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Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. of Canada has launched a company in Scottsdale in what officials say “is the next phase of the company’s long-term growth strategy in the U.S.”

IA American Life Insurance Co. will be headquartered with the Quebec City company’s Industrial Alliance Pacific Life Insurance Co. U.S. division. The two will offer a range of life and annuity products.

Among IA’s first efforts was a tentative agreement to take on policies of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co., seized in September by California regulators. It’s also offering a new product called SecureLife Plus universal life insurance, which offers coverage to individuals up to age 120 and features such as increased maximums on term riders, a new waiver of surrender charge and an accelerated death benefit.

“We’ve laid a solid U.S. foundation and now we’re focusing on growth in underserved, middle-income markets,” said Michael Stickney, president of IA American.

“The debut of IA American marks the beginning of a new phase in our expansion in North America,” said Yvon Charest, president and CEO of Industrial Alliance guaranteed online payday loans. “Over the last few years, we’ve focused on creating a solid local management team in the U.S. Our next objective is to create a strong and vibrant organization capable of serving the insurance and financial needs of middle-income American families.”

State officials took over Golden State Mutual, the largest minority-owned life insurance company in California, after the insurer’s surplus dropped below the state’s required minimum. Golden State Mutual had posted six consecutive years of net operating losses and was operating in a hazardous financial condition, according to an announcement from Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. IA was the only bidder that met state requirements after a national search.

Founded in 1892, Industrial Alliance is a life and health insurance company with operations across North America. It has more than 3,400 employees and manages and over $58 billion in assets. Officials could not be reached over the weekend for further details on the Scottsdale operation.

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Five former U.S. Treasury secretaries who have served both Republican and Democrat presidents have jointly called on Congress to implement the so- called Volcker Rule to limit the size and trading of banks.

Banks that benefit from public support via access to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shouldn’t “engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services,” John Snow, Paul O’Neill, Nicholas Brady, George Shultz and W. Michael Blumenthal wrote in a letter published by the Wall Street Journal.

Restricting proprietary trading by banks is a “key element in protecting our financial system and will assure that banks will give priority to their essential lending and depository responsibilities,” the former secretaries wrote.

The group also urged the U.S. government to take the lead at international meetings to win “broad agreement on this principle among the leading financial centers.”

U.S. President Barack Obama on Jan. 21 introduced a proposal he called the Volcker Rule to limit the size and trading activities of financial institutions and reduce risk- taking. The rule is named after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.

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John Zumwalt said he plans to give up the chief executive officer’s role at The PBSJ Corp.

Zumwalt, who also is chairman of the engineering and consulting firm, said in a Jan. 25 letter to shareholders that the company expects a new CEO to be in place by the end of September. Zumwalt said he would continue to serve as CEO until his replacement is found.

Korn/Ferry, an executive search firm, will perform both an internal and external search for candidates under the oversight of the nominating committee of the company’s board, Zumwalt said in his letter, which was first reported by the nonprofit news organization, Broward Bulldog.

PBSJ, an employee-owned firm headquartered in Tampa, has been under scrutiny following a series of what Zumwalt described in his letter as “management crisis,” including a $36 million embezzlement scheme and accusations of violating federal campaign finance laws. Most recently, the company said early results of an internal probe suggested that violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act might have occurred in connection with certain projects undertaken by its PBS&J International Inc. subsidiary.

Zumwalt, who served as president of the international subsidiary until July, said he would focus his attention in the coming months on the strategy growth of the corporation and the strengthening and expansion of its core North American businesses.

Bob Paulsen, vice chairman, will provide day-to-day oversight of the current businesses at the corporate level, as it moves ahead with a streamlined business organization, the letter said.

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Ben S. Bernanke will keep his job as Federal Reserve chairman, the White House and the Senate’s senior Republican predicted two days after wavering support among some Democrats helped drive stock prices lower.

President Barack Obama “is very confident that the chairman will be confirmed,” David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Bernanke will have “bipartisan support in the Senate” even as a number of his party are opposed.

