Platini: Asian Members Could Snub FIFA Vote

 

FIFA Vice President Michel Platini has raised the prospect of a walkout by Asian members in Wednesday’s presidential vote, reports AP. Incumbent Sepp Blatter is the only candidate in the election after Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy before being suspended by FIFA over bribery allegations. Platini, the president of UEFA, reminded members of European football’s governing body at a meeting in Zurich Monday of Asia’s protest at a 1999 congress over World Cup places.

“In ’99 Asia left, I don’t know if they will do that again. I think the election will go ahead but I don’t know,” Platini said.

Blatter is unconcerned about the 46 Asian members disrupting the meeting on Wednesday when world football’s 208 countries are due to vote.

“I have already faced that once and the Congress went on,” Blatter said. “They will be there I am sure.”

On Monday, the AFC cancelled its caucus meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning without explanation. It is the only one of FIFA’s six confederations to skip the traditional pre-congress gathering.

Yousuf Al Serkal, an AFC vice president and close ally of bin Hammam said the Qatari had been “mistreated.”

“Bin Hammam is the right person who should have been elected to the presidency of FIFA from the point of view of change,” Al Serkal told The Associated Press. “Blatter has had his chance, it’s more than enough. There should have been changes for the benefit of football. “Bin Hammam could have been the best to serve world football at this time. The way he was treated I think it was unfair. All the allegations were just from a report.”

A FIFA ethics panel said Sunday that there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bin Hammam as well as CONCACAF President Jack Warner offered $40,000 bribes to delegates at a Caribbean football association meeting earlier this month ahead of the election. Zhang Jilong, the Chinese Football Association’s Vice President, is set to replace Bin Hammam as president of the Asian Football Confederation while the Qatari is suspended.

Silver hits new high at Rs 57,000 on global cues; gold up by Rs 55.

Surpassing all previous records, silver rose to a new peak today by rising Rs 600 to Rs 57000 per kg on heavy buying by stockists and speculators amid, a firming global trend. Gold, also, surged Rs 55 to Rs 21,120 per 10 grams.

Traders said heavy buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the 'Navratra' festival demand and reports of a rising trend in global markets mainly took silver prices to a record level.

Beginning of Navratra, considered to be an auspicious week for making new purchases, particularly silver coins, also fuelled the uptrend, they said.

In global markets, silver rose by 1.32 per cent to $38.33 an ounce and gold by $5.10 to $1,434 an ounce in Asia.

On the domestic front, silver surged Rs 600 to an all-time high of Rs 57,000 per kg and silver weekly delivery jumped up by Rs 655 to Rs 56,575 per kg.

Silver coins sky-rocketted by Rs 1,000 to Rs 62,500 for buying and Rs 63,000 for selling of 100 pieces on hectic demand.

Similarly, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity recovered by Rs 55 each to Rs 21,120 and Rs 21,000 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereigns remained steady at Rs 17,500 per piece of eight grams in restricted trade.

Citigroup May Invest $2 Billion in Asia Consumer Banking

 

Citigroup Inc. (C) may invest as much as $2 billion in its Asian consumer banking unit in the next three years as the U.S. lender overhauls branches and boosts service offerings to the region’s growing middle class.
Citigroup plans to invest $3 billion to $4 billion in its consumer operations, mainly in emerging markets, over the next two to three years, Manuel Medina-Mora, head of consumer banking for the Americas, said on March 24. About half of that amount will probably go to Asia, a person with knowledge of the matter said, declining to be identified as the breakdown isn’t public.

Citigroup, HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) are among global banks expanding in Asia, where economic growth and wealth creation are outpacing the U.S. and Europe. The Asian consumer banking unit boosted income 52 percent to $2.17 billion last year, making it Citigroup’s second-biggest earner.

“The opportunity is very significant,” Jonathan Larsen, Citigroup’s head of consumer banking for the Asia-Pacific region, said in an April 1 interview. “I think the broad trend will continue, i.e. the growth of the middle class, the increase in concentration of affluent, the increase in growth of consumption.”
Larsen said Asia will get a “significant” portion of the planned consumer-banking investment worldwide. He declined to provide a specific amount. Asia accounted for 46 percent of Citigroup’s consumer-banking income last year.

Smart Branches

The New York-based bank today announced measures to target what it calls Asia’s “emerging affluent” people -- those with net worth of $10,000 to $100,000. Its Citibank consumer unit caters to people with up to $150,000 of net worth. Clients with $150,000 to $1 million of net assets have access to the bank’s Citigold program.

