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SINGAPORE Wall Street banks are looking to help offshore clients sidestep new U.S. rules designed to safeguard the world’s $ 640 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, taking advantage of an exemption that risks undermining U.S. regulators’ efforts. U.S. banks such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been explaining to their foreign customers that they can for now avoid the new rules, due to take effect next month, by routing trades via the banks’ overseas units, according to industry sources and presentation materials obtained by Reuters. The rules, a result of Washington’s Dodd-Frank reforms, aim to prevent financial catastrophes in the [...]

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney mainly focused on foreign policy at a private lunch Thursday at the White House, officials said. The two candidates focused their talks on “America’s leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership in the future,” a White House spokesman said. “They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future,” the spokesman said in a statement. The private lunch lasted for an hour. The menu included white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad.

TOKYO Japanese Economics Minister Seiji Maehara said on Monday that buying foreign bonds could be one way for the central bank to pump money into markets and expand the country’s monetary base. But Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank has plenty of other assets it can buy to offer liquidity to markets. “We don’t see the need to buy foreign bonds for the purpose of pumping liquidity,” he told a lower house budget committee meeting. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Michael Watson)

Chinese stock investors check their share prices at a security firm in Wuhan.China will give foreign investors greater access to its stock and bond markets Will increase quotas allocated to foreign institutions for investing in its capital marketsCommunist party in Beijing this week for a congress to unveil the country’s leaders (Financial Times) — China will give foreign investors greater access to its stock and bond markets as part of a cautious reform push to open its financial system to the world.Guo Shuqing, the securities regulator, said China would increase the quotas that are allocated to foreign institutions for investing [...]

HONG KONG The world’s top insurance firms are setting their sights on Myanmar, steeling themselves for a fight with corruption and ghosts from the nation’s political past. Prudential Plc , AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK> and Manulife Financial Corp are among the global insurance giants preparing to enter Myanmar as the government rolls out a framework for the sector’s development with the lifting of European and U.S. sanctions. The opportunities are many. A large population, economic reforms and a natural resources industry could combine to create rising wealth among Myanmar’s people. There is also money to be made by general insurers [...]

SHANGHAI For all the hopes that China’s forthcoming leadership change will herald a new wave of market reforms, foreign bankers don’t expect to get the level playing field they crave any time soon. Trends are positive, but progress can be frustratingly slow. “My outlook is basically optimistic, particularly in the medium term. The near term is always always uncertain,” Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and independent director of J.P. Morgan Chase (China) Ltd, told Reuters. A lighter regulatory touch on bond writing, derivatives and funding channels are seen as crucial to foreign banks’ growth [...]

OTTAWA Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in some of his toughest remarks on foreign investment yet, signaled a willingness to block foreign purchases of Canadian companies if other countries are not open to Canadian investment. Speaking on the eve of a trip to India and other parts of Asia, Harper said in an interview published in Saturday’s Postmedia newspapers that Canada as a general rule welcomes foreign investment. “The real issue, as we go to places like India – and I think that Canadians recognize what the real issue is, not the openness of Canada to foreign investment, because Canada is [...]

SYDNEY/CANBERRA Australia risks losing an opportunity to become a farmyard for Asia, as growing unease over foreigners buying rural land threatens to provoke protectionist policies that may deter much needed investment in agriculture. With its vast landmass, abundant natural resources and stable government, Australia has relied on foreign farm investments for more than 100 years, with interest set to grow as the world looks to dramatically boost food production to feed Asia’s booming middle class over the next 40 years. “I think we are going to see a continued interest. The soft commodities boom around the world and the demand [...]

PARIS France lacks both the mean and the will to properly tackle corporate bribery of foreign officials, an OECD panel said on Tuesday, calling on Paris to tighten its laws and hike fines. With only 33 bribery investigations and five convictions since a bribery ban came into force in 2000, France is failing to net enough offenders given French firms’ extensive interests abroad, the group monitoring an OECD anti-bribery pact said. “The applied and available penalties, along with the lack of any recourse to measures to confiscate the proceeds of corruption do not appear to be effective, proportionate or dissuasive,” [...]

BOCA RATON President Barack Obama scolded challenger Mitt Romney for being “all over the map” on foreign policy in their final presidential debate on Monday, but the Republican appeared to have passed the “commander-in-chief” test of looking authoritative on national security issues. With two weeks left until Election Day, the high-stakes debate strayed frequently into domestic policy, with Romney seeking to bolster his argument that Obama had bungled the U.S. economic recovery. Running neck and neck in polls, neither man threw a knockout punch or made a noticeable gaffe as they clashed over Israel, Iran, Russia and the size of [...]