Hurricane Dean and Tango_004

丌官远

2023-12-01

Hurricane Dean and Tango

Russell Padmore : Welcome to Business Brief I’m Russell Padmore. Hurricane Dean is threatening to lash Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula but so far most of the Caribbean have escaped sever damage. Much to the relief of the insurance industry, the NASDAQ financial market has abandoned its plans to buy the London Stock Exchange. And also coming up, we’ll hear from Argentina, where the Tango Dance is big business. Details on that and other developments in next 10 minutes.

Mexico’s off shore oil industry is winding down as the American state company Pemex is evacuating more than 400 oil and gas wells ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Dean. 80% of Mexico’s daily oil production will be offline, but the U.S government has told the industry it’s prepared to release its strategic reserves to make up for any short fall. Hurricane Dean is barrelling towards the Yucatan peninsula, where thousands of holiday makers are battening down the hatches , with local people fearing the worst. The storm’s 150 miles per hour wind dumped torrential rain on southern Jamaica, but the island escaped wide spread damage. The Caribbean storm season is a worrying time for the insurance industry but this year insurers have suffered limited losses. David Harrod is a director with the insurance claim group of Mclarens Young.

David Harrod : In the Caribbean what insurers tend to do is to take out the catastrophe deductible for themselves. They say they will pay the first 3-5 million aggregate of any lost and then reinsure out with the America, London and other markets to a degree they feel comfortable with.

Russell Padmore : What you’re saying is insurers pass on the risk to other insurers?

David Harrod : Yes they do. They reinsure so they pass on what they think they cannot pay.

Russell Padmore : Hurricane Dean carries on now, threatening the coastal areas of Mexico. Pemex the Mexican state oil company has already closed down off shore operations. Is the insurance industry exposed to losses in the oil industry?

David Harrod : Very much so. The off shore rigs are insured in the world wide market. There is a potential track that Hurricane Dean could take which could hit Mexico in the Bay of Campeche, but it seems to be tracking a little north of that.

Russell Padmore : Do you think largely this is going to be a hurricane season which the insurance industry can swallow very easily?

David Harrod : Oh, very much so. It won’t even impact.

Russell Padmore : Would that be easily swallowed profits of insures not being hit because effectively over medium term? They’ve actually raised the premiums they are charging customers, so they’re covered anyway?

David Harrod : In measure yes and in part the whole of the risk modelling game has changed and with that the premium game has changed and certainly after 9/11 reinsurance premiums raise substantially. It has been a very hard market, in the sense that premiums have remained high but there are signs now, speaking to my contacts certainly in Lloyd’s, where premium rates are starting to soften quite fast because of the lack of losses.

Russell Padmore : David Harrod of Mclarens Young. Now the financial market NASDAQ, fame for trading technology shares in New York, has given up all plans of buying the London Stock Exchange. NASDAQ says it will sell its 31% stake in the British Exchange to focus on the take over battle for the OMX market in Sweden. America’s second largest stock exchange has tried twice in recent years to buy its rival in London but the UK Stock Exchange’s shareholders have sent the New Yorkers packing each time, turning down the takeover offers. NASDAQ’s cross town rival has already merged with Euro next a Pan European market operator. Peter Jankowskis, a director at Oak Brook Investments in Chicago believe NASDAQ must develop a global operation.

Peter Jankowskis : There have certainly struggled with the collapse of technology. It has been something they really have been trying to shake and show that they do have a broader base beyond that but I think more importantly is the recognition that we have a global securities market and being tied down to being sticky a U.S market is a long run impediment . But even more importantly is simply to have trading volume, because there are always the components to trading costs. It’s of course the trading commission but along with it of course the market impact. And I think that’s really what these exchanges are fighting over. The more participants your can have the great the lucidity you can provide to the participants and that in the long run is the cost that all of us are trying to bit.

Russell Padmore : Peter Jankowskis at Oak Brook Investments in Chicago. It’s often a shame when big business larches on to a country’s culture and exploits elements of it. Commercializing it for profit. Tourist visiting Ireland watching copycats of river dance don’t get to see the roots of the Kay lee, and it music stemming from kitchens in poor cottages. I’m sure it’s the same for tourists watching a commercialized modern version of Greek dancing. The tango in Argentina is big business now a days, as David Swimeler reports.

David Swimeler : Tango runs through the veins of Buenos Aires. The city was built to the sound of the click of heels on the polish wooden floors and the dramatic rhythm of the Bandanion. Tango has never gone away, only now it’s big business. Riding the crest of the tourist that’s swiping Argentina. There are now 40 tango houses in Buenos Aires putting spectacular shows every night. Generating 130 millions dollars a year and growing.

Guimo Devita : (local language)

David Swimeler : Guimo Devita runs Boca Tango in the heart of the Buenos Aires port area, where many say that the tango was born.

Guimo Devita : (local language)

TRANSLATOR : All of them, without exception, consume tango. Either in the Milonga dance halls or at shows like ours. We are constantly trying to improve and to represent the art as truthfully as possible. For instance here at Boca Tango we are trying to recreate the history of tango here in its birth place.

David Swimeler : As well as the show, Boca Tango houses a museum and a restaurant and has rebuilt a section of the neighbourhood as it was 100 years ago. Every night a slice of early 20^th century life in la Boca is recreated for the customers. It’s all part of the challenge for the managers of the established tango shows to keep the customers rolling in.

Guimo Devita : (local language)

TRANSLATOR : It’s growing inside Argentina, and its resurgence is greatly appreciated here where the Argentines are again enjoying tango and the generations that were lost to the music are now re-evaluating it and its importance internationally as Argentina, through tango, is showing itself to the world.

David Swimeler : But it’s not cheap. The 3000 or so tourist that visit shows each night, are paying about $80-160 per person. Out of reach for most Argentines. The locals, however, are enjoying the tango boom too, dancing to tunes that many thought had been drowned out by western rock music in the 1970’s and 80’s. 150 000 locals take tango classes at the growing number of Milongas or dancehalls and they are often joined by foreigners in search of the real thing. Betty Bols runs her own tango school in the northern Dutch town of Groningen and has been coming to Buenos Aires every year for the past decade to keep her Tango dance skills fresh.

Betty Bols : I try to understand the magic of the dance here but then again I’m not talking about steps but what it is that makes you feel so good as a woman because I feel the difference when I’m dancing in Europe and when I’m dancing with the Milangueres here. I really feel a woman.

David Swimeler : Tango is creating jobs for young Argentine dancers, singers and musicians, who as well as attracting tourist also export their talents to Europe, the Middle East, and Japan. With a whole new generations of Argentines putting on their Tango shows the future for the industry and for the Tango itself looks bright.

Russell Padmore : David Swimeler reporting from Buenos Aires.

Hurricane Dean and Tango_004

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