You are on page 1of 1

34 TU ESDAY, S EPT EMBE R 3 0, 2 0 0 8 T H E WA L L ST R E E T J O U R N A L . T H E WA L L ST R E E T J O U R N A L .

TUES DAY, S E PTE MBE R 30, 2 0 0 8 7

S PEC IAL ADVER TIS ING S EC TION


THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
DIGITAL CONVERGENCE CEATEC Japan 2008
Central banks add funds to money markets
Breaking usability barriers

CORBIS/Images.com/Ken Condon
pan, the Bank of England, the Bank gian bank and insurer Fortis NV and banks no longer trust each other, the ECB’s main policy rate of 4.25%.
Goal is to improve of Canada, the National Bank of Den- the U.K.’s Bradford & Bingley PLC they would rather park funds at the But the three-month Euribor
mark, Norges Bank of Norway, the all needed government-orches- central bank at a lower rate than rate—a benchmark for interbank
liquidity of dollar
is key to seamless services
Reserve Bank of Australia, the Riks- trated emergency funding. In the lend to other banks at a higher rate. trading—rose to 5.237% from
bank of Sweden and the Swiss Na- U.S., Citigroup Inc. agreed to ac- “With financial markets experi- 5.142% Friday, because the funds
around the globe tional Bank. quire Wachovia Corp.’s banking op- encing a serious risk of seizure and will cover the critical year-end pe-
The move will allow interna- erations in another deal backed by the real economy continuing to lose riod. Other longer-dated Euribor
By Nina Koeppen tional central banks to increase vol- the U.S. government. momentum, we think that the out- rates increased in tandem at Mon-
And Terence Roth umes of dollar-denominated lend- As the outlook darkened, inter- look is getting gloomier by the day,” day’s fixing.
Internet-savvy consumers ing to their banking systems for one- bank rates—rates at which banks said Aurelio Maccario, chief euro- Earlier Monday, the Reserve
FRANKFURT—Central banks on week periods. It is aimed at keeping borrow funding from each other— zone economist at UniCredit. Bank of Australia pumped cash into
are forcing electronic Monday added $330 billion to the banks liquid amid a shortage of dol- nudged higher in longer-dated euro “Financial conditions keep tight- its banking system to stave off
funds they can pump into money lars in interbank money markets. funds, indicating that banks were ening and the massive liquidity in- end-of-quarter and end-of-financial-
technology companies markets as more financial institu- “The increase in the amount of still hoarding cash amid percep- jections guaranteed by the ECB have year liquidity pressures as the glo-
to put people back into tions ran into trouble in Europe and foreign exchange swap authoriza- tions that other banks also are at done little to alleviate the problem,” bal financial crisis continued. The
the U.S. tion limits will enable many central risk of default. he said. central bank injected a net 3.14 bil-
the equation The U.S. Federal Reserve said it banks to increase the amount of dol- One or more banks borrowed a to- But the ECB at least provided lion Australian dollars (US$2.61 bil-
boosted its currency-swap facility, lar funding that they can provide in tal of Œ6.788 billion ($9.92 billion) some short-term relief: A special lion) after estimating a surplus of
By Peggy Anne Salz which lets foreign central banks their home markets,” the Fed said in overnight from the ECB at a penalty provision of Œ120 billion in 38-day A$424 million for the day and then
pump dollars into their cash- its statement. “This should help to rate of 5.25%, data from the ECB euro funds helped damp overnight adding an extra A$2.72 billion in its
IGITAL convergence used

