ANZ Bank seek growth of 40 %

JAKARTA . Bank seeks to boost customers' priorities . Just look at the ANZ Bank , target of growth than 27,000 customers as of end June 2012 to 30,000 customers until the end of 2012 .
An additional 3,000 customers could grow new wealth management business by 40 % this year . In the first half of 2012, funds under management increased 30 % compared to the previous Rp 11 trillion .
Achievement , said Anthony Soewandy , Director of Retail Banking ANZ Bank , could not be separated from management strategy to offer products and services . Hoist products that include bancassurance business , premium credit cards , mutual funds , fixed income investment and retail bonds . " Our retail bond sales target of Rp 500 billion , " said Anthony , yesterday .
Growth in wealth management businesses contributed significantly . Because of the vital role that management continues to bring new innovations . In terms of new products , the Australian bank will launch a travel card in September. " In the first half of this year , there were 890 000 ANZ Bank credit card holders , grew 30 % , " he added.

ANZ is not the only foreign banks expect a lot from this business . DBS Indonesia also optimize wealth management to increase fee based income and managed funds . Investor -owned bank assets under management in Singapore is targeting Rp 7.8 trillion by year's end , or grew by 30 % .
In terms of competition , national banks continue to dominate the wealth management business . BNI , Bank Rakyat Indonesia ( BRI ) , Bank Mandiri and Bank Danamon , for example, continues to record the rich and the increase in customer deposits
Until June 2012 , wealth management services BNI managed to earn an additional Rp 35 trillion , grew 12 % from Rp 31 trillion in December 2011 the year to date . Bank bearing the number 46 is not revised down its fund management during 2012 valued at Rp 46 trillion . This figure is up 48 % compared to the end of 2011.
While the targeting of funds under management priority BRI Rp 20 trillion this year . The number of customers increased to 12,000 people . General Manager Funding and Service Division BRI , Widodo Januarso , say up to June 2012 total assets under management reached Rp 16 trillion in customer numbers of 11,000 people .(Kontan.co.id)

Another whale shark beached on Yogyakarta coastline

A seven-meter whale shark (Rhincodon typus) of some 2 tons in weight was found stranded and dead at Parangkusumo Beach in Kretek, Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Friday night.

This was the second gigantic sea creature found at the same region this week after a 13-meter, 4-ton shark of the same kind became stranded and died on Wednesday on a neighboring beach, 10-kilometers to the west of Parangkusumo.

Ismail, a local youth, said he saw the shark was dying off the waters close to the beach at about 6 p.m. and about three hours later it had drifted to the shore and was already dead. “Fishermen then dragged it further to the beach,” he said.

Animal systematics expert Donan Satria Yuda of Gadjah Mada University’s School of Biology said that the phenomenon of two sharks found stranded in the area at the same week might indicate that they were hunting for plankton and small fish at the Yogyakarta’s Southern Beach area.

“Plankton and small fish are flaring in the area in June and July,” Donan said.

During this time, he added, coral reefs were ejecting sperm that then were eaten by the plankton and small fish, which later attracted the sharks. Apart from that, the dotted sharks also liked to swim near the beach.

He also said that the southern beach area might be rich in basins and that the sharks were trapped in them during the high tide, but could not swim back to sea when the tide was low.

Activists of the Animal Friend Jogja (AFJ) group were seen guarding the shark’s carcass as of Saturday. Dessy Angelina of the AFJ said she had coordinated with the local SAR team and Water Police to bury the shark.

Dessy also said she had been trying to make contact with the Australian government to seek information regarding why the two sharks were stranded in the Indonesian waters within such a short time. She said the dotted shark was protected in Australia but in Indonesia it was still categorized as endangered.

“We want to know the reason why, because Australia has already conducted research on this issue,” Dessy said.

The sharks, according to Dessy, were finding it difficult to proliferate and they were now on the brink of extinction.

She blamed the condition on drilling activities beaches, at the vibrations of which caused the shark to experience disorientation and such conditions made them easily stranded.

Other factors to blame, Dessy added, included global warming.

As of Saturday people were still seen flocking to the beach to look at the stranded creature, take pictures of it, or even strike a pose with the dead shark.

“I heard about the shark from Twitter. I came here because I wanted to have a closer look at something that I have never seen before,” resident Kricak Johan said.( Jakarta Post)

Philippine Catholics rally against family planning

Philippine Roman Catholic Church leaders led a rally Saturday against a proposed law that would provide government funding for contraceptives and introduce reproductive health and sexuality classes in schools.

The House of Representatives is to decide next week whether to end debate on the bill and bring it to a final vote.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Pangasinan province said in a statement read to about 10,000 people at the rally that contraceptives corrupt moral values and promote the view that "babies are a nuisance."

The Philippines has one of the fastest-growing populations in Asia. President Benigno Aquino III has expressed support for the right to contraception, while the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy opposes artificial birth control.

New study ties global warming to recent year heat

An analysis by a top government scientist says the extreme heat and drought seen in the U.S., Europe and other regions in recent years must be global warming.

Specifically the study by NASA scientist James Hansen blames climate change for last year's drought in Texas and Oklahoma, the 2010 heat wave in Russia and the 2003 European heat wave that led to tens of thousands of deaths.

Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview that the world is now experiencing scientific fact.

Hansen's research is respected by other climate scientists. But he is also an activist who has pushed for curbing greenhouse gases. Some experts don't expect the new study to change any minds. Hansen's work was published online Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc