[. . . . ] Recently, another ‘big bank’ alternative has surfaced online – a high-interest savings account offered through ICICI Bank Canada, a subsidiary of India's largest bank, Mumbai-based ICICI Bank Ltd., which has about 450 branches and 1,700 ATMs across India.
Like ING Direct and its counterparts, ICICI is a member of Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation ("CDIC") and is supported by a state-of-the art electronic banking platform and proprietary ATMs, which are currently available in four – English, French, Punjabi, and Chinese – languages. It also has a few branches in and around the Toronto area. Nonetheless, it’s primarily another online option, looking to both serve its existing mix of ethnic customers and recent immigrants and expand its appeal beyond this particular demographic.
As a growing number of people continue to migrate to Canada in search of opportunity, banks across the country are competing to provide them with financial services. But ICICI’s ‘Hello Canada Newcomers Account’, a banking services package designed to provide instant access to banking services in Canada to Indians coming to Canada, is rather unique although it’s not going to do much for the existing domestic market.
The package is designed for Indians planning to work, study or immigrate to Canada, enabling them to open a savings account, and apply for a credit card or loans before leaving from India, thus reducing downtime before they can access banking services here. It’s a handy alternative for people coming to this country. [. . . . ]
This announcement will spur our government to allow bank mergers, I suspect. As if our banks don't make enough now. Do you ever feel that banks provide little service that you really want as it is?
[. . . . ] Chinese energy companies are on the verge of striking ambitious deals in Canada in efforts to win access to some of the most prized oil reserves in North America.
The deals may create unease for the first time since the 1970's in the traditionally smooth energy relationship between the United States and Canada.
[. . . . ] Chinese companies are also said to be considering direct investments in the oil sands, by buying into existing producers or acquiring companies with leases to produce oil in the region. In all, there are nearly half a dozen deals in consideration, initially valued at $2 billion and potentially much more, according to senior executives at energy companies here.
One preliminary agreement could be signed in early January. A spokesman for the Department of Energy in Washington said officials were monitoring the talks but declined to comment further.
[. . . . ] Executives at energy companies and investment banks in Calgary say an agreement with the Chinese could materialize as early as next month. Ian La Couvee, a spokesman for Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company, said it was in talks to offer a Chinese company a 49 percent stake in a 720-mile pipeline planned between northern Alberta and the northwest coast of British Columbia. [. . . . ]
BEIJING -- China's Communist rulers have a blunt message for anyone who frets about the planned Chinese takeover of Canada's biggest mining company: Get ready for more to come.
In an exclusive interview with The Globe and Mail in Beijing this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing made it plain that the controversial $7-billion takeover of Noranda Inc. is just a small element in a much more ambitious strategy of investment in Canada's resources sector to feed China's voracious appetite for raw materials.
"Given our rapid economic growth, we're facing an acute shortage of natural resources," the Foreign Minister told The Globe. [. . . . ]
Did you know that China's human rights situation is "not too different from Canada's"? Or that trade with China has increased 60% in one year? You may learn other interesting details if you link.
China and trust: Let's examine the past duplicitous actions of China Minmetals in Canada before we let the state-run entity take over Noranda -- MP David Kilgour has written an excellent, well-researched article
Is Minmetals really the acquirer in the proposed transaction to purchase Noranda?
David Kilgour is Liberal Member of Parliament for Mill Woods-Beaumont (Edmonton). This article was first published in the Northern Miner.
[. . . . ] The government of China has openly admitted that it desperately needs natural resources to fuel its economy and will pursue an aggressive acquisitive strategy to ensure a steady supply. China wants to circumvent the discipline of markets by securing captive supplies of raw materials. Ordinarily, the rising cost of such products would prohibit its economy from growing too quickly and placing too much strain on the world's supply of resources.
However, China's strategy of acquiring resources directly and thus outside the marketplace frees it from being subject to the forces of supply and demand. Without market principles to restrain China's growth, the world may soon face a serious global resource shortage, which will have negative implications for all, as commodity price inflation destabilizes economies generally.
China has shown also shown a disturbing willingness to deal with authoritarian and corrupt regimes in order to secure access to natural resources. Beijing makes no demands on the countries it operates in with respect to good governance and thus makes a good trading partner for governments that are often criticized. In Burma (Myanmar), for example, the Chinese prop up an authoritarian and corrupt regime by serving as a market for the country's timber and minerals. [. . . . ]
Contrary to the agreement, Minmetals refused to complete the purchase of Sydney Steel and sold its interest to a firm called Global Steel. Ordinarily in such a situation, the province would have sued Minmetals for breach of contract, but in this case such an action would have proved futile because the province had been dealing with a Minmetals shell company called Mincan Canada, headquartered in Canada for the express purpose of consummating the deal with the province. Mincan had no assets and as a result litigation would have achieved nothing. Based on the Nova Scotia experience with Minmetals, several questions come to mind.
Is Minmetals really the acquirer in the proposed transaction to purchase Noranda? If not, what assurances do Canadians have that Minmetals will fulfill any legal and ethical obligations that come with operating in Canada? Minmetals' duplicitous past actions make it is clear that the current proposal to acquire Noranda requires serious scrutiny.
Read the rest of the well-researched details of Kilgour's ammo.
Ottawa fails to reach offshore revenue deal -- Premier Williams has taken down the Canadian flags on public buildings
The National Post editorial this morning [Dec.24, 04] criticizes Premier Williams' actions but I think of the raw deal this province got in the past with the electricity contract with Quebec and I am not so sure. There has to come a point where a province moves from "have-not" status to "have" and equalization grants must end but . . . . . Think of the mismanaged fishery upon which the area had lived previously. The Quebec electricity deal was so unfair to Newfoundlanders that any honourable government would have admitted it and re-negotiated. Gaining oil revenues seems one way of redressing the unfairness. Perhaps I am wrong but so much unfairness has been visited upon the rest of Canada by federal governments catering to one province and not stopping it from special treatment and having assymetrical rules that I am happy to see Newfoundland-Labrador fight the feds. The nub of Williams' beef is in the following.
[. . . . ] Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have long pressed Ottawa to revamp the way offshore oil and gas revenues affect equalization payments.
For every new dollar in energy royalties a province takes in, its equalization payments are reduced. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland want to exclude royalty revenues from the equalization calculation, saying the clawback has prevented both provinces from shedding their 'have-not' status. [. . . . ]
