7%), Umicorne (with a rise of 5,6%) and Nyrstar (with a rise of 6,7%). Let's hope the shares will keep evolving this way so that we can go back to the situation in 2007 (see diagram).

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20091006_019

Gaetan Goesens

The smuggling card

Prepaid debit cards are irresistible, world famous, easy to use and ... they ransack your wallet. For many years prepaid debit cards are being used as a solution for those who do not have bank accounts or cannot get a credit card. These prepaid debit cards have a dark side that is often only mentioned in the fine print: fees! Although these hidden costs are declining every year, the prepaid debit card can charge you fees that can quickly accumulate.

Valérie Ipskamps

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/your-money/06prepay.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Belgians are in the red

In 2008 the number of Belgian current accounts in debit increased significantly. 19% of all current accounts were in the red. According to Fortis, Belgians withdrawed € 35 million above the limit of €1250, that is 10% more than before. This trend is still prominent, the amount of people who passed the limit in 2009 increased by 10% ,and that just in the first part of the year...

Hannah Dhaene

Belgians and their hidden money

Belgians are worldwide known as “Belgian dentists” because they love to fiddle.
Last year, there was more than £ 55 milliard black money in circulation in Belgium, what forms part of the annual production for 21.5%. The term “Belgian dentist” was invented in the early 60s when Belgian investors, most of them were doctors and dentists, travelled abroad to cash their dividend coupons tax-free. With its £ 55 milliard black money Belgium occupies the fifth place in the European list of most money earned by moonlighting.

Anja Dhondt

http://netto.tijd.be/geld_en_gezin/belastingen/Belg_heeft_60_miljard_onder_matras.6172164-1624.art

The amount of Belgian companies that isn’t going to survive September 2009 will be immense, 1015 companies are almost bankrupt. Remarkably, most companies that go bankrupt are Flemish and there is a fall of 1,5 percent in the Brussels district. The sharp increase is due to the continuous harsh times that the economy is going true. Experts say this is only the beginning of a period with a lot of enterprises that are going to be declared bankrupt, according to them the worst is yet to come.

Eva Lehoucq

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20091001_035&word=failliet+2009

Teaching is more popular during recession. (bank and finance)

Nowadays, a remarkable trend is that more and more bankers are retrained to become a teacher, so that they have a secure and rewarding career. The number of registered people who wants to be retrained has been increased with 13% and the recruitment website for retraining has had a 34% increase in traffic. As a result of the financial crisis, more and more bankers prefer a secure job instead of a risky job in unstable times. Some Agencies, for example the Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA), tries to encourage a s much as bankers to become a teacher.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7624953.stm

Pepijn de Vreese

Global investment-banking fees

By this time, most banks are in the black again. That doesn't mean that they are totally back, especially the investment-banking fees earned from January till October are much lower than last year in the same period! The ten leading investment banks earned about $6 billion less fees, that's a decrease of 20% in comparison with last year. JPMorgan, the biggest investment bank, only lost about 8%, but the fees at Barclays and Bank of America took a plunge for more than a third!

Bert Deweerdt

Source: http://www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14561009

Secret meetings make gold price rising

Gold prices reached a record due to secret meetings, between Gulf Arab states, China, Russia, Japan and France, who consider using a basket of currencies to trade oil instead of the US dollar.

Gold is 'the ultimate currency' and every time when the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency is loosing its status, it take advantage of it. Oil prices also went up as the dollar's status weakened. The secret meetings appears to have no foundation, but gold prices stay close to record levels.

Emmy D'Haeye

Fewer foreign investments in the Belgian market

In 2008 there were just 6.700 jobs created by foreign investments in Belgium which is
33% less than in 2007. In 2008 there we 192 investments projects compared to 240 projects
in 2007, this is evidenced by the 'Global Location Trends', an annual international investigation by the American giant IBM. Belgium dropped from the 27th to 33th place in the world ranking in the most successful coutries based on the number of created jobs. These weak numbers are partly a result of the economic crisis in the second half of 2008.

Boris De Doncker


link: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20091006_032

Copper still has potential

This year, the copper price per ton has already doubled.
An important factor behind the increase in the price, during the eight months of this year, is China. We also have the US and Germany, who are the biggest enquirers for copper. Specialists believe that later the ask for copper will raise even more beacause of the improvement of the economic climate.









Astrid De Wilde

Are we ready for the American nightmare part II ?