D to be about tools, technol-


ogy and new ways to deliver
communications capabilities across
strapped banking systems, to a total
of $620 billion from the previous
$290 billion.
Shares of the swap arrange-
improve the distribution of dollar li-
quidity around the globe.”
Markets awoke Monday to news
that the financial crisis was broaden-
showed Monday.
They also parked a total of
Œ28.059 billion with the central
bank as of Sunday, despite a below-
euro interbank rates Monday, but
didn’t halt the steady increase in
longer-term euro interbank offered
rates.
dealings.
The Bank of Japan said Monday
it is supplying one trillion yen
($9.42 billion) against pooled collat-
a multitude of platforms and devices. ments are apportioned to the Euro- ing in Europe, after Germany’s Hypo market rate of 3.25%. The signifi- Overnight euro money-market eral at its headquarters, starting
Today, the emergence of empowered pean Central Bank, the Bank of Ja- Real Estate Holding AG, Dutch-Bel- cance is that, because European rates fell as low as 3.5%, well below Sept. 30 and ending Oct. 1.
consumers, the advance of so-called
digital natives — individuals who
have grown up with the Internet —
and the abundance of applications
designed to give consumers more of
a say in how they create, access and
Congress, Treasury seal deal on U.S. bailout package
Continued from first page to the U.S., on creating new “golden in installments. “Damn it, if you think sage: We can compromise on certain The meeting ended around 5:30
enjoy content is forcing companies to
filled weekend negotiations, where parachute” payments to departing you need $700 billion right away you things, but we can’t agree to any- p.m., and lawmakers broke into
factor people back into the equation.
the specter of a faltering economy top executives. Companies also better tell us,” Democratic Sen. thing that will limit participation in smaller working groups. Sand-
Against this backdrop, clever com- collided with the politics of a presi- would have to have provisions to Charles Schumer of New York told the program. Treasury staff mem- wiches and pizza were delivered
panies are moving their focus from dential election to create one of the “claw back” past bonuses found to the Treasury secretary, according to bers and congressional staffers sepa- later. Many lawmakers grazed on a
pushing the boundaries of what their biggest congressional dramas of re- have been based on misleading fi- two people familiar with the matter. rated the legislation into piles, one big bowl of pistachios in Rep. Pelo-
technology can accomplish to break- cent years. Saturday included a high- nancial statements. “I’m doing this for you as much for bipartisan agreement and an- si’s office.
ing the usability barriers that hold decibel exchange between Treasury The Treasury would receive war- as for me,” Mr. Paulson shot back. other pile for contentious items. At The House speaker’s office was
people back from interacting with Secretary Henry Paulson and con- rants giving it the right to acquire “If we don’t do this, it’s coming least 10 issues remained unresolved. furious about leaks coming out of
content — when, how and where gressional Democrats, a ban on nonvoting common stock or pre- down on all our heads.” At 3:15 p.m. Saturday, a group of Saturday's afternoon meeting. In or-
they wish. handheld email devices to forestall ferred stock in firms benefiting The House plans to vote on the lawmakers met in a conference der for Capitol Hill aides to stay in
Content and experiences now must news leaks, and a battery of lobby- from the bailout. The program measure Monday, with the Senate room outside the office of Rep. the meeting, they had to hand over
be much more seamless and fluid. ing calls from the president and the would be subject to oversight that likely to follow later in the week. Pelosi. Republican aides com- their BlackBerrys, said one partici-
With this in mind, Nero AG, a digital presidential candidates. includes a bipartisan committee Both parties have already started plained as they saw eight Demo- pant. A Pelosi staffer walked
media technology company based “The key was to work through and the Government Accountability the process of pressuring and cajol- cratic lawmakers arrive for the through the meeting with a trash-
in Karlsbad, Germany, has created this and incorporate everybody's Office. The GAO would have an of- ing members to vote for the bill. Pas- meeting, but only two Republicans. can. The devices were later put on a
liquid media technology, a flagship concerns but in a way that gave us fice located within the Treasury De- sage is seen as likely, despite the Mr. Paulson, who looked ex- table with Post-it notes identifying
the tools we needed,” Mr. Paulson partment. measure’s unpopularity. hausted, reiterated his warnings
offer that enables content creation each owner.
said in an interview. “We had to just The Treasury plans to hire asset Support from House Republi- about the consequences of a failure
and distribution anytime, anywhere insist that we can work on things. managers to determine the criteria cans, who staged an 11th-hour re- to act. “The crisis is ongoing,” he On the tough issue of limiting
and on any device. “We’ve helped We can compromise, but at the end for the purchase of securities and volt on Thursday, is still uncertain. said. “You saw what happened ear- severance pay for executives, Sen.
consumers transfer and enjoy media, of the day it had to be something oversee the portfolio once the buy- Asked about the outcome of the lier this week with Washington Mu- Schumer wanted a one-size-fits-all
but the next step is to put people in that was workable in the market- ing begins. While those details re- House vote, Rep. Christopher Shays, tual”—which on Thursday became approach. Mr. Paulson said this
control of it,” says Richard Carriere, place.” main murky, the Treasury expects a Connecticut Republican, said, “I the largest lending institution to fail would make the program impossi-
president of Nero’s U.S. subsidiary, At the bill’s core is Mr. Paulson’s to buy up large chunks of assets at a think it’s up in the air. This is what in U.S. history. “There are other com- ble to implement quickly, by requir-
