Reasons To Be ExtZtatic, Part Three

ExtZy, Z/Yen’s market prediction game, has been revamped! It now features a tag cloud, a new game host, many new tantalising stocks and amazing prizes.

The blog, now written by Leo Fishman, aka the Empress of ExtZy, brings you a bi-monthly update of the latest featurettes and gizmos available. The tag cloud (available for each leader board) provides a neat visualisation of three variables for the most popular stocks: market capitalisation, dividends and price.

All you need to do is register here and start building a portfolio. Unlike the credit-scrunched real financial system, when you first log in you receive a credit line of 1000 units (called Zoints) to purchase stocks in web-pages (entities) that you think will lead to a bull market. Start trading and pit yourself against the other players in our virtual floor!

Ben Morris, aka the Game Lord, has recently added 18 cricket county shares which are already being avidly traded by some early birds ahead of the expected summer surge. There are even 245 country shares available, so now you can ‘own’ a little virtual piece of Peru, Portugal or Pakistan.

Of course there are prizes to be won – such as handy Z/Yen chopsticks, a trip on the Lady Daphne or a £300 voucher for a jolly useful 32GB iPod Touch. Check it out at www.extzy.net and you could be checking in some super prizes!

Reasons To Be Global, Part Six

This spring has seen the publication of the fifth edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 5) created by Z/Yen. One of the themes of GFCI 5 was that of uncertainty – as one respondent put it “it’s all a bit iffy out here at the moment!”

London and New York still head the index but all financial centres suffered declines in the ratings. The lesser known financial centres actually suffered more than the well established centres. “There’s no safe port in this storm” said one respondent as another commented "the reputation of the big centres has undoubtedly been tarnished but people still trust them more than the upstarts". A senior asset manager backed this up – "the story of the Icelandic banks has done long term damage to perceptions about the smaller centres".

Many respondents agreed that the response of governments to the regulatory environment, the recession and the management of the public sector ownership of banks will all be important in determining the future competitiveness of financial centres. We are shortly starting our research into GFCI 6 which will be published in September. Please give us your views here. Your opinions on how governments and regulators are handling the crisis and the effects on long term competitiveness are eagerly awaited!

To Be Cheerios…….

Credit Scrunchies – no, not the new breakfast cereal from Z/Yen, but a major piece of work that Michael Mainelli has been creating in partnership with Bob Giffords. In emulation of Mark Yeandle’s Caribbean jaunts, Michael has been touring the usual hotspots famous for their beaches - Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, London – presenting Bob’s and his ideas on the credit crunch. One big event was the Global Policy Institute conference on the future of London at Bloomberg. The overly-dynamic duo have produced a draft work on the credit crunch and Long Finance, so watch this space.

New Addition To Z/Yen’s First Family

Now & Z/Yen always takes pleasure in “hatched and matched” news items. But we are especially delighted to announce a new addition to Z/Yen’s first family, the Mainellis. Welcome, Fatso, the hamster. Michael spotted an opportunity to one-up the Obama family’s choice of a Portuguese Water Dog which, it transpires, is not actually a rescue dog at all but a spare from Ted Kennedy’s litter. The Mainelli family, on the other hand, have very much gone the rescue rodent route, fostering Fatso the Portuguese Water Hamster through friends, in Fatso’s hour of need.

Rumours that several Z/Yen people are comparing their lot to Fatso on his treadmill are vastly exaggerated, and most unkind in these charitable circumstances. There are also rumours that Ian and Janie, not wishing to be outdone, rescued a Portuguese Water Chicken from their local piri-piri restaurant; Ian and Janie are said to have voted their new pet delicious. Nevertheless, welcome to the Mainelli family, and indeed the Z/Yen family, Fatso the Hamster.