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UPDATE 1-Olympus scandal highlights board inadequacies in Japan

* Olympus case takes shine off recent steps to improve governanceBy Nathan LayneTOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The scandal at Olympus Corp triggered by accusations of improper payments has put a spotlight on what critics say is a key weakness of Japanese-style management: the lack of strong independent oversight on most boards.Japanese boards are typically stacked with insiders, and Olympus, a camera and medical equipment maker whose chief executive was abruptly dismissed last week, is no exception.Twelve of Olympus' 15 board members are company executives, and one of its three outside directors failed to pass a test of independence set by top proxy voting firms.This structure, while common among Japanese companies, appears to have left the Olympus board vulnerable to groupthink when dissension and rigorous debate were needed most."You have so many insiders, very few independent members and none of them is really in a position to challenge the decision-making of long-standing members of the board," said Robert McCormick, chief policy officer at proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. "I think the CEO kind of came into that."A spokesman for Olympus said its board of directors was functioning well.Former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford has told media he believes he was sacked for questioning about $680 million in payments to financial advisers in the purchase of Britain's medical equipment firm Gyrus in 2008, or one-third of the transaction price, and $600 million in goodwill impairment after other small acquisitions in Japan.Olympus says that Woodford was dismissed because of a clash of management styles and that it has carried out proper accounting and disclosure for the acquisitions.SHARES PLUNGEBut the relentless slide in the share price -- it has lost 43 percent in the past three sessions -- suggests investors are not satisfied with the company's explanation and generally lack confidence in management.Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who replaced Woodford as CEO, told the Nikkei newspaper on Tuesday that the Gyrus-related payment was closer to 30 billion yen ($391 million) and said losses at the domestic companies it acquired represented lapses in judgment on his part.But to some critics Kikukawa's comments may only reinforce the notion that there have been few checks on his authority and may not silence criticism of the payments, which at 30 billion yen were still unusually high for an acquisition of that size.The lack of independent directors supervising management is one of the key factors behind Japan's No. 36 ranking out of 39 countries on corporate governance in the latest survey by research firm GMI .Other propagators of poor governance include cross-shareholdings with business partners and a tendency for executives to hang on wielding influence in advisory posts even after they've retired from the board.The Olympus case may give the impression that governance is moving backwards, despite a series of steps aimed at improving the situation in recent years, including the Tokyo Stock Exchange's requirement from this year that all companies have at least one independent director or auditor."This is a negative step for corporate governance in Japan," said Jamie Allen, secretary general of the Asian Corporate Governance Association based in Hong Kong."There had been some hope that Japanese companies would take on not just outside directors but outside managers and that corporate cultures in Japan would be more open and international."

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TEXT: S&P Affirms New South Wales 'AAA/A-1+' Ratings; Outlook Stable

The ratings on New South Wales reflect the strong institutional framework benefiting state governments in Australia, as well as New South Wales' strong economy, positive financial management, and excellent liquidity position. These strengths are partly offset by New South Wales' limited budgetary flexibility due to the concentration of taxing powers at the Federal level of government, similar to all Australian states; and the need to deliver a large capital-expenditure program.The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's opinion that the New South Wales government will maintain a sound financial position by balancing its focus on infrastructure investment with cost savings and potentially with asset sales. We expect further revenue and expenditure measures, as well as more capital investments and funding sources to be announced in the government's year ending June 30, 2013 budget. We will continue to monitor the success, or otherwise, of the government's delivery of its savings measures."The ratings on the state are likely to come under pressure if there is weakening in the state's budgetary performance, particularly if the state's after-capital account deficit exceeds 10% of its operating revenues or its gross interest-burden exceeds 5% of operating revenues over two-to-three years," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Anna Hughes.Downward rating pressure could also emerge if New South Wales's net financial liabilities (net debt and unfunded superannuation) to operating revenues exceeds 120%-130%. In our view, a material increase in the state's contingent liabilities, for example through the support of Reliance Rail Finance Pty Ltd.'s liabilities, would also create downward pressure on the rating. The Reliance Rail consortium was granted a 30-year concession to manufacture, commission, and maintain 78 commuter trains for the Sydney rail network.

