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Financial Market

Orderly conditions prevailed in financial markets during 2001-02 with brief periods of uncertainty associated with extraordinary events in September and December 2001. Barring these episodes, the call money market remained stable and generally range-bound within the informal reporeverse repo corridor. The foreign exchange market experienced comfortable supply conditions. Yields fell across all maturities in the government securities market, accompanied by a significant rise in turnover.

Orderly market conditions were engendered by the active management of liquidity in the money, foreign exchange and gilt markets. The Reserve Bank absorbed sizeable liquidity on a continuous basis through repos. Foreign exchange purchases were effected to offset strong capital inflows and open market sales of government securities were employed on some occasions to absorb excess liquidity.

Market reactions to the September 11, 2001 event were calmed by injections of liquidity through reverse repos, a series of open market purchases of government securities to support the gilt market and foreign exchange sales. The development of financial markets in terms of building up the institutional and technological infrastructure and fine-tuning of market microstructure was continued apace with the changing context of the regulatory function.

The Negotiated Dealing System (NDS) was operationalised with effect from February 15, 2002 with 41 participants. The NDS provides on-line electronic bidding facility in the primary auctions of Central/State Government securities and OMO/LAF auctions. It enables screen-based electronic dealing and reporting of transactions in money market instruments, secondary market transactions in government securities and facilitates dissemination of information on trades with the minimal time lag. It also permits “paperless” settlement of transactions in government securities with electronic connectivity to the Clearing Corporation ofIndia Limited (CCIL) and the delivery versus payment (DVP) settlement system at the Public Debt Office.

As on August 5, 2002, 138 SGL account holders had joined the NDS. On an average, 526 deals were reported daily on NDS, of which 473 deals for Rs.11,668 crore were ready for settlement during the quarter ended June 2002. These deals comprised money market deals, outright government securities trades and repo transactions among market participants. The settlement of government securities transactions through the CCIL constituted 91.3 per cent of total government securities trades dealt/reported on the NDS.

The CCIL also commenced its operations from February 15, 2002 in clearing and settlement of transactions in government securities. Acting as a central counterparty through novation, the CCIL provides guaranteed settlement and has in place risk management systems to limit settlement risk. It operates a settlement guarantee fund (SGF) made up of contributions from its members and backed by lines of credit from commercial banks. All repo transactions have to be necessarily put through the CCIL while all outright transactions up to Rs.20 crore have to be settled through the CCIL. The option to settle outright transactions in government securities above the facevalue of Rs.20 crore either directly with the Reserve Bank or through the CCIL is available to NDS members.

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Financial Market / Author: Anthony Green

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Florida Will Bounce Back!

The volume of homes and condo sales in Florida has just jumped up this spring, according to figures released by the Florida Association of Realtors. There is more good news - the increase was not because of price drops - the median price of a condo crept up slightly in the one month period!

Florida has seen its share of real estate boom and bust cycles and a group of Florida businessmen were reminded of this in Orlando as Florida still struggles with the nation-wide foreclosure crisis.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Alex Sink, called for unity when she recently addressed a group of Florida businessmen and told them that Florida businesses and the government need to hold hands instead of being on opposite sides of the table.

Florida’s historic ability to weather realty storms is partly due to its unique combination of natural beauty and incomparable climate; half of the USA wants to live in this fair state! At the moment the tough part for home owners in Florida as well as nation-wide, has been trying to hang in there!

With the curve on an upward turn, now is the time for investors to start looking. This upward turn is indicated by a 20% increase in sales for April 2008 over March 2008 sales. In a sea of grim figures both nation-wide and locally, this is a much needed turn of the tide.

For those home-owners who may be lamenting the lower prices we have seen nationwide, remember if you bought your house five years ago, it still shows a profit; the drop in Florida is reflecting the recent large price increase bubble. This has now burst!

Certain desirable areas such as Florida will pick up first and if you are considering a second home, it is wise to start looking now. Looking is not the same as buying, but it does mean that you can familiarize yourself with the current market prices and therefore be more aware of a good buy.

Whether you are buying out of your local area or within it, it is invaluable to have a local real estate agent who knows your every wish to be working for you. Realtors will often get to work and see a great bargain listed on their screens long before you even get a whisper of it yourself. A quick phone call to you and a viewing is arranged.