The assurances followed declarations of support for Bernanke from the top two Democrats in the Senate, Nevada’s Harry Reid and Richard Durbin of Illinois, who earlier said they were undecided. John McCain, the Republican 2008 presidential nominee, and John Cornyn, who runs the party’s senate campaign committee this year, are against him. Online traders yesterday raised the odds of approval to 92 percent from as low as 65 percent on Jan. 22.

“We’ve dodged the bullet on this one,” said Greg Valliere, chief policy strategist at Potomac Research Group in Washington. “People were aghast by what happened in the markets on Friday, and do they really want to get angry letters from constituents who have lost money in the stock market because of the Bernanke vote?”

Stocks React

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 2.2 percent on Jan. 22 to 1,091.76, erasing gains so far in 2010, as Reid and Durbin withheld their support for Bernanke and two Senate Democrats, Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, said they would join Republicans already against him. Both Boxer and Feingold are up for election this year. The S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent to 1,094.93 at 11:46 a.m. today in New York.

The Democratic Party’s loss of a Senate seat in Massachusetts last week has added to pressure on those senators facing re-election at a time of rising voter anger over the economy. Bernanke’s critics have blamed the Fed for lax regulation of banks before the credit crisis and questioned its involvement in the $182 billion bailout of New York-based insurer American International Group Inc.

“It is difficult for governors or chairmen to discharge responsibility under a cloud of uncertainty regarding the security of tenure,” Philippine central bank Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said in an interview in Manila today when asked about Bernanke’s struggle to get confirmed. “It’s best the appointment of a central bank governor is depoliticized.”

Impact on Regulation

While Bernanke’s chances of winning a second term improved, comments by lawmakers supporting him suggest that the 56-year- old former Princeton University economist will be under greater scrutiny on bank regulation and consumer protection.

Durbin, the Senate majority whip, said in a Jan. 23 statement that he will “continue to demand that the Federal Reserve make a commitment to transparency and accountability in its policies.”

“I will make it clear that if the Federal Reserve refuses to exercise its authority to demand bank reform and protect America’s consumers, I will join with members of Congress to push for new laws that achieve those goals,” he said. Bernanke is set to meet with Durbin at 4:15 p.m. today, said Max Gleischman, a Durbin spokesman.

Reid plans a Senate vote on Bernanke’s confirmation this week, said Jim Manley, a spokesman. His term expires Jan no fax payday loan. 31.

Senate Rules

Bernanke’s supporters need 60 votes to limit debate and clear the way for a final vote. Under Senate rules, a motion to limit debate would set up a procedural vote after two legislative days to curtail additional debate to 30 hours.

McConnell indicated enough Republicans will join Democrats in backing the central banker.

“I would anticipate he will be confirmed,” the Kentucky Republican said on NBC. McConnell declined to say how he would vote.

“We believe he will be confirmed,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.”

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said on NBC that Obama received assurances from Reid over the weekend that Bernanke will be confirmed, after support among Democrats ebbed in the wake of an upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in the Jan. 19 Massachusetts special election. Axelrod called Bernanke “a steady hand in the crisis.”

McCain’s Vote

Arizona’s McCain, who lost to Obama in 2008, said he is leaning toward voting against Bernanke, while being “worried” about the impact from rejecting the Fed chief.

“The fact is that Chairman Bernanke was in charge when we hit the iceberg,” McCain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “His policies were partially responsible for the meltdown that we experienced, and I think he should be held accountable.”

Cornyn, of Texas, said on “Fox News Sunday” he would vote against Bernanke, while Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah and Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey told CNN they would support the Fed chief, a Republican first appointed by President George W. Bush four years ago.

Bernanke may get as many as 70 Senate votes, Valliere said. “After Massachusetts, nothing’s certain, but I think it’s very likely that he’ll win,” Valliere said.

While Bernanke’s support among senators is running 2 to 1 in his favor, about half have yet to indicate how they will vote. Of senators who released statements or were contacted by Bloomberg News over the past three days, 32 said they would vote for Bernanke or were leaning in his favor, while 16 were opposed or leaning against him. The rest were undecided or didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii announced their support for Bernanke today.

