Ben T. Smith IV, a longtime Silicon Valley executive and currently head of the Communications, Media and Technology practice at Kearney, speaks to Global Finance about the post-SVB venture capital industry and the pace of innovation.
Many of the world's richest countries are also the world's smallest: the pandemic and the global economic slowdown barely made a dent in their huge wealth.
Global Finance editor Andrea Fiano interviews Ásgeir Jónsson, Central Bank Governor of Iceland during Global Finance's World's Best Bank Awards at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on October 15th.
Following the third-quarter profits statement, the bank said that it would postpone plans to acquire assets in Turkey and Poland. Sberbank over the summer finalized the purchase of Eastern European lender VBI and is in the process of integrating the acquisition of Russian brokerage and asset manager Troika Dialog.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party posted a surprisingly poor performance in parliamentary elections in early December, garnering just over 49% of the popular vote, compared with 64% in elections four years ago. The Communist party, which received 19% of the vote, and the nationalist Liberal Democrats were the key beneficiaries of the flight from United Russia.
The results represent the biggest electoral rebuke for Putin since he rose to power in 1999—reflecting growing public disenchantment with his regime. Under Putin there is an increased chance of nationalistic economic policies that could run counter to the interests of foreign investors. The 2012 federal budget calls for continued growth in social welfare and defense spending. Even with high oil price assumptions, the plan projects a modest deficit—which could widen substantially given weak commodities prices.