philstar.com – Business – Page 169

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Regulatory failure

Economy

Jan 282014

Any which way I look, it is obvious that the power price surge is due to regulatory failure. Even if there is collusion among generators or among generators and the NGCP and Meralco, government is still to blame for failure to detect it and stop it. Deregulating such politically sensitive industries like oil and power is always fraught with danger of abuse by the industry participants. The tricky thing here is how to calibrate the proper regulatory environment to keep everyone in the straight and narrow. My watch with the energy bureaucracy was during a much different time. It was martial law and we had a very competent energy secretary and a bureaucracy inherited from ESSO and FilOil that knew what they were doing. The late Energy minister Ronnie Velasco had a degree in engineering and graduate studies in management. He was strategic in his thinking and knew how to get the results he wanted. He was at home with the technical stuff, had a way with numbers and knew how to get good staff and delegate to them. Velasco also had full control of both the oil side and the power side, being CEO of both PNOC and NPC. If he needed to get anything done, he had the resources and manpower to get it done. If, for instance, world oil prices have gone down substantially but the local multinationals refused to reflect the downturn quickly, Petron could, as indeed it often did, unilaterally put down the prices first Read More …

BSP charter changes ‘critical’ for financial stability

Economy

Jan 232014

BSP charter changes ‘critical’ for financial stability

MANILA, Philippines – Amendments to the central bank charter that would give the institution additional powers of surveillance over banks and its sister companies is “critical” for financial stability, the International Monetary Fund said. “That’s critical… that’s a very important aspect and most countries have that actually,” IMF resident representative Shanaka Jayanath Peiris told reporters. “The lesson from the global crisis was that there should be a regulator with powers to ensure financial stability, to cover and avoid regulatory gaps, and to be able to look at institutions including financial and non-financial entities,” he continued. Peiris was commenting on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ proposed amendments to the New Central Bank Act of 1993 aimed at strengthening the institution’s monetary and financial stability mandates. The said amendment is deemed important in order to trace where bank loans go to or if these funds are being granted as fresh loans by the borrower. This will help the BSP assess the risks faced by the banks if the end-borrower does not pay the firm that originally received the loan from the bank. “From the global crisis, we learned that not knowing was the problem but also you need the power to act as well,” Peiris said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “So first you need to enhance the monitoring which also partly being done but you also have to have the legal mandate for it if you need to act in the future,” he added. The global financial Read More …

Ongpin Group firms up control of Alphaland

Economy

Jan 232014

Ongpin Group firms up control of Alphaland

MANILA, Philippines – The group of former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin has firmed up control of Alphaland Corp. after the trial court junked the plea of erstwhile British partner to cancel an equity infusion. With Ashmore Group diluted to a minority stake, Alphaland management is moving forward with various projects including a share sale to increase its public ownership level. In a disclosure, upscale property firm Alphaland said the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC), in an order dated Jan. 22, upheld Ongpin’s position and denied Ashmore’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO). The Ongpin Group earlier secured 50.57 percent of Alphaland’s outstanding shares following a P1.5-billion capital call that was ignored by the London-based Ashmore Group. Prior to the transaction, Ongpin Group owned 21.73 percent of Alphaland while Ashmore Group controlled 69.37 percent, which is now down to 24.41 percent. “Instead of participating in the capital call, Ashmore Group applied for an ex parte TRO for 72 hours from the executive judge of the RTC on Jan. 14,” Alphaland said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The judge denied the application and had the case raffled. A hearing was then conducted on Jan. 16, on whether a 20-day TRO should be issued, Alphaland said. Alphaland claimed that Ashmore Group misrepresented the sale of 49.6 million Alphaland shares worth P942 million to comply with the minimum public ownership requirement. “The shareholders agreement was not properly and fully executed. And it is also void for being contrary Read More …

