Shaw Management Tips on Identity Theft -- A Warning

Fraud committed by a criminal who has stolen someone else's identity is identity fraud usually used online and some boiler room management scams. By stealing documents such as your passport, driving license or bank statements - or online ID, such as usernames, passwords and personal security questions - thieves can now take cash from your accounts, commit benefit fraud, or take out new credit cards or loans, all in your name. Online frauds that sucker victims into revealing crucial private data, known as 'phishing' scams, are becoming more common. But for most people, the greater danger still lies in more old-fashioned methods: burglars who steal documents and chequebooks; fraudsters who intercept your post; and even thieves who dredge through bin bags. Shaw Capital will give you tips and warning on how big is the problem nowadays on online scams and fraud. In the UK, more than 70,000 people were victims last year, according to figures from the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Service (CIFAS). Given the large number of cases, the sums involved are hardly huge - the Association for Payment Clearing Services puts the total taken by identity fraudsters last year at £37m, but this is a 66 percent jump on the previous year. However, they calculate the overall cost to the economy - including the time and money spent by banks in combatting the crime - is a massive £1.3bn. Caution is the key. Shaw Capital and its management always emphasize to read bank and credit-card statements carefully and check against receipts. If you have any worries, tell the bank concerned straightaway; scammers often test the water with a small transaction first before attempting a larger theft. Check your credit report often for any credit requests not made by you. Shred statements, bills and even direct mail; these all contain vital personal information. Register with the Mailing Preference Service (0845-703 4599, www.mpsonline.org.uk) to stop junk mail and get mail redirected when you move home. Leave all unnecessary credit cards and ID at home when you go out, but do not leave key documents together in one place easily accessible to a burglar. Use different PINs and passwords for different accounts, and never disclose your full PIN or password in an e-mail or over the phone, even if you think you are talking to a bank employee. Report the suspected crime to the police and ask for a crime reference number, which you will need to recover any losses. Also, spend £11.75 on the protective registration service offered by fraud prevention service CIFAS (0870-010 2091, www.cifas.org.uk). They will place a notice on your credit file warning banks and lenders that there's an increased risk of identity fraud. Companies will then seek extra verification from anyone applying for credit in your name. Impersonation of the dead is the fastest-growing type of identity theft, so take this into account when dealing with a relative's death and estate: immediately notify the relevant Government departments, such as the Department of Work and Pensions and the Inland Revenue, and return important documents by registered delivery. 

Shaw Capital Management: Bin Laden Related Malware Prompts FBI Warning

Black hat search engine optimization (SEO) attacks are nothing new, but the surge in internet use since the announced death of the terrorist leader has led the FBI to issue a quick warning about malware-laden search results on the internet.

With big news comes big ruse, so the FBI was wasted little time in issuing apress release warning about poisoned internet search results and email attachments. Less than 48 hours after the occupier of the number one spot on its most wanted list was killed by a US military operation, the FBI is asking the general public to proceed with caution when reviewing Osama Bin Laden related emails, search results, attachments, and media files.

The warning reads: “The FBI today warns computer users to exercise caution when they receive e-mails that purport to show photos or videos of Usama bin Laden’s recent death. This content could be a virus that could damage your computer. This malicious software, or ‘malware’, can embed itself in computers and spread to users’ contact lists, thereby infecting the systems of associates, friends, and family members. These viruses are often programmed to steal your personally identifiable information.”

The FBI urged the public to report any suspicious material to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), while also asking for increased skepticism of items received from trusted sources.

As Infosecurity reported earlier today, numerous IT security vendors have identified malicious domains linked to malware when reviewing Bin Laden related search results.

Shaw Capital Management Factoring: Oil Scarcity And Its Impact On The Global Economy

In the latest edition of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook publication, the IMF dedicates a chapter entitled “Oil Scarcity, Growth and Global Imbalances” to an examination of the world’s oil markets and the impact of growing oil scarcity on the world’s economy.  In this document, the IMF seeks to answer the current status of oil scarcity, how oil scarcity will impact the global economy and how oil scarcity will impact economic policies around the world.

Now that the price of both Brent and West Texas Intermediate seem solidly positioned above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2008, this is a timely study.  Demand for oil has risen and, for some major consumers such as China, consumption levels have reached new records.  Since oil is central to the world’s economy, the impact of oil price volatility is key to economic growth and security.  While oil prices have risen and fallen over the past 4 decades, it is only now that the issue of looming oil scarcity is becoming increasingly discussed.

