Two years after it first aired, Bloomberg West is adding a second hour of tech coverage. (Read more about the expansion here.) To mark the occasion, Bloomberg West is airing live today from the heart of Silicon Valley at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel in Menlo Park, CA.

The San Francisco-based show will now air twice a day – at 1PM ET and at 6PM ET. Today’s show will feature an interview with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

For Bloomberg TV, this second hour was an easy decision.  It gives anchors Emily Chang and Cory Johnson and senior west coast correspondent Jon Erlichman more time to interview big names in technology like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, eBay CEO John Donahoe and Disney CEO Bob Iger so they can dig deeper into the key trends driving the technology sector.

Emily, Cory and Jon explain why we’re adding an extra hour here.

-Wendy Brundige, West Coast Bureau Chief for Bloomberg TV

A recurring theme in my recent conversations with CEOs and senior executives in Asia is financial regulation. First introduced three years ago, regulations from Dodd-Frank to Basel III were designed to increase market transparency and accountability. In Asia, there appears however to be some uncertainty and concern on the implementation of these new rules and concerns over the costs of implementation.

Just last month, we conducted a survey with over 130 risk managers and compliance officers in Hong Kong and Singapore, the results of which reaffirmed what we have been hearing from clients.

– Clearing mandates around OTC derivatives and having adequate systems to maintain an audit trail for compliance are top of mind for our clients over the next 12 months, with 60% of respondents in Hong Kong and Singapore viewing the clearing of OTC derivatives very critical or important.

– Implementation is clearly the key hurdle. Over 50% of respondents view implementation of new regulations as the main challenge in the regulatory space over the next 12 months, even more so than costs or compliance time-lines.

– The other challenge lies in understanding of the various regulations underway as many believe that regulators need to give them more information to prepare for implementation, particularly of new OTC derivatives regulation.

That said, Asia’s financial institutions are taking a proactive approach with regulatory reform.  Over 60% of respondents say that they will be investing more in better analytics and risk modeling over the next year, while others are investing in risk systems and better cross functional communication. What’s revealing is that across Hong Kong and Singapore, most are expecting to spend 20-40% more on regulatory reporting, technology and infrastructure to comply with new regulations over the next 12 months. So there is a level of preparation and investment this year than ever before.

At Bloomberg, we will continue to be on the forefront of working with regulators in the U.S., Europe and Asia to bring information to market and understand the needs so our clients have access to compliant solutions when regulations go into effect.

Grant Coombe, Head of Sales for Asia Pacific, Bloomberg

Bloomberg’s outside counsel, Eugene Scalia, yesterday submitted a letter to Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to request that the Commission immediately take steps necessary to correct the disparate treatment of cleared swaps.

Absent a stay and response to their letter by end of day, March 19, 2013, Scalia indicated that Bloomberg will seek to obtain injunctive relief through the courts before the margin rules take effect on June 10, 2013.

In a statement, Scalia said:

“The process for adopting this part of the derivatives margin rule was deeply flawed. As a result, these regulatory requirements are arbitrary, with real-world implications that will harm markets and investors. It must be corrected.”"

The company stated:

“This is a matter critical to the global financial markets.  As a result, we have retained counsel to prepare to litigate in order to ensure that a flawed regulation – which would cause significant public harm – does not get implemented.”

A copy of Scalia’s letter can be found HERE.

Most people know of Sydney’s spectacular harbour but most will not be prepared for the extraordinary view of the Harbour Bridge from our brand new premises.

Our new Sydney office in One Bligh – in which we occupy the 27th and 28th floors including an awesome sky terrace — truly sets a benchmark in innovation and environmental design, many of which are firsts in the Australian market place. It is the first high-rise office tower in Australia to feature a double-skin glass façade, and Sydney’s first CBD commercial office tower to incorporate black water recycling.

Peter Grauer was in town this week to officiate our new Sydney office, with a special guest of honor, Gail Kelly, chief executive of Westpac and long considered one of Asia’s most powerful businesswomen.

But there’s a lot more significance to our new presence in Sydney than just the location.

Australia’s economy – both during and since the GFC – has become recognized as one of the world’s most resilient.  Its currency is now the world’s fifth most traded. And, of course, Australia has in excess of 100 billion dollars of two-way trade annually with China. Australian commodities are stoking the fire in the belly of the biggest dragon of all. As Peter mentioned at a New South Wales Business Chamber event to CEOs and senior executives of Australia’s major banks and financial institutions, Australia is going to have an increasing role and influence in what’s widely spoken of as ‘The Asian Century’. The ASX is a US-Asian conduit – and each day, Asia takes notice of Sydney as the first major market to open after the close on Wall Street.

This ultimately presents growth opportunities for our information, data services and news about what is happening in Australia. Our new office is going to be a place where news is reported, where newsmakers convene and where news often is made. Next month, it will host the inaugural Bloomberg Australia Economic Summit, bringing together key decision makers from government and industry to examine the nation’s standout performance in the world economy. Speakers will include Treasurer Wayne Swan, BHP Billiton CFPO Graham Kerr and Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey.

So get prepared for the view when you are next Downunder as we are in a tremendous place from many different perspectives.

Belina Tan, Corporate Communications

When I first started covering the branded clothing and footwear market almost 20 years ago, the word “brand” conjured up four or five global names: brands such as Adidas, Nike, Puma and Polo Ralph Lauren. It was a strange and wholly foreign concept – spending $100 plus on sneakers, not so much for the cost of innovation, manufacturing and distribution, but often because of the logo and symbolic meaning such brand ownership delivered among peer groups.

Twenty years later, it’s hard to think of something much owned by us that is not branded. From purses and shoes to clothing and fragrances, cars and where you take your vacation, a brand isn’t just functional, it’s a statement. Perhaps that’s why the branded luxury good market exceeded $280 billion in 2012 compared to just $60 billion in 2006.

With this in mind, Bloomberg Industries developed a new luxury dashboard (BI LUXG) to put data, analytics and insights for industry-focused luxury professionals in one place. The platform provides interactive, continuously updated company, sector and macro relevant data combined with consensus company estimates and industry-specific research, curated by more than 100 research professionals. In addition to the data compiled from the Bloomberg Professional service, Bloomberg Industries holds information from more than 200 third-party data providers.

One trend we’re watching in 2013: the Asian luxury market which makes up an astonishing 50 percent of all luxury good sales. In Tokyo, more than 90 percent of women in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton bag. Hong Kong hosts more Gucci and Hermes stores than Paris. But no one bests China, where last year the Chinese consumer outspent Americans for the first time ever, buying 25% of the world’s luxury goods.

If you are a Bloomberg Professional service subscriber, we encourage you to check out the new luxury industry information available at BI<GO>. Given predictions of 8-10% growth in the luxury brand markets this coming year, it’s surely worth watching.

– Deborah Aitken, Bloomberg Industries Senior Analyst