Monday 31 October 2011

Slow start for rival bourse operator Chi-X

Bourse operator Chi-X launched stock trading in Australia today, ending a two-decade monopoly held by ASX Group, which only last week suffered a technical glitch that shut down trading one day for four hours.

Chi-X, controlled by Nomura, now offers just eight securities, which includes global miner BHP Billiton and top supermarket chain Woolworths. Volumes were a trickle compared to the incumbent but Chi-X is expected to gain market share once brokers are assured of execution reliability.

It will also expand to offer all securities once it satisfies the regulator over the reliability of its systems.
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"Once we are comfortable with the execution of our internal order flow, we will commence migration of all desks to access Chi-X by default alongside the ASX," said Steve Hammerton, head of direct execution services and portfolio trading for UBS Australia.

"We expect volume on Chi-X to reach around 10-15 per cent over the next six months as brokers move to trade on the new exchange."

UBS is one of the 22 firms to have signed up with Chi-X. Others include Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Macquarie.

Chi-X was among the first entrants in places such as Europe, Canada and Japan when competition was introduced, shaking up established players as new platforms armed with fast trading technology and smaller overheads slashed fees.

The launch comes after ASX suffered an embarrassing outage on Thursday that halted the market for four hours. Chi-X, which is expected to compete on cost, has said its systems would be able to keep trading in circumstances such as last week's halt.

"We welcome the launch, which marks the start of a new era for Australia's financial market and fulfils the Government's promise to open up Australia's equity market to competition," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

Competition is vital for the development of Australia as a financial services centre," Swan said.

The launch of an alternative stock exchange is part of Australia's plans to establish itself as a regional financial hub.

Rival ASX's plan to take on competition at home and internationally by merging with Singapore Exchange was scuppered when regulators blocked it citing national interest.

ASX has, however, set in motion a series of measures to hold ground, including cutting fees by 40 per cent, boosting speed and rolling out a new data centre to encourage high-frequency trading.

Chi-X has announced trading fees up to 40 per cent lower than ASX in a pricing model that offers a rebate for traders placing an order and finding a match. Brokers coming in to find a match will be charged more.

Volumes in Chi-X traded securities were between 0.05 per cent and 2 per cent of the same ASX listed securities in afternoon trade, Thomson Reuters data showed. Volume was highest in QBE Insurance and lowest in CSL, the data showed.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Bills unpaid for sick detainees

A SMALL, remote West Australian hospital has been treating sick and suicidal asylum-seekers for the Immigration Department for 18 months without being paid.

Derby Hospital in the far north Kimberley is owed $268,000 for in-patient care of detainees from the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre, 50km away, including life-saving treatment for nine men rushed there after a hunger strike in January.

But the bill could be as high as $500,000, some Kimberley health workers told The Australian yesterday, because of the cost of attracting staff to such a remote location. The Australian understands the outstanding bill is due to a paperwork delay, though it was unclear which agency was responsible.

The hospital can't be paid until a memorandum of understanding is finalised between the Immigration Department and the state's country health service, a spokesman for the WA Country Health Service said last night.

Yesterday the Department of Immigration and Citizenship confirmed it was working towards reimbursing Western Australia's regional health service but refused to say how much was owed.

"The department is currently working with WA Health to finalise . . . reimbursement of costs for people in immigration detention," the spokeswoman said.

Derby, population 4500, is the closest town to the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre, which was reopened in April to accommodate a blowout in the number of detainees in immigration detention across the country. More than 1100 men are now detained there and their health is generally the responsibility of an on-site contractor, IHMS. But when they need to go to hospital they are most often taken by car to Derby.

The department confirmed it had made some payments to Country Health WA since Curtin reopened. But The Australian has been told the payments were for services other than in-patient care.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Trafficking fears after 10 asylum seeker children go missing

THERE are fears that ten asylum seeker children who've gone missing have been trafficked.

A Department of Immigration spokeswoman said that the children were all Vietnamese and aged between 15 and 18.

Nine were in community detention in Victoria. The remaining teenager has gone missing from WA.

"The Department of Immigration can confirm 10 children have absconded," the spokeswoman said.

She said the Red Cross was the contracted service provider for community detention.

Seven other unaccompanied minors are in community detention in Victoria and WA.

There are fears that the teenagers may have been trafficked.

Liberal Senate Leader Eric Abetz said the Labor government must explain how this happened.

"Why is their system failing yet again?" Senator Abetz said today in Canberra.

