British American Business Council of Greater Philadelphia

To celebrate the holiday season, members of the British American Business Council gathered at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia for an afternoon of business networking, celebratory “crackers,” holiday fare and great raffle prizes. At our 15th annual “Holiday Luncheon” on Friday, December 4, 2009 we were joined by British expat Jamie Pallot, editorial director of Condé Nast Digital. Among his other responsibilities, Pallot is in charge of the content and user experience of the company’s Web brands, including Style.com, Men.Style.com, Epicurious.com and Concierge.com. With pictures of himself and Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, flashing across the screen, Jamie discussed how he got to where he is today, intermingled with appropriate jabs and jokes that made the Holiday Luncheon what it’s supposed to be: A break from “the grind” for an afternoon of laughs and celebration.

HSBC Bank USA, N.A is part of one of the world’s largest and most trusted financial services organizations, the HSBC Group, which has a network of around 8,500 offices in 86 countries and territories. HSBC Group has global expertise in providing more than 100 million customers with the best financial solutions to meet their needs.

As part of our global suite of products, HSBC provides convenience for internationally mobile expatriates, giving them one central place to build up funds while their careers take them around the world. We provide specialist offshore banking solutions for customers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Many of HSBC’s customers in the U.S are expats, with business and personal interests in more than one country. Our services can help expats take advantage of the offshore savings, tax planning and wealth management opportunities available, and provide a secure home for their money.

Alan Smith, Head of International Wealth Management for HSBC Bank International shares his expert opinion:

‘Expats have not been immune to the global economic crisis, but despite this many expats are wealthier and save more than non-expats. As global economies continue to experience significant uncertainty, fascinating behavioral trends emerge among the expat population, particularly in the changes to their spending and investing habits.

What can you do to make your money work harder?
With interest rates at all-time lows in Europe and America, it is likely that we will see an effect on the popularity of fixed term investments, bonds, and property in these regions. As ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery gain credibility, we may find that expats are prepared to risk more for potential gains and may see an increased interest in the slightly riskier types of investments.

Get expert advice
Getting advice from an experienced advisor helps you understand the benefits of holding offshore investments, make the most of potential tax benefits and/or give you access to cross border investment markets.

Choose the right offshore centre
Choose the most relevant offshore centre to deposit savings so that in the event of death, beneficiaries can deal with probate in a language, culture and process that is most familiar.’

Learn more about HSBC Premier by calling:

William E. Block
Market Street Premier Relationship Manager
215-563-4131

Danny M. Chan
Arch Street Premier Relationship Manager
215-502-4159

12-14 May 2010

Willis Group, The Willis Building
51 Lime Street
London EC3M 7DQ

The next annual British-American Business Council Conference (BABC) will take place next year from 12-14 May in central London. This will be the first time in four years that the conference will have been hosted in London and is expected to bring together members from its 20 chapters in the United States, who will be crossing the Atlantic for the conference, and 5 chapters from the UK.

The conference will take place in a politically important year in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with a general election in prospect in Britain in the first half of the year, and mid-term elections due in the United States in November. We will be living with the continuing consequences of the credit crisis, which will, undoubtedly, continue beyond next year and well into the new decade. The principal focus is to look ahead into this new decade and assess how the leading business sectors in both the UK and US will evolve, adapt, and contend with the challenges ahead. These challenges will be assessed and analysed in a series of presentations and panels led by key global business leaders and sector specialists who will consider the following sectors:

• Healthcare and life sciences;
• Media, Telecoms and the creative industries;
• Aviation, Defense and National Security;
• Energy and the Environment;
• Financial Services and Insurance.

In separate sessions, the topics of Law, Taxation, HR and Employment and how they will change in the new decade are set to be discussed.

The overall objective of the conference is to present a comprehensive assessment of how these principal business sectors, all of which are of critical importance to both the UK and US economies, will manage over the next five to ten years. Those attending the conference will gain a comprehensive view of the prospects for the key components of our economies across the board, and be able to put the challenges of their own businesses into the wider context, and better understand the environment in which they will be operating.
On the evening of the first day of the conference, 13th May, a Gala Dinner will be held at which members will be conferring the Annual BritishAmerican Business Channing Corporate Citizenship on David Brennan, CEO of AstraZeneca.

For further information, please contact Ricardo Maldonado at .

For the past 20 years, BABC’s J-1 visa program has enabled members to bring qualified employees — of any nationality, and from anywhere in the world – into the United States for up to 18 months to gain first-hand knowledge of US business practices and methodologies.

