April 2022

Private companies take a growing role, as innovations and data needs expand the sector.

The West’s financial assault on Russia may strengthen the yuan and cryptocurrency, but slowly.

Pandemics, politics, price spikes and more—through it all, investment bankers kept up the deal-making.

Bond markets generally slid, but green issuances continued to roll.

Sector-wise, finance and technology outpaced all others in a record-setting year overall.

The world’s biggest investment banks reinforced their dominance in a year that broke all sorts of records.

Asia saw a rebound in debt markets but lagged the world in equities while soaring commodities helped some but hurt others.

Hagar Chemali, an expert in terrorism financing, has worked at the US Treasury, the National Security Council and the UN. She speaks about sanctions—what works, what doesn’t—and Russia.

The war in Ukraine is causing a spike in global commodity prices and Latin America is cashing in.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission hopes to implement new climate change disclosure rules by the end of 2022.

Nations that buy Russian oil and gas products are increasingly open to using local currencies as a sanctions workaround.

Shipments of iPhones from Apple’s iPhone manufacturer are likely to be delayed as have steel, electronics, and auto assembly products headed for India.

Fighting in Ukraine spurs factoring and digitalization adoption.

Like BP, Norway’s Equinor and France’s TotalEnergies, Shell’s leadership decided that the war with Ukraine made it impossible to maintain its business in Russia. 

The Central Bank of Kuwait has led calls for economic reform as political deadlock threatens a liquidity crunch. 

Newly minted CEO Taro Shimada—formerly Toshiba's chief digital officer—will try to revive the company's fortunes.

Raj Subramaniam—FedEx's executive VP and chief marketing and communications officer—replaces founder Frederick W. Smith as president and CEO.

Many companies are now going back to retailers and supermarkets to renegotiate food prices, which typically happens annually toward the end of the year.

European nations opt for nuclear, oil, and gas to reduce their dependence on Russian energy which helps finance their war effort in Ukraine.

Mizuho and Google will collaborate not only on new products but also on upgrading the bank's dated legacy systems.

The Biden administration’s executive order on crypto pushed for further research and development of a potential US central bank digital currency, called for an assessment of the necessary infrastructure needed for a CBDC and instructed the Federal Reserve continue its research in this area.

Totally withdrawing from Russia may be difficult or impossible for the European banks with tens of billions of dollars worth of exposure there.

Companies and governments the world over have decided to postpone or cancel initial public offerings amid the economic instability caused by the war in Ukraine.

Ikea, BP, Apple, and McDonald's closed their operations in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine began but some companies stayed put and profited.

Russia's biggest companies and the Russian government may soon be unable to make payments on their debt obligations.

Hundreds of global multinationals quit Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion including ExxonMobil, Apple, Meta/Facebook, and the list continues to grow.

Côte d’Ivoire’s growth resumes in a post-pandemic world.

Banks faced with growth constraints in mature and saturated Asia-Pacific markets have been expanding offerings in less developed regional markets.