fOr  bIg  tImers

SHARKS

Citi: Dark Pools in S’pore

SINGAPORE

The US bank is expanding its regional footprint after its off-exchange trading in Australia increased to a record A$1.5 billion ($1.82 billion) in June from about A$750 million a year earlier, said Mr Paul Sanger, Citigroup’s Asia-Pacific head of execution services.

Dark pools are trading venues that don’t display quotes publicly, helping investors minimise price fluctuations and save costs [REALITY ? ? ? ?].

The growth of such networks in Asia has lagged behind the US and Europe because regulators in Asia have been slow to accept the systems, said Mr John Feng, managing director of research company Greenwich Associates.

The portion of trades handled off public exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to rise to 3 per cent of transactions within three years from 1 per cent last year, he said.

By contrast, trades through dark pools last year in the US accounted for 10 per cent of the total, and 4 per cent in Europe, he estimated.

— Citigroup plans to start dark pool electronic trading in Singapore early next year to meet growing demand in Asia.BLOOMBERG

CGH: We have equipment but patient refused pumps

Letter from Lee Yen Yen

Director of Nursing

Changi General Hospital

WE THANK Ms Feng for her letter and we share her concerns.

Ms Feng’s grandmother, Madam Mok, was admitted to our hospital for a hip fracture surgery. For these patients, we have evidencebased hip fracture surgery care plans that include preventive measures for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and rehabilitative plans.

Upon admission, Madam Mok was placed on the care plan and given mechanical calf pumps to improve blood circulation and prevent DVT. However, she became agitated and refused the pumps. We tried repeatedly but she resisted. One of her daughters was present at one of these attempts.

We would like to assure Ms Feng and her family that the hospital has sufficient equipment to offer to all patients at risk of developing DVT.

We agree that rehabilitation is important after surgery. The physiotherapist had attended to Madam Mok the day after the surgery to get her ambulating. However, Madam Mok was unable to get out of bed. Therefore we performed “passive exercises” to improve mobility and circulation. Madam Mok was able to walk only a week after her surgery.

We also agree that communication with family members is very important. We have looked into the injury on Madam Mok’s arm and found that she injured herself when she became agitated after admission.

We apologise to Ms Feng and her family for not informing them of the injury earlier and for the lapses in communication. I have reminded my staff on the importance of communicating with families.

We have contacted Ms Feng and her family to address their concerns. Should Ms Feng have further queries, she can call us at 6850-1745.

SINGAPORE  has  a lOt Of

nIce  tO  sEE  ?

nOt  nIce  tO  Eat  ?

nOt  nIce  tO  Use ?

boyikao3      ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 11:05) Posted: I think you are deceived by its glossy appearance just like many others. It looks expensive and precious but it could just be a hollow center, made from cheap plastc moldings and spray painted with high gloss cheap chemicals. I still wonder what Pharoah is trying to tell us about this society by showing us this pic? iPunter      ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 10:54) Posted: This looks like a stone heart..     Probably made from red jasper...         Very nicely done, and surface-smoothed by sand-tumbling process.             A very nice piece to own for the collection...

Reader says grandmother got poor care in hospital

Letter from Feng Shumin

MY GRANDMOTHER was recently admitted to Changi General Hospital for hip replacement surgery. On the second day, I noticed a poorly-administered dressing on her arm.

A nurse told me my grandmother had been admitted with the wound.

But, when I checked with the doctor, there was no documentation of any injury to her arm upon admission and no accident reported thereafter. The doctor removed the dressing to reveal a 5cm wound oozing blood.

A few days after my grandmother’s surgery, she developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT). According to the team doctor, this is one of the common risks after surgery.

However, when I probed further, I noticed no preventive measure was taken to reduce the risk of DVT. I was told the hospital had insufficient equipment to offer these measures to all patients at risk of DVT. I am upset family members were not instructed on ways we could help (for instance, exercises we could do with her or equipment we could rent).

According to documents the nursing staff referred to, my grandmother had not ambulated since the second day following the surgery. However, when I spoke to the physiotherapist, I was told my grandmother had been ambulating every day since the surgery. It is questionable whether my grandmother received proper rehabilitation when there were conflicting replies from two medical workers on the same team.