The authors of the report believe that the world is, in fact, reaching a point of increasing oil scarcity.  Demand from emerging economies is acting in concert with decreasing levels of growth in supply resulting in increasing tension in the world’s oil markets.  The IMF distinguishes between an absolute drop in supply (decreasing absolute daily oil production level) and a drop in the level of oil supply growth.  If oil supply growth were to drop by one percentage point, annual global economic growth would slow by an annual rate of one-quarter of a point over the medium to long term.  On the other hand, a steady decline in absolute oil supply levels would have a much greater negative impact on the global economy even if there is an increase in substitution of other energy sources in the place of oil.  As well, the pace of the rise in oil scarcity will also affect the level of impact on the world’s economy; should there be sudden downward trends in supply, the economic impact will be far greater than if supply constraints were gradual.

Let’s start by looking at the concept of oil scarcity and the extent of the issue.  To put the importance of oil to the world’s economy into perspective, oil is a key factor in production and transportation and is the world’s most widely traded commodity with world exports averaging $1.8 trillion annually over the years 2007 to 2009, about 10 percent of global exports.  Oil prices generally follow the economic law of supply and demand.  When demand rises, if the supply is steady, prices will generally rise which will ultimately result in both an increase in supply and a drop in demand.  The price of oil generally reflects the opportunity cost of bringing an additional barrel of oil to the market place.  In general and over time, a high price generally implies that oil (or any other commodity) either is (or is anticipated to be) scarce while a low price generally implies abundance.  Short term market fluctuations can occur that will lead to price spikes such as those seen in the 1970s OPEC embargo or the Gulf War in 1991 when the price spiked to just over $40 per barrel from just under $10 per barrel just five years earlier.  Over the longer term, oil price changes generally appear to be relatively smooth with a gentle rise prior to the rapid rise and fall in 2008 – 2009 which reflected issues in the world’s economy rather than oil market macroeconomic factors.

The concept of oil scarcity is a contentious one.  Many authorities in the oil industry now acknowledge that the world may well be entering a point of supply constraints.  The decline in oil availability reflects the constraints placed by nature on the ability of the industry to profitably explore for and produce reserves.  When prices are low, the oil industry generally reduces capital expenditures which places downward pressures on supply.  On the other hand, mounting oil prices have resulted in technological advancements that have impacted industry’s ability to bring certain reserves to market, for example, the advent of both deep water drilling and multi-stage hydraulic have allowed the industry to invest in higher risk/lower productivity play types.  It is the widespread use of enhanced technology that is now depressing natural gas prices in North America where both horizontal drilling and multi-state fracking have resulted in an oversupplied natural gas market.

The scarcity of oil is also related to the properties of the commodity.  Oil has unique physical properties that make substitution difficult, particularly in the chemical industry where it forms the feedstock for many of the items that we use in our daily lives.  If substitutes for oil for these products were found, oil supply constraints would have less of an impact on prices since rising demand for the substitute would dampen oil price volatility.

One of the fundamental factors that impacts the world’s economy is the fact that oil is the world’s most important source of primary energy with over 33 percent of the world’s total with coal accounting for 28 percent and natural gas accounting for 23 percent.  In recent years, the world has experienced increased rates of growth in energy consumption, particularly from China who is now the world’s number one overall energy consumer.  For the foreseeable future, growth in China’s economy will be the primary driver of increases in global energy use.  In general, the world’s developed economies (OECD nations) expand with little increase in energy usage, however, those non-OECD nations in lower income countries have a one-to-one relationship between economic growth and energy usage.  This means that a one percent increase in real per capita GDP is accompanied by a one percent increase in per capita energy consumption as shown in this graph:

Note that the share of the world’s primary energy consumption for the United States, Europe and Japan is dropping while it is rising for India and the Middle East and rising markedly for China (blue line) as shown in this graph:

Given the one-to-one relationship noted above, the IMF forecasts that China’s energy consumption is predicted to double by 2017 and triple by 2035 in comparison to its 2008 level.  In 2000, China consumed 6 percent of the world’s overall oil consumption, this rose to nearly 11 percent in 2010 with coal accounting for 71 percent of total energy consumption and oil for 19 percent.

