Tag Archives: south-korea
UK govt launches consultation on Bank of England powers in the housing market
The UK government is inviting responses to a consultation on which powers the independent Bank of England should have over the country’s housing market. The Chancellor George Osborne has already announced that he was determined to work with the Bank to ensure that they had appropriate powers over the UK housing market to maintain its stability. Earlier this month, the Bank requested a range of powers including the ability to set a debt to income ratio for mortgages and control loan to value ratios. Currently, the Bank can only recommend that such a limit is put in place. The power to put in place these limits lies with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). So the government is launching a consultation today on whether the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) should have the power to directly control these limits for macro-prudential purposes. The consultation will run from 30 October to 28 November 2014 and the powers that the Bank is requesting are commonly held by its counterparts in other countries. For example, loan to value controls are used extensively in countries including Canada, New Zealand and Norway, while both the Hong Kong and South Korea have used debt to income ratios too, which has proved particularly successful. The consultation document states that the government is proposing that the Bank is granted powers of direction for loan to value limits and debt to income limits for owner-occupied mortgages. The government is particularly interested to hear what consumers and the industry feels is an appropriate definition of debt for these purposes. The government intends to consult separately in 2015 on the Bank’s recommendations for it to have new powers over the buy to let market, with a view to building an in-depth evidence base on how the operation of the UK buy to let housing market may carry risks to financial stability. ‘Ensuring the stability of the UK housing market is a crucial part of this government’s long term economic plan, and I have been clear that the independent Bank of England should have the tools it needs to do this,’ said Osborne. ‘That’s why the government is consulting on this issue, to ensure that we can bring forward appropriate legislation to give the Bank the powers it needs. The government already works closely with the Bank to ensure the ongoing stability of the UK housing market,’ he pointed out. He added that in June, the Bank issued a recommendation over mortgage lending limits, with new regulations introduced earlier this month capping the number of loans above 4.5 times income which banks can offer. Continue reading
M’sia Eyes Bigger Slice Of Growing Biomass Pellets Market
Published on: Thursday, October 10, 2013 Putra Jaya: Malaysia aims to capture a bigger slice of the growing demand for biomass pellets in Asia driven by renewable energy policies in South Korea, Japan and China. Chief Executive Officer of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, Mark Rozario, said the country has an advantage in terms of logistics and cost of transportation, which were usually dominated by pellet producers from US and Europe. “We want to grab this opportunity and with the establishment of the Pellet Association of Malaysia (PAM) earlier, we have united the manufacturers on issues such as quality, pricing and volumes,” he told reporters after the briefing on the progress of the National Biomass Strategy 2020 here Wednesday. Rozario said demand for biomass pellets in Asia by 2020 was estimated to be around 10 million tonnes per year, mainly driven by renewable energy policies in certain countries. “Right now, Malaysia produces about 100,000 tonnes per year and there is room for us to increase our capacity following the plan to collaborate with more plantation owners to supply the feedstocks,” he said. He said Malaysia could produce about five-seven million tonnes per year of pellets in the next five years. Rozario said PAM now has 10 members and five of them had started production of the biomass pellets. He said the agency was ready to attract more players to invest in this industry. Earlier, Malaysia biomass pellet manufacturers inked deals with companies from China and South Korea to supply biomass pellets to help meet their countries’ renewable energy targets. Detik Aturan Sdn Bhd signed the memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s BC21 Co Ltd and Global Green Synergy Sdn Bhd with Chinalight (GuangZhou) – Bernama Continue reading
Malaysia Eyes Bigger Slice Of Growing Biomass Pellets Market
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 9 (Bernama) — Malaysia aims to capture a bigger slice of the growing demand for biomass pellets in Asia driven by renewable energy policies in South Korea, Japan and China. Chief Executive Officer of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, Mark Rozario, said the country has an advantage in terms of logistics and cost of transportation, which were usually dominated by pellet producers from US and Europe. “We want to grab this opportunity and with the establishment of the Pellet Association of Malaysia (PAM) earlier, we have united the manufacturers on issues such as quality, pricing and volumes,” he told reporters after the briefing on the progress of the National Biomass Strategy 2020 here today. Rozario said demand for biomass pellets in Asia by 2020 was estimated to be around 10 million tonnes per year, mainly driven by renewable energy policies in certain countries. “Right now, Malaysia produces about 100,000 tonnes per year and there is room for us to increase our capacity following the plan to collaborate with more plantation owners to supply the feedstocks,” he said. He said Malaysia could produce about five-seven million tonnes per year of pellets in the next five years. Rozario said PAM now has 10 members and five of them had started production of the biomass pellets. He said the agency was ready to attract more players to invest in this industry. Earlier, Malaysia biomass pellet manufacturers inked deals with companies from China and South Korea to supply biomass pellets to help meet their countries’ renewable energy targets. Detik Aturan Sdn Bhd signed the memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s BC21 Co Ltd and Global Green Synergy Sdn Bhd with Chinalight (GuangZhou) Import & Export Corp of China. — BERNAMA Continue reading