The hospital needs to look into improving communication with family members, providing prompt preventive measures and standardising documentation procedures.

Nearly half of toys tested by Case contain harmful chemicals

Nearly half of toys tested by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) were found to contain harmful chemicals.

Case had conducted a random survey of 50 toys sold islandwide and found 23 contain too much phthalates, lead or both.

Phthalates is a chemical that is used to soften plastics. Another five toys were found to have problematic designs or pose a choking hazard to young children.

Case says it has advised retailers whose toys have failed the tests, to stop selling them. These toys are shown on CASE’s website and those who have bought the toys are urged to return them to the retailers for a refund.

Apart from urging manufacturers and distributors to ensure product safety, Case president Yeo Guat Kwang said: “Case has also been lobbying the authorities for some time to put in place more regulations for product safety, particularly children’s toys.

“We understand that the authorities are currently reviewing the legislations to give consumers better protection with regards to product safety.”

Second-chance for auto inclusion into CPF Life

Esther Ng

estherng@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said that 70 per cent of active CPF members will have at least $40,000 in their Retirement Account in 2013.

With auto-inclusion at drawdown age, the participation rate among active members is projected to increase to “over 80 per cent” , he added.

The active members who would be automatically included under the amendments would have to pay an additional premium when they reach their draw-down age.

Mr Gan pointed out that the first round of auto-inclusion was a one-off opt-in exercise. Under the opt-in scheme, “the second premium was incorporated as part of the scheme design”.

Under the amendments, unclaimed CPF assets of deceased and dormant members will be transferred to the CPF General Fund. According to Mr Gan, over the last few years, the beneficiaries of about 280 people who died annually have not come forward to claim the money, which amounted to $2.4 million each year — despite the CPF Board’s efforts to contact the next-of-kin.— Among the latest proposed changes to the Central Provident Fund (CPF)Act: Those with $60,000 in their Retirement Account when they reach their draw-down age will automatically be included in the annuity, CPF Life — giving those who missed out on the first auto-inclusion a chance when they turn 55 in 2013 and have less than $40,000 in their Retirement Account.

In addition to a police station, the police could also conduct breath tests either at or near the place where a suspected drink driver is arrested.

LEONG WEE KEAT

Scrapping retirement age may not bring benefits

Singapore’s approach to re-employing older workers works well: Minister Lim

Esther Ng

esther@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE

Nominated Member of Parliament Laurence Wee and MP for West Coast GRC Ho Geok Choo had asked whether the Government intended to scrap the retirement age.

A case in point was the United States which, to Mr Lim’s knowledge, was the only country that had legislation disallowing discrimination in employment on account of age.

Yet, despite this, American unionists told him discrimination of older workers still existed.

Last year, the male employment rate of those between 55 and 65 years in Singapore was 74 per cent [WHERE are the FACTS ? and  fIgures ?] — higher than the 65 per cent in the US.

The overall employment rate for those 65 and above was 16 per cent in Singapore, comparable to the 16 per cent in the US, said Mr Lim.

“This shows our approach works well even though it is different from the US,” he added.

Instead, the Government was working on re-employment of older workers.

When the law comes into effect in 2012, employers will be obligated [nOt cOmpulsOry ? ? ? ?] to re-employ employees aged between 62 and 65 years old, and later 67 years and older.

Mr Lim added: “Unions will play their part to ensure that the agreements reached are fair to older workers even as wages and benefits are adjusted to reflect the value of the jobs and the contributions of the employees.”— Doing away with the retirement age will not bring about more employment opportunities and higher employment for older workers, said Minister for ageing issues Lim Boon Heng in Parliament yesterday.

It is very hard to make a living from trading.

Trading in stock market is nothing different from gambling. It is 50%-50%

You don need to be rich in investing.

But you need to get your first step, small wealth, startup or life turnaround chances from stock market.

Then you can use this small little chance to invest in other place like property, business. etc in order to be richer.

We human do not scare don have the chance to drive big car, live in landed bungalow. This kind of chances can occur many time in our life.

We just scare we did not get the chance to turnaround our life.

That why some people bet a bit in toto, 4d, stock market .etc. They just want to find the "life turnaround". 

