While you're cursing the traffic you're idling in on your way to work, not only time is being wasted, a new study released Tuesday shows.
An annual study of national driving patterns reveals that Americans spent 5.5 billion additional hours sitting in traffic in 2011.
Traffic jams on the way to or from work ate, on average, 38 hours of commuters' lives that year, up from 34 hours the year before, the study found. That's nearly four hours longer than the average workweek.
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute's report found Americans are adapting to road congestion by allowing, on average, an hour to make a trip that would take 20 minutes without traffic. The Urban Mobility Report also says clogged roads cost Americans $121 billion in time and fuel in 2011.
The report is one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems. But the institute advises that every community has unique challenges and require different, multi-faceted approaches to solving congestion.
Washington, D.C., where drivers spend 67 hours per year in traffic, was the most congested urban area for the second consecutive year, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston, the researchers found.
Traffic congestion reached its peak in 2005, when drivers spent an average of 43 hours a year in traffic.
"Prior to the economy slowing, congestion levels were much higher, and we really expect to see the conditions of congestion ... really go up as the economy improves," Bill Eisele, a TTI researcher and the co-author of the report, told Reuters.
The reduction in congestion had more to do with job losses than any coordinated effort by cities to move to alternate forms of transportation, Eisele said.
He said that peak congestion nationwide was on Friday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. while more than one-third of all delays occurred in the middle of the day.
The report found that 60 percent of delays occurred on streets and 40 percent on highways.
The congestion brought with it a hefty price tag: Traffic congestion cost American motorists $818 each in 2011 - more than is spent on Christmas presents - from wasted gasoline to lost productivity to increased vehicle maintenance costs, the study found.
Drivers on average wasted 19 gallons of fuel in 2011, the report found.
Clearing vehicle crash sites more quickly, better synchronizing of traffic signals and improved notification of traffic delays to motorists would all ease congestion, Eisele said
"As this report demonstrates, travelers are paying the price for this inadequate response," Eisele said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
500 Startups is already focused heavily on investing overseas, with partners looking at startups in markets like Mexico, Brazil, India and Southeast Asia. Now you can add China to the list, as the firm just hired a venture partner to focus on that region. Rui Ma will be joining 500 Startups as its first venture partner in Beijing, where she will be investing and sourcing deal flow in China.
Feb. 5, 2013 ? New research in animals triggered by a combination of serendipity and counterintuitive thinking could point the way to treating fractures caused by rapid bone loss in people, including patients with metastatic cancers.
A series of studies at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that steroid drugs, known for inducing bone loss with prolonged use, actually help suppress a molecule that's key to the rapid bone loss process. A report of the new findings appears online Feb. 5, 2013 in the journal PLOS ONE.
Osteoporosis or the loss of bone mass is a major public health problem in the Western world and commonly results in hip and spine fractures. "But rib fractures are the most common and yet most unreported osteoporotic fractures and also occur in many cancers such as breast cancer, malignant melanoma, and myelomas, that metastasize and spread to the ribs," says Arjun Deb, MD, assistant professor in the departments of Medicine and Cell Biology and Physiology at UNC.
"While little is known about the biology of rib fractures, we have identified a molecular mechanism that could have important implications for the treatment of fractures in cancers and other conditions often associated with rapid bone loss," adds Deb, who also is a member of UNC's McAllister Heart Institute and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The UNC researcher indicated that his lab arrived at the study "via serendipity." From stromal cells of adult mice, they had deleted a gene called beta catenin. These cells, also known as fibroblasts, form the connective tissue of almost all organs in the body. The Deb lab was working on the molecular regulation of these cells.
But something "amazing" occurred, he said. Following beta catenin deletion, the mice died within three weeks. The researchers looked at the functioning of every organ -- heart, kidney, lung, spleen -- wherever this gene could possibly be expressed. All appeared normal, except lung function. "With just a whiff of anesthesia, their blood oxygen saturation dropped precipitously. This was a first clue of a problem in the respiratory system of these animals." But the lungs looked absolutely fine under the microscope.
Deb then turned to UNC's Department of Physics and Astronomy, which had developed a novel contactless fiber-optic displacement sensor for monitoring respiration during mouse CT scans. In association with the department of radiology and the Biomedical Research Imaging Center at UNC, 3-D lung reconstruction revealed profound lung collapse on one or both sides. This was a puzzle. "How can an animal with normal lung tissue under a microscope have lung collapse and respiratory problems?" Deb wondered whether the chest wall could be the culprit.
CT scans of the chest wall in these animals revealed multiple spontaneous fractures affecting multiple ribs. The affected ribs had 60-70 percent less bone compared to normal ribs. Essentially the bony rib cage had disappeared within 3 weeks, said Deb, and he immediately realized that the animals were dying from respiratory failure because the frail chest wall was unable to support respiration.
Bone mass is usually maintained by a close functional coupling of osteoblasts (cells that form bone) and osteoclasts (cells that resorb bone). The study team found a huge infiltration of osteoclasts into the animals' ribs. Other bones, including the spine and femur, also showed some resorption but not as dramatic as in the ribs.
And when drugs such as bisphosphonates, commonly used to preserve bone mass in humans were given to the animals, their survival was prolonged only briefly. This led the study team to think that the osteoclast formation was so aggressive that the body was unable to form new bone to keep apace with the bone loss.
In conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and other problems involving inflammation, many types of inflammatory cells promote bone resorption, which led the researchers to see if treatment with corticosteroids might be helpful in these animals. And it was: a 30-40 percent increase in bone mass, compared to animals that did not get steroids. They also found 60-70 percent of the ribs were preserved.
"Notably, 75 percent of the animals survived," Deb said. "And after 80 days, we saw that the ribs showed evidence of repair, they were able to form new bone. And when we looked at new CT lung scans, the lungs were expanded and the ribs contained far less numbers of osteoclasts."
As to mechanism, Deb explains that a molecule in bone called rank ligand (RANKL) is important for osteoclast formation. "We found that steroids were suppressing RANKL to the extent that RANKL levels in these animals were the same as healthy animals."
"From that perspective, these studies are interesting and challenge the existing paradigm: that steroids are drugs that cause bone loss. They do, but in rapid bone loss from aggressive osteoclast overactivity, steroids may be helpful. That's the principle message of this story."
Study co-authors were JinZhu Duan, Yueh Lee, Corey Jania, Jucheng Gong, Mauricio Rojas, Laurel Burk, Monte Willis, Jonathon Homeister, Stephen Tilley, and Janet Rubin. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Ellison Medical Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of North Carolina School of Medicine, via Newswise.
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Journal Reference:
JinZhu Duan, Yueh Lee, Corey Jania, Jucheng Gong, Mauricio Rojas, Laurel Burk, Monte Willis, Jonathon Homeister, Stephen Tilley, Janet Rubin, Arjun Deb. Rib Fractures and Death from Deletion of Osteoblast ?catenin in Adult Mice Is Rescued by Corticosteroids. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (2): e55757 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055757
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Study: Firms that purport to value shareholders pay CEOs morePublic release date: 6-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Ciciora pciciora@illinois.edu 217-333-2177 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Ever wonder why CEOs at poorly performing companies continue to receive exorbitant pay packages? According to a study from a University of Illinois labor professor, firms that trumpet how much they value shareholders actually pay their CEOs more, regardless of the quality of their performance as executives.
Using compensation data from 290 chief executives at large U.S. firms over an 11-year period, Taekjin Shin, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois, shows that CEOs at firms with the appearance of a "shareholder-value orientation" receive greater compensation in the form of higher pay and greater stock options.
"You would expect that if a company has espoused the principle of shareholder-value maximization that is, focusing solely on maximizing the financial returns for investors through corporate governance mechanisms then executive compensation should be less, and sensitivity toward the overall performance of the firm should be greater," Shin said.
But the study, published in The Economic and Social Review, finds empirical evidence to the contrary, Shin says.
