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There are no political motives behind the setting up of a special economic zone in China's southern Fujian province that is open to Taiwan investment, a mainland official said.

The Pingtan Experimental Zone "belongs to the economic domain", and is not an experimental laboratory for the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a news conference in Beijing yesterday.

Yang highlighted the attractiveness of the mainland's economic policies and urged Taiwan to reciprocate.

With an area of about 324 square km, Pingtan is the closest mainland island to Taiwan. The mainland aims to channel 60 billion yuan (US$9.53 billion) to develop the zone this year, targeting an overall investment of 250 billion yuan ($39.6 billion) during the 2011-15 period, Fujian Governor Su Shulin said in Taiwan's Hsinchu city on March 25.

Su, who went on a five-day visit to Taiwan on March 26, said that the Pingtan project is a goodwill "package" sent across the Straits.

"We would like to open the package and let everyone look inside to see whether the gift comes from genuine goodwill or has strings attached," Su said in a speech on Tuesday when he met Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang, Taiwan's ruling party.

"If the answer is positive, we are ready to offer it at anytime," he said.

"I believe Pingtan will become a modern metropolis within a decade," he said.

Tang Yonghong, deputy director of the economic research office of the Taiwan Research Institute in Xiamen University, said some Taiwan politicians have overreacted and targeted the development of Pingtan as political.

How to develop Pingtan on a mutually satisfactory basis should be done after comprehensive talks, he said.

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China opens economic zone to Taiwan

CAYMAN ISLANDS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Domain Developers Fund, a public open fund investing in internet domain names only, today announced an annual performance of 16.37 % in the NAV of the fund, compared to a projected target increase of 15% for FY 2011. Sales have increase 240% compared with 2010 and the AUM has doubled during 2011.

During the fiscal year 2011, the Domain Developers Fund made some major transactions including the acquisitions of Swords.com, Exhibitions.com, Holland.net and Belgium.net along with the sale of Howareyou.com, cars.net and many others. The domain industry as a whole saw an increase of 11% in value based on Domainindex.com for .COM domains.

Revenues from parked domains have been stable and sales have been increasing over the year with no signs of a weak economy in the domain industry. The fund manages 5000 valuable domains and many more traffic generating domains, about 200 domains have been build out to projects, such as Holland.net, Belgium.net, species.com and swords.com. The fund operates its own SEO and Programming teams and technology expects the AUM to double again in 2012.

"The performance and the increase in the assets under management show that our plan of introducing Internet domain names as a new asset class is a working concept and that people are interested in the idea of investing in domain names in the same manner they invest in real estate," Marcovici noted.

Barclayhedge, one of the worlds leading alternative investment Database lists the Domain Developers Fund now as the #1 Fund in the miscellaneous Hedge Funds section for 2011, outperforming all other uncorrelated products in this category.

The Domain Developers Fund's management anticipates that next annual earnings will be stronger due to increased efforts in developing high end domains. Domain Developers Fund continues to expect a performance of 15% for 2012.

Headquartered in Cayman Islands, the Domain Developers Fund is the first and only public open-ended investment fund that invests in domains: the Internet's real estate. The Fund was a managed account by private domainers before it incorporated in August 2010 in the Cayman Islands, the Funds investors are mainly private individuals as well as family offices and few funds. The DDF is administered by JPFund and audited by BDO.

ISIN: KYG280681076

CUSIP: G28068 107

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Domain Developers Fund Announces 16.37% annual net performance results for 2011

LONDON, March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, has been ranked #1 ahead of its peer group* in the latest annual R&M Survey of custody clients and fund managers.

The company was ranked ahead of its peers in 11 categories in the survey, including the Overall Score category where it recorded an improved score on 2011's survey.

In addition, BNY Mellon was ranked #1 out of all surveyed providers in three key categories.

#1 overall:

#1 versus peer group:

[*Peer group: State Street, JP Morgan, Northern Trust, Citigroup]

Richard Hogsflesh, Managing Director of R&M Surveys, said: "Up until recently, high levels of client satisfaction were the domain of the smaller custodians, but not anymore. BNY Mellon[has] demonstrated [its] commitment to client satisfaction by putting a clear gap between [itself] and other major players like State Street and Citibank."