Asia has about 500 million people with net worth of $10,000 to $100,000, and financial-services revenue from that group is forecast to grow as much as 15 percent a year in most countries, Citigroup said in a press release today, citing estimates by Credit Suisse Group AG and McKinsey & Co.
As part of the plan, Citigroup has expanded opening hours at branches in markets including Hong Kong, and will introduce round-the-clock phone banking service and convert more outlets to what it calls “smart branches” featuring teleconferencing equipment and staff using Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPads to display Citigroup’s online services.

“What we are trying to do is to re-engineer the customer experience,” Larsen said. “We’ve tried to make it a much more interactive experience.”

Airport Outlet

So-called smart branches cost about $1 million each to set up, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Citigroup plans to eventually convert all its 720 outlets in the Asia-Pacific region to smart branches, the person said. It currently operates about 40 of the outlets, suggesting the overhaul could cost almost $700 million.

Citigroup’s profit from Asia rose to $4.6 billion last year, accounting for the largest share of overall earnings, according to Bloomberg data. HSBC and Standard Chartered, both based in London, also got the biggest part of their profits from Asia in 2010.

Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit is targeting developing countries like China, which overtook Japan last year as the second-largest economy after growing almost fourfold over the past decade.
Consumers in developing Asia may spend $32 trillion in 2030, compared with $4.3 trillion at the end of 2008, according to the Asian Development Bank. Lenders are tapping into that growth by offering credit cards, loans and wealth management services to the region’s swelling middle class.

Citigroup aims to triple the size of its branch network in China to about 100 outlets within three years, Stephen Bird, co- CEO for the Asia-Pacific region, said Dec. 7. The company on March 31 said it opened an outlet in the airport of Chongqing, a city in southern China. It was Citigroup’s first full-service outlet at an airport, according to a press release.

ZIMBABWE: Japan envoy weeps, cancels donation

Zimbabwe's Maternal Health delivery system has been dealt a major blow after the Japanese government through its embassy re-scheduled the US$5.6 million grant signing ceremony that was due to take place on Friday at the UNICEF offices in Harare.

The Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Koichi Morita was openly in tears as he addressed the guests that had gathered to witness the ceremony moaning the tragic developments taking place in his Asian country where thousands of people have lost their lives due to the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that wrecked the country.

“I have not received communication from my Minister in Tokyo, so we have decided to suspend all international commitments here as the government is currently trying to take care of the situation back home,” said Morita.

Although he tried to contain the agony deep inside him, Ambassador Morita delivered his emotional apology speech in tears as he breathed hard, whipped and was literary stuck and ran out of words before breaking into a childhood cry.

“People are dying in Japan and…I…do….not..know….what…is go..ing on,” sobbed Morita. A moment of silence was then observed.

The Japanese government was to donate to UNICEF and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in assisting Zimbabwe achieve Millennium Development Goals numbers 4 and 5, that is reducing the under 5 mortality rate by two thirds by the year 2015 and the improvement of maternal health respectively.

He however told journalists his country had no choice but rely on the nuclear energy as it provide about two thirds of his country’s power.

“What I can tell you is that the country is in a very serious problem right now there is no electricity, clean drinking water, and telephone communication as all these systems have been affected in the affected areas.

“We don’t have much resources in Japan and nuclear plants provide about two thirds of the country’s total power generation,” he said.

He however said the affected nuclear reactors had been shut down and that no nuclear generation was taking place in Japan in the mean time.

“I can assure you that the nuclear reactors in question have been shut-down and no nuclear-chain is taking place as you are aware, the explosions that occurred were brought about by chemical reactions and have nothing to do with nuclear fissile reactions,” he said in a statement.

Invited guests included the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) Country Representative, Dr Peter Salama, the Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Tsunehiro Kawakita, as well as local and international journalists based in Harare.

Morita thanked the people of Zimbabwe for sympathizing with the Japanese government saying thousands of condolence massages had reached his office from Zimbabweans.

"I am sorry but we will have to cancel this signing ceremony today," Morita said in tears.

"We thank all of you for coming here and we will have to reschedule this important event. I am very touched by the Government of Zimbabwe and all of you who continue to pray and offer us help."

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a 10 meter high tsunami wave hit Northeastern Japan at 2.46pm on Friday March 11. At this moment the scale of devastation is still not completely clear, but thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands are affected.

The disaster is the worst in Japan in more than 140 years.