Bargains go quickly, so it is always advisable to have your finances pre-approved and a down payment in your hot little hand. If the seller sees that you are prepared and can close a quick sale, they will not be tempted to weigh other offers.

This advice also applies to first time buyers who seem to recognize the enduring qualities of Florida. Thirty-eight per cent of all homes sold in Florida last year were to first time buyers and most of them were between the ages of twenty five and thirty four years old.

This is an ideal time to buy if you are planning to get one foot on the property ladder. As a first time buyer you may be waiting for the very bottom of the dip - but so is everyone else! It is the seasoned cash buyers who will be able to jump fast enough for those deals. If you plan to stay in the area and you negotiate a mortgage at a fixed rate that you can easily afford, the time is is soon so start looking around.

Two key words in the last sentence were ‘fixed rate’. You should choose a mortgage type that will guarantee no increase in the monthly repayments. This is a fixed rate mortgage.

Another key point was ‘one that you can easily afford’. It is tempting to choose the best castle that you can afford, but what if one of you looses their job? Choose a little cottage that you can keep in a crisis, it will still increase in price at the same rate as the castle.

Finally get yourself a discerning real estate agent who will filter through the undesirable homes and inform you immediately when a bargain shows up. Then you must jump - with your financing already pre-arranged (your realtor can also guide you in this) you could be moving into your first home!

Marci McFarland is a Sarasota real estate agent with a broad professional approach. Her unique insight into the various lifestyle requirements of her clients, combined with an intimate knowledge of her service area including Downtown Sarasota real estate, make her an ideal choice for families and investors alike.

Florida Will Bounce Back! / Author: Marci McFarland

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How Has No Win No Fee Affected Us?

It has been ten years now since no win no fee rules were extended and applied to the majority of civil court cases. Many feel that this has changed the face of personal injury law and certainly altered the publics’ perception of personal injury lawyers.

With the introduction of no win no fee, a whole host of compensation firms sprang up, focusing on personal injury and encouraging victims to claim. Every day we are bombarded with adverts from these firms citing successful cases and offering to win you thousands of pounds of compensation for minor everyday accidents.

The adverts hammer home that you could and should claim as you can take legal action with no risk or cost to yourself. Anyone who has caused you injury will be held accountable for their actions and you will receive a healthy cheque.

Conditional fee agreements as they are known were introduced in 1995 and extended to most civil court cases in 1998. They were designed to secure justice for those stuck in the middle, who could not afford lawyers yet did not qualify for legal aid.

Minister at the time Geoff Hoon had this say about them:

“No-win no-fee conditional agreements will result in better access to justice. Access will be given to the many people who fall between those who are very rich or those who are so poor that they qualify for legal aid. In future, the question of whether one gets one’s case to court will no longer depend on whether one can afford it, but on whether one’s case is a strong one.”

No win no fee agreements then became even more attractive the following year when legislation was introduced which would mean that all legal costs were reclaimed from the losing side. With this came uplift fees, meaning solicitors could charge up to 100% more on top of their usual fees to cover to risk involved.

The law also changed meaning that legal aid would not be available in personal injury cases. In consequence CFA’s rose in popularity and more compensation firms acting as middlemen sprang up, advertising relentlessly.

The change brought about a lot of negative press with headlines claiming that “Legal ‘vultures’ are making £2m out of the NHS each week” or “Compensation culture is killing equestrianism” or “Compensation culture wrecking small firms”.

The public is led to believe that the UK is in the grip of a claims culture where everyone is making their little penny out of any minor accident. Personal injury lawyers are seen as money grabbing, inflating their fees for no win no fee cases causing a drain on the public purse.

Martin Bare, president of the Association for Personal Injury Lawyers rejects this perception, saying that “there is no gravy train. The perception arises because people don’t think that for the cases that you win, there’s another that you lose, for which you get nothing.”

Lawyers blame the claim management firms, for whom the changes in the law “gave them a model where they could afford to bombard you and me with endless advertisements. That is what makes people believe that there is a compensation culture” says Mr Bare.

Indeed statistics do not demonstrate a particular rise in the number of compensation clams made. The number of cases registered to the Compensation Recovery Unit has barely changed year on year since 2000.

Carys is an author of several articles pertaining  to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.

