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In January 2001 Greece will join the euro-zone and the Athens stock exchange will begin to develop and move away from its present emerging market status.
In this context the Bank of Cyprus (BOC) launched a secondary offering of 39 million shares on the Athens stock exchange in early October. They were offered at GRD3,100 per share and the company expects to raise about GDR130 billion from the exercise.
20/11/2000
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In the July - September 2000 quarter company insolvencies in England and Wales reached 3,776 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This represents an increase of 8.6% on the 3,477 recorded in both July - September 1999 and April - June 2000.
However, the proportion of active companies that became insolvent in the year ending in the third quarter of 2000 was 1.1%, which was slightly down year-on-year.
Department of Trade and Industry
20/11/2000
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At the end of September 2000 Mizuho Holdings Inc, the holding company for the newly formed Mizuho Financial Group, was launched on the Japanese stock exchange with total assets of Ґ134 trillion . Mizuho has been nicknamed the “Godzilla bank” and was created by the integration of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan.
Two of the partners, Fuji and Dai-ichi Kangyo, have factoring subsidiaries and it is likely that their respective operations, Fujigin Factors and Daiichikangin Factoring, will be merged as part of the general restructuring programme.
20/11/2000
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A new federal bill, The Structured Settlement Act (HR 5421), was introduced on 6 October 2000. This legislation is intended to provide protection for injury victims who receive compensation in the form of structured settlement payments.
Structured settlements provide long term financial support for victims of injuries and their families via a series of payments made over time to match their individual needs. Such arrangements have been recognised by the United States Congress since 1982.
20/11/2000
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It has been announced today that Euro Sales Finance will be providing growth capital for one of the leading online suppliers of IT products, WStore UK. WStore, which was launched in France in January 1998 and opened its UK arm in July 1999, currently offers over 15,000 products and Ј80 million stock.
This deal parallels one made between the French branches of both companies.
BCR Publishing
20/11/2000
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The FDA has today released the figures for the nine months to 30 September 2000. The figures show a continuing healthy trend and a further increase in funds provided to clients to nearly Ј60 billion.
The following statistics represent the aggregate of all data contributed by FDA members.
16/11/2000
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Two Merseyside firms, FWL Technologies and Bermans Solicitors, together with the Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) have joined forces to back a new business aimed at helping companies to improve their cash flow. The joint venture, George plc, will provide outsourced credit management.
Each of the parent companies will be nurturing their subsidiary, with FWL working with George to develop a comprehensive, specialist software package whilst Bermans provide legal expertise.
13/11/2000
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The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Stephen Byers, has today commented on the impact of this week’s pre-budget statement and urged British businesses to take advantage of the opportunities which it has presented.
Measures designed to help businesses have included the following:
Simplification of the VAT system, which it is hoped will cut down on administration and improve cash flow.
13/11/2000
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The Government of Taiwan is seeking to accelerate the introduction of a new law aimed at reducing the number of financial institutions operating in the country by encouraging mergers.
13/11/2000
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The French based bank Crйdit Lyonnais has sold 85% of its Portuguese subsidiary Crйdit Lyonnais Portugal to the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). BBVA is then to bid for the remaining shares in the company at a price of 5 euros per share.
The total cost of the acquisition is reported at FFR164m (25 million). The sale is a response to the EU Commission’s 1998 imposition of restrictions on Crйdit Lyonnais following a high cost financial rescue by the French government.
13/11/2000
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In January-June 2000 the six largest listed Malaysian banks recorded new non-performing loans at an annualised rate of 11% on outstanding loans, with the same trend continuing into July. A more normal rate is considered to be in the area of 3%.
The main cause of the problem is reported to be politically based corporations that are already being supervised by the debt restructuring agency set up by the government. They have not yet completed their restructuring programmes and have apparently not yet been able to take advantage of renewed growth in the national economy.
13/11/2000
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The USA based SunTrust banking group which includes a factoring operation has reported net income of $326.8m in the third quarter of 2000, a modest increase of 1.7% and equivalent to $1.10 per diluted share.
At the same time the group experienced a 60% increase in non-performing loans. This reflects a more general increase in bad loans recently reported in the USA.
Financial Times
13/11/2000
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In the July-September 2000 quarter Bank of America, the second largest US financial services company, whose interests include factoring, recorded its non-performing loans at $4.4 bn, an increase of 45% over the $3 bn of July-September 1999.
13/11/2000
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UniCredito Italiano SpA, the Italian banking group, is to bid for the Czech Republic’s third largest bank, Komercni Banka (KB) which is to be sold by the Czech government in the near future.
UniCredito already has a presence in the former Soviet bloc, having acquired a 50.99% holding in Bank Pekao of Poland.
Financial Times
13/11/2000
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The EU’s single market commissioner, Frits Bolkestein, has today urged EU banks to speed up payments between banks and reduce the cost of cross-border money transfers. Currently customers making cross border transfers are frequently subjected to double charging and the charge levied on international transfers is ten times greater than that for a transfer between two domestic banks.
Financial Times
10/11/2000
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