Governance without guilt

I saw the phrase "Governance without Guilt" used in the Colombo newspaper. It refers to the concept that governance (of the country and business corporation) should be done ethically, i.e. without guilt. I also saw the phrase used for the garment industry, i.e. "Garment without Guilt". This is the Sri Lanka response to the greed and corruption that is now quite prevalent in the business and government sectors.

Unhappy with Singaporean Airlines

I met a Singaporean at the lounge in the hotel in Colombo. He had been travelling first and business class on Singapore Airlines for 20 years. Recently, he gave up on Singapore Airlines and now travelled on Asiana Airlines (from Korea). He was disappointed with using the new SIA website. He also found the counter service (often manned by foreigners) to be unsatisfactory. He now lived in Hong Kong as a permanent resident and travel around Asia for his business. 

Bank charges and anti-trust law

The attempt by some banks to impose debit card charges might violate the anti-trust law, as the banks and the associations might be acting in collusion. http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/22/news/economy/banks_antitrust_review/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

In Singapore, we have the Competition Law, which has similar functions to the anti-trust law in America. I hope that our regulators will also look at the practices of banks, telcos and airlines in Singapore - as they are likely to follow the practices in America.

I prefer an environment where a business charge a package fee for its service and avoid making additional charges for additional items that should be part of the package. By imposing extra charges, the business is making life more complicated for its customers and also adding to the administrative costs. Often, the customers are not aware of the additional fees and are held under ransom - when they need the additional services.

The practice of charging additional fees has promoted a law-maker in the USA to introduce legislation to prevent some of the bad practices. While this legislation is not likely to be supported, due to the strong industry lobby, it goes to show the bad business practices.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/22/news/companies/baggage_fees/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

Investing in the stock market

Retail investors have been avoiding the stock market due to uncertainty, but corporations are buying back their own shares, as they represent good value. http://www.cnbc.com/id/45402485