As we all know we are experiencing the worst crises since The Great Depression, better known as The Crash of Wall Street in 1929, several specialists are convinced that the worst part still has to come. Despite the fact that the world economy is trying to recover from the first wounds of the crises, many specialists predict a new period of difficulties, especially now when everything isn’t growing as fast as they presumed. Recent sources indicate that the crisis will have a bigger effect on the world and the daily life of the common people as they lost all their confidence in the financial world. Especially in America, that’s why the specialists predict a faster growth of the economy in Europe.

Charlotte Ingels

Source: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=R22G234S

Banking & Finance

ATM Skimming On The Rise

According to a report, ATM skimming rose 150 percent in 2008 in Europe, which makes it one of the fastest growing fraud crimes at the moment. Criminals use skimming devices on the ATM's to copy personal information from the magnetic strip on your debit card, and a small camera that can register your PIN code when you enter it. With this stolen information, the criminals can easily transfer your money to their account. However, thanks to ADT Securities who launched a fix for the problem, skimming cash cards at cash dispensers could be history in the future.

Dave Dhoest

Source: http://www.fiercefinanceit.com/story/atm-skimming-bigger-problem-now/2009-04-23 & http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/19083080/detail.html

Banks 'show first recovery signs'

PricewaterhouseCoopers started a survey and concluded that financial firms are recovering but also that the most important concern is future demand.

First of all, the confidence from the banks are experiencing an upswing and is the result of the impact of a tougher regulation.

On the other hand, difficulties with funding were the cause of a feeling of downbeat in the prospects of the building societies and the profitability was broadly flat but in the current quarter, the survey expected a resumption of declines.

Finally, also the security traders and the service sector increase in value and especially the purchasing managers of the sector knows the first expansion in two years.

Lynn Hinnens

Attack on the American Dream !

As the all known American dream remains , it is now clear that because of the crisis it is facing some serious difficulties ! The magazine Forbes revealed in its annual list of richest people that almost everyone lost money , a total of 300 billion for the 400 richest Americans only ! The richest people are still the same, Bill gates and Warren Buffett remain as nr 1 and 2 , but the last one, a legend thanks to his excellent investments, lost the a record amount of 10 billion because of the crisis. Since the beginning of the Forbes list of richest people it only had 4 decreases and this one is definitely the worst result ever , let’s hope the American dream can recover from this blow !

Vincent Gregoir

Sources : - www.forbes.com
- http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=K72G0O4A
- http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/economie-financien/Niemand_verloor_meer_dan_Buffett.8239219-600.art

Misfortunes never come singly

Being a fraud victim isn't easy because banks are turning down claims often. Luckily for the consumer there is The Banking Code that's saying that a consumer is only responsible for the first £50 and the bank is obliged to pay the rest of the sum unless they can demonstrate that the consumer really was acting fraudulently or without reasonable care.

The UK Payments Administration declares that all the members of the banking group must follow the rules of the code which assures the consumers to get their money back if they aren't known as a swindler. There are different opinions about the possibility to obtain Pins, starting with several ways in shops ending with the bank staff uncovering customer details, while others are saying that's impossible to read the Pin, believe what you want..

Alison Hemberg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8287783.stm

Banking and Finance

Clawback on bank bonuses: nice theory, but will it really work?

Excessive bonuses should be clawed back from executives, everyone agrees on that, but will it work and how should it be executed? Chancellor Alistair Darling has has requested that poor performances should be punished with clawback or malus (opposite to 'bonus') in order to deter traders to receive huge bonuses that eventually could lead to a risk for their companies or banks. But there is some disagreement on how to do so : to withdraw bonuses that are allready paid or to limit future bonuses? In the end, it will be very hard to determine for what performances executives should get paid and the clawback-theory may never get executed to the fullest.

Miguel De Witte

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/01/fears-over-bank-bonus-clawbacks

Self banking by MP3?

In Manchester, a man was able to hack an ATM by using only an MP3 player and stole over £200,000. ATM’s are protected with a number of security systems and concepts operating together but nevertheless, people succeed to rob these automated teller machines, even with something simple as an MP3 player. Before ATM’s are installed, they have been tested a lot to minimize machine failures and fraud. Thanks to these tests, ATM’s are 98,25% safe, that’s very good but there’s still 1,75% left...