How Has No Win No Fee Affected Us? / Author: Carys Robshaw

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Finance For Vehicles: Auto Loans For People With Poor Credit

With low income and high dreams, all of us tend to prefer the easily available loans to fulfill these dreams. Well loans are definitely helpful, but they have to be repaid on time. If you fail to do so, the debts will pile up resulting in a huge debt. This huge debt may lead to many problems like bankruptcy, legal proceedings or other similar things. This leads to a very poor credit. With poor credit and no finances, you cant even except loans.

Lenders often tend to reject loans to people with poor credit. At this time if you feel like buying a car, you tend to feel you have reached a dead end. Well not with auto loans for people with poor credit. With this loan helping you, you can never reach a dead end. A loan specially designed for the people with poor credit, this one is a secured loan. You have to pledge your car as the security to get this loan. It is given at a slightly higher rate of interest as the risk involved in this loan is high too. But there is too much competition in the market for the auto loans for people with poor credit.

This competition has definitely reduced the interest rates charged. If you tend to make a certain amount of down payment either in cash or in the form of your security, you will help reduce the amount of interest rate charged by the lender. This loan can availed through online applications too. Online applications save your time and help you get your loan amount transferred fast. But before you apply for this loan, you need to research on the lenders and the loans itself. You should know the current market rate of interest and the repayment period for people with poor credit. This helps us know which lender to choose. Your friends and family may also help in choosing the lender by suggesting a few names.

Muallaki has a master’s degree in finance and management. He has worked extensively as a financial consultant and has a lot of background information relating to auto financing and related services. To find auto deal finance, auto finance rate used visit http://www.modernautofinancing.com/

Finance For Vehicles: Auto Loans For People With Poor Credit / Author: Muallaki Nakala

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Worth the Risk: The Reasons for the Increase in Internet Banking

April 2008 saw the arrival of the Infosec Show in London, where top IT security companies came together to discuss the hot topics in the information security industry. One of the hottest of the hot topics discussed at the 2008 show was the increase in phishing (or Internet fraud) and related fraud attacks over the previous year. Mark Bowerman, spokesperson for card payment agency Apacs, said that the Internet provided an extra area for fraud scams and warned that if people weren’t careful, they could potentially become victims of credit card and other types of fraud and identity theft.

Bowerman also reflected, however, that despite warnings over the security risks inherent in Internet shopping and Internet banking in particular, the number of people banking online was increasing - proving that, for many people, the benefits of managing your finances through the Internet were clearly outweighing the risks.

This increases to the number of online bank customers has been noted in a number of surveys. One, carried out by Lloyds TSB discovered that over 50% of Britons had not seen their bank manager for more than ten years, while one third of respondents who had been to their banks within the last two years admitted that their financial circumstances had changed since. Another study showed that in January 2008, 11 million people logged into at least one online bank account in the UK, representing a third of the total UK online population.

As Bowerman suggested, then, there are substantial reasons why people are moving off the high street and along the virtual path to Internet banking. The first and most obvious benefit of Internet banking is the flexibility it allows. Night or day, public holiday or festive period, whether the high street bank is open or not, the Internet bank is guaranteed to be, allowing customers to bank when they want. It’s also convenient, it’s fast and it’s easy. Whether you just need to check your balance, transfer some funds, or have to set up or amend a standing order – it can be done from the comfort of your office or front room, so it’s no wonder people are queuing up (or not, as the case may be) at the virtual gateways of the Internet banks.

Without having to visit the branch itself, the only expense of Internet banking is the cost of being online, and with broadband more widely available than ever before, and it being active all the time, flat monthly fees are the norm for most now. As well as saving money on not having to find time to visit the bank, there are also online savings to be made. This is because Internet banks are cheaper to run than high street branches, the banks themselves save money, and can hand this money onto the customer, through better rates of interest or more attractive mortgage packages.

With such a long string of fantastic benefits waiting for those handling their finances online, there’s little wonder why the figures are increasing so dramatically.

This article has been written for information and interest purposes only. The information contained within this article is the opinion of the author only, and should not be construed as advice or used to make financial decisions. Expert financial advice should always be sought and any links contained within this article are included for information purposes only.

Worth the Risk: The Reasons for the Increase in Internet Banking / Author: pmcindoe

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