Pop Quiz

1. Approximately how much work is undertaken by women and girls globaly?

A. one half
B. two thirds
C. one fifth

2. Women generate how much of the worlds income?

A. less than 5% of the global income
B. less than 10% of the global income
C. less than 50% of the global income

3. Women's labour produces?

A. all the worlds food
B. half of the world's food
C. a third of the worlds food

Answers:

1. B. two thirds
2. A. less than 5% of the global income
3. B. half of the world's food

Worlds Largest Hedge Fund Manager BGI Opens Dubai Office

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has opened an office in the United Arab Emirates' Dubai International Finance Centre. BGI has been active in the region since 1998 and currently has assets under management of US$ 28 billion in area.

The office, which is co-located with Barclays Wealth and Barclays Capital, will principally address the growing needs of the region's institutions - including Government sponsored pension and social security funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), Central Banks and High Net Worth individuals and families.

"The new office is a strategic development for BGI's Middle Eastern business relationships." David Semaya, Chief Executive, Barclays Global Investors Europe & Asia, said, "We are seeing investors in the region becoming more demanding in their investment strategies."

BGI's iShares, including its three recently launched Sharia'ah compliant funds, will primarily address the retail market. Islamic finance is a $400bn industry, growing at a rate of over 15% per annum.

BGI is the world's largest asset manager with over $2.0 trillion in assets under management. BGI's funds include hedge funds and fund of funds as well as index and active equities and bonds funds.

Swiss Bank Picks Up On Electronic Trading Used By Hedge Funds

A Swiss Bank has picked up on a hedge fund platform, Orc Trading, to replace key technology for its electronic trading operations. The order was booked in Q1 2008.

"We have thoroughly evaluated several trading systems providers and chose to go with Orc Trading for its combination of speed and stability," said Thomas Kurzen, Head Trading Technology at InCore Bank AG. "We also appreciate the high quality of Orc’s supporting organization and the great potential for growth offered by Orc’s open architecture.

While the new trading solution is initially intended for proprietary trading only, the Swiss bank plans to add new functionality, such as Orc Broker for its sales desk operations. Other future opportunities investigated by the bank include using extended connectivity for incoming and outgoing order flow with access to multiple international markets, as offered by the Orc Connect framework.

Orc Software is a provider of solutions for the financial industry in the areas of advanced derivatives trading and low latency connectivity. Orc’s customers include leading investment banks, trading and market-making firms, exchanges, brokerage houses, institutional investors and hedge funds. Orc Software is next exhibiting at Screen Events in Amsterdam, September 25.

InCore Bank AG is the first independent Swiss corporation with a banking and securities dealer license and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Maerki Baumann Holding AG.