Financial Blockchain Applications will be Measured

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86j63KYWVUI

The Singularity University and CNBC are hosting the Exponential Finance 2015 conference n New York, on June 2-3. The conference examines how rapidly accelerating technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, crowdfunding, digital currencies and robotics are rapidly disrupting businesses throughout the financial industry. The Singularity University, based at Moffett Federal Airfield in California and sponsored by high-profile high-tech firms including Google, is an educational center dedicated to world-changing applications of disruptive, exponentially accelerating technologies. The conference program features an impressive set of high-profile speakers including Blythe Masters, the former J.P. Morgan star who now leads Digital Asset Holdings, a technology company that uses distributed digital ledgers to address operational challenges and settlement latency in both digital and mainstream financial assets. Masters’ presentation, titled “Blockchain: The Financial Challenge of Our Time,” has been featured in a CNBC article titled “Why financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech.”

Read More

Guinness World Records 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhm8tiQnuE

Walmart, number one on the Fortune 500 list of American companies, has net sales totaling $473.1 billion. With foodstuffs making up 55 percent of its sales, this corporation controls 25 percent of grocery sales in the U.S. Consequently, Walmart's actions and inactions reverberate through the food chain, making huge impacts on agricultural practices, treatment of workers, consumer health, the environment and outsourcing of jobs. In recognition of these impacts, Walmart has created an "Ethical Sourcing" standards manual for its suppliers. But our investigation of Walmart's practices shows that the thirst for extraordinary profits too often wins out over a code of ethics. Although the "Ethical Sourcing" manual requires that suppliers comply with existing laws, we found that both the corporation and its suppliers have a long history of violating labor standards. Walmart's demand for lower prices creates the incentive and the need for suppliers to cut wages and benefits, neglect safety and working conditions, and even ship jobs to overseas sweatshops. Exploitation and discrimination often go unchecked. In one instance, immigrant workers in Louisiana said they were being locked into a factory and compelled to work 16-24 hour shifts by a Walmart seafood supplier. Only after an advocacy group publicly pressed for improved working conditions did the retailer take action.

Read More

Illicit Financial Flows and Development

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFttpq79N_E

This June 2015 report, the latest in a series by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), highlights the outsized impact that illicit financial flows have on the world’s poorest economies. The study looks at illicit financial flows from some of the world’s poorest nations and compares those values to some traditional indicators of development—including GDP, total trade, foreign direct investment, public expenditures on education and health services, and total tax revenue, among others—over the period 2008–2012. The report also produces several scatter plots in which illicit flows values for all developing and emerging market nations are compared to key TRADE INDICATORS and various development indices, such as human development, inequality, and poverty, to determine if correlations exist between the two. Correlation to Higher Poverty By two different measures of poverty, the study reveals a positive correlation between higher levels of poverty and larger illicit outflows. That is, countries with higher levels of illicit financial flows (relative to GDP) tend to struggle with higher levels of poverty

Read More

Brigham Young University, Marriott School of Business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4BLeLMibBo

The Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University offers 5 Bachelor degrees for the undergraduate student majoring in Business: Accounting, Business Management, Finance, Information Systems and Recreation Management. BYU is a private university owned by the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Having a religious background, the school does require 14 hours of religion coursework, and students must abide by a university honor code. With just around 2,000 undergraduate business students, we find they stand out as a top choice based on the tight-knit environment BYU provides. For practicing LDS church members tuition is significantly less expensive, as 70% of student tuition is funded through church tithes. Non-members pay roughly double the LDS tuition rate. However, tuition rates for both groups is an unbelievable low cost (under $5k yearly!) considering the world-class education provided.

Read More

Bamboo Finance Exits Xac Bank to Strategic Buyers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnp6XzDXTfw

Microfinance loan portfolios have been growing at a 30% CAGR since 2005, according to Mix Market data. They have figured out how to service low-income clients more efficiently with operating margins of 10% to 15% and effectively with loan portfolios of PAR >30 at 5% on average (the portion of the portfolio deemed at risk because payments are more than 30 days overdue) and write off ratios of less than 2%. Furthermore, it requires time patience and deep knowledge of the business environment and customers. The pros and cons to starting as an NGO can be debated, with a number of factors to consider in context of the regional political, social and economic climate. There are unique factors to be considered for each region, country, state and village. It has proven to be a successful strategy for Xac Bank and the region and customers it serves. - See more at: http://www.bamboofinance.com/blog/xac-bank-successfully-attracts-strategic-buyer-looking-to-grow-responsibly/#sthash.JTI4atjo.dpuf

Read More

Demonstrating Attractive Financial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avoNZXg8S_4

Xac Bank started in 2001 as a nonprofit microfinance lender to Mongolia’s herding community. Today it is a fully regulated commercial bank and the country’s fourth largest in terms of assets, with 500,000 customers in 21 provinces, 97 branches, and US$800 million in total assets as well as being one of the most regarded, transparent and ethical banks in emerging markets to date. ORIX Corporation (‘ORIX’) is the largest leasing company in Japan and third largest player in the Leasing Industry, world-wide. Through their investment in Xac Bank, ORIX will leverage Xac Bank’s business platform to expand within Mongolia and further the development of the country’s financial services industry. Strategic buyers, typically financial services organizations or diversified groups like ORIX, are seeking to reach a new geographies and or serve a new segment, which has turned their interest toward microfinance institutions such as Xac Bank. There are now over 2,000 MFIs operating worldwide serving 105 million borrowers and 70 million savers with total assets over USD 72 billion and growing at a rate of 10% to 20% depending on the region, according to the JP Morgan and CGAP 2012 Global Microfinance Equity Valuation Survey Report.

Read More