Microsoft Money Plus ....

As proof that a combination of a large bank account and persistence aren’t everything, Microsoft is discontinuing its Microsoft Money software. The notification has officially been released:

With banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 30, 2009.

We would like to thank the many dedicated users who have been enthusiastic supporters of Microsoft Money over the years, as well as our partner financial institutions who helped pioneer a digital vision of financial management.

Well, perhaps that would be more truthfully stated as following the pioneer in a digital vision of financial management, otherwise known as Intuit. In the 1990s, Microsoft heavily dogged the maker of Quicken, hoping to take a significant portion of what became a popular type of consumer application. But Intuit managed to out-maneuver and out-compete Microsoft time and time again.

The writing was on the wall for this move. Last August, Microsoft took Money off retail shelves and ended its commitment to annual updates. The explanation was that people were changing the ways they bought software. That might be another way of saying that selling anything at retail is an expensive business, with money going to retailers and distributors and, in the large chains, the demand for contributions for “marketing” the product. Given the cost of supporting an application, you have to wonder whether Microsoft might not have come out farther ahead by dropping the product years ago.

Switzerland is relaxing key bank secrecy laws

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday hailed announcement that Switzerland is relaxing key bank secrecy laws .Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg announced a relaxation of their banking secrecy laws on Friday (13 March) following mounting pressures on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down non-cooperating tax zones.
The news comes only one day after Liechtenstein and Andorra made similar declarations, as a number of financial centres around the world attempt to pre-empt any decision coming out of the G20 leaders summit on 2 April.

As western governments feel the pinch due to expensive stimulus spending projects coupled with reduced tax receipts, the spotlight has been turned on a handful of geographic locations that profit by harbouring capital owned by companies and wealthy individuals from abroad.

The Swiss government said on Friday that it intends to adopt OECD standards on the sharing of banking information between different countries, citing its desire to avoid being placed on the organization's 'black list' of tax havens.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the changes were "the beginning of the end of tax havens." "Tax evasion, which costs the global economy billions of pounds each year, will become more difficult in future."

money market mutual fund assets rose by $461 million to $3.906 trillion for the week

Investment Company Institute said Money fund assets rose to $3.906T in latest week.
Assets of the U.S. retail money market mutual funds rose by $10.67 billion in the latest week to $1.365 trillion.
Assets of taxable money market funds in the retail category rose $11.04 billion to $1.075 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said. Tax-exempt fund assets fell by $361 million to $289.83 billion.

Assets of institutional money market funds fell by $10.21 billion to $2.541 trillion for the same period. Among institutional funds, taxable money market fund assets fell by $12.05 billion to $2.349 trillion; assets of tax-exempt funds rose by $1.84 billion to $192.18 billion.

The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds fell in the week ended Tuesday to 0.29 percent from 0.32 percent the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westboro, Massachusetts. The 30-day average yield fell to 0.33 percent from 0.36 percent, according to Money Fund Report.

The online service Bankrate.com said its survey of 100 leading commercial banks, savings and loan associations and savings banks in the nation's 10 largest markets showed the annual percentage yield available on money market accounts fell to 0.49 percent as of Wednesday from 0.50 percent week earlier.

Europe's major economies said a global solution was needed to the current financial crisis.

Capitalism must be given new moral foundations
Nicolas Sarkozy
French President
German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted that leaders faced an "extraordinary international crisis".
But leaders including UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned against reverting to protectionism in such a difficult economic climate.

The Berlin gathering is a precursor to the next meeting of the G20 group of major developed and developing countries in London on 2 April, which aims to rewrite the rules of the global financial system.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said participants at the London summit would bear a "historical responsibility" to reform the global system.

"We have to succeed and we cannot accept that anything or anyone gets in the way of that summit. If we fail there will be no safety net," he said.

What role can France and other European Union countries play towards encouraging the GCC and the rest of the Arab World to take an active role in finding ways to solve the crisis?
France has experience and knowledge of the constraints that apply in different parts of the region. It is time for responsibility and respect to be shown by all sides. In the past we have seen Europe taking the initiative and then the US or some of the countries from the Arab World taking the initiative. Today, we need a global approach where all these countries act together with one goal, that is taking concrete measures to show people in the region that a solution can be found. If the crisis is not dealt with seriously and collectively the consequences may touch everybody

'Supervision'

However, despite the encouraging words from key leaders, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, voiced concern at what he saw as divisions between Europe's major economies.

"If I put it very tenderly, the divergence in opinions was rather big," the AFP news agency reported him saying as he headed back to Prague.
"It was obvious that the four countries representing the EU in the G20 [France, Germany, Britain, Italy] do not have the same opinion on a number of issues."

Mr Brown said there was a need to create an economy that is based on the "soundest principles", saying the world needed a "global new deal".

Leaders said there was a need for international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, to play a greater role not just to help countries in financial trouble but to prevent countries from getting into such difficulties.

Mr Brown said leaders had agreed that the IMF needed access to at least $500bn (£348bn).

The comments in Berlin come amid ongoing volatility in world financial markets and uncertainty over the future of some of the world's key banks.

Ms Merkel said: "We are making a commitment that all financial markets, products, and participants - including hedge funds and rating agencies - are of course subject to supervision and regulation."

Details on such a plan need to be worked out before the meeting in London, she added.

Hedge funds, which typically attract wealthy private investors, have been criticised for their lack of transparency and oversight.
Bonuses

As well as greater supervision of all financial markets and instruments, leaders underlined the need to reassess the issue of pay at finance firms.

Mr Sarkozy added said people could "no longer tolerate the reward package system for traders and bankers".

There has been much criticism of bankers' bonuses, which have been high despite their bank's poor performance.

Different opinions
French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, UK and German leaders are hoping to take a common approach at the London summit.

But analysts say reaching agreement among EU powers will not be easy.

Both Mr Topolanek and the European Commission have voiced concern at attempts by France, Italy and Spain to shelter their car industries from the effects of the downturn.

Mr Sarkozy has suggested that in order to secure government aid, French carmakers should move production out of their East European factories and back to France.