Tiziana Barghini

Hit by a sharp decline in the price of copper, Chile is putting the brakes on public spending with a 2016 budget that aims at keeping costs under control.

José Antonio Ocampo Gaviria, professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, says the slowing of international trade since the financial crisis is a major threat to the world economy.

According to the OECD, foreign exchange rate reserves are the stocks of foreign currency denominated assets plus gold, held by a central bank. More simply, they are the assets of the central bank held in currencies outside the home country currency.

According to free-market economists, economic freedom is the key to prosperity and growth.

Capital Markets | Remedial Measures
The European Commission cites four concrete steps for kick-starting the Capital Market Union

Global Finance interviews senior executives from some of the banks featured in this year’s World’s Safest Banks rankings.

Italy: Sergio Marchionne, the 63-year-old CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), is celebrated as the mastermind of one of the few successful mergers in the industry’s history, the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler.

Capital Markets | Business Funding
In 1957, when the Treaty of Rome was signed and the European Economic Community was established, it was the first milestone in the long path toward free circulation of goods, capital, services and people among European countries.

Market Trends | Intellectual Property
A European patent regime with unitary effect and a Unitary Patent Court is set to come into force as early as 2017, making it simpler and cheaper for international corporations to defend their intellectual property rights.

According to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a derivative is a risk transfer agreement, the value of which is derived from the value of an underlying asset. More simply, a derivative is a contract between two parties where one party agrees to take on the risk of losses associated with a particular asset—such as a physical commodity or an agreed amount of currency.

Newsmakers | US
In the United States, a real estate developer turned politician is stealing the thunder of many more-seasoned statesmen.

Regional Report | Latin America
The large economies on the east coast of Latin America—Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina—are slumping badly. Things are far different out west.

Neil Shearing, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, visited Global Finance on September 10, just as Standard & Poor’s cut Brazil’s public debt to junk level. We asked him about the outlook for that country and other emerging markets.

Commodities | Oil prices have only slightly recovered from a new record low set at the end of August. But they are still 60% below their peak of 2014, which is putting pressure on US oil companies, with many pundits predicting a rapid overhaul of the industry.

Regional Report | As relations between Cuba and the United States get friendlier, the economic outlook of the island is also improving.

Global Salon
At this point, it’s pretty much assumed that hackers are going to break into corporate computer networks. Global Finance talked with Michael Morris, chief Technology Officer of root9B, which offers cybersecurity services to corporate and government entities, about the war on digital attackers—and how businesses can retake some ground.

Major rating agencies are chasing each other in downgrading Brazil, as the country struggles with recession, a spiraling devaluation of the real and a damaging political crisis.

BBVA’s President and COO Carlo Torres Villa on the explosive growth of online banking and mobile banking.  

As analytics aimed at helping companies make use of all their data proliferate, companies worldwide are embracing these new technologies and finding ever-more-innovative ways to use them. Those that fail to do so risk being left on the sidelines.

Global Finance talked with Peter Blair Henry, dean of New York University’s Stern School of Business, about the urgency of bold reform and global trade to help developing nations.

Newsmakers | Mexico
In June, Jaime Rodríguez Calderón became the first independent candidate to be elected a state governor in Mexico, winning office in Nuevo León.

Cover Story | Supplement
As data sharing becomes more common, individual privacy seems to be more luxury than norm. But corporations working with big-data analytics must pay attention to how many personal details they gather about their customers, lest they cross the invisible line of what is acceptable and what is not—and anger their client base.

Trends | FX Commodities Q&A
Petr Grishin, head of macro research and chief economist for Eastern Europe at VTB Capital, discussed the ruble, oil prices and Russian trade with Global Finance.

Big Data | Chief financial officers have been modeling profit and loss statements for years, but in an era of big data they face a different and increasingly complex task.

Global Finance had a chance to interview Sim Tshabalala in April. The joint chief executive of Standard Bank Group answered questions about Africa’s growth and the substantial demand for banking services on the continent.

Global Finance sat down with Luiz Carlos Angelotti, MD and head of investor relations at Brazil’s Banco Bradesco, to discuss the bank’s bullish approach to investing despite the country’s economic downturn.

