Www. Generation rent counting on ‘Bank of BAE’ to get onto ... - Grass

4 September, 2017

Generation rent counting on `Bank of BAE' to get onto the property ladder

See on p. 8

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News Making Money



Bank of Georgia Signs $75 Million Trade Finance Facility with ADB, IFC, Citibank

The FINANCIAL -- Bank of Georgia has signed a $75 million one-year Club Trade Finance Facility (Club Trade Facility) arranged by Citi with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

This is the fourth Club Trade Facility arranged by Citi for Bank of Georgia, which attracted several international investors during the syndication.

Bank of Georgia is a leading Georgian bank, based on total assets (33.8% market share), total loans (31.5% market share), and client deposits (31.5% market share) as of 30 June 2017.

Proceeds of this year's Club Trade Facility will support import and export transactions for top corporate customers of Bank of Georgia, increasing the volume and value of trade transactions in Georgia's key economic sectors, including agribusiness, transportation, and energy.

Continued on p. 19

Generation rent counting

How much do Member

on `Bank of BAE' to get States spend

onto the property ladder Ion education? TheFINANCIAL andgetontothepropertyladderi.

One in 20 of those under 35 have al-

n 2015, over 716 billion of general government expenditure was spent by the Member States on education. This figure is equivalent to almost 5% (4.9%)

Almost one in six (15%) plan to ready given up the idea of owning their of the EU's GDP. `Education' is the

Almost half of 18-35 yearolds plan to cash in on the `Bank of BAE' to help get onto the property ladder, according to new research. The latest Halifax Generation Rent research found that 45% of 18 to 35 year-olds in UK want to buy their first home with their `BAE' (partner or loved one). The study also revealed that twice as many men (one in five) than women admitted waiting for their `BAE' to try

stay with their parents until they can afford to buy, so parents may be forced to sit tight in the meantime, as a third (32%) of young people aged 18 to 35 see themselves buying their first home within the next five years.

The bad news for parents of under 25s is that one in 10 don't see themselves becoming a homeowner for closer to 10 years. They are, however, still expecting a donation from the Bank of Mum and Dad, with fewer than one in five saying that inheritance isn't an option for them.

own home, with the same number admitting that they're not sure if buying a house is the right choice for them.

The research has highlighted for the first time a difference in mindset between men and women about buying a home, with women less confident about getting on to the property ladder ? 42% claimed buying a house wasn't realistic, compared to 35% of men.

Continued on p. 8

fourth largest item of public expenditure, after `social protection' (19.2%), `health' (7.2%) and `general public services' such as external affairs and public debt transactions (6.2%).

In 2015, the ratio to GDP of government expenditure for education varied by more than one to two across the EU Member States. Overall, 18 of the 28 Member States recorded a ratio of 5% or more.

Continued on p. 6

Women Entrepreneurs Expect CURRENCIES

Big Cracks in the Glass Ceiling Sep2 Aug26

Over the Next 20 Years

1 USD 2.4387 2.4158 1 EUR 2.9057 2.8548

100 RUB 4.2132 4.0848

See on p. 4 1 TRY 0.7088 0.6939

? 2017 The FINANCIAL. INTELLIGENCE BUSINESS PUBLICATION WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR OPINION LEADERS AND TOP BUSINESS DECISION-MAKERS

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HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 4 SEPTEMBER, 2017 |

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4 September, 2017

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Credit Suisse Sued by Billionaire in Singapore and New Zealand, Bloomberg

The FINANCIAL -- Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili sued Credit Suisse Group AG in Singapore, New Zealand and Bermuda, alleging the bank must have known about the actions of a former employee who forged trades to cover losses from other customers' accounts, Bloomberg reported.

According to the agency, Ivanishvili, an ex-prime minister of the former Soviet republic, filed the claims in Auckland at the New Zealand High Court on August 7, then in Bermuda 10 days later and in Singapore on August 25, court documents show. The lawsuits ask courts in the three jurisdictions to force the bank to hand over documents in the Georgian's case against a Credit Suisse banker and makes unspecified claims for losses that Ivanishvili's lawyers say they are still calculating.

