SinoCast China Financial Watch articles from August 2008

SinoCast China Financial Watch archives from August 2008

CDB Misused CNY5.8bn for Stock and Real Estate Investments.
August 28, 2008... BEIJING, August 29, SinoCast -- China Development Bank (CDB), the biggest policy bank in the country, has misused CNY 5.84 billion loans for investments into the stock market, real estate sector and other industries that it is limited to...

More Investors Coveting Chinese Fund Market.
August 28, 2008... BEIJING, August 29, SinoCast -- Many investors are interested in the Chinese fund market and they are entering the market now, including overseas financial groups and domestic industrial firms, banks, as well as securities brokers. Although...

Tianjin Aims to Be China's Fund Center.
August 28, 2008... TIANJIN, August 29, SinoCast -- Tianjin, a port city in north China, aims to build itself into the nation's fund center. After several years of enduring efforts, it has made some great achievements. So far, the city has had over 100 venture...

Ping An to Maintain Shares in Fortis.
August 28, 2008... BEIJING, August 29, SinoCast -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd. (Ping An, SEHK: 2318, and SHSE: 601318), the second largest Chinese insurance group, will not sell its shares in Fortis, an international provider of banking and...

CIRC Secures Soft Landing of Insurance Industry.
August 28, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 29, SinoCast -- China's insurance regulator expects to secure soft landing of the domestic insurance industry in the face of the surge of premiums in the first seven months. The country's life insurance premiums totaled CNY...

Longfor Properties Likely to Delay H-Share IPO till October.
August 28, 2008... BEIJING, August 29, SinoCast -- Longfor Properties, a Chongqing-based real estate developer, reportedly may have to delay the USD 1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong until October. Hong Kong media report that as the company needs...

Bank of Beijing, Scotiabank to Form Fund JV.
August 27, 2008... BEIJING, August 28, SinoCast -- Bank of Beijing (601169.SH), a top city commercial bank in China, is to erect a fund firm jointly with Scotiabank, thus to further boost diversified operations. The coming fund venture will be registered in...

Jianyin Investment Still Controls Southwest Securities.
August 27, 2008... CHONGQING, August 28, SinoCast -- Although China Jianyin Investment this June sold CNY 958.7 million shares in Southwest Securities Co., Ltd. to Chongqing Yufu Asset Management Co., the former actually still control the shares at present. On...

Listed Companies Turn to Financial Leasing.
August 27, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 28, SinoCast -- China's listed companies are turning to financial leasing amid the tight monetary policy. Sany Heavy Industry Co. (SHSE: 600031), the largest concrete-pumping equipment manufacturer in China, announced on...

CBEX Joins Hands with Great Wall AMC.
August 27, 2008... BEIJING, August 28, SinoCast -- China Beijing Equity Exchange (CBEX), a comprehensive equity transaction institution in the country, on August 26 entered into a framework agreement on all-round strategic cooperation with Beijing-based assets...

Listed Chinese Securities Firms H1 Net Profits Down 20%.
August 27, 2008... BEIJING, August 28, SinoCast -- Eight China mainland-listed securities firms had released their financial results for the first half of 2008 by August 26. They were CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600030), Haitong Securities Co., Ltd....

Buyers Still Hesitate in the Face of House Price War.
August 27, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 28, SinoCast -- Real estate developers' price war in Shanghai Sanlin strengthens potential house buyers' expectation for lower prices, and even such sentiment has spread to the second-hand house market. Sanlin has been the...

Xinhu Zhongbao to Set Foot in Mircocredit Market.
August 26, 2008... RUIAN, August 27, SinoCast -- Jiaxing-based real estate developer Xinhu Zhongbao Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600208) lately announced that it was scheduled to buy a 20% stake in Xinhu Mircocredit Co., Ltd., a microcredit company in Ruian, a city in the...

