EPL roundup: Allardyce praises Carroll as West Ham reach third |
- EPL roundup: Allardyce praises Carroll as West Ham reach third
- Rapid economic growth in Africa means more demand for insurance
- Study shows investment banks not necessarily better than commercial banks
- Study reveals dollar remains top currency due to various currency ties
- Archbishop of Canterbury: Britain must eliminate hunger
- Dream sendoff for Donovan in Galaxy’s MLS Cup glory
| EPL roundup: Allardyce praises Carroll as West Ham reach third Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:53 PM PST
Carroll, who missed the first three months of the season with an ankle injury, scored two headers and set up a late goal for substitute Diafra Sakho as West Ham came from behind to win at Upton Park. Swansea had taken a 19th-minute lead through Wilfried Bony, but they struggled to get to grips with Carroll and finished the game with 10 men after goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was sent off for impeding Sakho. "It is massive for Andy Carroll," Allardyce told BBC Sport, having seen his side continue their best start to a season since 1999. "Movement in the box is what it is all about. The heading in the box only comes after the movement is right and that happened with his two goals. "He is unstoppable when he gets that space. Hopefully he continues to learn that way." After Bony had steered home a cut-back from Jefferson Montero, Carroll levelled the scores four minutes before half-time with a towering header from Carl Jenkinson's right-wing cross. The one-time England striker met Stewart Downing's corner with a bullet header to put West Ham ahead in the 66th minute and it was his flick-on that allowed Sakho to run through and smash home West Ham's third. "Another three goals in the bag and a big eight days — nine points," added Allardyce, whose side will lose their grip on third place whatever happens in Monday's game between Southampton and Manchester United. "I don't think anyone in the Premier League has done that this week. We are really flying. We will enjoy ourselves for a day or too and get ourselves ready for the next game." Hutton downs Leicester Swansea coach Garry Monk indicated that his side would appeal against Fabianski's 68th-minute dismissal, which came after Sakho had used his left arm to nudge the ball past the onrushing Polish goalkeeper. "If you look at the build-up to it, he (Sakho) knocks the ball past the keeper with his hand," Monk said. "I don't think we dealt with the situation leading up to that point very well, but before Fabianski makes any contact whatsoever, the player knocks it past with his left hand. "Realistically it should have been a free-kick to us. It wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity either. When you look at it with the replays, it isn't. Hopefully we will appeal it." In the day's other game, Alan Hutton scored a 71st-minute winner as Aston Villa beat bottom club Leicester City 2-1 to move six points clear of the relegation zone. Leonardo Ulloa put Leicester in front in the 13th minute after Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan failed to hold a deflected shot by Riyad Mahrez. But Ciaran Clark equalised four minutes later when he headed in a free-kick from Ashley Westwood, who was later stretchered off with a knee injury, before Christian Benteke teed up Hutton for the winner. Leicester had left-back Paul Konchesky sent off with 10 minutes remaining after a clash with Hutton. Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt halt on Saturday when the leaders lost 2-1 at Newcastle United, with substitute Papiss Cisse scoring both goals for Alan Pardew's side. Manchester City cut Chelsea's lead to three points after Yaya Toure's first-half penalty secured a 1-0 win at home to Everton. But victory came at a cost, as City lost top scorer Sergio Aguero to a knee ligament injury that has ruled him out of Wednesday's Champions League showdown with Roma and could sideline him for even longer. — AFP  |
| Rapid economic growth in Africa means more demand for insurance Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:48 PM PST
Rapid economic growth in countries such as Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria has increased the number of people with money to spend on insurance to protect their wealth, while regulatory changes are encouraging the growth of domestic savings and pensions. Several major companies, including Swiss Re, Prudential and Sanlam, are buying insurers in Africa, with the focus on life and pensions products in the more economically advanced sub-Saharan countries. Notwithstanding the challenges, the race is definitely on. David Hodnett, Barclays Africa's deputy CEO, told a banking conference in Johannesburg in November: "Every insurer that you look at has probably about five or six suitors." A Standard Bank report published in August said while the size of the "middle class" in sub-Saharan Africa may have been overstated in some studies, growth rates were nevertheless dramatic. Its study of 11 sub-Saharan economies concluded the "middle class" had risen from 4.6 million to 15 million since 2000 and would be over 40 million by 2030, with Africa's biggest economy Nigeria leading the way. Insurance penetration, or premiums written as a per centage of gross domestic product, was 11.5 per cent in Britain in 2013 but just 0.6 per cent in Nigeria. For life insurance, penetration was 8.8 per cent versus 0.2 per cent, according to Swiss Re data. Life insurance premium volume