Dodd, Gregg

Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the banking committee, and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the top Republican on the budget committee, said they are confident that Bernanke will be confirmed.

“I have some misgivings about Fed policy and the economic policy, but this man has guided us through a crisis,” Durbin said yesterday on CBS.

Richard Shelby, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, yesterday dismissed Dodd’s assertion on Jan. 22 that rejecting Bernanke risked sending the “worst signal to the markets” and triggering an economic “tailspin.”

Any decline in financial markets wouldn’t “last very long,” Shelby, of Alabama, said on CNN. Bernanke will see “a lot of tough votes against him,” and that would be a “strong message,” said Shelby, who reiterated his opposition to the Fed chief.

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New Zealand house prices increased at a slower pace in November and property sales fell for a second month as home-loan interest rates increase.

Prices rose 0.2 percent from October when they gained 1.3 percent, the Auckland-based Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Inc. said today in an e-mailed statement, citing an index. Property sales fell to 6,056.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard last week said house- price inflation would moderate in 2010, reducing the need for him to raise the benchmark interest rate before the middle of the year. Lenders have increased home-loan interest rates for fixed terms of one year or longer as global funding costs have increased, curbing demand for property.

“No longer do borrowers get the benefit of certainty and low rates that had been a feature of previous cycles,” said Khoon Goh, senior economist at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington. “The prospect of higher interest rates and a still weak labor market will continue to be major headwinds facing the housing market.”

The interest rate on a two-year home loan was 7.15 percent in October from 6.31 percent in June, according to central bank figures Online payday loans. Bollard on Dec. 10 said he may increase the official cash rate around the middle of 2010.

The jobless rate rose to a nine-year high of 6.5 percent in the third quarter and may reach 6.7 percent next year, the central bank forecast last week.

House Sales

House sales slumped last year amid a deepening recession, and only began rising on an annual basis in March. Sales in November surged 41.5 percent from a year earlier to 6,056, the institute said today.

Still, sales fell for a second month in November from 6,091 in October and 6,464 in September.

The level of sales is consistent with troughs in previous housing downturns, Goh said.

The dip “could hint at the start of an easing in housing market activity at a time when we are getting a supply response with a rise in the number of houses for sale,” he said.

The median time to sell a house rose to 33 days from 31 in October, and fell from 44 days in November last year, the institute said today.

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European Union finance ministers will give Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government until 2013 to bring Germany’s budget deficit back in line with EU fiscal rules, a draft document shows.

The German government should start reducing the budget deficit in 2011, cutting the shortfall by 0.5 percent of gross domestic product per year, according to the draft recommendation scheduled for adoption by ministers at a meeting in Brussels next week. The deficit, projected to reach 5 percent of GDP next year, should be back below 3 percent by 2013, according to the draft, which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

“In addition, the German authorities should seize any opportunity beyond the fiscal effort, including from better economic conditions, to accelerate the reduction of the gross debt ratio back toward the reference value” of 60 percent of GDP, according to the recommendation.

The document, prepared by a group composed of officials from the 27 EU nations, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, will be discussed by finance ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Dec. 1 and 2.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said he will bow to EU pressure to help strengthen the Stability and Growth Pact that was put in place to protect the euro. France has asked for an extra year to cut its deficit to 3 percent of GDP.

Merkel’s government has until June 2, 2010, to outline in detail how it intends to comply with the EU’s consolidation demands, according to the document. Merkel should enact policy measures that would help Germany’s economy grow at a faster pace in times of normal economic growth, the recommendation shows.

Economic Stimulus

EU finance ministers have committed to withdrawing economic stimulus after 2010 and to start reining in deficits that have swelled because of the recession. Germany’s budget shortfall will peak at 5 percent of GDP in 2010, and France’s deficit at 8.3 percent this year, the commission forecast on Nov. 3.

“For this government, the Stability and Growth Pact is not up for discussion and we will do everything to make sure it stays strong,” Schaeuble told reporters in Brussels on Nov. 10. To afford tax cuts promised to voters, Germany needs “a strict budget policy,” he said.

