Obama to unveil plans for financial sector overhaul

President Barack Obama will unveil on Wednesday his plans for reshaping US financial regulation, with proposals to close one bank regulator and create new overseers for big-picture economic risk and consumer financial product safety.

In a package of reforms that takes on many tough jobs while avoiding at least one, the administration will call for tighter oversight aimed at preventing a repeat of the severe banking and capital markets crisis that has shaken economies around the world.

Months of debate in the US Congress lie ahead. Committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives have scheduled more than a dozen hearings on regulatory reform between now and mid-July. Conservative House Republicans have already offered their own rival plan.

Obama will present his proposals at 12:50 pm EDT on Wednesday, the White House said. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, members of Congress, regulators and representatives from the financial industry

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United Kingdom, Europe protectionist steps to make business process outsourcing pie sour

Even as mounting job cuts, owing to the global meltdown, is pushing several countries to take a hard look at their policies, outsourcing, the obvious one, stares at policymakers in developed economies. In fact, UK and governments in European countries are expected to bring forth more stringent protectionist policies with respect to outsourcing,say industry experts. The obvious fallout: India’s outsourcing operations will face the heat with a dent in profitability.

Peter Redshaw, VP-IAS banking & investment services, Gartner Research, says, “In a bid to generate local jobs, the governments in the UK and Europe are looking at adopting protectionist policies with respect to outsourcing. Expect these policies to be more stringent than the ones coming from the US.”

Says Rodney A Nelsestuen, research director, cross industry research at Tower Group, “It’s a kind of political risk that governments are taking.

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Reliance Retail to lay off 900 in select departments

Around 900 workers employed directly and indirectly with Reliance Retail are to get pink slips. To be laid off are employees working in its land acquisition and statutory clearance teams across the country. The layoffs are the latest in a series of setbacks faced by the organised retail sector as the global meltdown affects the Indian economy. Reliance Retail is a subsidiary of the country’s largest private sector company, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd.

According to informed sources, around half the employees slated to lose their jobs are on the company rolls while the balance are with outsourced agencies providing support services. The disbanding of the teams appears to indicate that the company does not plan any major land acquisitions in the near future.

Members of the larger land acquisition team stationed in several states are tasked with identifying and acquiring land for retail stores and SEZs.

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