Word: crediteers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...governments were convulsed by devastating recession. That prospect still seems remote. Growth in Asia has remained relatively robust in 2008 and financial sectors sound. But Asian stock markets, most of which have plummeted by 30% or more this year, are signaling harder times ahead. Falling export growth and tighter credit are already beginning to pinch. Merrill Lynch expects GDP growth in Asia (excluding Japan) of 7.7% this year, the slowest pace since 2003. Next year could be worse if the U.S. enters a full-blown recession. "There are few signs as yet of the damaging effect but it will show...
...Himalayas. He and his new wife are young, educated, well-off - and worried. A member of India's growing consumer culture, Rege, 30, took out an adjustable-rate loan two years ago to buy an investment property near Bangalore, but his monthly payments have jumped because of tighter credit and rising interest rates. He has abandoned plans to get an M.B.A. because student loans are now too costly. The couple's stock portfolio has lost more than half its value since markets began melting down. "I feel scared, actually," Rege says of his crumbling finances. "You're sure for right...
...Thousands of Indians like the Reges are having similar doubts. Just as credit-happy Americans are being brought low by a housing-market meltdown and slowing economic growth, so too are Indians learning the downside of personal debt. Over the past five years, Indian banks, finance companies and retailers introduced a Western-style banquet of financial products to the country's rising middle class, whose members began tapping credit cards, consumer loans and installment plans to buy automobiles, washing machines, vacations - all those trappings of upward mobility that the few who could afford them once proudly purchased with cash...
...Lenders are scrambling to keep delinquency and defaults in check. Some banks are extending repayment periods and converting credit-card debt into personal loans at slightly lower interest rates so borrowers can remain current. Under pressure from investors and regulators to improve their deteriorating asset quality, banks are also curtailing riskier lending, such as small-ticket personal loans, and making more of an effort to verify creditworthiness...
...predicting a wave of bad debts will crash the Indian financial system and economy. That's because commerce on the subcontinent still runs mostly on cash. Dheeraj Dikshit, the head of consumer assets in India for U.K.-based bank HSBC, reckons that credit cards are used for only about 2% of all retail transactions. But cash-strapped consumers will still hurt economic growth. Many spend half their salary on car and house payments and will be forced to cut discretionary spending. Some sectors are already getting hurt. New car sales - 80% of which are financed - are slowing. Tata Motors reported...