babcock crime and punishment, page-2

Just find this interseting.

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/100511/2/2cv3d.html

Govt to promote corporate bonds

Tuesday May 11, 2010, 7:48 pm


The federal government will encourage ordinary Australians to consider investing in bonds issued by corporations, to help expand the nation's debt market.

The plan, announced in the 2010/11 federal budget released on Tuesday, would help increase competition in the business lending sector by making it easier for firms to borrow directly from ordinary Australians.

"This will help develop a deep and liquid Australian corporate bond market, making it easier for Australian businesses to diversify their funding sources as an alternative to borrowing from the bank," it said.

"Over time, this is expected to put competitive pressure on bank lending rates to business, and also reduce the amount of wholesale funding which our banks are required to raise in international capital markets."

The corporations watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will allow stock exchange listed companies that meet certain criteria to issue bonds to retail investors under a simplified process.

The process will involve the provision of a prospectus setting out key information such as offer terms, and the ability of the bond issuer to meet interest and principal repayments, and without unnecessary detail that may confuse investors.

Business issuers must have a good continuous disclosure history, offer simple "plain vanilla" bonds and have an issue size of at least $50 million.

Separately, retail investors will be eligible for new incentives to increasing savings.

The government plans to give individual investors a 50 per cent tax discount on up to $1,000 of interest income earned on savings products, including corporate bonds