The IMF study also examined the elasticity of oil.  Elasticity is defined as “…the ratio of the percent change in one variable to the percent change in another variable. It is a tool for measuring the responsiveness of a function to changes in parameters in a unitless way…”  The IMF found that an oil price increase of 10 percent leads to only a 0.2 percent reduction in demand (low elasticity).  Over a longer term of 20 years, that 10 percent price increase reduces demand by only 0.7 percent, a very insignificant amount.  When looking at oil demand based on income, over the short-term, a 1 percent increase in income results in a 0.68 percent increase in oil demand; this drops to 0.29 percent over the longer term.  This is far lower than the increase in demand for total energy consumption meaning that as incomes rise, over the short-term, people increase their demand for oil but over the longer term, while their demand for all energy sources increases, they substitute other fuels for oil.  It is interesting to note that the demand for oil among the developed nations of the OECD changes very little when the price of oil rises when compared to the demand of non-OECD nations.  This is likely because during the oil price shocks of the 1970s and 1980s, nations such as the United States and France switched from oil to other means of power generation such as coal and nuclear.  The economies of the more developed nations are somewhat more immune from increases in the price of oil since their power generation does not require the use of oil.  The same cannot yet be said for those nations with less mature economies who still rely more heavily on oil.

What impact will increasing oil scarcity have on the global economy?  Strong and increasing oil demand is expected from emerging market economies where rapid income growth is being experienced.  Since oil production appears to have reached a plateau over the past decade, supply and demand could well fall out of balance.  As I noted above, even a drop in the average growth rate of oil production (not a drop in the absolute level of oil production) will have an impact on the world economy.  To put the following scenarios into perspective, oil production has grown at a historical rate of 1.8 percent annually.

Now let’s look at two of the IMF oil scarcity scenarios:

1.) Oil production growth drops by a persistent 1 percent annual growth rate: In this case, an immediate oil price spike of 60 percent is predicted by the IMF models.  Over a 20 year period, a 200 percent increase in the price of oil is predicted.  This will result in a massive wealth transfer from consuming nations to exporting nations and will result in a much lower GDP for oil importers that is at least partially offset by a higher GDP for oil exporting nations.  On the upside, increased demand for goods from oil importers results in increased exports of these goods by the wealthier oil exporting nations.  Overall, the IMF feels that global economic growth is slowed by less than one-quarter of a percent annually over the medium and long term if oil production growth slows gradually.

2.) Oil production growth drops by a persistent 3.8 percent annual growth rate: This scenario is more closely related to scenario anticipated by the proponents of “peak oil”. In this case, an immediate oil price spike of 200 percent is predicted by the IMF models.  Over a 20 year period, an 800 percent increase in the price of oil is predicted.  Price changes of this magnitude have never been experienced by the world’s economy and the impact would make it very difficult to carry out monetary policy.  The economies of emerging Asia would be highly impacted since their economic growth is at a one-to-one ratio with energy usage.  As well, the economies of those nations that have weak links to oil exporting nations, such as the United States, would be highly impacted.  It is likely that if oil output decreased substantially, oil exporting nations might well reserve an increasing share of their production for domestic use, shrinking the amount of oil available for the world’s oil markets.  This could have the ultimate result of shrinking the world’s supply of oil far faster than would normally be anticipated.  A persistent decline in oil production growth of this size would result in larger current account imbalances (exports minus imports) among nations with oil importing nations experiencing a 6 to 8 percentage point drop in GDP over the long term.

The state of oil scarcity can be mitigated by changes in government policy toward the development of sustainable sources of energy, particularly among nations that are net importers of oil.  Changes in policy will also be required for nations that use subsidies to keep energy costs reasonable for their citizens.  As oil scarcity results in higher prices, the fiscal cost of fuel subsidies could overwhelm the fiscal situation of these governments.  Removing such subsidies has often resulted in civil unrest, however, on the other hand, the reduction in subsidies would also allow market forces to work their way through the system to reduce demand as prices rise.  In place of subsidies, these governments will need to implement an enhanced social safety network to ensure that their citizens do not face increased poverty.

Governments around the world face a conundrum; by ignoring the issue now, the world’s addiction to oil continues to rise unabated.  By acting too soon to curtail oil consumption through the use of policy interventions, the world’s economy could be thrown into a premature economic malaise.  Since the scarcity of oil is a global problem, it is critical that governments throughout the world act in a cooperative manner to ensure that the ultimate outcome is one that is advantageous to all of us.  The sooner that action is taken, the better for everyone.

Shaw Capital Management Factoring:Shaw Capital Management and Financing Benefits from Factoring Financing

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by: shawcapitalman

How Distribution Companies can benefit from Factoring Financing

Product distribution companies can be very capital intensive businesses. Read this article to learn how to get working capital for your distribution company and avoid scam.

Shaw Capital Management and Financing provide same-day-funding. We can help you meet your cash flow needs immediately without entering into a long term factoring relationship. The money you get for the freight bills we purchase is payment in full.

Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer a complete line of factoring services, purchase order funding, and asset based financing, accounts receivable management, and other related financial services.

Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer funding for a wide range of industries and flexible funding requirements that most businesses can easily qualify for.

Based in Baltimore, Maryland. Importing into the tri-state area mostly from the far east such as China, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.

For product distributors, cash flow is always a big concern. Unless you have been in business for a long time, most suppliers will insist that you pay them soon after delivering the goods. Or worse, prior to delivery. However, most of your clients will insist in paying your invoices on net 30 or net 60 days. This creates a simple problem – you have to pay suppliers quickly, but clients pay slowly. Although your business may be profitable, unless you have adequate working capital, you will have cash flow problems.

When faced with a cash flow problem, most business owners try to get a business loan. Although business loans can work well in many situations, they can be inflexible especially if your business has growing capital needs. Also, qualifying for a business loan can be difficult since institutions usually require substantial collateral and track records showing profitable operations for many years. This makes them a tough option for new or small businesses.

But there are better solutions though. Let’s examine the situation. The problem is the time delay between having to pay your supplier and getting paid by your client. What would happen if you could reduce the time delay? For example, let’s say that your client paid you in two business days rather than two months. Would that solve your cash flow problem? For most, it would.

You can achieve just that by using factoring.

The value proposition of invoice factoring is simple. It reduces the time delay between delivering goods and getting paid. This puts your business in a better cash position and enables you to take on new opportunities.

Factoring involves selling your invoices to a factoring company. The factoring company buys your invoices in two installments. In the first installment, you get 80% of the invoice advanced to you. You get the remaining 20% (less a fee) as a second installment, once your client actually pays for the goods.

One of the advantages of factoring accounts receivable is that is a very flexible solution, where the maximum amount you can finance is mostly determined by the ability of your clients to pay your invoices. Said differently, your factoring financing line is tied to your sales and grows with your sales. Because of this, small companies that do business with large credit worthy clients can benefit from using factoring. By Marco Terry

Shaw Capital Management Factoring:Shaw Capital Management for Small Business Financing with Factoring

 http://shaw-capitalmanagement.com

by: shawcapitalman

Financing a small business has always been challenging. Read this article to find out if factoring financing is the right solution for your small business. Learn from experts; refrain from internet offer scams and fraud.

Shaw Capital Management and Financing provide same-day-funding. We can help you meet your cashflow needs immediately without entering into a long term factoring relationship. The money you get for the freight bills we purchase is payment in full.

Small business owners have always had a tough time obtaining financing. Simply, most small businesses just can’t qualify for conventional business loans. The requirements are too onerous – the company must have sizable assets, multiple years of profitability and many times, it’s financial statements must be audited by a 3rd party.

Most business owners consider that a business loan is their only business financing alternative. When they get turned away, they give up any hope of obtaining financing. What most small business owners don’t know is that they do have alternatives – and – many times those alternatives can work better that conventional financing.

Let’s take a common cash flow challenge. Companies that sell products or services to other businesses usually have to wait between 30 and 60 days to get paid for their services. So, they incur the expenses of delivery immediately, but then wait a long time to recoup their investment. While this is fine for companies with adequate banking reserves, it is one of the major challenges that business owners face today. As a matter of fact, few startups plan for the fact that it takes 4 to 8 weeks to get paid, which not only limits their growth opportunities, but challenges their very survival as a business.

Now, most business owners would consider that the only solution to the previous problem is to get a loan or a line of credit. But there is another option – it’s called factoring financing. Few people have heard of it, so not many owners consider it if they fail to get a business loan.

Invoice factoring offers a very simple solution to the slow payments problem. Let’s say that you sold $10,000 worth of consulting services to a company. And let’s say that they’ll pay the $10,000 in about 45 days, which is the industry average. Now, what happens if you can’t wait because you need to meet payroll or make supplier payments? Well, you could sell the invoice to a factoring company. The factoring company would buy it from you in two installments. The first installment would be for 80% of the invoice, or $8000 in the case of our example. This is paid at invoicing.

The second installment, paid to you when your client actually pays the invoice, is the remaining 20%, less a fee. Using our example, it’d be $2000 minus the cost of the factoring service.

So factoring invoices offers you the following proposition: an immediate advance of about 80% at time of invoicing, and a second advance for the reminder (less fees) at the time of actual payment.

As you can see, factoring provides the needed working capital to meet business expenses without worrying about when your client will pay. It provides you with predictable cash flow, positioning your business for growth. And qualifying for factoring tends to be relatively easy. The biggest requirement (though not the only one) is that you must have a good roster of clients. By Marco Terry