Thursday, July 2, 2015

Singapore's paranoia is necessary: Lee Hsien Loong

JUL 3, 201512:18 AM

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday night admitted that Singapore is "paranoid" and constantly worried that it could lose all of its accomplishments, saying that such concerns are "necessary".

"You don't expect to go back to where you were in the 1960s, and yet it is not natural that you stay at this place. Is it to be expected that the population of three-and-a-half million citizens and maybe a million foreign workers will have the best airline in the world; the best airport in the world; one of the busiest ports in the world; a financial centre which is one of three or four key financial centres in the world; and an education and healthcare and housing system which gives us a per capita GDP which is - at least by World Bank calculations, if you look at PPP (purchasing power parity) - higher than America or Australia or Japan?

"It is an entirely unnatural state of affairs, and one which we should count our blessings for - if not every day, at least (at) every election," said Mr Lee, who was speaking at the SG50+ conference, jointly organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP).

During a wide-ranging hour-long dialogue session with US journalist and author Fareed Zakaria, Mr Lee also said that he would "strongly prefer not to" continue as Prime Minister of Singapore for another decade, because he believes that a younger person should take the reins.

"I strongly prefer not to. This is a job which needs a young man - people with energy, people who will be there and can connect with young people, and will fight the battles with the young people; not for five or 10 years, but for 20, 30, 40 years to come. And you need somebody of that generation," said Mr Lee.

PayPal to buy digital money transfer provider Xoom

JUL 2, 20157:27 AM

[SAN FRANCISCO] PayPal Inc said it would buy digital money transfer provider Xoom Corp for about US$890 million in enterprise value as it tries to expand in markets such as Latin America, India and China ahead of a spinoff from eBay Inc.

The offer price of US$25 per share in cash represents a premium of about 21 per cent to Xoom's Wednesday closing price of US$20.70.

Xoom shares were trading around the offer price in extended trading. "Expanding into international money transfer and remittances aligns with our strategic vision to democratize the movement and management of money," PayPal President Dan Schulman said.

Xoom, which has a presence in 37 countries, allows users to transfer money via desktop, mobile phones and tablets.

Xoom will operate as a separate service within PayPal after the completion of the deal.

PayPal allows users to pay for online purchases or electronically transfer money to others.

The San-Jose, California-based PayPal said holders of about 18 per cent of Xoom's outstanding shares, including all executive officers and directors of Xoom and certain entities affiliated with Sequoia Capital, have agreed to vote for the deal.

PayPal said the deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015, will slightly hurt its adjusted earnings per share for 2016.

PayPal intends to fund the transaction with cash on its balance sheet.

JP Morgan Securities LLC is financial adviser to PayPal, while Sidle Austin LLP is its legal adviser. Qatalyst Partners is financial adviser to Xoom and Goodwin Procter LLP is its legal adviser.

REUTERS

Former US federal agent pleads guilty in Silk Road case

JUL 2, 20157:59 AM

[WASHINGTON] A former federal agent pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing Bitcoins while working undercover on a US government investigation of Silk Road, and to soliciting payment from the online black market's operator.

Ex-US Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl Force, 46, admitted in US District Court in San Francisco to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

Force is one of two federal agents so far who have been charged with crimes in connection with their roles in investigating Silk Road.

Shaun Bridges, a special agent with the Secret Service, obtained access to a Silk Road website administrator account just before a huge theft of Bitcoin from the website.

On the side, Force allegedly created unauthorized fake identities to communicate with Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts," using PGP encryption software.

With one of these identities he offered to sell information about the investigation for US$100,000 worth of Bitcoin.

Among the charges, Force admitted he had entered in a US$240,000 contract with 20th Century Fox Film Studios to help make a movie about the government's Silk Road probe, without obtaining the required DEA approvals to do so.

His sentencing hearing was set for October 19.

"Seduced by the perceived anonymity of virtual currency and the dark web, Force used invented online personas and encrypted messaging to fraudulently obtain Bitcoin worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government and investigative targets alike," assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell said in a statement.

"This guilty plea should send a strong message: neither the supposed anonymity of the dark web nor the use of virtual currency nor the misuse of a law enforcement badge will serve as a shield from the reach of the law." In February, a jury found that Ulbricht was indeed Dread Pirate Roberts and found him guilty of drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

AFP

Credit officers at major banks in US see drop in market liquidity: Fed survey

JUL 2, 20157:07 AM

[WASHINGTON] Credit officers at major banks in the United States feel that liquidity in markets for Treasury bonds and other fixed-income securities has deteriorated in recent years, according to a new Federal Reserve survey about conditions in a key part of the financial system.

The Fed's quarterly survey of senior officials involved in providing credit for securities, derivatives and other financial products found broad agreement that market liquidity had declined over the last five years - with a third of the respondents saying conditions had fallen off "considerably." "Over four-fifths of respondents indicated that current liquidity and market functioning in secondary markets for nominal Treasury securities had deteriorated relative to the second quarter of 2010," the Fed survey found. Respondents cited the impact of new regulations and changes in banks' risk management strategies as having made them less willing to finance securities transactions or perform "market making" functions, according to the survey released on Wednesday.

The potential decline in market liquidity has emerged as a central discussion at the Fed and among investors, with some analysts and companies worried that the inability to quickly buy and sell large amounts of Treasury bonds at reasonable prices could lead to increased financial instability.

REUTERS

Thursday, July 2, 2015