Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
COVER STORY: AFTER THE BAILOUT The turmoil in Greece and the subsequent rout of the euro have rattled global markets and caused a renewed bout of hand-wringing over the stability of the global economy. Some believe the developed markets ...
BOOKS —LOSING CONTROL By Stephen D. King The world is witnessing a massive redistribution of wealth as the West learns it can no longer live beyond its means, says HSBC's group chief economist Stephen D. King, author of ...
ON THE RIGHT PATH By Gordon Platt For the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), there have been setbacks on the road to a common currency, which now appears unlikely to be introduced anytime in the next five years, ...
MARKET MAKERS Exchanges Upgrade Technology And Add New Products By Gordon Platt Financial markets across the Gulf region are working hard to enhance the breadth and depth of services they offer. Financial markets in the ...
ISLAMIC FINANCING BREAKTHROUGH By Anita Hawser GAME CHANGER The arrival of the first globally standardized documentation for privately negotiated Islamic hedging products marks a major breakthrough in Islamic finance and risk management. Compared to the ...
ANNUAL SURVEY: THE WORLD'S BEST SUB-CUSTODIANS Sub-Custodians Feeling The Heat Global investing in turbulent times puts the spotlight on local safekeepers. By Gordon Platt As they seek to reassure investors that their assets in foreign ...
ANNUAL SURVEY —BEST SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE PROVIDERS 2010 Joining The Chain Gang By Anita Hawser The leading players in the supply chain finance business demonstrate the benefits of innovation and commitment to a growing market. A ...
Awards Ceremony New York City In late April, over 50 people came to the New York Harvard Club to celebrate the winners of Global Finance's seventh annual Best Treasury & Cash Management Awards. Cash management banks maintain that ...
READERS' CHOICE AWARDS By Paula L. Green Best Hotels & Airlines Business travel is slowly recovering from a recession-induced slump. The corporate clampdown on travel budgets that began during the global recession is gradually easing, and ...
Emerging Markets Investor: News By Gordon Platt The People’s Bank of China last month announced that it would allow the renminbi to trade more flexibly, bringing an end to the currency’s two-year-old peg to the dollar. While any ...
Emerging Markets Investor: DR News By Gordon Platt The Egyptian Exchange, one of the more active stock exchanges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has begun trading Egyptian Depositary Receipts (EDRs). The first company to ...
ROUNDUP By Antonio Guerrero The African Development Bank (AfDB), which plans to increase its capital base to $100 billion, launched a $600 million fund to strengthen African banks. The fund was created through a partnership with the European ...
ROUNDUP By Antonio Guerrero Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, is planning a $25 billion rights issue—one of the largest in history. The company hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bradesco BBI, Citigroup, Itau BBA, Morgan Stanley and Banco ...
ROUNDUP By Thomas Clouse China is making its currency exchange rate more flexible, the central bank announced on June 19, loosening the Chinese renminbi’s 23-month-long peg to the US dollar. The announcement came after China’s trade surplus rose ...
ROUNDUP By Aaron Chaze Faced with a daunting budget deficit, the Indian government has decided to risk a painful backlash by India’s poor and eliminate price controls on gasoline. The government also cut subsidies on diesel, LPG and ...
ROUNDUP By Gordon Platt Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, will place orders for more planes at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK, according to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler. The airline, which is owned ...
ROUNDUP By Kim Iskyan Lighting up: Russia launches bid to become financial center In mid-June at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia’s answer to Davos, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev continued to pitch his modernization campaign, which is ...
Emerging Markets Investor: Company to watch By Gordon Platt Sasol is a prime example of a successful multinational company based in South Africa, where it mines coal to provide the raw material to produce synthetic fuels and chemicals. ...
Country Report: Poland By Justin Keay Having weathered the recent global crisis better than almost any other European country, Poland is laying the foundation for a sustainable long-term recovery. Poland's tumultuous history has made it no ...
Country Report: Portugal By Denise Bedell Portugal has been hit hard by the general uncertainty over the eurozone's future, but its prospects are outshining some of its neighbors'. It may still be laboring in Greece's shadow, ...
NEWSMAKERS: EMERGING MARKETS By Anita Hawser Rosy future: Emerging hubs such as Mumbai recovered fast As the dust continues to settle following the recent global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund is attempting to explain why so many emerging ...
NEWSMAKERS: GLOBAL By Anita Hawser Anderson: Inconsistent regulation raises risks It’s official. Political leaders across the G20 group of countries are ready to make the banks pay for the financial crisis. At the G20 summit in Toronto toward ...
NEWSMAKERS: UNITED STATES/ GLOBAL By Gordon Platt Midsize companies in the US are increasingly turning to overseas markets to boost their sales, but they are sticking to what they see as safe markets—those they understand, such as Canada ...
NEWSMAKERS: GLOBAL By Laurence Neville The focus of regulatory reform in the wake of the financial crisis has inevitably been on the banking sector. Equally, most analysis of regulatory reform has addressed the impact of regulatory change on ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS — MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS By Gordon Platt Consolidation in the US airline and global telecom industries has kept merger activity going in the past few months. The proposed merger of United Airlines, based in Chicago, ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS — CORPORATE DEBT By Gordon Platt Europe's seemingly intractable sovereign debt crisis has triggered a flight to safety among investors, who are shunning bonds of lower-rated companies despite some very attractive yields in a ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS — GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS By Gordon Platt Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) began marketing operations last month for what could be the biggest initial public offering in history, despite turbulent market conditions that caused a raft ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS — FOREIGN EXCHANGE By Gordon Platt The euro fell to a four-year low in early June, dropping to within a whisker of its 1999 introductory rate of $1.18, before suddenly bouncing higher in thin ...
NEWSMAKERS: JAPAN By Thomas Clouse Naoto Kan: Redefining government's strategy Japan elected its fifth prime minister in four years in June, with the lower house of parliament selecting finance minister Naoto Kan to take over leadership of the ...
NEWSMAKERS: PAKISTAN By Nick Kochan Key player: Former central banker, Syed Salim Raza When a struggling Royal Bank of Scotland asked for bids last year for its 79-branch network in Pakistan—acquired as part of ABN AMRO in 2007—it had ...
NEWSMAKERS: US/UK By Gordon Platt Speaking out: Cameron voices support for beleaguered BP BP still hadn’t plugged that hole yet in the deep-sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico by the end of June, as the Atlantic hurricane season ...
NEWSMAKERS: COLOMBIA By Antonio Guerrero Juan Manuel Santos Colombians have reaffirmed their support for conservative politics and economics, electing the newest member of a growing group of right-wing Latin American leaders. President-elect Juan Manuel Santos won the run-off ...