Briefs...

Briefs
7th APSGC moot begins
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Two-day 7th All Pakistan Secretaries General Conference started here on Monday. The secretaries general of chambers and trade associations met under the auspices of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and discussed issues related to capacity building and networking, according to a press release.
In his opening remarks, the deputy country director of the CIPE, Hammad Siddique, discussed the role of trade bodies for the economic wellbeing. He stressed the need for capacity building of the chambers and trade associations to achieve the goal of progress and prosperity.
He said he hoped that after the conclusion of the conference, the participants would be well equipped to face the upcoming challenges.
Huzaifa Shabbir Hussain threw light on his experience of working with small chambers of commerce and industry and discussed weaknesses in their workings, said the press release.

House-hunting on the go
News Desk
KARACHI: Finding the perfect property, organising and attending viewings, and negotiating with sellers can seem overwhelmingly time consuming when you are constantly on the go. Pakistan’s best property portal Lamudi.pk has compiled a list of top tips to help house-hunters to find their dream home on the move.
Get yourself organised having a schedule is essential to organised house-hunting. Sync your computer calendar, such as Google or Outlook, with your mobile phone, to make sure that you have all of your viewing appointments in the palm of your hand. Put aside one full day to see a number of properties.
Download house-hunting apps to your smartphone. Instead of bookmarking your preferred sites, create one folder on your phone for all property-related activity, such as maps, to-do lists, and classifieds apps. By using apps, you have all of your favourite houses and apartments in one place, with no fear of losing the details or forgetting the features.

Wathra visits Standard Chartered
By our correspondent
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra on Monday visited the first Standard Chartered Pakistan digital branch at Dolmen Mall, according a statement.
The governor remarked that Pakistan’s branchless banking policy initiatives and businesses, have won global recognition.
“Pakistan, today, is one of the largest potential branchless banking growth markets in the world and ranked among the top three along Brazil and Kenya,” he said.
Wathra highlighted the robust growth of digital financial channel in Pakistan, which experienced 17 percent growth in ATM network and 16 percent growth in number of plastic cards.
He stated that increased usage of online banking services day by day indicates consumers trust on digital banking channels in the country.
Standard Chartered Pakistan Chief Executive Shazad Dada said, “In line with global trends, where client preference is continuously shifting towards digital channels as compared to a uni-dimensional brick and mortar setup, Standard Chartered has employed an integrated multi-channel strategy, investing heavily in the digital space.”

Greece’s list of reforms by April 20
FRANKFURT: The European Union has given Greece until April 20 to present a list of reforms which, if found acceptable, would unlock the final tranche of aid funds promised under a multi-billion-euro bailout, a German newspaper reported Sunday.
Eurogroup ministers have set the deadline in order to have sufficient time to examine Athens´ proposal ahead of a meeting on April 24, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, quoting unnamed representatives in the negotiations.
Negotiators from Greece and the EU have struggled to make headway over the final payout of 7.2 billion euros as Athens has refused to consider cutting civil servants´ pensions.
Alexis Tsipras´s government, which was elected on an anti-austerity ticket, is reticent about accepting further cuts in public spending.
Rather, it is looking at raising national revenues through improving tax compliance.
On Thursday, the Greek government also began examining a draft bill aimed at rehiring around 4,000 civil servants who were retrenched due to austerity reforms.
In addition, the draft bill envisages the hiring of 6,000 people who passed public service examinations.
Despite the discord between Athens and the EU over Greece´s proposed reforms, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Thursday he was very confident that a deal could be done by April 24.
A government source in Athens also said that phone contacts were made Saturday with Greece´s creditors, and that they were held “in a climate of cooperation” and aimed at defining the agenda for the coming days.

Statoil may cut over 10pc jobs
OSLO Statoil could shed 2,400 jobs in May, or nearly 11 percent of the total workforce, as the Norwegian oil giant cuts costs following the plunge in global oil prices, an Oslo business daily reported Monday.
Dagens Naerinsliv, citing a labour representative, said the cuts would hit engineering staff, particularly those drilling and maintaining wells, as well as administrative staff.
“We are working on reinforcing the productivity within the company and that could have consequences in terms of jobs but it is too early to speculate on their number,” Statoil spokesman Jannik Lindbaek told AFP.
The cuts are part of a programme to generate $1.7 billion in annual savings from 2016 that Statoil announced last year when oil prices were still above $100 per barrel.Oil prices have since fallen to under $50 per barrel, pushing energy companies to accelerate cost-cutting measures and suspend or scale back investment.
In February, when it announced annual profits had been slashed in half due to tumbling oil prices and heavy write-downs, Statoil also announced a 10 percent cut in its $20 billion-investment budget for this year. Statoil, which went into the red in the second half of the year, also warned in February that an 8 percent cut in staff levels last year to 22,500 could be followed by further staff reductions.

Volkswagen urged to end battle
BERLIN: Employees at German auto giant Volkswagen urged management Monday to settle a bitter power struggle and focus instead on running Europe´s biggest carmaker following media reports of strained relations between VW´s supervisory board chief and its CEO.
“We ask that the focus should return to the successful day-to-day running of the company and its 600,000 employees, rather than on debates that fill newspapers,” the head of VW´s general works committee Bernd Osterloh told the business daily Handelsblatt. “We will not participate in any further discussions about people and their positions,” Osterloh added.
VW´s supervisory board chief Ferdinand Piech, a member of the powerful Porsche dynasty that is a shareholder in Volkswagen, and one of the most important figures in German business, sparked a ferocious media debate at the weekend by declaring in a magazine interview that he was “distancing himself” from VW´s chief executive Martin Winterkorn.
Until now, Winterkorn was seen as Piech´s close ally and heir apparent on the carmaker´s supervisory board. Piech´s comments ignited speculation of a fierce leadership battle that could derail the smooth running of the company.
But VW´s other shareholders rallied behind Winterkorn, leaving Piech looking isolated. Stefan Weil, the regional premier of the state of Lower Saxony, which holds a stake of 20 percent, said he saw “no cause for action” in the management of VW and warned that “a public discussion about the leadership of VW (is) damaging” for the carmaker.