in dollar terms rose 18.6 per cent last year in Kenya, 13.8 in Angola and 13.5 in Nigeria, compared with a 3.9 per cent rise in Britain, the data showed. "The level of life products and penetration is very low," said Davinder Sikand, head of Africa at private equity firm Abraaj. "There are a lot of opportunities to develop products to fit the needs of the people." One of the latest deals was French insurer AXA's US$250 million (RM867.75 million) purchase last month of a majority stake in Nigeria's Mansard Insurance, which offers life and general insurance. South Africa-focused companies such as Old Mutual and Liberty are also eager to expand in the life market in sub-Saharan Africa. LeapFrog Investments, which invests in financial services in emerging markets, launched its second Africa and Asia fund in September while British insurer Prudential has bought life insurers in Kenya and Ghana this year. Hard to reach Insurance specialists say middle-class and lower middle-class customers in Africa are not as affluent as developed-world middle classes, tend to be harder to reach and can require a larger use of face-to-face agents. The numbers in the Standard Bank survey are based on households that consume more than US$15 a day. A shortage of skilled insurance staff, fragmentation of the market across a large number of countries with many small insurance firms and regulatory hurdles present more obstacles. "It's quite challenging, a lot of work is required," said Frank O'Neill, head of Middle East and Africa at Swiss Re. "It's not as straightforward as if you look at Brazil: one single country." Getting regulatory approval can take more than a year for each new company bought, and frameworks differ from country to country, industry specialists say. "Wherever you go there are new regulations to learn and comply with," said Victor Muguto, head of insurance for consultancy PwC in Africa. "There are shortages of staff in some of the countries, experienced staff are not always easy to come by," he said. Would-be insurance buyers will also need to do their homework to work out which of the many local insurers offer the most value. Profits across the board in Kenya's insurance sector, for example, rose 24 per cent last year, but that covers nearly 50 companies. Insurers are more likely to do well if they partner with banks, said Dudu Tembo, portfolio manager at wealth manager Citadel Investment Services, as "the challenge has been issues around distribution". Reinsurance, or sharing the burden of insurance risk, is another growth area, for instance for energy projects in countries such as Angola or Mozambique. An Africa-focused reinsurance company, One Re, launched last month. — Reuters |
| Study shows investment banks not necessarily better than commercial banks Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:43 PM PST
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a global forum for central banks, said yesterday a study of 222 lenders showed big variances in profitability and efficiency across models, and investment banks had been less efficient and more unpredictable. The study identified three types of business models: a retail-funded commercial bank, funded mainly by deposits; a wholesale market-funded commercial bank; and a capital markets-oriented bank, commonly known as an investment bank, heavily engaged in trading. Return on equity (RoE), a key measure of profitability averaged 10 per cent across the banks between 2005 and 2013. The study said RoE averaged 12.5 per cent for retail-funded commercial banks, 8.1 per cent at trading banks and 5.8 per cent at the wholesale-funded commercial banks. Trading banks had the most volatile profitability, and their RoE swung repeatedly between the top and bottom of the relative ranking. Banks are trying to improve profitability and cut costs, but many are struggling to do so in the face of tougher regulations and higher compliance costs that have come in since the 2007/09 financial crisis. Many firms have cut back trading activities and reliance on wholesale funding, but further restructuring is expected, especially in Europe. Costs had been consistently higher at the trading banks over the last eight years, the BIS said. "Compared to the other two business models, trading banks had a persistently high cost base throughout the period of analysis, despite their more mixed record in terms of profitability," the study said. High costs relative to income had persisted since the financial crisis despite a drop in profitability, possibly due to higher pay at investment banks. The study said the number of banks opting to keep a trading model was surprising given their sub-par returns. "While further analysis is needed to uncover the clear benefits to these banks' shareholders, high cost-to-income ratios suggest outsize benefits to their managers," it said. — Reuters |
| Study reveals dollar remains top currency due to various currency ties Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:38 PM PST
The study, part of a quarterly review by the Bank for International Settlements, argues the dollar's domination of reserves stems chiefly from the extent to which many currencies are tied either formally or through trade links like a dependency on oil or other dollar-priced commodities. As a result, while the dollar's overall value has declined by 18 per cent since the 1970s against major currencies, and by more than half against the euro and yen, its share of reserves has fallen just 5 per centage points from 66 per cent to 61 per cent. The findings suggest that China's rapid growth, even if accompanied by the development of money and bond markets and a free float of the renminbi, might not be enough for the currency to eclipse the dollar in official reserve holdings. "By contrast, if the renminbi at some point showed substantial independent movement against the major currencies and if its neighbours' and trading partners' currencies shared that movement, then it might be said that 'the renminbi bloc is here'," the paper said. — Reuters |