"All these sorts of corporate governance mechanisms intended to curb excessive pay and constrain CEO influence over the pay process is actually working in reverse," he said. "And not only has it failed to work, it provides chief executives with further justification for greater pay."
Moreover, when firms strengthen the appearance of having a shareholder-value orientation, CEO pay increases the subsequent year, suggesting that firms tend to adopt monitoring and incentive-alignment governance mechanisms in order to gain the appearance of shareholder-value orientation rather than to curb executive compensation, Shin says.
"All sorts of structural appearances by the firm, such as having more independent board members and a greater level of institutional investor ownership those kind of things are well-intended but ultimately don't amount to much," he said. "It creates the appearance to outsiders that the firm is really following the mainstream model of corporate governance."
According to the study, by employing such symbolic management tactics, top executives earn greater legitimacy, a better reputation and a higher valuation of both the firm and executive talent.
The findings also suggest that executive compensation has played an important role in providing incentives for top managers to make strategic decisions that conform to the shareholder-value maximization principle.
"We've known for decades that CEOs have tremendous power and influence over the corporate world," Shin said. "But it's only been from the 1980s onward that shareholders have begun to take a more activist role in publicly-traded companies. One would expect that with all these kinds of changes and the empowerment of shareholders, the CEO would probably have lost both power and pay, or at least their influence over their pay. The evidence suggests that the opposite has happened, which is kind of a paradox."
Shin chalks it up to CEOs, already politically-savvy insiders, knowing how to "game the system."
"They know that the dominant paradigm right now is shareholder maximization and that shareholders are king, so they say, 'Let's at least have a smokescreen of serving them by instituting all sorts of changes in the board of directors, in compensation policy and stock options,' " Shin said. "But those reforms are often just a fig leaf, and serve CEO interests by further justifying their hefty compensation packages."
By carrying the flag for shareholder value, chief executives have diverted corporate resources and profits away from traditional business lines toward finance-related activities such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and stock repurchases what Shin calls the trend toward the "financialization" of the U.S. economy.
"Fundamentally, the principles of business decisions have changed," he said. "Prior to what I call the 'Shareholder Value Revolution,' a lot of business decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, and diversification, had been based on sound business logic in terms of efficiency and operation. And society in general, including investors, trusted CEOs to make sound business decisions based on the long-term fiscal health of the firm."
But all of that changed during frenzied leveraged buyouts of the 1980s, which served as a wake-up call for executives to start thinking differently.
"From that point forward, it became, 'Publicly traded corporations should think about one thing and one thing only: Maximize shareholder value,' " Shin said. "Once we focus on that, everything else will be taken care of products will improve, efficiencies will be realized. And to ensure that the CEO focuses on that, a board of directors would typically tie part of a CEO's compensation to the firm's share price through stock options and stock grants. So you have a board of directors who are independent and vigilant enough to make sure the CEO is doing the right thing, and outside investors powerful enough to influence the CEO's behavior so that they focus on the one thing that matters shareholder value."
In the aftermath of that epoch, the decision-making process for executives became more and more focused on financial interests, funneling attention away from traditional business interests in operations, innovation, research and development, and human capital, Shin says.
"Now everyone is shifted toward profits profits strictly in terms of shareholder value," he said. "That's been a fundamental change, because that impacts what kinds of decisions executives make and what kinds of incentives they have. And the CEOs who are rewarded for doing this not only accrue great wealth, they also receive acceptance and praise from the business community."
The study also considers what effect the shareholder-value revolution has had on other countries, including those more prudent countries that were on the other side of the executive-compensation spectrum.
"Until the Great Recession, just about everyone held up the corporate governance system in the U.S. as a shining example of how publicly-traded corporations should be run," Shin said. "Even famously stingy countries like Germany and Japan had begun to adopt the U.S. model. But then the recession and credit crisis hit. So it's an interesting time in history the U.S. has exported the system, but it continues to struggle. There's a lot of finger-pointing at too much risk-taking in the short-term, and how the manipulation of stock prices has really gotten us into this mess, so everyone is really hesitant to adopt the U.S. model."
###
Editor's note: To contact Taekjin Shin, call 217-333-4842; email tshin@illinois.edu.
The article, "CEO Compensation and Shareholder Value Orientation Among Large US Firms," is available online.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Study: Firms that purport to value shareholders pay CEOs morePublic release date: 6-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Ciciora pciciora@illinois.edu 217-333-2177 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Ever wonder why CEOs at poorly performing companies continue to receive exorbitant pay packages? According to a study from a University of Illinois labor professor, firms that trumpet how much they value shareholders actually pay their CEOs more, regardless of the quality of their performance as executives.
Using compensation data from 290 chief executives at large U.S. firms over an 11-year period, Taekjin Shin, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois, shows that CEOs at firms with the appearance of a "shareholder-value orientation" receive greater compensation in the form of higher pay and greater stock options.
"You would expect that if a company has espoused the principle of shareholder-value maximization that is, focusing solely on maximizing the financial returns for investors through corporate governance mechanisms then executive compensation should be less, and sensitivity toward the overall performance of the firm should be greater," Shin said.
But the study, published in The Economic and Social Review, finds empirical evidence to the contrary, Shin says.
"All these sorts of corporate governance mechanisms intended to curb excessive pay and constrain CEO influence over the pay process is actually working in reverse," he said. "And not only has it failed to work, it provides chief executives with further justification for greater pay."
Moreover, when firms strengthen the appearance of having a shareholder-value orientation, CEO pay increases the subsequent year, suggesting that firms tend to adopt monitoring and incentive-alignment governance mechanisms in order to gain the appearance of shareholder-value orientation rather than to curb executive compensation, Shin says.
"All sorts of structural appearances by the firm, such as having more independent board members and a greater level of institutional investor ownership those kind of things are well-intended but ultimately don't amount to much," he said. "It creates the appearance to outsiders that the firm is really following the mainstream model of corporate governance."
According to the study, by employing such symbolic management tactics, top executives earn greater legitimacy, a better reputation and a higher valuation of both the firm and executive talent.
The findings also suggest that executive compensation has played an important role in providing incentives for top managers to make strategic decisions that conform to the shareholder-value maximization principle.
"We've known for decades that CEOs have tremendous power and influence over the corporate world," Shin said. "But it's only been from the 1980s onward that shareholders have begun to take a more activist role in publicly-traded companies. One would expect that with all these kinds of changes and the empowerment of shareholders, the CEO would probably have lost both power and pay, or at least their influence over their pay. The evidence suggests that the opposite has happened, which is kind of a paradox."
Shin chalks it up to CEOs, already politically-savvy insiders, knowing how to "game the system."
"They know that the dominant paradigm right now is shareholder maximization and that shareholders are king, so they say, 'Let's at least have a smokescreen of serving them by instituting all sorts of changes in the board of directors, in compensation policy and stock options,' " Shin said. "But those reforms are often just a fig leaf, and serve CEO interests by further justifying their hefty compensation packages."
By carrying the flag for shareholder value, chief executives have diverted corporate resources and profits away from traditional business lines toward finance-related activities such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and stock repurchases what Shin calls the trend toward the "financialization" of the U.S. economy.
"Fundamentally, the principles of business decisions have changed," he said. "Prior to what I call the 'Shareholder Value Revolution,' a lot of business decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, and diversification, had been based on sound business logic in terms of efficiency and operation. And society in general, including investors, trusted CEOs to make sound business decisions based on the long-term fiscal health of the firm."
But all of that changed during frenzied leveraged buyouts of the 1980s, which served as a wake-up call for executives to start thinking differently.
"From that point forward, it became, 'Publicly traded corporations should think about one thing and one thing only: Maximize shareholder value,' " Shin said. "Once we focus on that, everything else will be taken care of products will improve, efficiencies will be realized. And to ensure that the CEO focuses on that, a board of directors would typically tie part of a CEO's compensation to the firm's share price through stock options and stock grants. So you have a board of directors who are independent and vigilant enough to make sure the CEO is doing the right thing, and outside investors powerful enough to influence the CEO's behavior so that they focus on the one thing that matters shareholder value."