Mortgage Growth Slows Down in China.
August 26, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 27, SinoCast -- China's individual mortgage home loan growth slowed down in the first seven months of 2008, according to statistics from some commercial banks. As at July 31, the balance of individual loans nationwide totaled...

Beiya Industrial to Offload Assets and Liabilities.
August 26, 2008... HARBIN, August 27, SinoCast -- Harbin-based Beiya Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600705), which has suspended share trading for 16 months, is to offload all its assets and liabilities to a corporation bankruptcy clearing service provider...

33 Corporate Annuity Fund Manager Licenses Remained.
August 26, 2008... BEIJING, August 27, SinoCast -- China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) evaluated financial institutions whose qualifications for corporate annuity fund management were going to go expired and who submitted application...

China Life Net down 36.16% in H1.
August 26, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 27, SinoCast -- China's largest life insurer China Life Insurance Company Limited (601628.SH, 2628.HK) reported net profits of CNY 10.77 billion for the first half of this year, sliding 36.16% year over year, with earnings...

China Property Developers Establish PE Fund.
August 26, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 27, SinoCast -- Real estate development companies in mainland China are setting up a private equity fund in limited partnership to invest in real estate projects in secondary market including unfinished deserted buildings and...

China UnionPay Eyes Northeast Asian Market.
August 25, 2008... BEIJING, August 26, SinoCast -- China UnionPay Co., Ltd., the nation's largest electronic payment service provider, aims to establish a sound payment network in the Northeast Asian Region, one of the most economically invigorating regions in...

China Central Bank Bought 1% of Prudential.
August 25, 2008... BEIJING, August 26, SinoCast -- The People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, in recent weeks reportedly has bought an about 1% stake in Prudential Financial, the second largest life insurer in the UK, via an anonymous account. The...

SPD Bank First-half Net Profits Rise 149.62%.
August 25, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 26, SinoCast -- Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank, 600000.SH), a commercial lender with a nationwide licensee in China, posted net profits of CNY 6.38 billion in the first six months of 2008, soaring 149.62% from a...

Third-Party Depository for All Securities Firms' Clients.
August 25, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 26, SinoCast -- All of the securities companies in China have realized third-party depository of clients' funds so far, according to sources from China Securities Regulatory Commission. The latest statistics show all of the...

CPIC H1 Net up 44.2%.
August 25, 2008... BEIJING, August 26, SinoCast -- China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. (CPIC and SHSE: 601601) reported net profits of CNY 5.512 billion for the first half of 2008, surging 44.2% year on year. Operating revenue amounted to CNY 63.456...

China Vanke to Exercise Restricted Incentive Stock Plan.
August 25, 2008... SHENZHEN, August 26, SinoCast -- China Vanke Co. (SZSE: 000002), the country's largest listed real estate developer, is to exercise the restricted stock incentive plan for the fiscal year 2006, according to its announcement last Saturday....

ICBC Becomes World's Most Lucrative Bank.
August 22, 2008... BEIJING, August 25, SinoCast -- China's biggest commercial lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 601398.SH, 1398.HK) reaped after-tax profits of CNY 64.88 billion in the six months as of June 30, 2008, a year-over-year growth...

Sinolink Securities First-Half Net Up 175%.
August 22, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 25, SinoCast -- Sinolink Securities Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600109) had net profits of CNY 506 million for the first half of 2008, soaring 175.3 percent year on year, according to the broker's first-half financial results. Operating...

Hi-Tech Companies to List on Agency Share Transfer System.
August 22, 2008... JINAN, August 25, SinoCast -- High-tech companies in Jinan High-Tech Development Zone are in active preparation for getting listed on the upcoming Agency Share Transfer System. There are 54 national high-tech science parks in China, but only...

Over 10 Players Applying for Insurance Licenses.
August 22, 2008... BEIJING, August 25, SinoCast -- More than ten applicants are now waiting for the insurance licenses from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the nation's top insurance industry regulator, according to some sources. Most of the...