Julie Deweirdt

http://prezwho.com/mp3-player-used-to-hack-atm-machine#

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) sets stricter tests for liquidity

The world has changed since the day the credit crunch has begun, said the former chief executive of the Northern Rock. Banks were having a hard time to borrow money from each other to fund their businesses due to a loss of confidence. This had caused a rethink of the ways in which banks should manage their affairs and the liquid assets they must hold. After the financial crisis started, the situation became very critical that banks were asked to update the regulator every day on their liquidity position. Now the FSA wants to make this permanent by asking a weekly liquidity report of 500 banks and other financial institutions.

Ineke Eechaute

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/05/fsa-banks-liquidity

A better way to save

The ethical bank Triodos is one of the first banks allowing anyone, by just some simple clicks, to see who it is lending to and what they are doing with it. Triodos Bank listened well to calls for banks to be more transparent, especially in these times of global financial crisis. And the best part of it all has yet to come; Triodos only finances those that want to change the world for the better in a social, environmental or cultural way like organic farms, renewable energy ventures, recycling businesses and community cinemas. Charles Middleton, UK managing director, believes all banks should be obliged to follow the same path and expose their investments online.

Jelien Krikilion

Delhaizes products become cheaper

The supermarket Delhaize decreases her prices for the second time this year. Delhaize wants a bigger market share and it wants also to become more than ever the strongest value leader of the Belgian market. The consumers find the price falls again in 3 strategic assortments: in the national and the Delhaize trademarks, in the '365' products and in the baby products. Around 150 products of Delhaize, including 70 products of the '365' trademark, are cheaper than a few months ago.


Bram Heremans


Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=DMF01102009_009

How to lose £2,000 in one click!

Claire Logie was using the online banking system to transfer £2,000 into her savings account, when she accidently, by one click, sent the sum to someone, whose details had been saved on her account for years. This is an easily made error and it happens quite often, according to a source, 1% of all online transfers go wrong, adding up to a sum of £439m. Normally the person is understanding and sends the sum back, but in some cases they don’t, and then you have no ground to stand on at all. Although there are many errors like these, the bank nor the person in fault can force the receiver to send it back, in Claire Logies case, the bank can’t even reveal the persons’ identity, so one advice to all, be careful and look out!

Kenneth Hombecq



Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8251679.stm

Death warmed up

Regulators threaten big banks to let them go bankrupt next time instead of bailing them out. This stays an empty threat if banks remain big monoliths because the consequences would be too dramatic. But by “living wills” or financial “death panels” banks can be forced to organize themselves in such a way that in a crisis it would be easier to dismember systemically important firms, let the bad entities fail and impose the losses on the firms’ stakeholders. Most banks claim that this is however too hard to realize because it’s like being asked to unscramble eggs.

Liesbeth Gunst

Source: http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14558456#

withholding tax up to 25%

The withholding tax on interest on saving certificates, deposits and savings will raise from 15 percent to 25 percent. The increase of withholding taxes is a part of the plans of the government Van Rompuy to close the deficit in public spending. Next week the government will finalise the last part of the budget. The cabinet Van Rompuy wants to gain 1,1 milliard euro from the new fiscal incomes, another 1,1 milliard has to come from banks and the energy sector and a third part has to come from savings.


Stephanie De Smet

banks 'show first recovery signs'

Banking firms are showing signs of recovery, the business volumes are increasing for the first time since the beginning of the crisis, but they still have a long way to go. Banks are feeling a boost in confidence over the last few months, caused by the impact of tougher regulation in the banking sector. The Financial firms are also feeling an impact of the stabilization in the housing market and in the service sector. But this first signs of recovery in the financial sector has still a long way to go, because the future demand is still a major concern.

Jan Devillé

“We need more food!” shoutes the food bank.

What about belgian single-parent families and aged people in times of crisis? They live in poverty and because of that they search for help to satisfy their basic needs. Food aid is one of the solutions to help them survive and more than 113,000 people make use of it, that is one person in every hundred. It is because of this large attendance that the food bank keeps another collection of food in the Delhaize-stores.

Lynn De Winter

Source

Also church suffers from crisis.

No-one gets saved from the bank-crisis, even nuns and fathers are losing their money. Due to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers both ‘The nuns of Saint-Vincentius’ and ‘The Brothers of love’ have lost an incredible amount of money, respectively one million Euros and 500.000 Euros. Fortunately, the loss doesn’t mean their projects will be abandoned, the sisters invested their money well-spread. The manager of the funds hopes this one-time loss doesn’t influence the people from donating, he lays emphasis that all their investments are well-considered.