PNB losses from recent calamities to reach P800M

Economy

Jan 232014

PNB losses from recent calamities to reach P800M

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Bank (PNB), the main banking arm of tycoon Lucio Tan, has estimated that losses to the group as a result of the damage brought about by recent calamities could reach P800 million. In a prospectus submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in relation to its rights offering, PNB said “as a result of the typhoons Maring and Santi, the earthquake in Bohol and, in particular Super Typhoon Yolanda — which caused significant damage in Central Visayas and certain parts of Southern Luzon — the bank expects to incur losses as a result of claims for property damage by clients of the Bank’s non-life insurance company, PNB Gen.” “While the amount of these losses, particularly with respect to losses arising as a result of Yolanda have not been fully assessed at this time, the bank currently estimates that these losses will be between P700 million and P800 million,” it said. In addition, PNB said it is still currently assessing the impact of Yolanda on the bank’s owned and invested properties. Despite these expected losses, PNB said it has competitive strengths relative to the banking sector. “The bank believes that it is well-positioned in the robust Philippine banking sector. The Philippines has one of the lowest banking penetrations in Asia, leaving significant headroom for growth,” it said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, loan growth is expected to be strong at 13.5 percent on average over the Read More …

EDC to restore Leyte power plant

Economy

Jan 192014

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Development Corp., the Lopez-owned geothermal company, is eyeing to restore all the units of its 650-megawatt Unified Leyte Power Plant by August. The power facility in Leyte, the single biggest source of electricity in the Visayas, shut down after Super Typhoon Yolanda damaged some units when it struck in some parts of the Visayas in November last year. “We should have all the units back in operation around August and possibly earlier depending on the availability of spare parts which is dependent on manufacturing lead time,” said EDC president Richard Tantoco. EDC has been able to repair the damaged facility in phases, successfully dispatching 292 MW to the Visayas Grid to date. “For Unified Leyte, we are now producing a total of 292 MW,” Tantoco said. Tantoco said the facility would definitely be back online at full capacity this year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Last week, EDC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that the company has been able to run another unit of the Malitbog facility, allowing the plant to produce additional capacity of 75 MW. “EDC has successfully energized another unit of the Malitbog Power Plant, with an additional capacity of 75MW. Said unit is now on start-up mode and under reliability and other tests,” the EDC said in its disclosure. In early January, EDC restored the first unit with a capacity of 75 MW in coordination with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Read More …

New Insular Health Care head named

Economy

Jan 192014

MANILA, Philippines – Insular Life chairman of the Board and CEO Vicente R. Ayllón announced the appointment of Seraline Lloren Manguni as president and chief operating officer (COO) of Insular Life’s subsidiary, Insular Health Care, Inc. Manguni joined Insular Life’s Actuarial Division in 1991. Nine years later, she was seconded to Insular Health Care as vice president and actuary, and in 2003, as first vice president and actuary and head of actuarial and technical operations. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in BS Statistics from the University of the East. She is a fellow of the Actuarial Society of the Philippines (FASP), fellow of Life Management Institute (FLMI) and member of International Actuarial Association (IAA). Insular Health Care is one of the top 10 health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the Philippines in terms of capitalization, comprehensive healthcare packages and service delivery. It offers one of the industry’s most comprehensive healthcare programs in the market with the flexibility to meet specific needs of its members.

Teradata targets 2-digit revenue growth in Phl

Economy

Jan 192014

Teradata targets 2-digit revenue growth in Phl

MANILA, Philippines – Data analytics firm Teradata aims to achieve double-digit growth in revenues in the Philippines as it expands its customer base, particularly in the banking and retail sectors, a company official said. Teradata Philippines country manager Ella Mae Ortega said in a briefing the company sees the Philippines as an important market and intends to grow its revenues in the country by increasing the number of its customers. “We have customers here but we want to expand our customer base with particular focus on banking and retail,” she said. The company wants to get banks and retailers as clients as the two are post the highest growth rates in the country. “These are also customers that need data analytics in their business or even do predictive analysis. These are customers that have big requirement on data warehousing and analytics,” Ortega said. She said more and more companies are becoming interested in understanding their customers as many of them express opinion products and services on social networking sites.At the same time, many companies want to reach their customers through social media to launch products and services.Ortega said Teradata wants to help companies here understand and reach their customers better through data driven marketingsolutions. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “With the emergence of big data as the new business imperative and a growing appreciation in the market on how business analytics can hone a company’s competitive edge, my charter is to drive growth in Teradata Philippines Read More …