Guangzhou R&F Properties May Slash A-Share IPO.
August 22, 2008... GUANGZHOU, August 25, SinoCast -- Hong Kong-listed Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. (SEHK: 2777) would probably cut size of A-share initial public offering amid the wild correction of A-share stock market, according to the latest report by...

Hailan Group to Buy 30% of Soochow Asset Management.
August 22, 2008... BEIJING, August 25, SinoCast -- Hailan Group, a Jiangsu- based company specialized in weaving and clothing, won the bidding for a 30% stake in the Shanghai-based fund manager Soochow Asset Management Co., Ltd. for CNY 107 million or CNY 3.59...

Huishang Bank H1 Net Soared 94.1%.
August 21, 2008... HEFEI, August 22, SinoCast -- Huishang Bank, a provincial- level lender in the eastern Chinese economically rising province of Anhui, is striving towards a leading regional commercial bank all over the country. Lately, the bank released a...

CES Finance Holding to Erect a Futures Fund Management Firm.
August 21, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 22, SinoCast -- CES Finance Holding Co., Ltd., a financial unit of Chinese aviation giant China Eastern Air Holding Co., is said to be weighing a plan to set up a futures fund management firm and then launch open-ended...

Shanghai Puts Heavy Focus on State-owned Assets Reform.
August 21, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 22, SinoCast -- The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shanghai Municipal Government (SASAC of Shanghai lately fixed six chief focuses for the city's state-owned assets reform in the not long...

Securities Stocks Soar on Boosting Rumors.
August 21, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 22, SinoCast -- Listed securities companies soared on Wednesday on market-boosting rumors. A shares of securities companies opened 1.65 percent lower, but soon rebounded on massive orders. The shares once gained the daily 10...

PICC P&C Expects to Make a Turnaround in Second Half.
August 21, 2008... HONGKONG, August 22, SinoCast -- China's biggest non-life insurer PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited (PICC P&C, 2328.HK), who suffered losses of CNY 292 million in the first half of this year, is still confident that it can make a...

Super Ocean Mulls Property Sales for Backdoor Listing.
August 21, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 22, SinoCast -- Super Ocean Group, a privately-owned property developer with operations in Shanghai and Beijing, reportedly plans to sell several properties to fund its acquisition of Shanghai Tianchen Co. (SHSE: 600620) for...

Industrial Bank H1 Net up 79.65%.
August 20, 2008... FUJIAN, August 21, SinoCast -- Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 601166) had a net profit of CNY 6.544 billion for the first half of 2008, surging 79.65 percent year on year, according to the commercial lender's first-half financial report....

Beijing Financial Street to Expand Westward.
August 20, 2008... BEIJING, August 21, SinoCast -- Beijing Financial Street is scheduled to expand westward, an effort to position the city as an influential international financial hub. Beijing Financial Street, as part of Beijing's strategic plan to become an...

879 Shanghai, Shenzhen-traded Firms Release Interim Reports.
August 20, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 21, SinoCast -- Up to 879 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange have released their interim reports as of August 20, including 84 ones who published their interim reports on August...

PICC Property Suffered Losses of CNY292mn in H1.
August 20, 2008... BEIJING, August 21, SinoCast -- Hong Kong-listed PICC Property and Casualty Co., Ltd. (PICC Property, SEHK: 2328) suffered losses of CNY 292 million for the first half of 2008, the nation's largest non-life insurer announced in its interim...

CIRC Doesn't Slash Insurers' Stock Investment.
August 20, 2008... BEIJING, August 21, SinoCast -- An official of China Insurance Regulatory Commission defied the report that the commission asked insurance companies to cut holdings of A shares. CIRC in the first half of 2007 raised the proportion of assets...

Shanghai House Prices Loosen.
August 20, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 21, SinoCast -- Shanghai's real estate prices seem start loosening amid the downturn of mainland real estate market, according to the latest sales league. Official statistics show that a total of 6,063 units of houses were...

