usfinancereviewer, Author at US Finance Review

Margaret Keane Head of Synchrony Financial

One of only two women running independently traded US banks valued at over $10 billion, Margaret Keane, 55, knows what it feels like to be unique.

She explained why she follows sports news, even though sports are not a real interest of hers:

“A lot of times I’m the only woman in the room,” said Keane, who leads Synchrony Financial. “If the Yankees won last night, you should know because it’s going to come up. You need to be able to banter with your male colleagues — you can fight that or you can get in the middle.”

Keane has been climbing the corporate ladder for thirty years, learning to build relationships and the ins and outs of finance. Starting in the call center at Citicorp, she managed to make it to the rarefied atmosphere of top level management where women are conspicuously absent. Now she is faced with a new and exciting challenge. Her company, Synchrony, until recently, was a part of General Electric. As of last July, however it has spun off as its own financial lending institution, becoming the largest bank in the US that is run by a woman.

The other woman in this special club is Beth Mooney of KeyCorp. Even though women hold about half the job in financial services, when you examine the upper echelons of executive positions women are only represented 12.4 percent of the time.

“There’s an enormous responsibility that comes with being a diverse leader,” Keane said in an interview at the firm’s Stamford, Conn., headquarters. “My job is to figure out how to get more women in leadership across our industry.”

Hackers Wreaking Havoc on Financial Records

If there were 2 million bank robberies in just one day in the United States, it is likely that someone would sit up and take notice. According to the FBI, the equivalent of that number of bank robberies is taking place every day in cyberspace. In only the past half year computer hackers have made off with 2.4 million financial records, on average, every single day. According to USA Today 439 records were stolen and 500 million were compromised during the past year.

“We’re in a day when a person can commit about 15,000 bank robberies sitting in their basement,”

said Robert Anderson, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Cyber Response and Services Branch.

Some of the better known businesses that have been targets of cyber-thievery are Target, Home Depot and JP Morgan Chase. Tim Pawlenty, president of the Financial Services Roundtable and former Republican governor of Minnesota, said that around half of all adult Americans, or about 110 million people, have had their financial data compromised one way or another during the past year. The vast majority of businesses who have been hacked don’t even realize their accounts have fallen into the wrong hands until financial institutions or customers tell them, according to a study conducted by Verizon.

Barrett Wissman: A Modern Medici

One could make an excellent case for saying that what the Medici family did for art and architecture in the 16th century, Barrett Wissman is doing for refined music and fine arts in the 21st century. A successful Los Angeles, California-based entrepreneur and patron of the arts, Barrett Wissman began with an idea and turned it into a movement.

Wissman’s idea was to give a new meaning to performance arts by bringing prestigious music performances to out-of-the-way venues, in contrast to the well-worn art hubs like Milan, London or Edinburgh. From the early stages of Wissman’s project his vision was to create an arts festival. He began with a small performance in Tuscany in an 18th century abandoned opera house. Within a short time this acorn grew into the mighty oak of the now globally praised “Tuscan Sun Festival.”

It did not take long before other arts lovers sought Barret Wissman’s unique abilities to help them create their own arts festivals. For instance, in Northern California Wissman was called upon to help launch the “Napa Valley Festival del Sole.”

As Wissman himself put it,

“It’s a mission in my life to have more and more people enjoy and love the arts.”

As a philanthropist, financier, Principal and Co-Chairman of IMG Artists, a performing arts management company with offices in Los Angeles, California, New York, Paris and London, Barrett Wissman seems to fit the description of “Medici of the 21st century” quite well.

Ameriprise Boosts Staff Across USA

Ameriprise Financial Inc announced that it has hired five new advisors to different locales across the country.

During the past several weeks the asset manager and brokerage firm hired John Ledford from Commonwealth Financial Network; Steve Jacobson from James Financial; Kevin Barnes who left ProEquities; from Morgan Stanley Ron Camisasca; and Sandra Hudgins joining from Merrill Lynch.

Ledford will be going to Ameriprise’s Orando, Florida office. According to Ameriprise he will have $138 million in assets under management. Jacobson will have $124 million in AUM, based in the New Orleans branch office. Stationed in Bentonville, Arkansas with $148 million will be Kevin Barnes. In Clearwater, Florida Camisasca will manage $96 million in assets, while Hudgins will control $100 million from the Dallas, Texas branch.

Four of the managers were taken on as employees, and the fifth, namely Kevin Barnes was hired as and independent advisor.

Ironic Criticism of US Issued from Egypt

In what many are interpreting as a not-so-veiled insult, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging the US to “exercise restraint” while dealing with violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri. The statement is not only insulting, but also ironic, as it echoes the language used by the US towards Egypt during its own crackdown on violent Islamic protests last year.

Observers are unsure why the Egyptians, who generally do not criticize one of their most important sponsors, would choose to make such a biting statement.

In the wake of the hard-line crackdown on protestors last year in which hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members were gunned down by Egyptian forces, relations between the US and Egypt became strained. The protestors were demonstrating against the forced ouster by the Egyptian army of democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood member President Mohamed Mursi in July, 2013.

Western countries remain suspicious of Mursi’s replacement, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted Mursi and then won the votes he needed to become president. Despite the US discomfort with al-Sisi they have continued to provide monetary and military support to the regime.

The statement released by Egypt came after protests denouncing the shooting of an unarmed black teen by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri became increasing violent and out of control. The statement made was uncomfortably close to a statement issued by the US in July 2013 in which the White House “urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and caution” in dealing with protests by Mursi supporters. Egypt even added that the foreign ministry was “closely following the escalation of protests” in Ferguson.

Treasury Calls for Financial Institutions and Congress to Boost Cybersecurity

Urging financial institutions and companies to do what is needed to protect consumers; US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew spoke at the Institutional Investor’s 4th Annual Delivering Alpha Conference and CNBC. Lew said that US financial institutions must protect their customers against cybersecurity thefts, disruptions and attacks. He said that our institutions of finance should utilize the Administration’s new cybersecurity framework not only with their own systems but also as a means to evaluate outside vendors.

“The consequences of cyber incidents are serious,” Secretary Lew said. “When credit card data is stolen, it disturbs lives and damages consumer confidence. When trade secrets are robbed, it undercuts America’s businesses and undermines U.S. competitiveness. And successful attacks on our financial system would compromise market confidence, jeopardize the integrity of data, and pose a threat to financial stability.”

While the new framework, which is called “Improving Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity” as 2013 Executive Order 13636, is being implemented, more needs to be done to improve our ability to fight cyber threats. Secretary Lew has been calling on Congress to pass all-encompassing laws which will improve the state of information sharing by making provisions for targeted liability protections while at the same time protecting privacy.

“As it stands, our laws do not do enough to foster information sharing and defend the public from digital threats. We need legislation with clear rules to encourage collaboration and provide important liability protection. It must be safe for companies to collaborate responsibly, without providing immunity for reckless, negligent or harmful behavior. And we need legislation that protects individual privacy and civil liberties, which are so essential to making the United States a free and open society. We appreciate the bipartisan interest in addressing this important issue, and the Administration will continue to work with key stakeholders on the various bills that are developing in Congress,” added Secretary Lew.

Toys ‘R’ Us Fires CFO Creasey

Taking Out the Old and Bringing in the New (CFO)

No reason was given as yet for the summary firing of Chief Financial Officer F. Clay Creasey Jr after serving in the role since 2006. Replacing him will be Michael J. Short, former executive at AutoNation.

Toys ‘R’Us will pay Mr. Short $700,000 as his annual base salary. He will also be able to receive up to the same amount in yearly bonuses. In addition the company will offer Mr. Short stock options.

Mr. Short was the CFO for seven years at AutoNation. He also had financial roles at Universal Orlando, Seagram & Sons, and IBM Corp previous to his stint at AutoNation.

“We are delighted to have Mike join the organization during this transformational time for our company and look forward to the benefit of his strong financial and strategic experience, as well as his unique insights and fresh perspective on the business,” said Toys ‘R’ Us Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Urcelay.

Spotlight on India for General Motors

General Motors India has announced that it will start exporting its cars out of the country. It will sell left-hand-drive versions of its Chevrolet Beat hatchback to Chile in 2015.

Up until now, the production in India hasn’t been at capacity. Their two factories can build 282,000 cars each year, but until now they have used less than a third of their total capacity. During the fiscal year that ended in March, they sold approximately 81,000 cars in India.

Many global automakers are looking to India now to become a regional export hub, especially for small cars. They hope to take advantage of the low-cost manufacturing base there.

GoPro Files for IPO: Hopes to Raise at Least $100 Million

GoPro, maker of wearable cameras designed to be used by extreme sports enthusiast and

others, has filed documents with regulators of its intention to sell shares of their company. The numbers of shares they intend to sell, and their price, have not yet been disclosed.

The company did say that they hope to pay off a $111 million debt with proceeds from their IPO, and with any additional money they raise, “it may use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, technologies or assets.”

Net income in 2013 was $60.6 million, almost twice what it brought in in 2012. GoPro has sold over 8.5 million HD cameras since they first launched that product in 2009.

The company intends to list on the NASDAQ using the symbol “GPRO.” JP Morgan, Citigroup and British Barclays Bank will be working on the IPO. Nicholas Woodman, founder and CEO, and his family, are the largest shareholders, with 49 percent. The company stated that Woodman was a crucial player in the future success of the company.

“The loss of Mr. Woodman could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results,” the company said in a statement

FoxConn, a Taiwan-based manufacturer, has a minority share in GoPro. In 2012 they purchased the company for $200 million. That deal values the camera maker at about $2.25 billion.

Hublot presenta su Nueva pieza de tiempo : Miguel Mawad

Cada año en el Grand Palais de París se lleva acábo el Tour Auto 2014. Hublot se inscribió en el segundo año de ser el cronometrador oficial y exclusivo para el evento. Este es sin duda una excelente noticia para los amantes del dueño de la tienda Hublot y automóviles como Miguel Mawad. Miguel Mawad poseé tiendas Hublot en la República Dominicana y Venezuela.

Como celebración del evento, Hublot presento el Tour Auto 2014 Classic Fusion Chrono que se limitará a sólo 100 piezas. Cada pieza está hecha con titanio y el reloj está “equipado con un movimiento- automático, choronografia mecanica HUB1143 con fecha, comprendido por más de 280 componentes, entre ellos 59 joyas que oscilan a una frecuencia de 28.600 alternancias por hora.” El aspecto (imagen)del reloj se púle con 59 joyas que oscilan a una frecuencia de 28.600 vibraciones por hora. Cuenta con un dial de rayos de sol negro satinado recubierto con franjas de color rojo, blanco y azul para honrar a la bandera francesa.

Hublot, y los dueños de tiendas Hublot como Miguel Mawad, tienen el honor de ser parte de este evento.