Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/875714
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2017 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way The price of Bitcoin has a 91% correlation with Google searches for Bitcoin The current price of Bitcoin has a 91% correlation with the volume of Google search requests for Bitcoin-related terms, according to a study by SEMrush, a search engine marketing agency. The study used a database of 120 million US keyword searches linked to the cryptocurrency. It showed that the price of Bitcoin in US dollars rose and fell largely in tandem with the number of search requests for terms like "Bitcoin," "Bitcoin price" and "Bitcoin value." At one level, the study merely confirms the obvious: As Bitcoin becomes more expensive, and thus more exciting, more people search online to find out how it is doing. On the other hand, it is nice to see statistics confirm your hunches. While the study looked at the correlation between searches and prices, it did not — sadly — say whether searches predicted or trailed the Bitcoin/ dollar exchange rate. Bitcoin searches have gone up 450% since April 2017, SEMrush says. The data in the sample is about a week old. Since June 2017, online searches for the price of Ethereum, another digital cryptocurrency, have almost equaled Bitcoin searches, SEMrush says. Bitcoin grew from about $1,076 on April 1, 2017 to a peak of nearly $4,764 at the beginning of September, before falling back to $3,972 at the time of writing. Financial services could contribute up to 15% of GDP by 2022, professionals say A clear majority of fi nancial services professionals in Malta expect the sector to see strong growth over the next fi ve years, according to new research by Managing Partners Group, the international asset management group. The sector currently contributes just over 12% of Malta's GDP, but 87% believe this will be higher by 2022, with 70% anticipating it will account for 15% or more. One of the key reasons behind this growth will be an increased focus on innovation. Some 16% of those interviewed expect product innovation in the Maltese financial services sector to increase 'dramatically' over the next five years and a further 68% anticipate some sort of improvement here. The main driver behind this trend will be more financial services companies locating to Malta – the view given by 71% of respondents – followed by 50% who believe the country's flexible legislative and regulatory system will also help. When it comes to which sectors in Malta's financial services industry are likely to see growth between now and 2020, 82% anticipate fund administration will grow, followed by asset management, asset servicing and corporate banking (74% of those interviewed expect these sectors to grow over the next three years). Jeremy Leach, Chief Executive Officer at MPG, commented: "Our research shows that people working in Malta's financial services sector expect their industry to enjoy strong growth over the next few years. The pool of talent in the industry, its level of professionalism and the robust but flexible regulatory environment provide the building blocks for the industry to continue to grow and build on its reputation as a leading international financial services centre." Kenneth Farrugia, Chairman of Finance Malta, commented: "The results of this survey and the highly positive outlook therein are primarily driven by the growth that the industry is currently experiencing particularly in the asset management, insurance and private wealth sector. "Despite Malta's relatively recent entry in the international financial services arena, innovation- led developments such as the Notified AIF (NAIF) in the asset management sector, the Protected Cell legislation in the insurance sector, which I must add is unique in Europe, as well as the presence of a highly competitive securitization framework, have attracted a number of international operators to Malta. "This has in turn brought about a marked increase in business as a result of an increase in the business being managed through existing operators but equally so driven by the new financial services operators that are setting up in Malta." European business group calls on China to open economy A European business group has called on China to open up the state-dominated economy if it wants to reverse falling foreign investment infl ows. Releasing the European Union Chamber of Commerce's annual position paper, the lobby group's president Mats Harborn said a forthcoming Communist Party congress, at which president Xi Jinping is expected to copper- fasten his grip on power, might see pledges to reform. "Our members are suffering promise fatigue," Harborn told a news briefing in Beijing. "We hope that the new line-up after the 19th Party Congress will show that there are people in place that are committed to further opening up," Harborn said. "If you ask our member companies...they are not very optimistic that these changes will happen." Chinese companies face fewer impediments when they try to buy foreign technology and brands while Beijing bars foreign acquisitions of most of its companies. European and US businesses have long complained about the absence of level playing fields in for Chinese and foreign firms and the remarks come after the European Commission proposed tighter monitoring of non-EU investments in sensitive areas. While Xi has been making high-level anti-protectionist speeches at forums such as Davos and elsewhere, there has been little evidence of marketing opening at home in China. "We are now at a critical point for China and the world. China is affecting all of us. We are seeing Chinese investments poured into Europe surging but investments into China are dropping," said Harborn. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks China 59th out of 62 countries in terms of its openness to foreign direct investment (FDI). "In the paper we talk about reciprocity in the EU-China trade and investment relationship and that a balance is needed more. Not only because it's unfair but also because these restrictive measures in China are out-dated and needs to be supplanted. China needs reputational leverage," said Harborn. Harborn said that European firms needed China to succeed and they were ready to expand in China. However, certainty was a requirement for investment. "We are responsible for our profit and loss statements here and now. The reason we are frustrated is that we cannot live on only promises in documents and speeches. We live on business here and now," said Harborn.