Ivanishvili's former lawyers have argued that the Georgian businessman lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the case, which has also attracted at least five other plaintiffs from Russia including former Russian senator Vitaly Malkin.

Geneva Prosecutor Yves Bertossa issued an indictment against L. in June after spending more than a year hearing from witnesses and the banker himself about how he was able to carry on the unauthorized trading for years. The trial is scheduled to start in late November though it could be delayed.

According to Bloomberg, Credit Suisse said in a statement late

Monday that it had only received the claim filed in New Zealand. "After a first review, the statement of claim does not present any new or previously unknown facts," the bank wrote. "It is mainly based on the issues/allegations arising out of the criminal proceedings against the former relationship manager in Geneva. Credit Suisse will take appropriate action to de-

fend the claims." Ivanishvili's lawyers say they

are broadening the legal battle to countries where Credit Suisse had units through which L. invested.

In the Singapore and New Zealand proceedings, Ivanishvili is claiming losses incurred because bank allegedly abused his trust and because "trustees failed to monitor what the bank was do-

ing," according to the statement. The Zurich-based bank took large commission payments from the unauthorized investment of capital in Credit Suisse products, Ivanishvili's lawyers allege. The Bermuda claim alleges "breaches of duty owed by Credit Suisse's Bermuda insurer" including "the failure to ensure the prudent investment of premiums."

Basic Trackers Take a Back Seat as Smartwatches Accelerate in the Second Quarter

The FINANCIAL

T he worldwide wearables market was once again graced with positive growth as shipments grew 10.3% year over year, reaching 26.3 million during the second quarter of 2017 (2Q17), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

The quarter also marked a turning point in the market as basic wearables (those that do not run third party apps) declined for the first time with annual growth of -0.9%. Meanwhile, smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Android Wear lineup grew 60.9% in the quarter thanks to fitness and fashion enthusiasts.

"The transition towards more intelligent and feature-filled wearables is in full swing," said Jitesh Ubrani senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. "For years, rudimentary fitness trackers have acted as a gateway to smartwatches and now we're at a point where brands and consumers are graduating to a more sophisticated device. Previous niche features such as GPS and addi-

tional health tracking capabilities are quickly becoming staples of the modern smartwatch. Just a year ago only 24.5% of all wearables had embedded GPS while today that number has reached almost 41.7%.

"Equally important to device features will be the algorithms tracking workouts and providing health insights," continued Ubrani. "There is growing interest from the medical industry to

adopt wearables and consumer expectations are also on the rise. This is where companies like Apple and Fitibit have the potential to maintain their lead as their investments in the tracking and perhaps diagnosing of diseases will be a clear differentiator from low-cost rivals."

"Market growth favored new and emerging products in the second quarter," noted Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC's

Wearables team "Smartwatches recorded double-digit year-overyear growth, with much of that increase attributable to a growing number of models aimed at specific market segments, like the fashion-conscious and outdoor enthusiasts in addition to the technophile crowd, lower price points, and a slowly-warming reception from consumers and enterprise users alike. Factor in how smartwatches are taking steps to become standalone devices, and more applications are becoming available, and the smartwatch slowly becomes a more suitable mass market product.

"Meanwhile, we also saw triple-digit growth from clothing and earwear," continued Llamas. "These products are still in their initial stages, but by targeting specific market niches (performance tracking clothing for professional athletes) or providing unique value propositions (audio adjustment or language translation for earworn devices), these products are offering solutions to problems other than simply reporting data, and gaining traction."

Continued on p. 6

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HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS

financial news

4 SEPTEMBER, 2017 |

Women

Entrepreneurs

Free Trade Agreement

Expect Big Cracks in

between Georgia

the Glass Ceiling Over

and EFTA countries

the Next 20 Years

entered into force

The FINANCIAL

T he rules of business are changing, and women entrepreneurs are at the forefront of the transformation, according to the 2017 Bank of America Women Business Owner Spotlight, an annual study of more than 1,000 small business owners.

Women in the small business community see gender equality in the workplace on the horizon, as the study found that women entrepreneurs envision significant strides for women in the workforce over the next 20 years, with a majority believing that women will match or exceed men in a number of areas:

Eighty percent of female entrepreneurs foresee greater or equal representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields compared to men in STEM.