Merkel’s Cabinet on Nov. 9 approved tax cuts for 2010 totaling 6 billion euros ($8.9 billion). The measures, including expanded children’s benefits, are supplementary to about 10 billion euros in tax reductions taking effect on Jan. 1 that were approved in June by Merkel’s previous coalition.

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The federal agency in charge of product safety announced the recall of 2.1 million cribs Monday, citing defective hardware that can cause toddlers and infants to suffocate.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said parents should immediately stop using Stork Craft drop-side cribs, which are made by Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc., of British Columbia, Canada.

About 1.2 million of the cribs have been distributed in the United States and 968,000 units distributed in Canada.

The recall includes about 147,000 Stork Craft drop-side cribs with the Fisher-Price logo, the CPSC said.

The cribs were sold at major retailers including Sears and Wal-Mart and online at Amazon.com and Target.com between January 1993 and October 2009.

The CPSC said the cribs’ drop-side, which is attached with plastic hardware, can detach unexpectedly and create a space between the crib wall and the adjacent mattress. Infants and toddlers can become trapped in the space and suffocate or fall to the floor, the agency said.

There have been 110 documented incidents of drop-side detachment, including 67 in the United States and 43 in Canada. Among those, four resulted in suffocation and 20 resulted in falls that caused injuries ranging from concussion to bumps and bruises.

It was the second time Stork Craft cribs were recalled this year. In January, about 535,000 were recalled amid safety concerns.

Safety advocates have urged federal regulators to impose tougher standards on companies that make drop-side cribs and some have called for an outright ban. "CPSC is working on new federal rules to make all cribs safer," said agency spokesperson Scott Wolfson.

Before Monday’s announcement, more than 5 million cribs, bassinets and play yards had been recalled since the beginning of 2007, according to CPSC.

This includes the recall of 400,000 drop-side cribs by manufacturer Simplicity in July, as the result of some fatalities, according to the CPSC. The agency also said that 600,000 drop-side cribs were recalled by Delta Enterprise in October electronic check payday advance. The recalls were prompted by concerns that infants and toddlers could get trapped by the mechanism of the crib and suffocate.

"This has certainly been a hazard that we’ve been aware of for some time," said Nancy Cowles, director of Kids In Danger, a Chicago-based advocacy group. Drop-side cribs have been associated with "dozens of deaths" over the years, she added.

Toys "R" Us, one of the largest retailers of nursery furniture, said it has decided to stop placing orders for drop-side cribs and expects to stop carrying them by the end of 2009.

Jennifer Albano, a Toys "R" Us spokesperson, said the company supports proposed standards that would, among other things, require that cribs no longer be manufactured with a drop-side.

Albano said a consortium of crib manufacturers, consumer safety advocates and a products standards organization met with the CPSC in March to discuss the possibility of changing voluntary production standards for cribs as part of ongoing efforts to improve safety.

However, no official decision has been made and Toys "R" Us does still have some drop-side cribs in stock, Albano said.

Major retailers in the United States and Canada sold the recalled cribs including BJ’s Wholesale Club, J.C. Penney, Kmart, Meijer, Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500), USA Baby, and Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) stores and online at Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500), Babiesrus.com, Costco.com, Target.com (TGT, Fortune 500), and Walmart.com from January 1993 through October 2009 for between $100 and $400.

The cribs were manufactured in Canada, China and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the legislature in Suffolk County, N.Y., at the eastern end of Long Island, banned sales of the drop-side crib in October.  

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GATINEAU, QUE.–Canadian television could get skinnier.

Some of the nation’s broadcasters are suggesting Canadians be offered a "skinny basic" package of TV channels, a smaller but cheaper version of the basic channels available today.

They made their arguments Tuesday during hearings before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, though cable and satellite providers are vehemently against the idea.

For consumers, the proposition might mean giving up channels on the current basic package and paying a low fee set by the CRTC for a smaller set of channels consisting of local, regional and some national programming.