J-1 Visa Fast Facts

Purpose
Enables BABC member companies to bring qualified employees into the US in a quick, cost-effective, reliable and user-friendly way.

Qualities
• Cost-effective: $1,500
• Quick: can process completed applications within five business days
• Reliable: authorized by the US Department of State since 1986
• User-friendly: Program Administrator on-staff to assist

Benefits
• Improve communication between US and overseas offices
• Provide US work experience to employees working elsewhere
• Enhance employee recruitment/retention
• Facilitate limited-time intra-company transfers

Conditions
• Maximum period of 18 months
• Trainees must have non-US degree /professional certificate or five-years work experience outside the US
• Company must have existing business relationship with UK

Business sectors served
• Management, Business, Commerce & Finance
• Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics, & Industrial Occupations
• Information Media & Communications
• Law

For more information, please contact Ricardo Maldonado at 215-790-3627 or Ricardo@greaterphilachamber.com.

A local firm, Wheatley US Limited, will present a two-day class on “Construction Contract Management” In Doha, Qatar, on December 18th and 19th, 2009, for Cape PLC. Cape is a major UK-based contractor providing insulation, fire protection, abrasive blasting, refractory, coatings, cleaning and training services to major power, industrial, oil and gas, refinery and petrochemical customers around the world. The course will be presented in the offices of their Qatari subsidiary, Cape East Limited (W.L.L.), in Doha. An additional presentation of the course will be made in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the spring.

Headquartered in the UK, Cape has 65 offices in 28 countries around the globe. Wheatley US Limited is a Philadelphia area construction consulting firm with offices in Bala Cynwyd, and Baghdad, Iraq. With its sister firm, Wheatley UK Limited, in London, England, The Wheatley Companies (sm) are joined with strategic partners worldwide in a network called Wheatley Global Partners (sm), providing consulting services to clients around the globe.

The course was authored – and is presented – jointly by William A. Wheatley, R.A., of Wheatley US Limited and Stephen Matthews, Esquire, of Baker Botts, a major US law firm with a significant presence in the Middle East and East Asia, and in partnership with Pinnacle Group International of Singapore. Messrs. Wheatley and Matthews taught the course recently on November 16 and 17, 2009, in Doha, and Mr. Wheatley presented it in Singapore on November 19 and 20, for groups of regional contractors and government contracting officers.

The opportunity to present the series of courses came about as a result of contacts made through Wheatley US Limited’s corporate membership in the World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia and its International Design and Engineering Consortium (“IDEC”), and in the British-American Business Council. Wheatley US Limited is a corporate member of both organizations. Wheatley US Limited is an example of how a small, local firm can develop global reach for its services through membership in such organizations.

For additional information, contact:
William A. Wheatley, R.A.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Wheatley US Limited
2 Bala Plaza, Suite 300
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1501
U.S.A.
Telephone: +1 610 658 0579
Fax: +1 610 658 6318
e-Mail: w.wheatley@WheatleyUS.com

Published by: The Herald Scotland on December 7, 2009
Written by: Mark Smith

Luichart Technology, a Glasgow-based engineering think-tank and producer of hi-tech prototypes, has struck a joint venture agreement with a contract manufacturer in Pennsylvania that is expected to generate millions of dollars in sales and will see the US firm set up a base in Scotland next year and create 20 jobs.

AmEcosse, the new joint venture between Luichart and the US’s Ashland Technologies, will initially develop and manufacture a revolutionary, new battery to store energy from wind farms and, in a separate enterprise it see long-established Scottish fence maker Lochrin Bain launch a unique, hi-tech security system into the lucrative US market.

Luichiart, which employs eight people and conducts its business unusually from the library of the Glasgow Art Club, has already developed products for Nasa, Boeing and two Formula 1 teams, as well as the energy, aerospace and defence industries from its Scottish headquarters for almost 10 years.

However, Calvin Tan, the company’s founder and chief executive, told The Herald that a key meeting earlier this year with Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Holden had brought about a step change in the company’s fortunes.

“I met with Tim Holden in March,” said Tan. “I meet with a lot of people in the US. About 95% of our business is there. While the idea for Luichart has always been to provide advanced, hi-tech, engineering solutions for the world through Scotland, the US is far more accepting of new ideas.