Joachim Dierckens

Source: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=PR2FSUF7&word=bank

IMF reform in favor of poorer countries

Developing countries only have one third of the votes in the IMF while they represent almost half of the world economy. In order to work in the interest of both rich and poor countries, the IMF will have to increase the poor countries’ quota. Especially China and India, both upcoming economies, are urging the IMF to reform. However, so far there has been no agreement concerning the mechanism for increasing the votes.

Lisa Huylebroeck

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8289250.stm

Banking & Finance

House prices back at pre-Lehman levels, but agents remain cautious.

House prices have rebounded to their level of September last year, before the global financial crisis took its catastrophic turn. Nationwide, which first spotted signs of market stabilisation in February, said that conditions were improving in all regions. However, economists and estate agents put a dampener on the figures, saying that a sustained recovery was unlikely, with unemployment forecast to accelerate and banks still reluctant to lend to borrowers without large deposits. Concerns are also growing that the cash-rich buyers, who have been fuelling the recovery, are beginning to exhaust their reserves.

Anneleen De Schutter

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8286028.stm

The Swedish furniture chain Ikea grows in Belgium despites the crisis .

While lots of companies suffer from the economic crisis and announced big losses , the furniture giant has made profit and even claims an augmentation by 5,6 percent . According to managing director Olivier Baraille Ikea could have reached such a great result in Belgium because the fall of purchasing power hasn’t been as drastic as in most other countries because of the indexation of wages. Examples of their success aren’t for away , in 2009 Ikea opened a new megastore in Gent and expended their shops in Wilrijk and Hognoul .Ikea employs over 2400 people in Belgium so a lot of Belgian families are depending on Ikea and that amount will certainly increase even more .

Nicholas Heirwegh

source :http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/ondernemingen_consumptie/Ikea_Belgie_groeit-_ondanks_crisis.8240231-430.art

Online saving: would you take the plunge?

With an average interest rate of 2%, an online savings account yields almost twice as much as an old fashioned account.
Interestrates have never been so low. Bij offering their clients merely 1%, banks follow the current short term interest rate from the European Central Bank. Although a classic savings account offers you a larger loyalty premium (0,65% in comparison with 0,50%), it is quite obvious that opening a web account will yield more on the long term.

Lien Dickele


Source: http://netto.tijd.be/dossier/langetermijnsparen/Online_sparen-_De_beste_rentes..._.8237837-2178.art

Most important banks will be able to resist a new crisis

If the economical growth this year and next would be disappointing, the 22 biggest European banks would be able to withstand a new economical crisis, although they could have a loss up to 400 billion $ all together. Thanks to the governments , who would inject a lot of capital, it would be possible to survive after all. Because of the gloomy scenario that is used, ECB-president Jean-Claude Trichet calls the results “encouraging”. We have to note as well that these aren’t individual results, so the outcome is rather insignificant.

Jeroen Ducheyne
source : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=K72G0OQJ&subsection=214

IMF and World Bank warn for serious consequences of the credit crunch

The credit crunch has not been over yet, the IMF and the World Bank expect that still a lot of risks will harm the economy. The IMF anticipates that the unemployment in the euro area will increase almost 12% until 2011. The World Bank asked to help the developing countries to stimulate their domestic demand so they can also evolve to a more stable economy. The banking institutions have their annual meeting on 6 and 7 October where they will look for further solutions for the credit crunch.

Source: http://www.destandaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20091002_053

Maggelien De Smul

British piggybanks feast on recession

Due to the economical crisis Britons are saving up to 1.7% more of their income. However economics are worried about this turnaround because the recovery of the recession depends on consumer spending. Also the UK’s building societies suffer heavily from the household savings. British people have the right to fear the crisis and save their earnings but in order to recover from the recession they should not feed their piggybanks to much.


source : http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/01102009-household-savings-ratio-increases-to-5-6/



Kirsten Gabrio

How low can you go?

Last month, the number of unemployed people in America dropped even faster than expected, according to statistics of the Department of Labour. Even though economists predicted a loss of 175.000 jobs, the amount of jobless people now hit the miserable number of 263.000. The majority of the losses have been counted in the construction sector, but also the industry and retail business were hit hard. While this recent downswing is, historically seen, agonizingly large, it still is an improvement compared to the beginning of this year, when an astonishing 700.000 jobs a month faded away.

- Niels Gheyle

Bron: http://www.fd.nl/artikel/13344942/update-aantal-banen-vs-daalt-sterker-dan-verwacht