Sixty-eight percent believe women will match or exceed men in executive leadership or C-suite role representation.

Sixty-six percent believe there will be more women-owned small businesses compared to those owned by men.

Sixty-one percent of women believe their wages will be equal to or greater than those of men.

Women entrepreneurs also believe there will be greater support for state-enacted paid maternity leave policies over the next 20 years. Seventy-one percent of women business owners believe that at least 25 states will have such a policy within the next two decades. As of August 2017, five states and the District of

Columbia have a paid maternity leave policy in place or planned to take effect.

"Women entrepreneurs have articulated an inspiring vision for the small business community over the next 20 years ? one of equal pay, leadership opportunities and greater support for those with families," said Sharon Miller, managing director, head of Small Business, Bank of America. "Within the context of a growing economy, this bodes incredibly well for the future of women in business."

Women business owners report worklife balance, though still lag behind men

While 61 percent of women small business owners report working more than 40 hours each week, 78 percent believe they have managed to find good balance between their work and home lives, though they still trail men by 7 percentage points (85 percent).

Overall, women mostly feel positive about their work, primarily using words such as "interesting" (52 percent), "fulfilling" (48 percent) and "enjoyable" (46 percent) to de-

scribe the average work week. Still, a sizable number also say an average week is "demanding" (46 percent) and "stressful" (33 percent), and more than one in five say it's "exhausting" ? 8 percentage points higher than men (13 percent). Despite this, a majority report success in preventing work from interfering in their personal life, with 64 percent of women saying their role as a business owner does not regularly cause tension in their personal relationships, identical to their male counterparts.

Women are increasingly upbeat about the economy, though taking a wait-and-see approach on revenue, growth and hiring.

Women small business owners have shown significant increases in optimism toward the economy improving in the year ahead ? including confidence in their local economy (45 percent in 2017 vs. 37 percent in 2016), the national economy (44 percent in 2017 vs. 25 percent in 2016) and the global economy (32 percent in 2017 vs. 16 percent in 2016). Even with women entrepreneurs' robust economic outlook, male small business owners are more optimistic that the local (54 percent), national (58 percent) and global (37 percent) economies will improve over the next 12 months.

Despite a substantial boost in economic confidence, the number of women small business owners who plan to grow their business over the next five years has declined (54 percent in 2017 vs. 60 percent in 2016), as has the number of women anticipating a revenue increase over the next 12 months (44 percent in 2017 vs. 54 percent in 2016). Nineteen

percent of women entrepreneurs plan to hire in the year ahead, on par with 2016. Regarding their business outlook, women were largely in line with their male counterparts in terms of hiring (17 percent) and long-term growth (57 percent) plans, as well as revenue expectations (51 percent).

Economic concerns overall drop, while health care costs remain top worry

In addition to greater confidence in the overall economy, women entrepreneurs' positive outlook was also reflected by a drop in concern over a number of economic factors. When asked about potential economic concerns over the next 12 months, less than half expressed worry over:

Consumer spending (49 percent) Corporate tax rates (45 percent) Strength of the U.S. dollar (44 percent) Commodities prices (42 percent) Compliance with government regulation (41 percent) A minimum wage increase (30 percent) Even the cost of health care, which consistently ranks as the top economic concern, fell to 68 percent from 74 percent one year earlier.

The FINANCIAL -- The free trade agreement between Georgia and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) entered into force on 1st September 2017.

At this stage the agreement entered into force only among Georgia, Norway and Iceland. For Switzerland and Lichtenstein the agreement will enter into force in 3 month after the ratification of the agreement by both countries.

Georgia-EFTA FTA has been signed on 27th of June 2016 in Bern, Switzerland during the EFTA Ministerial.

It has to be noted that from the beginning parties agreed to conduct 4 rounds of negotiations, however negotiations have been finalized in 3 rounds due to the partie's effective and productive cooperation.

The agreement allows Georgian producers to export majority of their goods without tariff barriers to the additional 14-mln high purchasing power consumer market, according to Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

The agreement covers following issues: trade in goods, trade in services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, intellectual property rights, public procurement, competition, trade remedies and sustainable development.

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