In the aftermath of that epoch, the decision-making process for executives became more and more focused on financial interests, funneling attention away from traditional business interests in operations, innovation, research and development, and human capital, Shin says.
"Now everyone is shifted toward profits profits strictly in terms of shareholder value," he said. "That's been a fundamental change, because that impacts what kinds of decisions executives make and what kinds of incentives they have. And the CEOs who are rewarded for doing this not only accrue great wealth, they also receive acceptance and praise from the business community."
The study also considers what effect the shareholder-value revolution has had on other countries, including those more prudent countries that were on the other side of the executive-compensation spectrum.
"Until the Great Recession, just about everyone held up the corporate governance system in the U.S. as a shining example of how publicly-traded corporations should be run," Shin said. "Even famously stingy countries like Germany and Japan had begun to adopt the U.S. model. But then the recession and credit crisis hit. So it's an interesting time in history the U.S. has exported the system, but it continues to struggle. There's a lot of finger-pointing at too much risk-taking in the short-term, and how the manipulation of stock prices has really gotten us into this mess, so everyone is really hesitant to adopt the U.S. model."
###
Editor's note: To contact Taekjin Shin, call 217-333-4842; email tshin@illinois.edu.
The article, "CEO Compensation and Shareholder Value Orientation Among Large US Firms," is available online.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
If I were to describe a country where the Internet contributes as much as a percentage of GDP as its health services, education and oil industries, and is growing at nearly twice the rate as in Europe ? driven in large part by growth in private and corporate-backed entrepreneurship ? where would you guess?
Looking forward, if such a country has the largest population of Internet and mobile users in its region with one of the largest youth populations in the world; is a large consumer market in the early days of e-commerce; is a global tourist destination where roughly only five percent of all travel revenue is booked online ? might this be an intriguing investment opportunity?
Am I describing Germany? China? Brazil?
Try Egypt.
Two years after the Arab uprisings and in the midst of wrestling significant economic and political change, the Internet is quietly and increasingly growing as a central platform of economic development around the country as it is around the globe. And according to a new Google-commissioned study by The Boston Consulting Group ? Egypt at a Crossroads: How the Internet is Transforming Egypt?s Economy ? policy makers, executives and investors alike are poised at a central moment of opportunity to embrace this platform for economic growth, job creation and returns.
David Dean, Senior Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group ? and one of the authors of the study ? told me that this is the latest of fifteen country-wide studies his company has done, and he was impressed by what he found. ?I think the biggest positive surprise was that there are many entrepreneurial companies using the Internet to grow their businesses.? The report highlights a handful of among hundreds of recent Egyptian startups as diverse as the content portal Masrawy, which now reaches over eight million unique users per month; e-commerce destination Nefsak, which offers over 25,000 products; and Alexandria?s Vimov, whose paid weather app WeatherHD was the fourth-best seller in Apple?s App store after its recent release. It notes that Vodafone, among other global investors, is making serious commitments both to the infrastructure and to funding startups in the region. ?The report makes clear that there is much uptapped potential for Egypt?s nascent Internet ecosystem,? Samir El Bahaie, Google?s Head of Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, said ? adding that ?there is also a great opportunity for investment, economic growth and job creation waiting to be seized.?
The study underscores that the opportunity is now. Egypt?s population of 31 million Internet users is the largest in the Middle East, and while mobile penetration exceeds 100 percent in many parts of the country, the big news is that smartphones ? with real computing capabilities ? are expected by some to reach 50 percent penetration in the next three to five years. Unmeasured in penetration and GDP figures are what the report calls ?ripple effects? on the Egyptian economy and society: The ability to reach new markets, to have better informed consumers, to have greater work efficiencies in the knowledge economy, to have simplified access to government and social services for people to take more control of their lives. Egypt, with its mobile penetration, is especially poised to capture opportunities in mobile banking (as significant success has been seen in Africa) and to fully embrace all the opportunities offered for tourism. Dean notes, in fact, that travel and tourism is ?possibly the largest short-term lever that the Internet can have in the country.?