When the chance come, you need to grab it with both hand and use the chance properly. It might not occur second time. 

iPunter      ( Date: 14-Aug-2010 12:32) Posted: It is well and good ,and easy, to talk about making money in investing and trading...     As if it is so easy to make money in the stock market.          But in the real world, you can easily find              many many investors who have "pok!ed"                   and they are the ones who are able to hold the longest (and even buying more).                        They can hold and hold until they are 'pengsan'                               And they will still, with their last breath, defend their action (of holding on)...                                    Even after they are "pok!"...

How greed begets hunger

Crop shortages alone aren’t behind global food crises, speculators have been pushing prices up

Afua Hirsch

T

It is just two years since the last such crisis. A spike in the price of agricultural commodities in 2007 to 2008 caused panic from Italy to Haiti, drawing sharp attention to a deeper malfunctioning in the world’s food markets.

This malfunctioning is creating disasters of an unfamiliar nature in the poorest countries.

Niger, for example, a fragile west African nation, is experiencing its worst food crisis in years, but is not actually short of food. Mounds of cereals are piled high on market stalls — they are simply too expensive to afford.

The obvious explanation for the high price of food in Niger is a crisis of production.

Like the wheat-producing countries currently at the centre of world attention, a harvest was destroyed by extreme weather.

But the rise in price has been accompanied by a rise in another phenomenon — speculation in commodity markets.

Derivatives packaging products such as wheat and maize have created massive profits for speculators with no interest whatsoever in the underlying physical commodities.

The number of derivative contracts in commodities increased by more than 500 per cent between 2002 and 2008, a process that accelerated at the end of the last decade, when the collapsing United States mortgage market and global recession were followed by a huge spike in food prices.

There is clearly a causative link between these two phenomena. But clear battlelines have emerged in the argument over which way the arrow points.

Investors claim the market’s profitability is based on existing supply-side fluctuations in the price of food.

On some estimates, food production in the next three decades will need to rise by more than 70 per cent above current levels to cope with the demands of a larger, more urbanised and more affluent global population.

Meanwhile, biofuels, erratic harvests and climate change have limited the potential for an increase in supply.

But others claim that the speculation itself has been a cause of volatility in the commodity market.

The anti-poverty group World Development Movement, whose recent report singles out the investment bank Goldman Sachs as last year making more than US$5 billion ($6.8 billion) in profits from commodity trading, describes the practice as “dangerous, immoral and indefensible”. “Silent mass murder” is the phrase used by the former United Nations special rapporteur on the RIGHT to food, Mr Jean Ziegler.

The European single market commissioner, Mr Michel Barnier, speaking at the European Parliament earlier this year, described the fact that a billion people worldwide were suffering from food insecurity while others profited by speculating on agricultural raw materials as “scandalous”.

The UN’s human rights council advisory committee has recognised the effect of price volatility in poor countries and recommended a series of measures, including re-establishing international buffer stocks to stabilise prices, greater controls over agricultural subsidies for developed states, limits on the use of bioenergy technologies that use staple foods, and further scrutiny of international trade agreements.

Campaigners’ demands are not without precedent. The Wall Street reform legislation recently enacted in the US demands greater regulation in derivatives trading, and will increase the transparency of commodity speculation.

The obscurity of the UK’s market is hard to deny; Liff, the London futures exchange, has promised to publish a breakdown of investors in the commodities market — not least after the controversy surrounding Mr Anthony Ward and his firm Armajaro, which last month cornered the cocoa market, buying up 7 per cent of all annual world production. Cocoa prices responded with a 0.7 per cent rise and are now at their highest level since 1977.

In Ghana there remain endemic levels of poverty in cocoa-farming communities.

The injustice of the commodities market is that while a fall in price can topple an economy, as it did for a number of countries in post-independence west Africa, a rise benefits those outside the zone of production — an army of speculators and investors based in London and New York.

Either way, small-scale developing world producers lose.

And when high food prices combine with crop failures, forcing poor farmers to buy staples for their own consumption at market prices, then the issues become concentrated around one stark reality. Hunger.he heatwave, forest fires and drought in Russia and central Asia may be unprecedented in recent times. But there is something familiar about the ensuing food crisis, as the price of wheat remains 50 per cent higher than just six weeks ago.

Guardian News and Media

The writer is The Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent.