Weekly Round-Up: Big Banks Buy into Brazil and Other News

 

Here’s a weekly look at the top business, finance and world economy news.

 

Here’s a weekly look at the top business, finance and world economy news.

World Economy

The global economy could be heading for another recession, and high consumer confidence may be misplaced. In the first quarter, growth seemed to be robust in Asia as well as the US as unemployment started to finally decrease. However by April, economic data turned quickly and has been sliding ever since. Following the disasters in Japan and the beginnings of what looks like a full blown crisis in Europe; Is this, then, the beginning of a hard landing for the global economy, another recession, perhaps, with equally devastating consequences as the bust in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers?

Check out our Real-Time Consumer Confidence Index for up-to-the-minute data.

Related: What Will Make the Great Financial Crisis Look Like Child’s Play? The Next One: Gordon Brown

Industries & Business

The domestic cloud computing industry in India is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 53% by 2014, a study conducted by CyberMedia Research India said. This is fuelled by the strong belief that cloud computing will allow a large number of SMB enterprises to adopt the same enterprise class software and technology solutions, it added. As per the study, penetration in cloud computing is expected to grow by 6.8% in 2012 from 4% in 2010.

UK- Public sector workers strike against unfair pension schemes. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union said “hundreds and hundreds of thousands” were expected to take part in Thursday’s strikes because the government was “failing to compromise” over pension reforms that he claimed were unfair and politically motivated.

Companies & Investment

Poland- Billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak agreed to buy Polkomtel SA, Poland’s second-largest mobile-phone company, for 15.1 billion zloty ($5.5 billion) in a record acquisition by a Polish investor.

Brazil- Goldman Sachs is looking to boost its workforce in Brazil in an effort to expand its footprint in the emerging markets. The bank is targeting growth in high margin businesses such as convertible debt and the securitization of receivables in the booming investment banking sector in the Latin American nation.

Other investment banks such as JPMorgan , Bank of America, UBS, Credit Suisse and Citigroup also have significant presence in the region.

Find out more about the Brazil Economy, Trade and Economic Forecasts.

Personal Finance

UK- An end to the “rip-off” card fees imposed when people book flights and other services online could be in sight after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) urged the government to ban debit card surcharges. Following an investigation prompted by the consumer group Which?, the OFT has called for action to tackle surcharges levied on debit and credit card transactions by travel companies – particularly airlines.

Related: Credit Card Bill: $3725.65. No Unfair Fees: Priceless.

AU- Life insurance take-up is on the rise. Australia’s life insurance problem has reduced significantly over the last six years, but levels of insurance are still half of what they should be, according to a new survey. Rice Warner Actuaries found as at June 2010, the overall level of underinsurance in life risk was at $669 billion, which compares favourably to $1,000 billion of underinsurance in 2005.

Check out our slideshows:

2011 World Economy Vital Statistics

The Evolution of Christine Lagarde’s Career