If the opportunity is now, however, so is the potential for missed opportunities. While access to the Internet is growing, there is still a lack of Internet skills in the workforce, even as compared to other emerging markets. While business adoption of the Internet as an economic platform in Egypt is competitive among larger enterprises, small- and medium-sized businesses still rank lowest among emerging growth markets. More fundamentally, there remains significant question of the most appropriate, entrepreneurship-driving policies ? areas such as rule of law, copyright protection, lessening bureaucracy in starting businesses. ?Of course, these are clearly not just questions for Egypt,? Dean explained to me. ?What would really be encouraging would be a commitment by the Government to the Internet as an economic factor ? which would mean simplifying the process for opening businesses, encouraging investment, demonstrating the benefits of the Internet in the way the government operates, and using the Internet to address some of Egypt?s most pressing problems, such as youth unemployment.?
Google hopes to play a continued role in working with governments like Egypt?s. Studies like these are extremely useful as they provide factual economic data points around the value of the Internet, El Bahaie noted. ?We hope to work with the government of Egypt to leverage these data points to unlock the potential of eCommerce and mCommerce and well-informedly create a more enabling business environment for Egyptian small- and medium-sized business, and to help the country reach its full economic potential.?
Christopher M. Schroeder is a leading U.S. Internet entrepreneur and venture investor, a member of the advisory boards of the American University of Cairo School of Business, the regional entrepreneurship portal Wamda.com and incubator Oasis500. He is the author of ?Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution That?s Remaking the Middle East,? to be published September 2013 by Palgrave/MacMillan. He can be followed on Twitter @cmschroed.
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland will be hit with fines of almost 400 million pounds ($627 million) on Wednesday for its role in a global interest-rate rigging scandal, sources familiar with the situation said.
That will be the second-largest penalty so far in an international investigation involving over a dozen banks, and will heap embarrassment on a lender that had to be bailed out by British taxpayers at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
British finance minister George Osborne has already said RBS, which is 82-percent owned by the state, must pay the fines out of bankers' bonuses rather than from the pockets of taxpayers, while critics say the scandal shows banks' riskier activities should be separated from basic lending functions.
Banks across the world are struggling to rebuild their reputations after the financial crisis, and many have been engulfed in a series of investigations into their past misdemeanors, including fixing benchmark interest rates, money laundering and mis-selling products to customers.
Britain's Barclays has already paid $450 million for its part in the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor), a benchmark used for trillions of dollars of financial instruments ranging from home loans to complex derivatives.
Some $1.5 billion of fines have also been handed out to Swiss bank UBS for interest-rate rigging.
One of the sources said Royal bank of Scotland (RBS) would pay around 90 million pounds to Britain's Financial Services Authority, about $150 million to the United States Department of Justice and about $325 million to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
RBS said it expected to pay "significant penalties" to settle regulatory probes.
It was in "late stage settlement discussions" with regulators in Britain and the United States, but no fines had yet been agreed, the bank said in a statement, adding it expected regulators to impose other sanctions beyond the fines.
"MISERABLE DAY"
One of the sources said RBS would avoid admitting criminal liability in the United States but accept criminal charges against its business in Japan.
The bank will agree a "deferred prosecution agreement" with U.S. authorities, the source said. That means RBS will retain its U.S. banking license provided it doesn't step out of line again. The deal will prevent RBS from having to sell off its U.S. business Citizens at a reduced price.
John Hourican, head of RBS's investment bank, will part company with the bank following the settlement, sources have said. There is no suggestion he had any knowledge of wrongdoing.
Chief Executive Stephen Hester has warned of a "miserable day" for the bank, during which embarrassing emails exposing the extent of collusion between traders are set to be revealed.
RBS said last August it had dismissed staff following its own internal investigation.
"IN LIMBO"
The revelations could put the future of RBS's investment bank under renewed scrutiny and are likely to re-ignite calls from critics who want the bank to focus on basic lending activities in its domestic market.