“After I met with the congressman, I thought I’d never hear from him again. But within four hours there was a phone call and he hooked us up with a contract manufacturing company in his district called Ashland Technologies, and we hit it off. “It was like walking into room and seeing a woman that you know one day will be your wife.”

Ash-Tec, whose range of products include astronaut training simulators, wind turbines and roller coaster cars, and Luichart, which Tan jokes is Gaelic for lateral thinking (in fact, the company is named after Loch Luichart), agreed they should join forces.

Under the AmEcosse joint venture, a range of new hi-tech products will be manufactured both in Scotland and Pennsylvania.

Tan said Ash-Tec was currently looking at potential sites in Cumbernauld and Glenrothes, where it is seeking to establish a small manufacturing base in the first quarter of 2010, within striking distance of the oil industry in Aberdeen.

Tan said: “We do bumble bee technology – in the sense that bumble bees technically shouldn’t be able to fly, but they do.

“We develop ideas to a certain level of technological readiness and then we find partners to take that idea and make it work in the market place. That is precisely what is behind AmEccose partnership.

“Ash-Tec’s facility in Hegins, Pennsylvania is a showcase of how a modern factory should be equipped and operated. Every employee’s opinion is included in the decision making processes. This is the model for the new facility in Scotland.”

One of the projects, backed by a $25m mix of US federal and state funding matched by private investment, involves applying cutting-edge flow battery technology to store up to 10 megawatts of power from windfarms.

Flow battery technology was first developed by Nasa in the1960s and 1970s with the aim of creating an efficient reversible energy storage system with variable capacity.

Tan said: “In essence, the battery is like any other, but without a fixed volume of chemical content to hold the charge.

“Imagine a car battery with no top or bottom. As you generate electricity, uncharged fluid, the electrolyte, is flowed over the electrodes, picking up the power.

“Flow battery technology lets you store this charged fluid until needed.”

However, materials technology in the past meant the full potential of flow batteries could not be realised. High cost, low power densities and a lack of need prevented adoption.

In recent years, interest has been renewed with the advent of windpower, global warming and high oil prices.

Tan said: “Most companies developing flow batteries have concentrated on the chemistry of the electrolyte fluid. The downside of this is electrodes, because they are expensive and prone to mechanical and chemical failure.

“We chose to address the electrode design using our knowledge and capabilities with materials. The result was a hybrid polymer electrode, capable of functioning in any chemistry and a wide envelope of environments.

“We have also addressed the overall design of flow batteries, including control systems and fabrication. It is in this latter area where Ash-Tec’s skill sets come particularly to bear.”

Tan said he expects the project to net more than £100m in sales as it is adapted for 21st century wind power requirements.

Meanwhile, Luichart is applying its expertise in materials to some of Lochrin-Bain’s fencing systems, allowing the Cumbernauld business to offer what Tan describes as a “total security solution” involving sensors and monitoring systems.

Lochrin-Bain will also introduce new ranges of its fencing systems through AmEcosse, allowing it push deeper into the US market.

Tan added: “This is just the beginning. The combined compatible skills of Ash-Tec and Luichart will enable AmEcosse to really make a difference on both side of the Atlantic.”

To view the Herald Scotland article, click here.

On Thursday, October 22 from 8-10:30 a.m., the British American Business Council will host a breakfast seminar at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia to help members fully understand the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-bribery and corruption laws that are vital when doing business abroad.

Click Here to Register

As more organizations conduct business globally, they must consider their obligation to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar anti-bribery laws in other countries where they do business. At the same time, worldwide initiatives to combat corruption and bribery are gaining momentum, and companies face not only FCPA actions in the United States, but also the possibility of parallel or concurrent enforcement actions under similar laws or regulations in other jurisdictions. In addition to substantial fines and hefty legal costs, FCPA violations and other bribery and corruption breaches pose other serious consequences, including reputation risks and the loss of investor confidence.

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Join the British American Business Council for a night of business networking along with drinks and hors d’oeuvres from across the pond on Wednesday, November 4 from 5-7 p.m. at aka Rittenhouse Square.

Make great contacts with members of the British American Business Council as well as members of the international business community in the Greater Philadelphia region while experiencing aka Rittenhouse Square’s luxurious suites located on the square.

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Our annual membership directory has arrived! All those e-mails confirming your company’s updated membership listing are now worth it. Browse through your fellow BABC members’ listings, reminisce about events throughout the past year, and keep your directory handy for all resources regarding the UK.

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