Smart strengthens broadband service

Economy

Jan 192014

MANILA, Philippines – Wireless giant Smart Communications Inc. has strengthened its mobile broadband service foothold after parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) completed the P400-million submarine fiber optic cables providing critical resiliency for its network in the Visayas and Mindanao. Rolando Peña, Technology Group head at Smart and PLDT, said the newly completed 150-kilometer undersea fiber links are expected to enhance Smart’s high-speed mobile broadband in Southern Philippines with expanded capacity for high-bandwidth services. “Smart is further expanding its network of reliable and high-speed mobile broadband sites around the country to meet the skyrocketing demand for mobile data from our users,” Peña said. He pointed out that the submarine cable runs from Mactan in Cebu to Loon in Bohol and from Garcia Hernandez in Bohol to Kinoguitan in Cagayan de Oro. “With the proliferation of smartphones and the popularity of online services, we are seeing even more of our subscribers making the shift to data. With this growing demand, a resilient and reliable network is required to maintain a seamless mobile broadband experience,” he added. The new fiber-optic facilities, the first time for Bohol province to have such high-speed data infrastructure, would also complement the rollout of Smart’s ultra-fast mobile long term evolution (LTE) service in Visayas and Mindanao allowing subscribers to experience firsthand up to 42 Mbps of broadband internet. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 With a high-speed LTE connection, subscribers could experience tomorrow’s Internet through high-definition video streaming, low-latency file transfers, and Read More …

Ohio woman offers beer, smokes as lost dog reward

Economy

Jan 162014

Ohio woman offers beer, smokes as lost dog reward

DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio woman made fliers offering a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes as a reward for finding her lost dog — and it worked. Twenty-three-year-old Abigail Miller of Dayton offered the unusual reward after her two dogs escaped through an open gate on Jan. 2. She found one of them at a local animal shelter a few days later, but the other, a Husky named Zoro, remained missing. The Dayton Daily News reports that Miller came up the reward because she could afford it and figured it would attract attention. She was right. The man who called and told Miller where to find her dog turned down the reward, but she says she’s going to offer him some food from the sandwich shop where she works.

Huawei rejects reports of security weakness

Economy

Jan 162014

Huawei rejects reports of security weakness

BEIJING — Chinese tech giant Huawei on Wednesday rejected suggestions its telecoms equipment is vulnerable to hacking and forecast a rise in 2013 profit of nearly 50 percent. Chief financial officer Cathy Meng rejected as “groundless” reports that Huawei equipment might be more vulnerable to security threats than telecoms infrastructure made by other companies. The German magazine Spiegel reported last month that the U.S. National Security Agency installed secret “back doors” in telecoms equipment made by Huawei and other companies. Earlier, some researchers said they found vulnerabilities in Huawei routers. “We have seen no incidents on networks due to security problems,” said Meng at a news conference. “A lot of reports say Huawei equipment has more vulnerabilities or is more easily breached. These reports are groundless.” Huawei Technologies Ltd., founded in 1987, has grown rapidly in developing countries but faces hurdles in the United States, where authorities have warned it might be a security risk. The company has rejected such claims as trade protectionism that it says hurts American consumers by limiting competition and raising the cost of telecoms equipment. Huawei expects a 2013 operating profit of 28.6 billion yuan to 29.4 billion yuan ($4.8 billion to $4.9 billion), according to Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. That would be an increase of 43 to 47 percent over last year’s operating profit of 19.96 billion yuan. Audited results are due to be released in the second quarter of the year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: Read More …

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