Management | Hedging
The dramatic slide in oil prices over the past year or so has once again underscored the value—and perils—of hedging. Some companies and governments bet on a fall in the cost of crude and thereby obviated large losses. Others did not make out so well.

Special Report | The Caribbean
The Caribbean’s economies are expected to improve this year on the back of growth in tourism, but the economic climate remains frail with the drop in oil prices proving a mixed bag for countries in the region.

The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Lima, Peru, in October, will provide world leaders with the right stage to discuss poverty and inequality and suggest ways for Latin American economies to foster growth less dependent on commodities, according to former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo.

Global Finance talked money laundering, Cuba and banking regulation with David Schwartz, president and CEO of the Florida International Bankers Association, a nonprofit representing financial institutions in the US, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

Global Finance sat down with José Francisco de Lima Gonçalves, a professor of economics at São Paulo University and chief economist at Banco Fator, to discuss his views on Brazil in 2015.

Banking | Europe
In its first round of QE, the ECB said that the bonds of only seven European financial institutions were eligible—until further revision, which won’t happen until at least April 15.

Management | Corporate Reporting
For Petróleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, as the giant Brazilian oil company is called, the time to present audited 2014 results, including the write-downs associated with the highly publicized historical corruption scandal, is running out.

Cover Story
As banks find their margins squeezed on traditional lending and payments activities, nonbank credit and financing—supported by technological innovation—is growing exponentially.
 

Regional Report | Latin America
Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru are handling the drop in commodities prices better than the rest of Latin America.

Newsmakers | Brazil
Aldemir Bendine became one of Brazil’s poster boys for success while at the helm of Banco do Brasil, but his new role as chief executive of the country’s oil giant, Petrobras, is causing him headaches.

Trends | Global Banking
On the surface at least, Spain’s Banco Santander and Cloud storage providers do not appear to have much in common.

Milestones | Venezuela
Venezuela’s introduction of a marginal free-floating currency system that will freely trade the US dollar and the bolivar seems unlikely to enlarge the country’s foreign exchange reserves or stem its growing external debt.

In a presentation in New York on February 18—his first official visit to the US since his appointment—Brazil’s Finance minister Joaquim Levy said that Brazilians are learning by doing.

Management | Shareholder Activism
A battle is heating up ahead of the DuPont’s annual shareholders meeting, planned for April.

Trends | Bank Capitalization
As Spaniards returned from the Los Reyes Magos (Epiphany) holiday, Spain’s Santander, Europe’s biggest bank, sold the equivalent of nearly 10% of its capital in one day, raising €7.5 billion ($8.7 billion) in cash and bringing required ratios in line with those of the banking industry.
 

Sukuk Outlook 2015
Hit by the double curse of falling oil p­­rices and rising interest rates, global issuance of sukuk— shariah-compliant Islamic bonds—slowed sharply in the final quarter of 2014.

Cover Story
The drastic drop in oil prices will clearly have an impact on both individual companies and on overall growth in some countries. But is the shift net positive or negative, cyclical or systemic? The ultimate outcome is yet to be seen.

Brazil | Newsmakers
Joaquim Levy, Brazil’s newly appointed minister of Finance, will need to muster all his skills to navigate the rough waters of Brazilian domestic politics and restore the public budget surplus that made the country a darling of Wall Street investors.

A big question mark is pending on how long the US shale production will remain profitable with declining oil prices.

Global Finance sat down with Tom Speechley, a partner in emerging markets private equity investment firm Abraaj Group and CEO of Abraaj North America, to discuss key markets for investment, future EM stars and the lure of cities as investment destinations.

Vatican | Newsmakers
René Brülhart, known as the “James Bond of the financial world” for his high-profile role in cases such as the return of assets from Saddam Hussein to post-war Iraq and the uncovering of the Siemens bribery scandal, has become chairman of the Vatican’s anti-money-laundering unit.

 

View From The Top
Global Finance speaks to leading executives at the World’s Safest Banks.

Milestones | Colombia
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a relatively small club of 34 countries. It seeks long-term social and economic development through data collection, analysis and discussions.

A Sovereign Wealth Fund is a state-owned investment fund comprising financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate or other instruments and funded by foreign exchange assets.