Nero Inc. in Glendale, California. of the Digital Living Network Alliance key technologies that move the com- content have whet the appetites for eighth mass media. We are the dis- concept of buying impaired mort- single time. The asset managers we call a legacy vote.” panies,” Mr. Paulson said, “includ- ing every company to redo its em-
(DLNA), an international, cross- pany, and the industry, a big step tools and technologies that allow tribution, the content, the medium gage-related assets from financial would likely start buying the sim- An exhausted Sen. Chris Dodd, a ing large companies, which are un- ployment contracts. They agreed to
Digital content industry collaboration of major forward.“We don’t have the answers, consumers to capture their own expe- and the message carried with it.” firms—giving them cash to replace plest assets first, such as mortgage- central player in the negotiations, der stress as well. I can’t emphasize a compromise under which any firm
Rather than require consumers to consumer electronics,computing indus- but we’re making the building blocks riences and create content, says Tomi Many companies offer tools and the toxic debts that have put them backed securities, and then move on expressed Congress’s split emo- enough the importance of this.” that sells more than $300 million of
grapple with too many devices and try and mobile device companies. that will help [the industry] find the Ahonen, Hong Kong-based author technology that will allow people to in danger or dissuaded them from to more complex ones, such as collat- tions Sunday morning. “I’m pleased The meeting grew contentious. assets to Treasury wouldn’t be able
lending. The plan is to help the firms eralized debt obligations. that we’ve come to a result,” the Senate Democrats, many of whom to create new golden-parachute pro-
too many types of digital content The vision of wired and wireless answers,” Mr. Oishi says. of the new book, “Mobile as 7th of capture and share their experiences.
restore their capital bases as well as One likely method of purchasing Connecticut Democrat said. “I think had felt let down by the Bush admin- visions for executives for the dura-
in a range of file formats, earlier this interoperable networks where digital A central focus at ACCESS is to the Mass Media.”“What’s more,users But Evernote Corp., a technology
the trust that enables them to bor- and pricing assets is a reverse auc- it’s dreadful that we had to come to istration when the plan nearly de- tion of the program.
month Nero introduced “Move It,” content can be shared through a range enable consumers to access and enjoy want to carry this [their content and start-up in Sunnyvale, California,
row and lend at reasonable terms. tion. In this, firms would offer to sell this result.” railed at the White House, were The final hangup was a move to
an offering that makes it possible of devices within and beyond the home the content they want,how they want experiences] with them in their pock- has something much more ambi-
Without this, officials worry that securities at given prices, and the Several days ago, it wasn’t clear more assertive. For over two hours see that taxpayers were reimbursed
for “even the most nontechnical con- is well advanced in the Asia-Pacific it — for example, move it midstream ets,” says Mr. Ahonen. tious in mind. It has developed a the credit markets, the lifeblood of Treasury could buy the least expen- any kind of deal would be reachable, the group argued, with several mem- if the plan lost money. Democrats
sumer” to convert music, videos and region, especially Japan and South between devices without having to mix of technology and services to the economy, would grind to a halt. sive on offer. Institutions would pre- amid divisions between Democrats bers yelling at Mr. Paulson. The earlier wanted a fee or tax levied on
photos from one file format to another Korea, where both wired and wireless stop or pause the content any time Seventh mass media help users create and maintain an Sellers of assets could include a sumably offer to sell at prices high and Republicans in Congress and be- Treasury secretary, growing agi- financial firms to cover losses.
for use and enjoyment across a broad broadband services are more widely during the experience. The mobile phone is more than external brain. broad range of financial entities— enough to alleviate their woes but tween Democratic negotiators and tated at times, continually told mem- By 11:30 p.m., there was a break-
range of devices. used and faster than anywhere else. Mr. Oishi offers this example: A a device. “It is emerging as a mass Put simply, Evernote’s technology not just banks but also credit unions not so high they’d be passed over in the Bush administration. The ten- bers they needed to design a pro- through. The administration would
“All users need to do is plug their However, Tokyo-based ACCESS consumer starts off by listening to media,” Mr. Ahonen adds. In fact, allows consumers to capture infor- and pension funds. The assets of- favor of lower-priced offers. sions of election-year politics ratch- gram that would work and that it be required to submit a plan to Con-
portable device into their personal Co., a DLNA member company music on a portable wireless player. he refers to mobile as the seventh mation in any environment using fered to the government must have The historic legislation is an at- eted the pressure further. made no sense to create a program gress “to recoup those losses from
computer and select the output,”says which provides technology, software He then enters a car and the player of the mass media, following print whatever device or platform they find been originated or issued on or be- tempt to stem a crisis that threatens On Thursday, talks broke down if financial firms didn’t want to par- the entities that benefited from this
Mr. Carriere. “In the background products and platforms for mobile automatically routes the music through from the 1500s, recording from the most convenient. More importantly, fore March 14, 2008. to stall the U.S. economy. Treasury after a showdown at the White ticipate in it. “The situation is frag- program,” according to a summary