British Business Secretary Vince Cable said the bank was "in limbo" and should have been fully nationalized when it was rescued in the financial crisis.
The Liberal Democrat said early hopes for a re-privatization of RBS now looked a "distant dream" and resurrected an idea he originally proposed in 2011 that shares in RBS should be distributed to the public by the government so that they share in any eventual recovery in the bank's stock price.
Taxpayers are sitting on a loss of about 15.7 billion pounds on the RBS stake, after Britain pumped in 45.5 billion to keep the bank afloat. In contrast, the United States has made tens of billions of dollars from its bank bailouts with the U.S. Treasury selling the last of its securities in banking giant Citigroup for nearly $900 million on Tuesday.
More than a dozen banks have been scrutinized by regulators as part of an investigation into interest-rate rigging. Dozens of individuals are also under scrutiny in the probe, initiated by the CFTC in October 2008.
Shares in RBS were up 1 percent at 340.9 pence by 1150 GMT, reflecting relief the fines might not be as large as the 500 million pounds some observers had expected.
(Additional reporting by Tim Castle and Myles Neligan; Editing by Mark Potter)
Key West vacation rentals are a great alternative to hotels and motels. Vacation rentals are often town homes, condos or homes that are being rented out to those vacationing in the area. This is perfect for a large family, those who want more space than what a small hotel room provides, or those who want or need a kitchen while on vacation. However, renting Key West vacation rentals is a bit different than renting a hotel. And sometimes, a rental charges different fees than a hotel does. Here are a list of the different fees that you may be charged if you select a vacation rental, and what you need to know about that fee. The Deposit: If you are serious about booking Key West vacation rentals for your vacation, you will be required to place a deposit to hold your dates. Each company or owner charges a different deposit amount. Some want a certain percentage of the total amount due, some want a one night deposit and others charge a flat fee, such as $100. The biggest thing you need to know is that most vacation rental deposits are non-refundable. Unlike a hotel that has hundreds of rooms and hundreds of guests, most vacation rental agencies or owners only have a limited number of properties. Once you have given them a deposit, they have to take their listing down for the time you have it reserved. If you cancel, they may be unable to find someone to take your place. Payment in Full: One of the biggest differences between a hotel and Key West vacation rentals is that with most hotels, you don't have to pay your remaining accommodation balance until you check-in or check-out. With a vacation rental, your balance, or payment in full, is typically due 30 to 45 days prior to your check-in date. If you can't make the payment in full, the person you are renting from may reserve the right to cancel your reservation and keep your deposit. So make sure you make your final payment on time. Cleaning Fee: Most Key West vacation rentals charge a cleaning fee. This is because they have to hire a maid to clean the property after you leave. The fee is typically anywhere from $100 to $200. Some companies will waive the fee if you stay longer than seven days, so always ask about that. It is important to know that when you stay in a rental, you do not have daily maid service. A maid usually only comes once you have left the premises. Security Deposit: Traditionally, vacation rentals did not have a security deposit associated with them. However, these days it is becoming more and more common for rentals to require some form of a deposit. It may be a cash deposit you mail before you check-in or giving the rental company your credit card number. The deposit can be used to cover any damages that you or your guests make to the property or can be used in the event that something is stolen. Most rentals have a list of items available in the rental for your use. If you notice anything missing or damaged when you arrive, let the person you are renting from know right away, so you aren't blamed for it. Typically, someone does a walk through before you arrive on property, so this isn't something that you really have to worry about. Pool Heating Fee: The last fee you may encounter when using a vacation rental is a pool heating fee. This may only be a concern if you are renting a unit with a private pool. It costs a lot of money to heat a pool. Therefore, many companies and owners try to keep their costs reasonable by charging you a pool heating fee. If you want the pool heated, you will pay a small, daily fee, typically around $10 to $20 per day, for the pool to be heated. If you don't pay this fee, the pool's heater will be turned off. If you are going during a cold season and plan on using the pool, this may be something you want to look into.