| Archbishop of Canterbury: Britain must eliminate hunger Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:37 PM PST
Justin Welby is backing the report by a group of lawmakers which was prompted by a huge increase in the number of Britons using food banks. These distribute free groceries to people who need them. The Trussell Trust, one of the main charities running food banks in Britain, says the number of people using its centres has risen from 128,697 in 2011/12 to 913,138 in 2013/14. The All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty in Britain is reportedly set to urge the creation of a new body featuring government ministers to work for a "hunger-free Britain", plus action to make supermarkets give surplus food to poor people. In an article for this week's Mail on Sunday newspaper, Welby compared what he saw at a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a food bank in Britain where he met a family struggling to make ends meet. "I found their plight more shocking," the spiritual leader of the world's Anglican Christians wrote of the British family. "It was less serious, but it was here. And they weren't careless with what they had — they were just up against it." The co-chairman of the group behind the report, lawmaker Frank Field of the main opposition Labour party, said ahead of its publication: "There is clear evidence that something terribly disturbing is happening." He added: "People are near the abyss and the smallest thing can tip them over into the abyss." Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government, led by the centre-right Conservatives, has imposed steep cuts on public services in Britain since coming to power in 2010 to try and reduce a budget deficit. Britain's deficit is forecast to hit £91.3 billion (RM493.211 billion) in the year to March 2015, finance minister George Osborne said in a key budget update Wednesday. The next day, Osborne hit back at a suggestion in a BBC report that the cuts were taking parts of Britain back to the kind of crippling poverty portrayed in George Orwell's 1937 book "The Road To Wigan Pier". He condemned the claim as "hyperbolic", rejecting the BBC's allegation that the budget had "glossed over" the "hulking great mountain of pain" facing Britain. The economy is set to be a key battleground in next May's general election, for which opinion polls place the Conservatives and Labour neck-and-neck. — AFP |
| Dream sendoff for Donovan in Galaxy’s MLS Cup glory Posted: 07 Dec 2014 04:36 PM PST
Ireland international Robbie Keane scored the winning goal in the 111th minute as the Galaxy claimed a record fifth Major League Soccer title. Donovan, the all-time leading scorer for both the United States and in Major League Soccer, announced he would retire at the end of the season in August — after he was left off Jurgen Klinsmann's World Cup squad. Keane, the newly named Most Valuable Player of the MLS regular season, endured a difficult afternoon at the StubHub Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, but came through when it mattered the most. He slipped in behind the defence — thanks to superb ball from Marcelo Sarvas — to slide a shot into the bottom right corner. "It was a tough game," Keane said. "I think there was a lot of nerves there, I think by both teams. "I think we didn't play as well as we know we can at home, but it doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, we won, and we're the champions again." The Galaxy had seized the lead in the 52nd minute as Gyasi Zardes got on the end of a cross from Stefan Ishizaki and fired a left-footed shot past New England keeper Bobby Shuttleworth. The Revolution equalised in the 79th as rookie substitute Patrick Mullins got free on the left flank and got the ball to Chris Tierney, who took one touch and slotted a shot past Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. "A lot of credit to New England," Donovan said. "In a lot of ways they played better than we did today. They were terrific. "There's games that you play during the year where you're not at your best," he added. "We weren't at our best today we know that. But in those moments you have to find a way to stay in it. "We stayed in it, we waited for the play that we needed and we made the play." In becoming the first club to win five MLS Cup titles, the Galaxy made the Revolution the first team to lose five MLS Cup championship matches. Three of those defeats came at the hands of the Galaxy. Donovan became the first player to win six MLS Cup titles — four with Los Angeles in 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014 and two with San Jose in 2001 and 2003. He ends his playing career with 57 international goals and 144 in MLS play. The 32-year-old promised that he wouldn't disappear from the American football scene. "There's lots of excitement around this league, so I'm glad to have been a part of it," he said. "It's just the end of the playing part — I'll still be around." — AFP |
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