Gordon Platt

Low oil prices are taking a heavy toll on Saudi Arabia’s economy, which is facing even greater austerity under deputy crown prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud’s plans to raise $100 billion a year from subsidy cuts and new levies.

The People’s Bank of China has introduced bigger movements in its daily fixings of the country’s currency against the dollar. If sustained, this subtle change could signal that the central bank is preparing to allow greater flexibility in foreign exchange trading.

The banking industry’s leading lights have largely adjusted their business plans to a world of tighter regulations, higher capital requirements and less leverage. Now, they are taking on new competitors by embracing the very information technology that has disrupted their business.

The US Treasury’s latest measure to keep US companies from reincorporating in lower-tax countries is its strongest effort yet to halt so-called “inversions,” and could have far-reaching consequences for multinationals.

Global Finance presents the winners of its 23rd annual awards for the World’s Best Banks. 

Special Report | Depositary Receipts
Capital market reform bodes well for depositary receipt issuers and foreign investors.

Global Finance’s list of Who’s Who in Middle Eastern finance         

Capital Markets | Mergers & Acquisitions
A need by banks to address weak earnings could result in increased merger activity in 2016, according to Fitch Ratings.

Capital Markets | Fixed Income
The European Central Bank pushed its deposit rate deeper into negative territory in March, even as commercial bankers cautioned that such an unorthodox move could undermine their profitability and disrupt their role as financial intermediaries while doing little to boost lending or the economy.

Capital Markets | Fixed Income
China’s $7.4 trillion onshore bond market, the third-largest in the world, is opening to foreign institutional investors in the latest step by China to integrate its capital markets into the global financial system.

Middle East Investment Banking
M&A tops charts as transaction prices moderate across the region, industries consolidate, and key nations pursue privatization.

Project financing is booming in Saudi Arabia, which leads the Middle East in deals, with a total of eight in 2015, worth more than $13 billion.

Capital Marktes | M&A
State-owned China National Chemical’s record $43 billion bid for Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta will be closely examined by a US government panel and other national regulators.

Capital Markets | Fixed Income
Now that Japan has joined Europe in adopting negative interest rates, could below-zero rates become a policy option for the Federal Reserve?

Capital Markets | Mergers & Acquisitions
In an effort to boost the country’s sagging economic growth, China is consolidating key industries, hoping to make them more efficient ahead of eventual partial privatizations.

World trade may be growing more slowly since the financial crisis, yet demand for trade finance is accelerating.

Capital Markets | Equity Offering
A potential partial privatization of Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Saudi Aramco, would require the company to remove its veil of secrecy.

Capital Markets | Corporate Bonds
Demand for investment-grade corporate debt seems insatiable, even as investors shun riskier high-yield bonds.

The $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market is changing rapidly, as electronic execution platforms control the bulk of trading and bank dealers streamline operations in response to growing pressure from regulators to cut trading risks and boost capital. 

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) has been among the Arab region’s leading asset management and investment banking institutions since 1974. Speaking with Global Finance, CEO Manaf Alhajeri explains that economically challenging times have a bright side: a chance to find value for long-haul investors.

Monetary Policy | Capital Markets
Casting aside concerns about the strong dollar and weakness in economies abroad, the Federal Reserve achieved an historic interest rate liftoff in mid-December.

Profiles of the 2016 FX Award Winners by Region and Category

Foreign Exchange | Capital Markets
The renminbi’s entry into the International Monetary Fund’s basket of currencies, the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), will require China to have a more flexible exchange rate.

The country’s dominant bank sees future growth coming from the small-business market and from regional customers.

Riding a wave of government spending, Kuwait’s financial institutions are thriving despite the drop in petroleum revenues—for now.

Capital Markets | Deal Activity
This could be a record year for mergers and acquisitions, surpassing the 2007 peak in the US and globally. But optimism is waning regarding the outlook for 2016.

FX markets move to ramp up self-regulation before politicians step in.

United States: Former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke lashed out at what he described as a do-nothing Congress in his new memoir, Courage to Act.

As volatile currencies toy with the bottom lines of global companies, corporate treasurers are paying a lot more attention to foreign exchange.

Capital Markets | Banking Licenses
Saudi Arabia cracked open the door to direct investments in its stock market by qualified foreign institutions in June, when HSBC became the first foreign firm to receive a license.

Global Finance’s annual list of Who’s who in Foreign Exchange.     

Saudi Arabia needs a strategy to diversify its oil-based economy. Can change come fast enough?

Fixed Income | With this summer’s Greek debt crisis having abated somewhat and the European Central Bank (ECB) considering expanding its easy-money policies, US companies are rushing to the eurozone to issue debt at record-low interest rates.

Capital Outflows | The meltdown in China’s stock market this summer and steep falls in many emerging markets currencies led some investors to wonder if another 1997 Asian crisis was brewing.

Arabia is meeting with some success in its efforts to entice foreign investors to six new economic cities in the kingdom.

Global Finance unveils its annual list of the best banks globally, regionally and by country. The winners have provided the best service to clients.

Global Finance’s annual evaluation of the work of the world’s central bankers found some stellar performances, and some dismal ones. The toughest challenge for many: propping up falling prices.

With the country’s oil revenue set to slide by about 30% this year, privatization is a largely untapped resource.

FX Reserves | China’s foreign exchange reserves plunged by nearly $94 billion in August, the most ever in a single month, as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) struggled to support the renminbi after devaluing the currency by 1.9%.

Global Finance’s First Annual List Of Who’s Who In African Finance.

Capital Markets | Foreign Exchange
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund recently held an informal meeting to discuss a staff report that found some deficiencies in the renminbi as a potential reserve currency.

Management | Leadership Challenge
Nearly two out of three chief financial officers worldwide aspire to become chief executives of their company, but relatively few succeed in occupying the corner office.

Flush with cash, treasurers are turning to outside firms to oversee some of the money.

Trends | Bribery & Corruption
Anti-bribery and corruption enforcement efforts are picking up worldwide, with private firms more  likely to be targeted, while large, state-owned enterprises are getting off easier, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service.

Capital Markets | Economic Transition
As China makes the transition to a consumer-led economy, it has the potential to generate an incremental $15 trillion in consumer spending over the next decade, according to a report by think tank The Demand Institute.

Capital Markets | Fixed Income
Saudi Arabia has issued its first sovereign bonds since 2007 to help fund a widening budget deficit caused by continued spending amid low oil prices.

Capital Markets | Foreign Exchange
The surging dollar, falling euro and plunging emerging-markets currencies had a record $32 billion negative impact on the earnings of companies in North America and Europe in the first quarter, according to Scottsdale, Arizona‒based FiREapps, which helps corporations measure and manage foreign exchange exposure.

Profiling the World's Best Subcustodians of 2015

Introduction
Regional wealth funds, free-trade zones and the Saudi Stock Exchange are expected to boost GCC economic growth and spur development—even if oil doesn’t cooperate.

GCC Regional Report 2015 | Oil Prices
GCC countries are weathering low oil prices surprisingly well, cushioned by sovereign funds, economic diversification and development.