B4U India

Satyam receives Golden Peacock Global Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Satyam Computer Services limited (NYSE: SAY), a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, has won the coveted Golden Peacock Global Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance for 2008.

The award was presented at the Ninth International Conference on Corporate Governance, held in London. G. Jayaraman, Satyam''s Global Head of Corporate Governance and the Company Secretary, accepted the honor at a function attended by business leaders, corporate governance experts and policymakers.

The organization was named the winner by the World Council for Corporate Governance (WCFCG), with Dr. Ola Ullsten, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, serving as lead judge.

The honor is especially relevant given that corporate governance best practices are considered key benchmarks by stakeholders who evaluate corporations. In fact, their importance is magnified in difficult economic environments.

“It is a real honor for Satyam to receive such a prestigious award,” said Srinivas Vadlamani, Satyam CFO. “It is a testament to our efforts to continually innovate and advance corporate governance best practices in our industry and around the world.”

The Golden Peacock Award is the latest of several corporate governance honors for Satyam. Investor Relations Global Rankings (IRGR) rated Satyam as the company with Best Corporate Governance Practices for 2006 and 2007.

It also won the Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance from the Institute of Directors in New Delhi in 2002.

“This honor demonstrates the value Satyam places on corporate governance, and on the importance of serving the interests of our investors, clients, associates and of society,” Jayaraman said. (ANI)

US Fed converts Goldman, Morgan Stanley into regulated banks

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:37:00 -0400

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last surviving big investment banks on Wall Street, have become regulated banks.

In a statement issued at 9.30 p.m. local time Sunday the Federal Reserve said it had approved their applications to become bank holding companies, subject to regulation by the Fed.

According to the Financial Times, during the transition period the Fed will make loans to both entities and to the broker-dealer subsidiary of Merrill Lynch against collateral acceptable for posting either by a bank or a securities firm.

The Fed will also lend to Goldman, Morgan and Merrill''s London-based broker dealer subsidiaries directly.

The Fed approval is subject to a five-day waiting period for potential antitrust issues.

The move effectively spells the end of the investment banking industry as a separate sector, leaving behind only small boutique securities firms.

It means that both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will be subject to bank capital requirements that will be phased in over a transition period. (ANI)

Manmohan Singh’s reassurance boosts Sensex by 645 points at midsession

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:13:00 -0400

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex surged by 645 points at midsession on Friday following reassurances from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram that the Indian economy will remain unaffected by the global financial crisis.

Sensex, the 30-share index, which remained under selling pressure on weak global cues, spurted by 644.98 points to 13,960.58 at 12:45 P.M. on heavy buying by funds.

Dr. Singh''''s statement that there will be no impact of US crisis on the Indian economy boosted investor''''s confidence, according to reports.

Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty spurted by 174.75 points at 4,212.90 at the same time as heavy-weight stocks led by Reliance Industries and some leading banking stocks recorded handsome gains.

The seismic shift on Wall Street this week has triggered a flight of foreign funds from Indian shares. Withdrawals in September have reached 1.3 billion dollar, taking the outflow to 8.7 billion dollar in 2008.

The financial crisis that has already claimed Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch badly dampened the trading sentiments.

The sentiments on the global bourses are so weak that even bailing out of insurance giant American Insurance Group (AIG) by the US Federal Reserve failed to quell concerns about the financial crisis. (ANI)

Sensex snaps 7-day slide, banks recoup

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:35:00 -0400

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex rebounded from sharp early losses on Thursday and snapped a seven-day losing streak, as domestic funds stepped in to pick bargains with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram ruling out negative impact of Lehman bankruptcy but the outlook remained shaky on deepening global financial woes.

Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, Chidambaram said while the government was closely watching the global financial markets, the Indian banking system remained strong.

He specifically spoke about AIG''s life and non-life insurance businesses in India in a 26:74 ratio with the Tatas and said there was no cause for worry - an opinion shared by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

The Finance Minister also said public sector banks have virtually no exposure to the debt of Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy in the United States this week.

He admitted that there could be some credit squeeze because of the global turmoil, but said this issue, too would be addressed.

“Public sector banks have virtually no exposure to either Lehman Brothers or any other bank that may have failed. ICICI bank has some exposure but they have disclosed it. So our banking system is reasonably insulated form what''s happening in the rest of the world. However, if there is a credit crunch in the rest of the world it will to some extent impact credit available in the Indian market and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday took some steps to provide liquidity to the banks,” said Chidambaram.

His statement resulted in the banking index of the BSE gain over 100 points or 1.52 per cent on Thursday after being down more than five per cent in the early session.

ICICI Bank, India''s second-largest lender, recouped 2.8 per cent to 575.85 rupees after a top official said the bank''s exposure to foreign markets were small and the bank would post healthy profits.

The stock had tumbled 14 per cent over the previous three sessions on concerns its exposure to the credit turmoil could erode earnings. On Tuesday, the bank said it had exposure to 81 million dollar of Lehman senior bonds.

Domestic fund buying helped lift top listed firm Reliance Industries 3.2 per cent to 1,932.85 rupees, its highest close in a week. The stock, which has the heaviest weight in the main index, had lost 12 per cent in the previous seven sessions.

Leading lender State Bank of India (SBI) rose 2.1 per cent to 1,561.35 rupees and the bank index gained 2.7 per cent.

The 30-share benchmark index ended up 0.4 per cent, or 52.70 points, at 13,315.60, its first rise since September 8.

Still, investors were not convinced they had seen the worst of the global financial turmoil and the BSE index, which has lost more than 34 per cent so far this year, has bottomed out. half of the index components ended down.

“The problem is more of the global things that are happening especially in USA. AIG is in a crunch; Lehman Brothers are in a problem. More names are to be announced even in UB seems to be going to declare some problem. So looking at the whole global picture even countries like Japan, Russia, China, all are facing some problems. So the way things are picking up, the dollar is becoming stronger against rupee which is having an adverse effect in Indian stock market,” said Siddharth Kunwawalla, market analyst.

Sensex dips below 13000 points, Nifty down by 209 points

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:31:00 -0400

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today plunged below 13000 points and lost nearly 705 points in early trading on massive selling by funds, sparked by deepening global financial crisis after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 1,685 points in the last seven sessions, moved down by 704.76 points or 5.31 per cent to 12,558.14, the lowest since July 16 after all the sectoral indices dropped between two to eight per cent with realty, metals and capital goods suffering the most.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange''s index Nifty breached the 3800-mark and was quoted at 3799.55, down by 208.70 points.

Stockbrokers said sliding global markets on concern that more companies could succumb to the financial crisis that has already claimed Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch badly dampened the trading sentiments.

They said sentiments on the global bourses were so weak that even bailing out of insurance giant AIG by the US Federal Reserve failed to quell concerns about the financial crisis. (ANI)