California slips in ranking

California's hospitability to the life sciences and other tech sectors received a less-than-stellar review at the life sciences industry's premiere conference from one national think tank, and a better critique with several signs of trouble on the job-creation side from a second, says Bio Region News.

The Milken Institute lowered California's ranking from second to fourth in its updated ranking of states released 19 June.

California's concentration of scientists, measured in its "technology and science workforce" index of criteria, was sixth-best in the nation - compared with third in 2004 and second in 2002. The key reason for the slide was not life science-related, but the loss of IT jobs outsourced to India and other lower-wage nations earlier this decade.

The Kenya Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Society is set to introduce a set of standards and ethics guidelines that is expected to be enacted in Parliament, says Network World.

"The standards are a major marketing tool for Kenya," said BPO Society chairperson Gilda Odera. "We need to convince prospective businesses that their information is safe with us and that the society has a way of enforcing the standards."

The standards have been developed to cover all aspects of the BPO sector and to provide all customers with consistently good experiences, said David Otwoma, chairperson of the society's Standards and Ethics Committee.

General Motors Investment Management (GMIM) is outsourcing its middle and back office administration functions to the Windsor, Connecticut headquartered financial services firm SS&C Technologies, says ICFA.

The deal covers $20 billion in investment assets across a range of strategies.

Under the agreement SS&C's outsourcing division, SS&C Direct, will provide full end-to-end investment management process outsourcing - including portfolio accounting, trade processing, custodian reconciliation, and reporting services - for approximately $20 billion of GMIM's investment portfolios.