Australian Greens senator Bob Brown said the news was worrying.

"It's very concerning," he said.

Senior Labor left figure senator Doug Cameron said the incident should not be a reflection on the merits of community detention.

"What I've seen of community detention in Australia and around the world is that it works, it's cost-effective and the most humane way to deal with refugees," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Red Cross said the charity was not responsible for the security of asylum seekers but was involved in providing housing, support services and English lessons.

She said the security of asylum seekers in detention was a matter for the Department.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Tough new UK immigration policy launched

The United Kingdom has made a series of immigration reforms designed to crack down on illegal immigration and breaches of visa regime in the UK.

Speaking at the Institute of Government today in London, Prime Minister, David Cameron, noted a number of initiatives to strengthen the UK approach on immigration, including the new criteria and tougher British rorts position of family migration recruitment visa and other violations of the United Kingdom.

Cameron said that a tougher approach will require collaboration between government and citizens.

"For our part in the government, we are creating a new national crime agency with a dedicated border police command has the responsibility to safeguard the security of our border," he said.

But I want everyone in the country to help a |even reports suspected illegal immigrants to our Border Agency through the Crimestoppers telephone line or through the website of the Border Agency. Together, we will recover our borders and send home illegal immigrants. "

The Prime Minister highlighted the issue of illegal immigration through the routes of the family and marriage migration services. In response, Mr Cameron said the government will legislate to make forced marriage a crime or fictitious and after the reforms of family migration system marked by the controversial Interior Secretary, Theresa May, earlier this month .

The Government will also introduce a requirement for families who pay a deposit substantial financial thousand pounds in settlement cases a spouse or relative abroad.

In addition, changes will be made to the citizenship test for applicants for UK passports to include questions on British history, reflecting a move made by the Howard government in Australia in 2007.

"Let's change the citizenship test. There is a whole chapter in the manual for citizenship in British history, but, incredibly, no doubt in British history on the actual test," said Cameron.

"Instead you'll find questions about the roles and responsibilities of key institutions in Europe and the benefit system in the UK, so let's review all the evidence. And put the British history and culture in her heart ".

Migrant groups have responded strongly to the proposals. Don Flynn, Director of the Network of Migrant Rights, described the new policy approach as "backward" and disturbing. "

Interior spokesman Keith Vaz Labour, said the issuance of a requirement for migrant families to send large financial bonds will have a negative impact on diplomatic relations and the community.

"This (policy) antagonize the communities settled in Britain and infuriate allies as India."

Australia's skills shortage escalates over 20%

Releasing its 2011 expert migration survey, KPMG says the labour shortage worsened by 10% over the past year. & it is not the booming natural resources sector that is feeling the pinch a foreign workers are also being sought in the areas of accounting, finance, IT, planning & owner. There is even a national crisis in Executive Cooks!

Reinforcement of the warnings they have been issuing comes from accounting firm KPMG which expects the retirement of kid boomers over the next decade to present labour challenges to small & medium-sized businesses in Australia.

The survey also found that 28% of respondents were feeling the effects of the departure of kid boomers from the workforce, & 42% expect the generation's retirement to deliver a "moderate to significant" impact over the next years. This year the first of the kid boomers are set to retire.

The document, based on 300 Australian businesses, conducted through July & August, shows that 61% of respondents have reported skills shortages over the year, up from 51% the earlier year. An overall growth in skills gaps of over 20%

Furthermore, 89% of respondents said they were training Australian employees to meet future skill needs, with 78.5% finding it more effective to train & retrain existing local employees than recruit expert offshore workers under the 457 visa program owing to the time delays associated with going this route.

But it is not all doom & gloom: KPMG says an "encouraging" 69% of respondents had some kind of strategy in pace for dealing with skills, & 57% reported planning for generational change.

The document notes that smaller companies those with up to $20 million in revenue are less likely than larger companies to be more reliant on offshore skills, with 12% tipping an increased reliance on expert migration recruitment australia over the next years, versus 33% for companies with revenue between $201 & $400 million.

While stressing that demand for foreign labour will be contingent on global economic conditions, Australia is already battling with other Western countries for foreign labour.

There is a worldwide shortage of talent in positive sectors & failure to think internationally may leave Australian CEO's with egg on their face, as competition intensifies , in the light of increased international mobility in labour markets.

For international recruitment agencies,able to access talent, will place them in the simplest, most rewarding markets, & Australian bureaucracy does not lend itself to rapid job offers in a competitive international arena.