| China's Wu Urges Changes to Private-Equity Fund Rules (Update2)
June 6 (Bloomberg) -- China should expand local companies' fundraising options by letting commercial banks invest in the country's private-equity funds, the deputy central bank governor said. ``Our current capital market is insufficient in meeting the funding needs of our companies,'' Wu Xiaoling said today at a conference in eastern China's Tianjin city. ``Banks are institutions that manage risks anyway so they should be in the best position to judge the risks in these instruments.'' Economic growth of more than 10 percent has intensified competition among private-equity firms for access to China, where the government in September imposed stricter rules on overseas buyouts. The value of announced foreign acquisitions in China fell 11 percent to $27.5 billion in 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Is a subprime storm brewing?
Market corrections are rarely easy for the people involved. Ask any late-1990s dot.com-er if they enjoyed the process. The mortgage industry is in such a time of correction and the subprime lending niche is in the eye of the hurricane.
Many lenders who put all or most of their eggs in the subprime basket are shutting their doors and declaring bankruptcy. Even powerhouse New Century Financial, the second largest provider of home loans to high-risk borrowers, fired 3,200 employees, began selling off assets and filed Chapter 11 in early April. Many homeowners and investors who bought property utilizing these loans are struggling to make escalating payments; some of them will be defaulting on their loans. It's a tough time, interestingly brought on by loose lending parameters that set people up for failure.
Ottawa takes aim at identity theft
OTTAWA - Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says identity theft is a "type of elder abuse" and he intends to table a federal bill to make it a crime.
Nicholson confirmed he is preparing a piece of legislation to update the Criminal Code to deal with the modern-day problem, which is suspected of claiming thousands of victims in Canada every month.
"I intend to move forward," Nicholson told CanWest News Service. "It's a developing area and what we find is there are gaps in the law."
Identity theft is currently not a crime in Canada, which has sparked numerous calls for government action. Offences involving identity theft are prosecuted under several other Criminal Code sections, such as fraud and personation, but there is nothing that outlaws someone from possessing another person's information.
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