About the Author: Sam Aston is an article writer who writes about many subjects including, http://www.key-west-florida-accommodations.com
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Know More About Different Types Of Travel InsuranceBy: ajay | Feb 5th 2013 - Travel insurance is the least known, as well as availed, insurance types. There are many different categories under travelling insurance class.
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Car Parking At Birmingham Airport Provides Safe And Secure Parking SpotsBy: dan | Feb 5th 2013 - Before you leave for a business trip, it is always important that you take care of the pressing matters to ensure that you do not incur losses. Most of the business executives ensure that they have assigned the core duties to their trusted lieutenants in the bid to ensure that the busin ...
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Best Options To Choose When Parking At Birmingham AirportBy: dan | Feb 5th 2013 - Birmingham airport is one of the busiest in the United Kingdom especially during peak season when holiday makers are traveling around and about. With such a high number of travelers, there are huge provisions for Airport parking Birmingham. However, this number sometimes goes beyond ex ...
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Enjoy The Comfort And Convenience The Car Parking Birmingham Airport OffersBy: dan | Feb 5th 2013 - When planning for long trips, it is sometimes easy to forget about some things. There are a lot of preparations needed such as leaving your house in good hands and having someone to watch over your pet. Most people often forget to make adequate preparations about their vehicles and ofte ...
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Discover True Love - Honeymoon In RajasthanBy: ezeecop | Feb 5th 2013 - The surreal ambience, enticing folklore, captivating sights and an atmosphere filled with love, calls out to the couples seeking for a memorable destination for their Honeymoon.
Booking Holiday Packages For An Amazing TripBy: subhash yadav | Feb 5th 2013 - Everyone wants their holidays to be the best. After working so hard, you would definitely want the best vacation for you and your family.
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Book Travels Tickets Online And Save Money By Cheap Tickets BookingBy: kailashkumar | Feb 5th 2013 - Nowadays it is become easier to book the cheap tickets online from anywhere in the world just by sitting at home or workplace.
Discover The Ultimate Beauty Of Nature This Vacation, Explore GangtokBy: Praveen | Feb 5th 2013 - Finding an accommodation in Gangtok is absolutely easy. The city is abounded with all kinds of accommodations ranging from budget hotels to luxury hotels. And, if you are a foodie, well, there are lots of exciting eating places in Gangtok that are sure to please your taste buds. Lets ...
Tags: Accommodation in Gangtok, Hotels in Gangtok, Restaurants in Ga
Tips To Keep Your Travel Packing Simple And LightBy: Jasline | Feb 4th 2013 - Some people feel that packing for a vacation is the worst part of a travel. Inappropriate packing can become a headache for you. It is necessary that you should not forget to carry necessary things with you. You can avoid overpacking by following certain tips.
Tags: Tips For Light Packing, Avoid Overpacking
Cheap Hotels Near El Cajon CaliforniaBy: Mark Lovell | Feb 4th 2013 - If vacationing in California and are near the city of San Diego, while enjoying the scenic drive along Highway 8, you may decide to rest up for the next day in El Cajon. Being on a budget, and needing a Hotel, there are several affordable Hotels in El Cajon.
Tags: Hotels near Downtown El Cajon, Hotels near South Bay, Hotels
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500 Startups is already focused heavily on investing overseas, with partners looking at startups in markets like Mexico, Brazil, India and Southeast Asia. Now you can add China to the list, as the firm just hired a venture partner to focus on that region. Rui Ma will be joining 500 Startups as its first venture partner in Beijing, where she will be investing and sourcing deal flow in China.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uX-zYsj5CIsdTcoLOMYuEoVkI20Ijzroz8WQRLkUt9CtDHou6xeIQ2aHlovYOsz57tvfFFzQbof2TrkRHXP64vbXEoNS9vc1VfxRQBBOU=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 6-Feb-2013
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If I were to describe a country where the Internet contributes as much as a percentage of GDP as its health services, education and oil industries, and is growing at nearly twice the rate as in Europe ? driven in large part by growth in private and corporate-backed entrepreneurship ? where would you guess?
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