Barclays Bank OK'd to Buy 19.5% of New China Trust.
August 19, 2008... CHONGQING, August 20, SinoCast -- Barclays Bank PLC., one of the biggest financial service providers in the world, has gained approval from the banking regulator of Chongqing, a southwest Chinese city, to buy a 19.5% stake in a local trust...

Merchants Bank First-Half Net Profits up 116%.
August 19, 2008... SHENZHEN, August 20, SinoCast -- Shenzhen-based Chinese nationwide commercial bank China Merchants Bank (600036.SH) achieved net profits of CNY 13.245 billion in the first half year of 2008, up 116.42% year on year, said the lender in its...

Futures Broker Stake Sells at Record High Price.
August 19, 2008... ZHEJIANG, August 20, SinoCast -- A 15.57 percent stake in the state-controlled Zhejiang New Century Futures Co. is put on auction on Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange at a start price of CNY 12.75 million, which is said to be the...

Profit Drop Urges Brokers to Compete for Customers.
August 19, 2008... BEIJING, August 20, SinoCast -- The recession in China's stock market this year has delivered a strong impact on the performance of the nation's securities firms. Hong Yuan Securities Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000562), the first among mainland-listed...

Listed Firms Controllers Expected to Add Shares More Easily.
August 19, 2008... BEIJING, August 20, SinoCast -- A modified regulation about listed firms' acquisition management was lately released by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the nation's top securities regulator. It is expected to make big shareholders...

China Real Estate Climate Index Continues to Fall in July.
August 19, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 20, SinoCast -- China's national real estate climate index continued to fall in July, touching the level between April and May 2007. According to the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, last month's...

Industrial Bank Eyes Domestic Peers.
August 18, 2008... FUJIAN, August 19, SinoCast -- Chinese commercial lender Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 601166) aims to become a leading provider for small- and medium-sized financial institution banking service. In order to achieve it, the bank launched...

Shanghai H1 Fundraising from Wealth Management Soared 189%.
August 18, 2008... BEIJING, August 19, SinoCast -- Shanghai, the nation's financial hub, saw a 189% year-on-year surge in its fundraising from personal wealth management products for the first half of 2008, according to the Shanghai branch of the China Banking...

Hong Kong-listed Developers Delay Returns on Bearish Market.
August 18, 2008... HONG KONG, August 19, SinoCast -- Some Hong Kong-listed mainland developers have suspended their plans to sell A-shares due to bearish domestic stock market. Beijing-based real estate developer Beijing Capital Land Ltd. (2868.HK), as early as...

Insurance Guarantee Fund to Transfer New China Life Stake.
August 18, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 19, SinoCast -- China's Insurance Guarantee Fund would probably transfer the 38.8 percent stake in New China Life Insurance Co. this November at the earliest, said sources familiar with the situation. One of China Reinsurance...

Ping An H1 Net down 11.9%.
August 18, 2008... BEIJING, August 19, SinoCast -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd. (Ping An, SEHK: 2318, and SHSEK: 601318), which owns the nation's second largest life insurer and third largest property insurer, gained net profits of CNY 7.102...

Lujiazui Finance&Trade Zone Development Co. Net Rises 129%.
August 18, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 19, SinoCast -- Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co. (SHSE: 600663) said its net profit for the first half of 2008 soared 129 percent year on year to hit CNY 740 million. Return on equity was 8.8 percent....

Changsha City Commercial Bank Teams Up with French Lender.
August 15, 2008... CHANGSHA, August 18, SinoCast -- Chinese commercial lender Changsha City Commercial Bank recently inked an agreement with France-based BRED Banque Populaire to introduce the latter as its foreign strategic investor. Pursuant to the agreement,...

Shanghai Vies for a PE Center.
August 15, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 18, SinoCast -- Shanghai, the financial hub in China, is to vie with Beijing and Tianjin, two economically energetic cities in the country, to set up a private equity center. And Pudong New Area, Shanghai's most dynamic...

COFCO Property Plans Third Massive Financing.
August 15, 2008... SHENZHEN, August 18, SinoCast -- COFCO Property (Group) Co. (SZSE: 000031) announced on Thursday that its board agreed to borrow not more than CNY 2.067 billion from its majority shareholder COFCO Limited, which is its third massive financing...

Ping An to Buy 9.36% of Yunnan Baiyao.
August 15, 2008... KUNMING, August 18, SinoCast -- Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000538), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine manufacturer in China, lately announced its private share placement to Ping An Life Insurance Company of China Ltd., the...

Liu Jingsheng Leaves China Re.
August 15, 2008... BEIJING, August 18, SinoCast -- Liu Jingsheng, the board chairman and president of China Reinsurance (Group) Corporation (China Re), left his position, which may bring impact to the reinsurer's listing plan to some extent. Liu Feng has...

Top 3 Insurers May See First-Half Net Profit Fall.
August 15, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 18, SinoCast -- It is estimated that the first-half net profit of the top three insurers in China may fall on the sharp declines of floating profits from equity investment. Wang Xiaogang, an analyst at Orient Securities in...

CCB to Further Reduce Risks from Property Loans in H2.
August 14, 2008... BEIJING, August 15, SinoCast -- China Construction Bank (CCB, SEHK: 0939, and SHSE: 601939), one of the top four state banks in China, in the second half of 2008 is to further reduce risks arising from its real estate loans. As a matter of...

Standard Bank to Send a Working Team to Beijing.
August 14, 2008... BEIJING, August 15, SinoCast -- South Africa's Standard Bank, who is partnering with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 601398.SH, 1398.HK), is to send a working group comprising 20 persons to China in the near future, disclosed...

China Provides Financial Supports for Quake-Hit Regions.
August 14, 2008... BEIJING, August 15, SinoCast -- China's central bank together with China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission released opinions on financial supports and services for...

Insurance Guarantee Fund to Invest in Bonds and Stocks.
August 14, 2008... BEIJING, August 15, SinoCast -- China's insurance guarantee fund, which is used to provide financial aids to those insurance policy-holders when the insurers are troubled with financial problems or are on the verge of bankruptcy, can be...

China H1 Land Supplies Fall 25%.
August 14, 2008... BEIJING, August 15, SinoCast -- China's land supplies in the first half of 2008 fell 25.27 percent than the same period of last year, which will bring positive effect on the nationwide real estate capacity and structure in two years,...

Blackstone Said to Buy CNY4.5bn Commercial Property in China.
August 13, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 15, SinoCast -- Leading US private equity firm Blackstone Group is likely to complete its acquisition of another commercial property in China's financial hub Shanghai for approximately CNY 4.5 billion in the near future. The...

Taishin to Intends to Sell Shares to Mainland Banks.
August 13, 2008... BEIJING, August 14, SinoCast -- Taiwan-based financial service provider Taishin Financial Holdings Co., Ltd. disclosed lately that it was in talks with some mainland banks, an effort to allure mainland investments. As early as May 8, 2008,...

Industrial Bank to Be No.1 Chinese Bank to Adopt EPs.
August 13, 2008... FUZHOU, August 14, SinoCast -- Chinese nationwide commercial lender Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 601166) has gained approval from its board to adopt the Equator Principles (EPs), a set of globally recognized, voluntary guidelines...

CITIC Securities Restricted Shares Become Totally Tradable.
August 13, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 14, SinoCast -- China CITIC Securities (SHSE: 600030), the flagship brokerage arm of CITIC Group, is scheduled to liberalize 987 million restricted shares on August 15, thus becoming the first financial heavyweight totally...

Coming Criteria Expected to Burst Insurance Bubbles.
August 13, 2008... BEIJING, August 14, SinoCast -- China's Ministry of Finance has recently drafted the No. 2 explanations for the nation's current enterprise accounting standards. Now, the draft is under comments from the nation's listed firms. New criteria...