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We’ll always, always, always have Paris…

Blog Guy, it’s been TWO WEEKS since you’ve shown us fresh pictures of Paris Hilton! Are there no cameras left for her to stand in front of? Is something wrong? Should we prepare for bad news? Calm down, she’s still posing. Here she is at the opening of a shopping center this week, in Poland. Excuse me? She’s at that level now, going to Polish strip mall openings? What’s that about? As I understand it, she was supposed to cut the ribbon on the new meat department at a Piggly Wiggly down in Baton Rouge, but that fell through, so she needed something to do. Ah, that makes sense. I notice in her arrival shot she doesn’t even have an elevator to ride. Is this her choice? Yes, she prefers to arrive this way. Her contract has an escalator clause… That was a pretty long setup for one stupid line, Blog Guy. Hey, thanks! Coming soon, Kim Kardashian appears at a milkshake bar opening in Dubai. Join the Oddly Enough blog network Follow this blog on Twitter at rbasler Top: Paris Hilton smiles as she attends an opening ceremony of a shopping center in Katowice, southern Poland October 12, 2011. Left: Hilton arrives at the opening ceremony of the shopping center. REUTERS photos by Bartlomiej Barczyk/Agencja Gazeta More stuff from Oddly Enough

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UPDATE 1-RIM says BlackBerry services have improved significantly

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Research In Motion's BlackBerry services have improved significantly across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, the company said on Thursday, after a three-day global service outage hit millions of its customers."Service levels are also progressing well in the U.S., Canada and Latin America and we are seeing increased traffic throughput on most services, although there are still some delays and services levels may still vary amongst customers," RIM said in an update on its website.The company, however, said it cannot give an estimated time for the full recovery of services around the world.On Wednesday, the company said it would eventually deliver all delayed email and instant messages to customers in five continents affected by the outage, but later told some of its corporate clients that it may not clear the huge backlog of messages until Thursday morning on the U.S. East Coast.It apologized to customers in a statement on its Website and on its Facebook page.The outage, the worst in about two years, adds to RIM's mounting problems, which include rising dissatisfaction with its co-chief executives and the company's inability to catch up with nimbler rivals like Apple .

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Analysts see ASX cutting fees in response to rival undercut

"We expect both Chi-X and ASX will adjust their pricing from time to time depending on their success at winning and retaining business," Citigroup analyst Nigel Pittaway said.An ASX spokesman could not be reached immediately for comment. ASX has earlier said it is well prepared to meet competition. The exchange has had ample time to prepare for the end of its two-decade monopoly.Chi-X on Wednesday told brokers it would charge fees of 0.06 basis point for providing liquidity and 0.12bp for removing liquidity compared with ASX's 0.15 basis point fees.Analysts said if ASX were to match the fees its earnings could fall by just around 1 percent as cash transaction forms around 5 percent of total revenue.Chi-X has relied on competitive fees to claim market share from incumbents in Europe, Canada and Japan. Analysts expect Chi-X to focus on institutional investors for volumes.

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New Issue-BNG adds 75 mln stg to 2013 bond

Borrower Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG)Issue Amount 75 million SterlingMaturity Date December 10, 2013Coupon 2.625 pctReoffer price 102.736Spread 70 basis pointsUnderlying govt bond Over the 4.50 pct March 2013 GiltPayment Date October 19, 2011Lead Manager(s) Nomura International PLC & RBC CapitalRatings Aaa (Moody's), AAA (S&P),AAA (Fitch)Listing AmsterdamFull fees UndisclosedDenoms (K) 1Governing Law DutchNotes Launched under issuer's EMTN programmeThe issue size will total 1.375 sterlingwhen fungibleParent ISIN XS0472751055Security details and RIC, when available, will beonCustomers can right-click on the code forperformance analysis of this new issueFor ratings information, double click onFor all bonds data, double click onFor Top international bonds newsFor news about this issuer, double click on the issuer RIC,where assigned, and hit the newskey (F9 on Reuters terminals)Data supplied by International Insider.