Tim Keaney, Vice Chairman of BNY Mellon and CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, said: "As always I'd like to thank our clients for their unstinting support in this prestigious independent survey. Our strong showing in the survey is testament to the expertise and dedication of everyone working within our investment services business during what remain challenging times for our clients, as they seek to manage risk, control costs and keep pace with today's fast-evolving regulatory environment.

"In today's ever more complex investment and operating environment, this latest vote of confidence in our organisation speaks to the breadth of our product offering and our long-term commitment to the investment servicing business, and our unwavering focus on innovation, quality and service excellence."

Sample BNY Mellon client survey comments included the following:

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BNY Mellon Takes Top Honours Amongst Peers in 2012 R&M Global Custody Survey

By SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com March 23, 2012 8:34PM

Jeff Schmidt, CEO of JAS Global Advisors, poses for a photograph at his company's office on N. Michigan Ave. Wednesday, March 14, 2012, in Chicago. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times

storyidforme: 27767139 tmspicid: 10031222 fileheaderid: 4547343

Updated: March 24, 2012 2:16AM

A Chicago company, JAS Global Advisors, is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in an unprecedented expansion of Internet domain names the webs equivalent of real-estate addresses dominated by .com, .gov, .org and .edu.

The expansion will open the way for new domain names ending in just about any word imaginable from .chicago for people looking to identify themselves as Chicagoans, to .jeans to .security to .YourNameGoesHere.

The process is highly charged: Critics say the expansion will offer new opportunities for cybersquatters, Anonymous-style hackers and trademark and patent trolls, and give pornographers their own .xxx suffix.

Supporters say the new names will give businesses new marketing opportunities and, if run correctly, tighten up online security.

A controversy also surrounds the nonprofit group that runs the Internet-naming process. The board of ICANN, the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is battling U.S. Commerce Department concerns that its members may have too-close ties to companies that will bid on the new domain names. A board spokesman said the members operate under strict ethics rules. Separately, a national retailers advocacy group has complained that ICANN hasnt given clear direction on how businesses should apply for, appeal or otherwise respond to the new domain names.

As a March 29 deadline nears for applications for the new domain names, JAS Global Advisors, headed by international online security expert Jeff Schmidt, will be one of three companies nationwide that will evaluate applicants for their technical and financial qualifications.

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Local company playing key role in adding Internet domains

By John McCrank

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discount brokerages, once the domain of do-it-yourself investors looking for cheap trades, are increasingly getting into the personal advice business, filling a void for middle-class investors left by big, traditional brokerages.

Fee-based assets at discount brokerages like Charles Schwab Corp, Fidelity Investments, TD Ameritrade, and E*Trade Financial, grew by a compound annual rate of 19 percent from 2008 to the end of 2010, versus 14 percent at so-called wirehouses such as Morgan Stanley, according to research firm Cerulli Associates.

"A large part of the growth that we've seen in these firms and also the future growth that we're projecting is going to be linked to their ability to deliver advice programs," said Katharine Wolf, associate director at Cerulli.

Even Charles "Chuck" Schwab, a pioneer in offering cut-rate commissions to people making their own investment decisions, said he uses advisers to manage his portfolio.

Much of Schwab's growth in the self-directed space came during the bull market from 1983 to 2000, when picking winning stocks was likened to throwing darts at a board. In the dozen years since then, the equity markets have been volatile, but have basically come out flat.

"Investors are increasingly saying: 'It's more complicated than simply going to a website, picking out some stocks, buying them and hoping they go up,'" Walter Bettinger, chief executive of Schwab, said in an interview.

Schwab has been offering advice to investors for the past decade, a point it has highlighted since 2005 with its "Talk to Chuck" advertising campaign.

Clients of the San Francisco company, which reported overall assets of $1.81 trillion at the end of February, have added an average of $1.5 billion a month for thelast 14 months to Schwab advisory programs, with most coming from self-directed accounts.

FILLING THE VOID

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Schwab, E*Trade et al outpacing traditional brokers