KABUL, Afghanistan — In early 2009, as President Hamid Karzai scanned the landscape for potential partners to run in his re-election bid, he was approached from an unusual corner: a bank. The president’s brother, Mahmoud, and another Afghan businessman, Haseen Fahim, were shareholders in Kabul Bank, one of the freewheeling financial institutions that had sprung up over the past decade since the Taliban’s fall.

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Karzai Family Ties Shielded Flailing Afghan Bank

My good friends Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, best known for the classic, award-winning book, The Leadership Challenge , have written a new book called The Truth About Leadership .

Excerpt from:
Marshall Goldsmith: What Is the Truth About Leadership? (Part 1 of 2)

California regulators are seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from health insurer PacifiCare over allegations that it repeatedly mismanaged medical claims, lost thousands of patient documents, failed to pay doctors what they were owed and ignored calls to fix the problems. In court filings and other documents, the California Department of Insurance says PacifiCare violated state law nearly 1 million times from 2006 to 2008 after it was purchased by UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s largest health insurance company by revenue

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Health Insurer PacifiCare Faces Up To $9.9 Billion In Fines For Nearly A Million Alleged Health Care Violations

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) — Peter Kurz, head of Taiwan research at Citigroup Inc., talks about the prospects for new listings of overseas and Taiwanese companies on the island.

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Video: Citi’s Kurz Says Taiwan Listings to `Energize’ Market: Video

Internal investment committees and teams should be given an investment management agreement by their boards, in order to define accountability, according to Russell Investments expert, Sorca Kelly-Scholte.   There have been many studies, discussions, debates and papers written about fund governance, but putting words into action seems to be a slow See original here: Internal contracts could solve accountability issues

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Internal contracts could solve accountability issues

You get immune to rapid change in China, with the pace of development clearly visible all around. One wonders how long it will still be a considered a developing nation.  Importantly for institutional investors, the development points to a shift from reliance on exports to domestic demand-driven growth.

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China’s growth not so lopsided but markets are

After three tumultuous years of reforms including a raft of new policies and procedures at the third-largest pension fund in the US, culminating in a 25.9 per cent return last year, Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State Comptroller, has hit a snag in the last quarter.The New York State Common See original here: DiNapoli’s first snag at NY State fund as markets sour again

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DiNapoli’s first snag at NY State fund as markets sour again

The defined-benefit New York State Teachers’ Retirement System is defending its 8 per cent assumed rate of return at a time in the US when the limelight is focussed on pension fund structural issues.    According to a paper on NYSTRS’ website, recent studies have attempted to cast doubt on public View original post here: NYSTRS defends defined benefit

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NYSTRS defends defined benefit

SimCorp Strategy Lab, a private research institution, designed to challenge industry best-practice on issue relating to mitigating risk, reducing cost and enabling growth in the investment management industry, has set up four new sector-specific research groups including a separate group focused on pension funds.      With the groups set up so Read the original post: SimCorp research focuses on pension fund best practice

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SimCorp research focuses on pension fund best practice

Here’s an insight about Wall Street you probably won’t get anywhere else: The creation of new investment products has nothing to do with investing. It’s done primarily to separate you from your money

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Dan Solin: The Wall Street Way