House Price Growth Slows Down in 70 Cities.
August 13, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 14, SinoCast -- Housing price growth in 70 medium and large cities in China has been on the wane this year, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Development and Reform...

Home Inns Makes a Turnaround in Q2.
August 13, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 14, SinoCast -- Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN), a budget hotel chain operator in China, made a turnaround in the second quarter of 2008. As showed in its second-quarter financial results, Home Inns reaped operating revenues of CNY...

Zhejiang Calling for Regulations on Non-governmental Loans.
August 12, 2008... HANGZHOU, August 13, SinoCast -- Demands for non- governmental loans are increasing in Wenzhou, a fast-growing city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. Some parties are calling for strict regulations on such loans. During the first...

Futures Firms Bet on Steel Futures.
August 12, 2008... BEIJING, August 13, SinoCast -- Many Chinese futures firms are expecting for the coming steel futures now. Although Chinese regulators have not decided when to launch steel futures exactly, it is widely believed that steel futures will make...

State-Owned Asset Securitization Fastens in Shanghai.
August 12, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 13, SinoCast -- Some Shanghai-based A- share stocks rose on Monday on faster securitization of local state-owned assets, although the stock market continued to fall that day. Of the 39 stocks that closed up on Monday,...

PICC Controls Zhongtai Trust.
August 12, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 13, SinoCast -- The stake that China Huawen Investment Holding Ltd. held in Zhongtai Trust and Investment Co., Ltd. has been taken over by PICC Investment Holdings Co., Ltd., an investment vehicle under the People's Insurance...

Baiyunshan to Initiate a Medicine R&D Center in South China.
August 12, 2008... GUANGZHOU, August 13, SinoCast -- The board of Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (000522.SZ) has made a resolution allowing the listed company to take part in initiating a new pharmaceutical manufacturing company in South China....

Second-Hand House Sales Remain Gloomy in July.
August 12, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 13, SinoCast -- Second-hand house transactions remained gloomy in major Chinese cities this July, according to latest statistics. Statistics from 5i5j.com, a leading real estate agency, showed that both second-hand house...

Rural Microcredit Firms Attracting Rural Residents.
August 11, 2008... DANYANG, August 12, SinoCast -- Tiangong Huinong Rural Microcredit Company, the first rural microcredit firm in Jiangsu, an affluent province in east China, has hit its credit quota of CNY 50 million within one week after making a debut on...

Funds Chase Bonds on Downturn of Stock Market.
August 11, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 12, SinoCast -- Fund management companies have been buying in bonds from February to July with a net amount of as much as CNY 600 billion. Analysts said bonds became favorites of fund firms on positive outlook and great...

PICC P&C to Benefit a Lot from 29th Beijing Olympics.
August 11, 2008... BEIJING, August 12, SinoCast -- China's biggest non-life insurer PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited (PICC P&C, 2328.HK) is expected to obtain at least CNY 800 million insurance policies this time as the Olympic insurance partner....

China to Release Pension Insurance Policy for 200mn MRWs.
August 11, 2008... BEIJING, August 12, SinoCast -- China is expected to promulgate a special pension insurance policy for 200 million migrant rural workers (MRWs) in the country within this year. The pension insurance of migrant rural workers with stable jobs...

Ping An Said to Buy Guangzhou Commercial Bank.
August 11, 2008... GUANGZHOU, August 12, SinoCast -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China (601398.SH,2318.HK), a top Chinese insurance group, was rumored to brew an acquisition of Guangzhou Commercial Bank via its banking arm Shenzhen Ping An Bank....

Property Developers Survive on Own Efforts.
August 11, 2008... SHANGHAI, August 12, SinoCast -- Real estate developers in south China are taking various measures to cope with the hard time amid the downturn of domestic real estate market. With no hope of market-boosting policies, real estate developers...