we do all the heavy lifting around, phones, wireless handhelds and other the vehicle’s entertainment system. 1900s, cinema from the 1910s, radio Evernote makes this information The Treasury wouldn’t get the and Federal Reserve officials House featuring congressional lead- ile,” he said repeatedly. circulated among House Republi-
reformatting,transcoding and optimiz- networked devices beyond PCs, “Nothing to wire and nothing to from the 1920s, TV from the 1950s accessible and searchable at any time, entire $700 billion for purchasing dubbed it their “break the glass” ers and the presidential candidates. Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of cans.
ing the file for the device so consumers reports increasing interest outside connect,” Mr. Oishi says. When the and Internet from the 1990s. “Social from anywhere. It even mines every such assets upfront. Just $350 bil- plan. House Republicans, emboldened by Montana, chairman of the Senate Fi-
lion would be immediately avail- the emergence of Sen. John McCain Lawmakers and the administra-
don’t have to ask themselves any of the region, too. consumer arrives home the player networking, digital communities, user- image for text, making it possible The agreement came together nance Committee, became frus-
able. But the other $350 billion only after concessions on all sides. on the scene, demanded wholesale trated that Mr. Paulson appeared to tion also struggled with details of
the tough technology questions.” “DLNA is gaining traction in automatically routes the music through generated content and Web 2.0 will for users to browse and retrieve infor- the Republicans’ insurance plan,
would be available unless Congress Democrats backed down from a pro- revisions, including an insurance be arguing for softer language on
Put simply, Nero Move It converts markets outside Japan as more devices the TV or home-entertainment sys- ultimately converge around the cell- mation of all kinds, even if it’s a which ultimately survived in limited
specifically holds it back. posal to let bankruptcy judges alter plan through which banks would the executive-pay rules, arguing
the content into the desired format make it to the marketplace and more tem in the living room and throughout phone,” he predicts. phrase scrawled on a scrap of paper. pay into a fund to protect against loudly that executives at these com- form as an option for the Treasury.
Mr. Paulson doesn’t expect the the terms of mortgages, and from an-
for transfer between PCs,digital cam- consumers look for ways to man- the home.“There are no limits because David Cushman, a Peterborough, Whether it’s images on a camera funds to unclog the financial situa- other that would have steered a por- further declines in asset values. panies shouldn’t be handsomely An official familiar with the conver-
eras, mobile phones, game consoles age their content experiences in the the technology is there and the tim- U.K.-based strategist in social media, phone, clips on a video camera, notes tion immediately. “I’m hoping that, tion of any government profits from Mr. Paulson didn’t believe this paid. “Let’s not get emotional,” Mr. sations said Sen. McCain also tried
and popular online social networks home,” says Kiyo Oishi, ACCESS’s ing is right,” he adds. takes this a step further and sug- on paper, links on the Internet or in a very fragile system, this re- the package to affordable-housing would be as effective as buying as- Paulson responded, according to to encourage reluctant House Re-
and communities such as YouTube senior vice president of marketing. At the other end of the spectrum, gests that Internet and mobile — shows on TV, Evernote lets users stores some confidence when it’s an- programs. The Bush administra- sets outright. Fearing the defection someone who was in the room. publicans. “He would say, ‘You are
and MySpace.“In my mind,this is what More than 3,000 DLNA-certified there are also no limits to what empow- the sixth and seventh mass media digitize the content that defines their nounced. But it will take several tion, for its part, agreed to much of House Republicans, he agreed to Mr. Paulson objected to language absolutely right—the first round
convergence has to be: Technology products from 36 manufacturers are ered consumers and digital natives — themselves converge in what he lives and lets others have a look. weeks” before the asset purchases broader executive-compensation consider it. Inside the Treasury, that would give a new oversight was a bad deal,’” and then go on to
that lets all people — not just the now registered. expect — even demand — from digital calls the eighth mass media: Us. “It’s about enabling people to begin to work, he said. limits than it originally envisioned, there was deep concern that divi- board power to control how the new explain the urgency of acting on
tech savvy — enjoy content,” Mr. To deliver on the promise of conver- convergence. They are coming of age As Mr.Cushman sees it,the Internet back up their brains, to capture and The plan would impose some among other things. sions between the White House and program would be run. “All we’re something else, this person said.
Carriere adds. gence and pave the way to a connected in a culture where the phenomenal and mobile are simply tools that store all their memories,” says CEO curbs on executive compensation at At a pivotal point Saturday after- House Republicans could blow up talking about is having [comedians] —Sarah Lueck, Michael R. Crit-
Making content distribution more home, ACCESS recently extended popularity of social networks, mobile enable people to determine their Phil Libin. “What they gather here firms that sell assets to the govern- noon, Mr. Paulson met with lawmak- the deal. Groucho, Harpo and Chico watching tenden, Susan Pulliam, Christopher
of a no-brainer also sits at the core its product portfolio and acquired communities and user-generated content experiences. “We are the they can keep and share forever.” ment. These include a ban, for those ers and argued over whether the Mr. Paulson’s negotiators arrived over Zeppo,” said Rep. Frank, before Cooper, Laura Meckler and Patrick
that sell a large amount of securities funds would come in one tranche or on the Hill Friday with a basic mes- Democrats backed off. Yoest contributed to this article.

You might also like