It is one of several ideas Canada’s conventional broadcasters are offering to help their ailing industry, at a time when falling advertising revenue and the splintering of ad dollars among scores of channels have made local programming unprofitable.

"We know it can work. We know, on a cost basis, it can be done by cable companies," said Steven Guiton, chief regulatory officer at CBC/Radio Canada. "And that’s why we think it’s realistic."

When pressed for details of such a proposal, Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO of CBC/Radio Canada, said the state-owned broadcaster is holding its comments for a separate set of CRTC hearings scheduled for early December.

The CRTC’s commissioners quizzed CBC officials on the subject repeatedly, and threw questions about a basic package at officials of Bell Canada, who also appeared before the commission.

Both Monday and Tuesday, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein seemed almost to beg the broadcasters and their rivals, the cable and satellite carriers, to negotiate a deal among themselves and come to him for approval. The carriers have refused to negotiate, saying they have nothing to gain.

The cable and satellite carriers are dead set against the idea of a smaller basic cable package. Bell Canada said its own basic service – which is larger than the one broadcasters are suggesting – is a loss-making venture that attracts few customers cash till payday.

"There’s little take-up, so what’s the point?" asked Mirko Bibic, Bell’s vice-president for regulatory and government affairs.

Rogers Communications Inc. argued a slightly different position on Monday: that a basic TV package, such as the one suggested by the CBC, would remove channels from Canadians and force them to replace them at a cost, leading to a widespread consumer backlash.

Pam Dinsmore, vice-president, regulatory, for Rogers Cable, said a "skinnier" package is a customer-friendly way of loading additional fees onto consumers.

Earlier, in a formal presentation to the CRTC, CBC/Radio Canada used the example of Quebec’s Vidéotron as a possible model. Under that system, consumers pay a cheaper rate for a more basic package and extra for non-basic, specialty channels.

CBC also argued Tuesday for the right to negotiate a fee for its local signals.

The CRTC has twice rejected proposals by broadcasters for so-called "fee-for-carriage," but is hearing from both sides in the debate for a third time.

Broadcasters including the CBC, Global and CTV are asking the federal government to step in and find a way to force cable and satellite providers such as Rogers Communications, Bell Canada and Shaw to sit down and negotiate a fee to carry local TV.

The carriers want to keep the status quo, which is profitable for them. However, broadcasters say their current business model is "broken" and losing them money as advertising declines.

If broadcasters win before the CRTC, the cable and satellite providers have said they would have no choice but to pass the cost on to consumers in the form of what they call a TV "tax."

The hearings continue until Nov. 27.

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China should keep the yuan stable, in part because that is beneficial for a global economic recovery, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The yuan’s exchange rate has little to do with its trade imbalance, spokesman Yao Jian told a news conference.

He added that it was unfair to urge just one country to increase the value of its currency, as other currencies fall in value.

Yao was speaking shortly after International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said a stronger yuan is part of the reforms that Beijing needs to implement to increase domestic consumption and help ease global imbalances.

(Reporting by Aileen Wang and Jason Subler; Editing by Ken Wills)

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The U.S. Federal Reserve is best equipped to supervise the largest, most complex firms, a top U.S. Treasury official said on Friday.

“No regulator had a perfect record leading up to the crisis,” Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin said in prepared remarks to the American Bar Association’s banking law committee. “But in our view, the Federal Reserve is the agency best equipped for the task of supervising the largest, most complex firms.”

The comments came three days after Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, proposed consolidating bank supervisory powers in a single agency, stripping the Fed of its role as a direct bank supervisor.

Wolin did not mention Dodd by name in his comments, but said the Fed’s supervisory role gave it a deep understanding of and timely access to information about the banking sector, payment systems and capital markets no credit check payday loan.

“Stripped of its supervisory role, the Fed would not have timely and complete information in a crisis,” he said.

The Fed, the U.S. central bank, has drawn sharp criticism from some lawmakers for its handling of the financial crisis, particularly its controversial decisions to extend emergency loans to firms such as AIG, which it did not directly supervise.

(Reporting by Emily Kaiser; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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