US Fed to streamline credit card operations
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Fazle Rashid
BANKS, already smarting under the weight of a mountain of crushing debts due to increased delinquency in payment of credit card charges, will find themselves in further trouble as the US Fed Reserve is soon to announce new rules that would restrict the banks from charging overdraft fees without the prior consent of the cardholders.
This Fed rule is in response to the rising slogan of " End the Fed' on Capitol Hill. The rules, that are to take effect from next summer, are the latest issued by the Fed after criticism that it (Fed) did not move quickly and aggressively enough to root out deceptive and abusive consumer lending practices, the New York Times (NYT) reported. The Fed announcement has been endorsed by Democratic Party lawmakers who urged the agency to do more.
In a separate development, Intel, the largest chip maker in the world, facing anti-trust legal suits worldwide, relented under pressure and has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle its log running disputes with its rival Advanced Micro Devices. It is not the end of the story for Intel. Governments in Europe, US and Asia have accused the company of systematically using rebates and co-marketing arrangements to persuade computer makers to use its chips , the NYT in a report said.
In Europe, British Airways and Iberia of Spain have agreed on a merger after long 16 months of negotiations. The merger costing $7.0 billion will make them the largest airlines in the world beating rivals like Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. The British Airways with 55 per cent shares will be the larger shareholder.
In the media world, the New York Times will lay off at least 25 editorial staff and will move the editing of the service to a Florida newspaper owned by NYT company. The paper had earlier announced the elimination of 100 jobs.
In a separate development, to the utter disgust of the Wall Street, American companies are not among the ones that have been invited by Iraq to build their war ravaged country In all 396 companies from 32 nations have been invited to a fair being held in Iraq. The trade fair is a telling indication of an uncomfortable truth: America's war in Iraq has been good for business in Iraq but not necessarily for American business. Iraq's import doubled to $43.5 billion but imports from America was a meagre $2.0 billion. The UAE has the largest slice of the business which is worth $31 billion.
On the wider global front, despite sharp differences still remaining on climate change, Denmark, the host of a summit meeting on Dec 7-18 would fervently plead to the world leaders to give a big push to a deal. Denmark would do everything possible to try to end the deadlock. The Copenhagen meeting was meant to be a environmental ministers' affair but now it's being redesignated as the summit meeting of the heads of governments of 191 UN members. The invitation letters are being signed by prime minister of Denmark Lars Lokke Rasnussen.
BANKS, already smarting under the weight of a mountain of crushing debts due to increased delinquency in payment of credit card charges, will find themselves in further trouble as the US Fed Reserve is soon to announce new rules that would restrict the banks from charging overdraft fees without the prior consent of the cardholders.
This Fed rule is in response to the rising slogan of " End the Fed' on Capitol Hill. The rules, that are to take effect from next summer, are the latest issued by the Fed after criticism that it (Fed) did not move quickly and aggressively enough to root out deceptive and abusive consumer lending practices, the New York Times (NYT) reported. The Fed announcement has been endorsed by Democratic Party lawmakers who urged the agency to do more.
In a separate development, Intel, the largest chip maker in the world, facing anti-trust legal suits worldwide, relented under pressure and has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle its log running disputes with its rival Advanced Micro Devices. It is not the end of the story for Intel. Governments in Europe, US and Asia have accused the company of systematically using rebates and co-marketing arrangements to persuade computer makers to use its chips , the NYT in a report said.
In Europe, British Airways and Iberia of Spain have agreed on a merger after long 16 months of negotiations. The merger costing $7.0 billion will make them the largest airlines in the world beating rivals like Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. The British Airways with 55 per cent shares will be the larger shareholder.
In the media world, the New York Times will lay off at least 25 editorial staff and will move the editing of the service to a Florida newspaper owned by NYT company. The paper had earlier announced the elimination of 100 jobs.
In a separate development, to the utter disgust of the Wall Street, American companies are not among the ones that have been invited by Iraq to build their war ravaged country In all 396 companies from 32 nations have been invited to a fair being held in Iraq. The trade fair is a telling indication of an uncomfortable truth: America's war in Iraq has been good for business in Iraq but not necessarily for American business. Iraq's import doubled to $43.5 billion but imports from America was a meagre $2.0 billion. The UAE has the largest slice of the business which is worth $31 billion.
On the wider global front, despite sharp differences still remaining on climate change, Denmark, the host of a summit meeting on Dec 7-18 would fervently plead to the world leaders to give a big push to a deal. Denmark would do everything possible to try to end the deadlock. The Copenhagen meeting was meant to be a environmental ministers' affair but now it's being redesignated as the summit meeting of the heads of governments of 191 UN members. The invitation letters are being signed by prime minister of Denmark Lars Lokke Rasnussen.